Trucker, I would clarify my point; yes the discovery of an aircraft's wreckage 50 years after it went missing does make for an interesting story. Its the nature of the documentary's making, the garnish of contrived mystery and intrigue, that is my bug bear.
As for each of these sunken ships having a story to tell, well, in the majority of cases the story can be told in two or three sentences. If you had a huge book that detailed every merchant ship lost in both world wars, by page 40 or 50, you'd be leafing through it. By page 100 you'd be putting it back on the shelf. Two or three sentences would have summed up the whole 50 minutes of that documentary, without all the tedious hushed and foreboding tones of the commentary. Its not the subject so much as how its reported that irritates me.
By the way, one question raised in Star Dust documentary was left unanswered - the ex-BSAA captain they interviewed, the one who'd flown out to assist in the search...did he know what STENDEC meant ? If it had been a standard acronym, either generally or within BSAA, surely he would have known. Unfortunately he was never asked, at least not on camera.
As for each of these sunken ships having a story to tell, well, in the majority of cases the story can be told in two or three sentences. If you had a huge book that detailed every merchant ship lost in both world wars, by page 40 or 50, you'd be leafing through it. By page 100 you'd be putting it back on the shelf. Two or three sentences would have summed up the whole 50 minutes of that documentary, without all the tedious hushed and foreboding tones of the commentary. Its not the subject so much as how its reported that irritates me.
By the way, one question raised in Star Dust documentary was left unanswered - the ex-BSAA captain they interviewed, the one who'd flown out to assist in the search...did he know what STENDEC meant ? If it had been a standard acronym, either generally or within BSAA, surely he would have known. Unfortunately he was never asked, at least not on camera.
