Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster

The arrogance of stockton rush was what doomed the Titan. This man had a lot of money and convinced others that he knew what he was doing when in fact he fired anyone who contradicted him in anyway. He said he didn't want a bunch of "old white men" constructing the Titan because he knew better. He used carbon fiber when he was told it most likely wouldn't hold after numerous dives and the people who told him were fired. He claimed to want this to be "accessible to everyone" but only if you had the money to do so. In the end he killed 4 people with his arrogance and I for one am happy he was on the Titan when it met its demise.

This TV documentary was rushed to compete and be released ahead of Netflix's competing product "Titan: The Oceangate Disaster". It focuses on the Coast Guard hearings crew members and lacks key Oceangate people that Netflix snatched first and locked into a contract. Some bad moments are interviewing a diversity hire person that gives no relevant information about the investigation and stock footage of an airplane doing a loop being shown to buy time. And this is in the 60 minutes version. Ouch. The only triumph of this documentary is the exclusive footage of a key moment in the tragedy (and they show it twice).

Of course I am familiar with the tragedy that befell the Titan submersible and those inside it. And thus, when I had the opportunity to watch this 2025 documentary "Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster", of course I opted to do so.

I harbored no expectations to this particular documentary, as I had in effect put the memories of this event so far away in memory that I no longer thought about it. Only by stumbling upon the documentary did my mind get reminded about the implosion and the tragedy. And of course I have my own opinions of Stockton and OceanGate.

Writer Gary Lang and director Pamela Gordon put together an insightful documentary that delt with the matter of the implosion in, what I believe to be, a neutral and objective manner. The documentary did put a lot of things out in the open that I was not aware of. But then again, I didn't really closely follow the incident back when it was on the news. I only kept up with in peripherally.

Watchable, sure. Informational, sure. The 90 minutes of this documentary were actually well-spent. Not something you watch more than once, though.

My rating of "Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Why, oh why, use Josh Gates for such an important story to tell. He was found to be a fraud internationally with his Petra 'expose' and comes from a 'ghost-busting' background?! Leave him out of real science and fact-filled documentaries. This is topic of real exploration and discovery packed with technology and science, so why use a renown fraud and tv-commentator to discuss what oceanographers, marine scientists,and physicists addressed with learned and earned knowledge. I liked it but found his scripted commentary to be lacking, and since his fraudulent 'discovery' in Petra, Gates should be retired or put out to pasture by the Discovery Networks ...

The documentary tells the story of OceanGate and the thrill seekers who apparently aren't claustrophobic. How anyone could feel safe locked in a vessel such as that is beyond me. It also brings others who had an obligation to act (but didn't) to the forefront of this strange odyssey. With the exception of Josh Gates and the men and women of the USCG, everyone else who was interviewed seem like they're still hiding details, or just don't have a conscience. They all continue pointing the finger at Stockton, yet they were all part of the team, they just can't accept responsibility.

And who on earth was responsible for the on-screen effects? Every time they show a date they immediately rewind it 1, 2 or 3 years. Just show the date as it is, it's extremely annoying.