What ’s scarey : being stranded at sea , stick in an ominous fogginess , or forced to present the monstrous motives of the fossil fuel industriousness ? Well thanks to The Rig , the highly bingeable new sci - fi series from Amazon Prime Video , you do n’t have to choose .
Rather than using sci - fi trope such as of a jumbo ocean monster or a devastating natural disaster acting as a stand - in for climate change , The Rig is a contemporaneous thriller root in the interpersonal struggle that arise when a group of people acquire their future has been uprooted due to force beyond their control .
The series focalise on a crew of North Sea rock oil workers who discover their seaward drilling platform is about to be decommission by its owner Pictor Energy , a ( fancied ) major role player in the United Kingdom ’s energy market . Soon , a mysterious fog engulfs the operation , making it impossible for the crew to return to the nearby Scottish mainland .
Martin Compston as Fulmer Hamilton in “The Rig.”Photo: Amazon Studios
John Carpenter fans will spot where the show must go from here , albeit with a Build Back near twist : proletarian begin to spiral into rabidity , be it from contact with supernatural forces buried deep beneath them , or upon learning that their oil manufacture employer is not coming to save them . Talk of retraining proletarian into green - based jobs produce added division between the blue- and snowy - collar rank , with veteran worker promise plans to send uprise men back to shoal “ embarrassing . ”
call option for industry retraining , of course , are n’t simply a work of fiction ; they ’ve been traverse the oil and gas fields inEuropeandthe United Statesfor year as governance and the secret sector attempt to quell global emission . Many oil worker know that a modulation in the field of force is underway , though unlike in The Rig , amajoritymay already have skills that could interpret to other energy sectors . And according to one view , half ofthe rig workersin the North Sea , a part that brook over 200,000 job , want to be retained for oeuvre in offshore wind .
But despite birdcall for increased transition towindand other renewables in the region , the United Kingdom recently announced more drilling in the North Sea , mostly in the name ofdomestic energyproduction . clime groups have forebode the decision unlawful , and the Scottish governmentrecently announcedthat they do not support the elaboration of oil and gas in the area .
Throughout writing and shooting the serial , series Jehovah David Macpherson say he was inspired by the decommissioning of oil semi and the vitality transition . He wanted the show to mouth to the stories of the people who work on the rigs , from old rig workers to unripe management with new ideas . “ As much as we want to transition forth from fossil fuel as quickly as potential , industrial decline is a mental process that often is n’t oversee very well , particularly in the United Kingdom , ” Macpherson enjoin Grist . “ We have a recollective history of not looking after workers when these braggy industrial change come in about . ”
Macpherson , a former environmental policy worker for the Scottish government and the boy of a North Sea petroleum worker , said he want the serial to play as a way of life of bringing the interpersonal conflict to the discourse of mood modification and energy transition , but through an entertaining medium . “ I ’ve got a great deal of esteem for the the great unwashed who work in these office and these industry , ” he said . “ We get pushed into false dichotomies and I wanted to utilize the show to hopefully take a turn more nuance to these discussions . ”
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Though the serial publication is currently streaming globally , Macpherson sound out he wanted it to feel like a Scottish show in its origin and positioning , with North Sea oil acting as a microcosm for the remainder of the earth ’s vitality industry difference of opinion . “ We get a lot of post - apocalyptic dramatic play where the climate calamity has happened in the past and we ’re in a sort of a unlike worldly concern , but I really want to center on the here and now , ” Macpherson said .
The Rig comes at a moment when talks of a global fuel transition , unstable economies , and push scarcity are more prevalent than ever . Premiering at the beginning of the yr , moments in the series nod toworkers who have already last through a global pandemic ; some workers pontificate that their underwater woes may be because of the Russian military as opposed to a supernatural aquatic nemesis .
At times , the heavy - handed talk of energy , climate , transition , and environmental scathe reminds viewers of what it is , an action , sci - fi , thriller , trying to fit a mess of drama , noesis , global issues , and supernatural element into six episodes . From a horror view , there ’s quite a little of real - spirit beginning material . Oil cheat workers havedied , beenstranded for 24-hour interval , and facegrueling conditionsto maintain energy pauperism andrecord profitsfor oil ship’s company .
Throughout the series , which isgrowing in popularity with American streamersand already receivingpraisefrom repulsion icons like Stephen King , talk of both a once and future wave hangs sonorous . Even the case of a changing tide causes workers to strain up and brush off the unnamed future with playful , pointed banter of “ depart immature . ”
Taking a page out of Ridley Scott ’s Alien trilogy , the existent baddie of The Rig is n’t apparent until the end , when more selective information about Pictor Energy comes to light . In a not - so - insidious nod to theExxon internal memorandum , it flex out the company sleep with about the underwater being and its effects the whole clock time .
But do n’t rent the spoiler deter you : Whether you ’re a fan of supernatural suspense celluloid , a speedy environmental news reader , or both , The Rig is deserving a watch . The themes of climate tragedy , or as the rig ’s foreman puts it , “ punching the Earth until it punches back ” might not be Modern to the writing style , but the serial takes the audience deeper . With talks of renewable vim , C capture , and ocean teras climb up from the mystifying , The Rig is able to compress energy headline and New sci - fi into a mostly digestible thriller worth explore .
EnergyEnergy developmentExxonPetroleum industryStephen King
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