Saturday, March 2, 2013

Finding Atlantis (2011)

Network: Discovery

Synopsis: Finding Atlantis follows a team of Spanish, American and Canadian scientists as they employ satellite space photography, ground penetrating radar, underwater archaeology, and historical sleuthing in an effort to find the lost civilization of Atlantis.

In the news recently:
A private foundation is working to send a pair of non-NASA astronauts, possibly a married couple, on a slingshot journey to Mars, with blastoff slated for January 2018.
The nonprofit Inspiration Mars Foundation is starting work on life-support systems and other technologies that will be needed to keep two people alive and healthy for the 501-day mission. The flight path would put the spacecraft to within 150 miles of the Martian surface before automatically returning it on a direct approach to Earth.
-  An excerpt from Discovery News

Wow! Would you volunteer for this particular road trip to Mars? My first reaction was, "Hell yeah!". Then when I read on, I realised that the spacecraft that would be carrying me into space and back would be really cramped. While I can deal with being cooped up in a room with nothing but my Mac, Blu Rays, music, books, and basic necessities, I don't think I can deal with the size of it and the fact that it'll be for more than a year!  

That being said, I would love to one day live in a spaceship (I'm thinking of Star Trek Voyager right now) and I'm definitely going to put it in my bucket list. But, there is something I want more than going into space - I want to visit the ruins of Atlantis!

The island of Atlantis has always fascinated me. I don't remember how old I was when I first heard about the island or how I learned of it. But I remember watching an episode of seaQuest DSV called Lostland in 1995, and in that episode, the crew stumbles across the remains of a warrior from the island of Atlantis. I also watched a film titled Sing (1989) which is about a dying neighbourhood in the US that results in the only school left in the neighbourhood to be shut down. The students annually perform in a Sing! production and in the film, the seniors put up an item based on the last days of the people of Atlantis. I also watched the Disney animation, Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001). 

In fact, my fascination with Atlantis is the reason why I watched this documentary. Although we are no closer to knowing for sure the exact location of the island of Atlantis, visiting the ruins of the city of Atlantis is high on my bucket list. Yes. This sounds a bit far fletched isn't it. But if Mandy Moore's Jamie Sullivan (from the film A Walk To Remember) can put "Be in 2 places at once" on her bucket list, then I believe that me putting "visit the ruins of Atlantis" in my list is not a ridiculous notion at all. 

There are many theories and speculation as to the location of Atlantis, but they will all remain just that until there is concrete evidence that tells us otherwise. In fact, until we find proof of its existence, we will never know if Atlantis is even real or just a work of fiction in Plato's writing. And of course, finding Atlantis will be the ultimate proof.

In Finding Atlantis, there is a generous use of 3D animation to help the viewers understand the scientists' theories as to why they believe the location they are at is where Atlantis can be found. The documentary also makes it easy for the audience to digest the information proving and disproving their theories through the use of a checklist. A checklist made by the careful reading and understanding of Plato's description of Atlantis. 

In fact, I enjoyed Finding Atlantis so much, that I have gone on a hunt of my own, for other documentaries about Atlantis that is. And to all the scientists out there who are searching for Atlantis, please keep going even when the going gets tough. Then maybe in the near future, I will be able to strike off number 2 on my list - "Visit the ruins of Atlantis".


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