Drain the Titanic

There is some fascinating information in this documentary, but in about 45 minutes of documentary, there are only maybe 10-15 minutes of actual content. The information is heavily punctuated by repeated panning over the model of the wreck and the animation of "draining the sea floor", which of course, doesn't really happen. The narrator breaks from his narrative every few minutes to remind us how amazing it is that we are seeing the Titanic like never before. This is hyped up with dramatic music and sweeping views of the digital model . It extremely repetitive and left me waiting anxiously for more through the entire length of the film, but "more" was never delivered. So much filler, so little true content.

I must admit that the concept here in this 2015 documentary was definitely interesting. And given my interest and fascination with the Titanic, of course I sat down to watch this documentary, though it wasn't before 2021 that I had the chance to do so.

Visually then I will say that "Drain the Titanic" was impressive. It was really astounding to see the CGI rendering of the majestic ship on the sea floor, and seeing the water removed and the wreckage shown in that detail. However, what really impressed me was the crystal clear underwater footage of the wreck.

This documentary was interesting to watch, albeit a bit repetitive of the usage of CGI rendering. But it was definitely a good watch, and there were some interesting bits of facts being showcased. And the theory of the ship breaking apart deep underwater is really interesting and does make sense in terms of the spread of debris.

While "Drain the Titanic" was not the most phenomenal of documentaries that I have seen, it definitely is worth a watch, especially if you are interested in what has happened to the wreck laying on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

My rating of "Drain the Titanic" settles on a six out of ten stars.

The conclusion they made about when the Titanic broke up is tenuous at best. They use the 'relatively' small size of the debris field to theorize that it broke up after going underwater. That doesn't add up. If it had then the stern might have been in better condition and I don't think they would have the great sliding feature in the mud near the stern. Also ocean currents are unpredictable so you can't say for sure whether they would have carried the artifacts far away.

As others here note, the repetition and faux "drama" blunts the pleasure and value of seeing this, even to someone interested in the topic.

Instead of a calm and sane review of what was accomplished, and time to look over the new model, we get an incessantly ominous junk-music soundtrack, constantly tense narration, and camera work that cuts away from every remark as if to mark it as profound or revelatory.

Pretty soon, I too cut away.

Who's minding the store at National Geographic? Who sets the goals, the story-line, and the style guidelines?

Who thinks that "if some drama is good, then more is better, and too much is just enough"?

This fascinating documentary uses painstakingly detailed digital 3-D reconstructions of the Titanic's wreckage made from thousands of underwater photographs. The program's chief interest is that it provides clear views of entire sections of the ship that are impossible to see of the real ship because of the darkness of the water more than two miles below the ocean's surface. The digital images look very much like what one would expect the actual wreckage to look if the surrounding ocean could be drained away.

It's all very impressive, but the documentary's presentation has some irritating features. After explaining how the digital images were made, virtual cameras move past wreckage so rapidly it is difficult to take in details. The images would be far more interesting if the cameras were to linger over parts of the ship longer. For example, instead of showing the same rapid panning shots of the ship's bow repeatedly, it would have been better to use some of that time for much slower close-ups. It is also disappointing that the documentary provides almost no close-ups of the surrounding debris fields. What are all those large objects scattered around the ship's hull sections? Despite these reservations, the documentary is fascinating and well worth watching. Perhaps a future documentary will use the digital images to give us better views of the wreckage.