Time Bomb Y2K

In a certain sense, I really couldn't blame anyone calling "Time Bomb Y2K" a rather messy documentary. It is quite unfocused (without a clear focus) and touches on a number of different topics without necessarily buttoning up any of them. Yet, somewhat remarkably, this tapestry of Y2K coverage manages to nail the exact sentiments of the time period almost perfectly in the hands of directors Brian Becker & Marley Mcdonald.

For a very basic overview, this doc tells the story of the lead-up to the turn of the millennium (1999 into 2000) and how the Y2K computer glitch threatened to plunge the world into another dark age. Was it a hoax? Was it a crisis narrowly averted by hard work and planning? How were the general public reacting (or overreacting, potentially) to it all? Those are primary areas into which "Time Bomb Y2K" delves.

First and foremost for a doc like this, "Time Bomb Y2K" creates a sense of nostalgia through the use of archived news footage and personal videos. As someone who lived through the event and the time period in general, I can vouch for the authenticity of what is presented here. It is an accurate description of what the late-1990s felt like.

This film also does the practical, even-keel work of explaining just how the Y2K glitch occurred and what was done to prevent it from crashing digital systems on 1/1/00. Instead of the "it's a hoax or it's the end of the world" dichotomy presented at the time, the filmmakers here make it pretty clear (without inserting their own voices) that it was simply a lot of money thrown at the problem and a lot of time from computer programmers that ultimately saved the day.

The hallmark of "Time Bomb Y2K", however, is how it presents a society just beginning to reckon with the "digital world" and the way information can be disseminated therein. The mass panic, conspiracy theories, and misinformation around Y2K was eerily similar to more recent public health related events--the only difference being that in 1999 one had to access it via dial-up internet or VHS tapes.

So, though I usually do not enjoy documentaries without a strong focus/thesis, this one worked in spite of that principle because every tangent somehow managed to produce its own interesting material. It tapped into my adolescent nostalgia, showed a populace grappling with an oncoming digital age, and illustrated that while events come and go, people's responses to them are often similar through the decades.

I feel slightly more confidant that I can relate this time to my daughter (who is older than I was at that time), and speak of more minute details. The good aspects of people uniting and a pre-9/11 world being so happy even when scared brings a little more joy than I had before watching this. It's incredible to see some of the foreshadowing of the world during this, and I am glad that the makers of this didn't focus on those. They let them be little cameos. In fact, I would have truly loved to see an ending where they showed the twin towers still erect. No words said about one year, nine months, and ten days from that moment. Just a silhouette. A reminder that worry is just imagination used incorrectly.

Not a bold statement from a person typing to many other people out there that may happen upon my review, but I was there. I was a ripe sixteen when the ball dropped, and I was very much up to zero good. However, this movie does a great job of going a few years before that very not fateful day. I was old enough to be aware, but young enough to not exactly know who Jager or Kostinen were. I probably saw their faces dozens or hundreds of times, but they didn't ring any bells while watching this film. All that said, bringing back up slight moments of my teenaged memory helped remind me of the fuss that this was.

6.8 stars is accurate.

While this program is an interesting history of the buildup to Y2K and how nothing ends up happening, it hovers too much on the New Years festivities and then ends. It would have been interesting to see f there were follow-up interviews done with the militias, doomsayers, and preppers to see what they said about the lack of event.

I know it's a documentary of already existing footage, but a "where are they now montage - even in title cards - would have been an interesting ending, providing closure to the stories presented. Only one person is followed up on, the guy who was right all along in the end.

I lived through this, and, other than some software patches that were needed, it was much ado about something that could be fixed easily enough. They are showing the fringes of people that let themselves be swayed by doomsday messages. Most people that I knew at the time weren't too concerned. They knew nothing catastrophic would happen and they knew the software patches were being handled. Y2K was akin to the Mayan Calendar scare of 2012. You either believed it and waited for the end or you went on with your life as usual because you knew it was the media overblown fear mongering pushing the doom and gloom. It isn't very accurate, but it's not entirely wrong.

Splicing archival footage in with a contemporary retrospective, but that isn't what this is. Th list documentary is entirely from archival footage with the most prominent voiceover being Leonard Nimoy, who has died over 5 years ago.

There's about 5 minutes dedicated to explaining what Y2K was and it's potential impact and the rest of it is just padding. You could swap half the runtime with an episode of doomsday preppers and the only noticable change would be video and audio quality.

This could have been something great some modern commentary about lessons learned, shortsighted management, other potential ICT disasters or even parallels to global warming but as it stands, it's merely an 80 minute timesink.