Review – Azorian: The Raising of the K-129

Usually if there’s no IMDb listing for a production I won’t review it as a movie. However, this PBS special was long enough to meet the running time requirement, and I felt the need to say a word or two about it. Honestly, how the hell can they take a deep sea recovery mission with strong intrigue and espionage elements and turn it into a watching-grass-grow lecture on mechanical engineering? The U.S. attempt to extract the wreckage of Soviet submarine K-129 is a tale packed with high level government high jinks, submarine story thrills and the world’s most expensive game of Claw Machine. Though some of the more interesting elements (such as what may have sunk the sub to begin with) get a brief mention, the vast vast vast majority of the production is an endless consideration of the various pipes, gears, winches and whatnot that went into the Hughes Glomar Explorer, a multi-gazillion-dollar vessel built for one failed purpose. If you’re way into nautical engineering, PBS finally made the special you’ve been waiting for. Everyone else can skip with impunity. See if desperate