Big, Bigger, Biggest - Seasons 1-3 (2008, 2009, 2011)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2008, 2009, 2011
	Director: -
	Actors: John Michie (narrator)
	Country: GB, USA
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: January - July 2019, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: A series exploring the engineering breakthroughs that have enabled us to develop the largest structures currently in existence.
Review: I liked watching this series, maybe due to my Engineering background but I guess it can be appreciated by anybody as it is rather simplified. The 20 mega-structures covered by the 20 episodes are impressive in themselves, and it is very interesting to learn about their inner working which is the topic of about half the episodes length. Here is the full list of episodes to give you an idea of which kind of structures we are talking about: Season 1: Skyscraper, Aircraft Carrier, Bridge, Airport. Season 2: Tunnel, Submarine, Aircraft, Oil Rig, Dome, Cruise Liner, Space Station, Dam, Telescope, Sky Wheel. Season 3: Canal, Icebreaker, Metro, Prison, Tower, Train. The other half goes through four to eight landmarks and their special feature that has made it possible over time to reach the capability for human engineers to built that largest one we can see today. Each new technique is clearly identified and simply explained thanks to schematic 3D animation, sometimes with a touch of humor. The episodes officially span 3 seasons but can in fact be watched in any particular order, following you personal tastes. I would say all episodes are of the same quality but the subjects covered were of more or less interest for me. For example at the beginning I was into War documentaries so I started with S1E2 Aircraft Carrier and S2E2 Submarine. Then I moved to transportation with episodes like S1E3 Bridge, S1E4 Airport or S2E1 Tunnel. On the contrary, it took me the longest time to watch S2E10 Sky Wheel, S2E5 Dome and S3E4 Prison because I didn't feel that those structures revolutionize our daily life (for the best or worst). Another important episode to mention is S2E9 Telescope because that's a field I know more than a little about, so I could use it to test the scientific accuracy or the series in general. Indeed the succession of landmarks usually seem to follow logical steps and fill in the required gaps to the next bigger structure. But in that episode I realized how a) the Science is oversimplified which means that the Engineers responsible for all the landmarks mentioned in the series deserve even more credit that the series gives them, and b) crucial engineering discoveries were missed, I am thinking Active Optics in the case of that episode so others probably suffer from the same shortcuts. Those are no big complains, as usually the case in Science series intended for a broad audience. After that episode and once I knew what to believe, I watched S2E7 Space Station. All in all a really interesting Documentary series about engineering in spite of its age.
Rating: 7 /10