James Burke : Connections, Episode 8, "Eat, Drink and be Merry", 5 of 5 (CC)

[tek1001]

I never get enough of watching the ending of this episode as the booster takes off right on cue as Burke stops narrating. Amazing!

[victorialucas38]

I can only echo what everyone else said about that amazing final shot. No chance for a retake there!

[isefire]

Dear JamesBurkeWeb: I read somewhere once that the shot of Mr. Burke walking the length of the rocket represented some manner of cinematic record at the time, something such as the longest single continuous dolly shot in a documentary (I'm not sure it's a dolly shot--I'm no cinema expert!--but it's the nomenclature that comes to mine). Is this true about this "take" (again, if that's even the correct cinematic term, "take," I'm not sure!)?

[elquemando]

The final (rocket) sequence is amazing!

[dreasim]

JB is no fool..he picks good spots to film..beaches...beer festivals lol

[Icix1]

lol amazing timing at the end

[Inediblehulk]

I've gone 8 episodes (or 40 video clips, depending on your yardstick), and have not commented yet. I will continue to watch in awed silence till the end of 1997, pausing here only to raise a toast, to to the chilled beef! Now carry on connecting, each and all of you.

[kacplaymyst]

2:20 is that Archi Bunker lol

[ryoushii]

Ironically, one use of the Dewar flask was in the first successful test of a Hydrogen bomb. Because Los Alamos hadn't figured out how to use lithium (shades of Star Trek) to provide the necessary hydrogen in 1952, the very first hydrogen bomb, Mike 1, was basically a two story tall Dewar flask filled with liquid hydrogen wrapped in lightly enriched uranium and polystyrene and topped with a fission bomb cherry. Its yield, ten megatons. Its fireball, almost a mile in diameter.

[KevinByrne2]

7:10 -- Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935).

[schwei56]

5:14 Revolutionized the great Edwardian picnic in 1904.

[murdelabop]

I love the last shot in this video. Now _that's_ timing!

[markmh835]

Awesome! Absolutely fantastic! One of the best episodes of the entire series, if not the best.

[Gary190tube]

This was back in the days when we used to call Beijing "Peking". I never found out why we all decided to change.

I remember around the time of the tianenman square massacre, people were wondering "where's Beijing?"

[ashaney13]

Oh man, I totally cracked up at 2:26

[vjreejr]

This is an incredible piece of filmmaking. When Burke walks down the side of the Saturn V, the audience begins to realize he's talking about rockets. Better yet, he timed his dialog to match a launch. I'm not sure, but I think it was a Titan4C which was a heavy rocket. I'm guessing that was the launch for either Voyager 1 or 2. No matter what, there was no 2nd take and Burke had to nail it. He did. Hinting at space exploration or ICBMs, then leaving the audience to ponder is excellent!

[rangeclerk]

Remember when this series first aired--TOTALLY AWESOME! Worked at a planetarium in Orange Co Ca (Santa Ana College) and mentioned and used some of Burke's info into the planetarium presentations!

[AlIord]

Coolest ending ever. That was one hell of a perfect take.

[vjreejr]

@vjreejr I believe the rocket was a Titan III E since Titan IV rockets didn't first launch until the 1980s. Titan III Es were used to launch Vikings 1 and 2 to Mars and Voyagers 1 and 2. There were only 7 Titan III E launches ever with the last two being Voyager launches which occured in August and September of 1977. I'm not certain, but strongly suspect Burke did this during a Voyager launch which he would have covered anyway since he was a space news journalist.

[saltywench]

The "unintelligible" word is Edwardian, LOL Edwardian picnic.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

thanks! I hope I still have the .sub file around ...

[Starynight74]

Im doing a history fair project on the refrigerator. since im doing a documentary, i would like to get permission to use part of this clip in my video. i would really appreciate it.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

No permission should be required *or sought*. That easily falls under Title17, section 107 of the US code as "fair use" and is not considered an infringement of copyright.

Search out: Copyright Law of the United States of America, Title 17 of the United States Code: (copyright [fullstop] gov [angled line] title17) and read the related sections 106 and 107.

[Starynight74]

ok thank you!!

[JamesBurkeWeb]

I can post the link this way:

hττp://ωωω.çοpyrἰghτ.gον/τἰτlε­17/92çhαp1.hτml

You'll have to interpret the shape of those letters back to latin.

[DayBergs]

@JamesBurkeWeb

Just curious, why can you not post the link directly?

And also, thank you so much for posting this series!

[daddyofjames]

I vaguely remember JB telling how he did the very last sequence. They could hear the countdown so (presumably he'd rehearsed what he wanted to say) he knew when his cue was--but still, like all the series; a totally absorbing and brilliant piece of what television SHOULD be about. Not the diet of banal, inane dross 'celebrity' shite the masses are fed.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Yes, see re-connections for that. It's under "Burke Specials" from the channel page.

[edbeaty]

Incredible!

I'm curious, which launch was this? The timing is right for this to be one of the Voyager probes, which, as a long-time Carl Sagan fan, is a lovely connection in itself.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Yes it is, or would be ;).

Well, on second thought, more like a coincidence, but all the same. Maybe Sagan was the camera guy shouting out the countdown!

- JBW

[flatlander30]

Dear lord.

Mind=blown

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Yes, again see re-connections for more details on that scene (view_playlist [Q] 3354DD6A56E3794B)

[tonycatman]

Absolutely stunning timing at the end there.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Yes, that one's a classic.

[flatlander30]

Touche. Tou-che.

[gerjaison]

I always knew the fridge had something to do with beer!!

It just shows the priorities of man!!

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Heh. Yup, Beer and malaria. What a combo. Well at least they got it right with Beer!

- JBW

[TheLastBrainLeft]

@gerjaison There are many historians who are re-considering why mankind began harvesting cereal grains (wheat, etc), an event which most consider the trigger for modern civilization. For centuries it was assumed this was done to make bread, the foodstuff that sustained most people in the western world up into the industrial era. Now, especially in Egypt, it is beginning to look like mankind developed brewing beer before leavening bread. Beer, man. What can't it do?

[test30003]

thanks for sharing these series

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Not at all. Glad you're enjoying them.

[shampoovta]

This guy is a fucking brain man!! Clap clap fucking clapping cool man!!!!

[JamesBurkeWeb]

He's pretty entertaining too ;). Very witty.

It's a nice break to sit down and laugh like an idiot for an hour while at the same time learning about plastics, the dukes of Burgundy and living on credit, the history of modern warfare and it's associated weaponry, paper manufacture, food preservation, malaria, refrigeration, jet propulsion and ending it all with a "you can't be serious!" exclamation mark.

Great episode, I concur.

- JBW

[PaulUmbarger]

That Saturn V that they show at around 07:00 is in Houston Texas. I saw it when I was like eight or so. It's hard to dscribe just how honking big that thing it! Unbelievable that it can actually get off the ground! LOL!

[MoonEyes2k]

8:36 HAS to be one of the best pieces of televsion, ever. PERFECT timing, for something you can't do over.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Yes, I know. Brilliant. Check out re-Connections where he talks about when they filmed that scene. It's quite funny!

Note: re-Connections is currently my "feature".