Does anybody remember that mini-series?

I recall watching it and some scenes, especially the nuclear-shadow scenes where people basically fry instantly, left me with horrible nightmares as a child. http://www.80sxchange.com/ubb/smilies//eek.gif

I remember there was a lot of hype about it, and I think that President Reagan had to re-assure people or something like that (could be wrong on that one.) I think it came out around 1982.

Does anybody know if it's on VHS? Also, for a GR8 80's flashback, watch The Terminator. Linda Hamilton was a bitchen 80's chick! http://www.80sxchange.com/ubb/smilies//wink.gif


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<FONT COLOR="#6699cc" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">This message has been edited by relivingmyheyday on 04-17-2001 at 03:05 PM</font>

I can't recall the mini-series... was it on very long?

Of course we all remember the movie though! Yikes!

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SAL IS A FREAK!!!

Later!! Tina

Remember the movie, didn't know it was a mini-series though. Bet Sal would know. He talks of this movie often.

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If I'm here and your here doesn't that make it our time?

This miniseries has been in re-runs over the years, and still holds up pretty well. Your average "Cold War Armageddon" scenario with passable special effects.

I actually saw The Day After several months ago when it was broadcast on the Sci-Fi Network. The movie also gave me nightmares as a child, and I remember thinking that nuclear war would break out at any moment... I guess the cold war and Reagan calling Russia The Evil Empire were some of the scariest moments of the 80s...

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I was just talking about this movie yesterday with Aron. I remember watching it at like, 11 years old and totally being freaked. It still causes a bit of a panic when I really think about it.

I still think it's pretty comical that back in the 50's-60's, that they thought you could survive something like that by hiding under your desk.

~G

ITA, Gretchen:

"Okay, children, get on the floor and crouch with your Math book over your head, and this will protect you from all of that nasty radiation..." <img src="eek.gif" border="0">

Yeah...what the hell was up with that? Like that really was a good idea!!

Almost as good as a tornado drill!!! If the tornado is coming, pray!!

~G

Originally posted by dancingdoll86:
<STRONG>I was just talking about this movie yesterday with Aron. I remember watching it at like, 11 years old and totally being freaked. It still causes a bit of a panic when I really think about it.

I still think it's pretty comical that back in the 50's-60's, that they thought you could survive something like that by hiding under your desk.

~G</STRONG>

Doll, I think the hiding under the desk was so that they could put their head between their legs...and kiss their arse goodbye!
<img src="biggrin.gif" border="0">

I was 13 when it originally aired. I vividly remember sitting in my grandparents living room watching it. I saw it again either on TBS or Sci Fi shortly after Jason Robards passed away. Definitely a different perspective between the time I was in my early teens and now being a mom, myself. When I watched it recently, (pre 9/11), I thought to myself that the threat back when it was made was much more realistic than when I saw it the second time. However, post 9/11, it is definitely a very real threat once again. Even seeing the 9/11 footage from NY and DC really made me think of certain scenes in "The day after".

The Day After was never a mini-series. It appered as a TV movie in 1983 by ABC and it was directed by Nicholas Meyer. Nicholas Meyer directed "Star Trek II-The Wrath of Khan". The Sci-Fi channel has played the movie several times. And every time I have seen it it has been gives me chills up my spine.Former CIA Deputy Director Robert M. Gates in his book "From the Shadows" (Page 276)has a chapter dedicated to the movie. The movie aired in the middle of deployments of Pershing II missiles in West Germany and other NATO countries. I believe that there are some copies exist somewhere of this movie. I think that the film was excellent but if you want a complete picture of what life is like after a nuclear holocaust watch the BBC movie "Threads" which appeared around the same time as "The Day After".

Remember to Duck and Cover!!!

I'm sure in the '50s and '60s they weren't so stupid as to believe you could actually survive a nuclear explosion by hiding under a desk. I'm going to take a wild guess that such drills done mainly to ease the fear and give some kind of sense of control over an uncontrollable situation. Especially for the children.

I mean what are you going to tell the kids?

"You know Billy if the Commies fire one of those nuclear warheads at us you might as well just stand there and die because there's absolutely nothing we can do about it"

Even if it's a moronic plan that will never work, if it calms down the kids, and even some of the adults, then why not do it? It's not like anyone can argue with you about lying to them if a nuclear warhead was fired.

Say the government found out an asteroid was going to hit the Earth in 20 or 30 years, destroying all or most of the life on the planet and there's nothing we can do about it. Not a damn thing. Do you tell everyone?

Well, if we had 20-30 years notice we could certainly figure something out by then!!

Originally posted by That 80z girl
Well, if we had 20-30 years notice we could certainly figure something out by then!!

I'd certainly hope we could figure something out. Did you see Deep Impact... pretty frightening thought...

Yeah, I know a friend of mine will never forget it.He passed out drunk and he didn't know anything about it so we had the idea to scare him!
A couple of my friends went outside to their cars. Then me a couple of my friends woke him up yelling stuff like "Oh my God! Carl Russia just started World War III! Oh God No! Pointing to the "Newscast on TV about the Nuclear strike announcement" At the same time my friends outside began honking their horns,reving their engines and yelling at each other to get the hell out of the way!
Man! we had him going for awhile!!!

COOL BREEZE

Those "duck and cover"
film spots were hilarious! The kid throwing his bike down and running up and squating next to a building but the best was the family picnicing. The announcer"Duck and Cover!" They throw their paper plates and food up in the air and pull the picnic blanket over them! What a riot!
Also funny but scary.. Ever see "Atomic CAfe" with actual footage with nuclear testing in the U.S.?
Has soilders being told of the three things produced by a nuclear blast: Fire,Flying Debri and Radiation ...Radiation is the least dangerous! Yeah Right! Then they show a nuclear blast and immediately after the sand blast over their fox holes they jump out and go running toward the impact area. No masks, no protective gear,Nothing! Later an actual radio annoucement to a nearby town warning residents that winds have shifted and to be on the "Safe" side please try to remain indoors for the next 3 hours! Sorry, got distracted .They're playing Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell " right now at the closing Olympics ceremony! Okay?Kind of fitting to the subject matter!
Anyway,I watched a special awhile back on all the different
bombs the government has tested in the United States!
You talk about scary! They had actual footage and showed the devastation each one caused! SCARY! YO! RADIATION FALLOUT?
REALLY SCARY! Most people know about 1 or 2 test like Bikini Island and Los Alamos but most people don't have a clue how many of these test were done in the U.S!
I have several things on this subject including a government pamplet on 10 steps for surviving a nuclear attack, a early 60's Los Alamos tour pass and brochure and a 1950 paperback produced by the government entitled "How to Suvive An Atomic Bomb" They're a riot to read! It amazing how much bullshit the government trys to feed us!Don't even get me started on UFOs space travel all that and government coverups in general! I've got relatives and friend high up including ex secret service. The stuff that I've heard would scare the crap out of most people and piss off the rest!And NO, I'm not paranoid about them reading this and watching me. They been watching me for a long time but that's another story.

COOL BREEZE

I saw both "Deep Impact" and "Armegeddon" Scary, but it's not that unrealistic. Who knows what the galaxy has in store for us.

I remember in the early 80s going on a class trip to see "The Day After" at the movies.

I will always remember the scene where the highway is packed with cars in a desperate attempt to leave the city. The amusing thing was the that the lanes coming into the city were empty, but everyone was still crammed in the lane going out, panicking to escape the city before the bomb dropped. As if anyone would be obeying the road rules in a panic situation like that even if they weren't thinking straight!! :lol:

We had a fairly big earthquake here almost a year ago to the day, so this is a subject I think about a little more in depth than most. I know if I ever needed to evacuate, I sure as hell wouldn't be obeying traffic rules. I think peoples' survival instincts would kick in before the "rules of the road" instincts would in a situation such as that.

The "Duck and Cover" was just a feel good propaganda that the government was putting out in the 1950s. Back then, they really did not understand the properties of radiation and atomic warfare as a whole. The whole concept of a Mutual Assured Destruction was still in its infant stages. The movies "The Day After" and "Threads" greatly demostrated the dangers of embarking a nuclear warfare exchange. But the movie did highlight one theme. At the time, the nuclear freeze movement was growing and the movie highlighted this theme.

I remember "The Day After" and how much the movie affected me for days afterwards! The nuclear blast and seeing the skeletons of people flashing on the screen was powerful as well as disturbing! A great TV movie! :thumb:

I remember reading a TV Guide piece on the making of this film. In it, ABC asked the Defense Department for technical assistance. They agreed, on one condition. In the film, it had to be made clear that the Soviet Union started it. ABC balked, claiming that who actually starts a nuclear war doesn't matter. The end result is all the same.

Well I'm probably going to inundated with emails on this one.
But that movie was nothing but typical leftist knee jerk reaction, anti-nuke, scare the heck out of everyone, Reagan's going to destroy the world BS I'd ever seen.

One of the post here said that one of the scariest moments of the 1980's was President Reagan calling USSR "The Evil Empire". That was one of the greatest moments of the 1980's. Finally someone had the balls to stand up to them. They all said Reagan was going to blow up the word. What a joke.