Anybody else watching “The Terror” on AMC? You should. It is a 10-part series produced by Ridley Scott, based on the novel of the same name written by Dan Simmons. I have not read the book, but I have read the spoilery Wikipedia page. And having seen the first two episodes… without getting into the spoilers, I’ll say that if you are hankering for some low-key cosmic horror, “The Terror” is worth watching.
The short form: it’s the 1840’s, and two Royal Navel vessels, the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, are stuck in the ice north of Canada looking for the northwest passage. This really happened; the Franklin Expedition with these two vessels and 129 men was lost, the expedition was a disaster, everybody died. Why? Because they didn’t really understand just how much nature just doesn’t give a damn about human survival. (Note: the next time someone hits you with the “fine tuning” argument, claiming that the universe is clearly made for Man, ask ’em to spend some time in sub-zero arctic conditions and see just how “made for man” that crap really is)
The Franklin Expedition is a tale of hypothermia, starvation, cannibalism, disease and lead poisoning in a truly terrible and terrifying place, hell and gone away from civilization. That alone would have made a worthy series for AMC, but Simmons’ novel adds an element of the supernatural to it that ramps up the horror aspects. It’s not *quite* Lovecraftian, but it seems like it’ll be close.
Produced by Ridley Scott and AMC, it’s no surprise that the production values are fantastic. As are the cast… the two ships captains are played by Ciaran Hinds and Jared Harris, who you will doubtless recognize. “The Terror” uses the arctic much like “The Thing” and “At The Mountains of Madness” used the antarctic… this is a place where unprepared humans just shouldn’t venture.
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As a Lovecraftian tangential, the tale of the loss of the Franklin expedition served as the inspiration for the painting “Man Proposes, God Disposes,” by Landseer. Painted in 1864, it depicted the aftermath of the expedition, with polar bears gnawing on human bones and a Royal Navy ensign. Oddly enough, this was thought of as being in somewhat poor taste at the time. Since the 1970’s urban legend has it that if you sit next to it it will drive you mad. So…. the Necronomicon in visual form, I suppose.
The Franklin Expedition was a bit of a blow to the self image of the Victorian British Empire. British Exceptionalism – which, face it, was well-earned – took a hit when a well-funded and well-provisioned professional expedition failed and killed everybody involved. But… that’s how progress works, folks. We lost people trying to get to the Moon. We’ll lose people going to Mars. We’ll lose people trying to cure cancer and AIDS and Socialism. This universe was not made for Man and it does not care for or about us; if we live or die makes no difference whatsoever to nature or its forces, so it’s up to us to make it work. You either accept that there will be failures and loss, or you accept stagnation, decline and death.
Of course, it’s also a good idea to go into a project clear-eyed and adequately prepared.