That Titanic thing

The Titanic sank exactly 100 years ago today. Well, not exactly. Technically it struck the iceberg on the 15th but actually sank in the early hours of the 16th.

As expected, television has been plastered with Titanic specials, some trying to find new wrinkles in a century-old story and others merely recalling and remembering the events. In the former category is probably History Television’s airing of ‘Nazi Titanic’. This obscure 1943 German film (actually named simply ‘Titanic’) was commissioned by Joseph Goebbels and, not surprisingly, served as a vehicle (ho ho) to rail against British capitalism and greed. You can check out the Wikipedia article for more. The only one topping this would be Titanic II. The 2010 direct-to-DVD film features a plot where a duplicate of the doomed liner is struck by not one but two tsunamis (the first pushes an iceberg into it), explodes, catches on fire, capsizes and sinks. I believe Mega Shark probably eats what remains of it and any passengers shortly thereafter.

Anyway, the original was a terrible disaster, of course. I get nervous riding on a ferry and it starts to rock a bit but at least I know there are enough lifeboats in the event of an emergency.