Shockwave: The Complete Season One

Although the explosion of the Hindenburg was captured on film in 1937, that was fairly unique for its time. Today, with the ubiquity of ersatz news photographers, visual security devices, and consumer camera-phones, we are blessed for better or worse with a steady stream of footage recording catastrophes of almost every conceivable sort. In the 13 episodes compiled here from the 2007-08 first season of the History Channel-aired series, real footage of horrific events is combined with illustrative computer graphics and interviews with people who lived to tell the tales. Disasters include tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, floods, fires, explosions, tidal waves, and landslides, as well as plane, helicopter, car, and motorcycle crashes, and rescue efforts at locales such as Mount Hood and Niagara Falls. More unusual stories involve a farmer apparently crushed by a silo he's trying to push over with a bulldozer, a suicidal man who blows up his car, and unlucky skiers, biker, skydivers, and even window-washers. Despite the queasy feeling that Shockwave is playing on the same instinct that encourages rubberneckers to slow down when passing a traffic accident, the series avoids being merely sensationalistic or exploitative, taking an approach that is reasonably sober and scientific (complete with analysis from experts), while also treating survivors and witnesses (including family members) with sensitivity. Recommended. (F. Swietek)