Lost in the Arctic

This is yet another National Geographic flop. The premise is we set out on an adventure to discover the truth of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, which went missing in the arctic circle in 1845. But we're not told this at first. Initially it seems we're looking for the lost vessels. But after a rather too long intro we discover the real search is for the remains of Captain John Franklin. This is because the "lost" ships' wrecks were discovered in 2014 and 2016, with no sign of any crew. And the grave of the captain will "undoubtedly" contain his diaries and papers and therefore reveal everything that happened. So now we are searching for the grave of a man based on a sighting of an unusual rock formation from the air, but never fear, it's only in a 30 square mile area - it's s done deal! Not so fast! The explorers get to the search area and smartly deploy a drone to photographically map the area. Unfortunately they spend the next 8 days looking and not finding anything, instead fighting mud, rocks, breakdowns and general nothingness, only to head home. Personally, I wonder if the guy got eaten by a polar bear and there are no remains.... So the end result is - nothing! 1/10.

source: Lost in the Arctic

Was great to see such beautiful footage and exploration on the island. But it was melodramatic. And the idea that the entire mystery will be solved by finding the "tomb" doesn't seem plausible. Many survived well after Franklin died (years?) so the tomb could not possibly reveal everything that happened. It could only ever be part of the story. Yet Gross says at the end "we find one thing, we have it all". Just seems like everything is pinned on finding this mythical 'tomb' which will conveniently solve everything. It doesn't seem realistic and doesnt reflect the wide range of evidence that is out there to be recovered, including on the two ships, Inuit testimony etc. And wouldn't the ship's log be passed to Fitzjames rather than buried with Franklin? Diaries maybe but I doubt burying the log was protocol? But the filmmakers just repeat this stuff seemingly without considering these basic questions. It is odd the film is so singularly focused on this all too convenient catch-all holy grail and it just comes across as naïve click-bait filmmaking.

This special-ostensibly about the discovery of the grave of Arctic explorer John Franklin, of the ill-fated Erebus expedition-ends up being nothing but footage of guys sailing a boat and getting their ATVs stuck in mud. One guy goes on and on about a long-ago flight on which he saw rocks that are certain to mark Franklin's grave, which is certain to contain log books (and even photographs) that will solve mysteries. But they find NOTHING new, and the whole show consists of footage that should have been a five-minute prelude to the story they expected to tell. Worst of all, they pat themselves on the back for how their quest for answers is nobly honoring the expedition victims, while also exploiting those victims by showing explicit footage of the thawing and examination of three corpses from graves (not Franklin's) previously discovered on a different trek. The only value is that you get to see the actual terrain in places where the expedition members may have trod, but it's totally irrelevant to the Erebus story since the sun is blazing and the boggy ground is thawed to the point of soupiness.

Both trailer and the beginning of the production gives a feeling that something has been discovered, the reality is, It's a documentary of unsuccessful expedition. All with respect It's a great adventure and I would love to be part of, but necessarily deserves to be a good or a documentary. It could be a better production if it was produced and advertised as "following Franklin..." story, following the same route, visits the same sites etc. But until the very last minute Mark says "almost there, we're close erc" like in a very low quality TV series. The thing is, the people watch this kind of documentaries won't buy this technics. Finally, sorry guys, great effort and very difficult expedition, I really respect, but the movie/production story is a failure.