Sci-Fi Channel ponders "Doomsday" scenarios
2006-06-15

Category Climate Change Disaster Volcano People Matt Lauer Movie War of the Worlds Cable Channels Sci-fi Channel

There might be a bit of the panic button pushed on this thrilling two-hour telecast, but the threats it recounts are no less frightening for it, no less doomsday material.

Matt Lauer hosts "Countdown to Doomsday," a telecast from Sci Fi Channel that should make every one of us sit up and take notice.

Nevermind the Wellesian-"War of the Worlds" feel of the telecast, Lauer hosts a look at some very real threats that face us and our planet.

The question is begged time and again: Would we survive? These are natural disasters for the most part, though here they're given a bit of the melodramatic to help the message sink in.

With a team of scientific experts behind them, the producers of "Doomsday" look closely (and graphically) at such possible horrors as volcanoes, asteroid impacts, gamma ray bursts, solar flames, pandemics and the like.

The disasters we should specifically notice are the possibilities of terrorism and -- are we paying attention? -- indications of global warming. The images are mesmerizing as is the subject itself.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter