More on our plates

Press, 26 December 1986, Page 11

More on our plates

Plate tectonics is not the latest technological innovation in the search for missing dentures. It is a ringing phrase from modem geological thought, pealing out with continental drifts, magnetic flip and a spreading sea-floor. Mind you, there does seem to be a problem of creeping plates, which, any way one looks at it, might make food a little difficult to deal with. “Planet Earth” has begun on Sundays at 7.00 and is extraordinarily good. No expense spared, American cameras romp all over the world to illustrate the living machine of the Earth. It is an excellent popularisation of science, showing the problems that arise and the imaginative leaps that help to solve them. From uplift, erosion and rock-form to the oftmentioned "awesome power” of volcanoes, earthquakes and the genera! grinding of tectonic plates, we were thrust into what seemed a different world, but is in fact the one we perch on. There were fascinating snippets of information — for in- • stance, as India drives inexorably below Asia it

causes earthquakes in China, which might be regarded as an international incident of some proportions. The knowledge that the Earth is a dynamic and constantly changing place rather than having the firmness and certainty of a fixed object is disturbing. It makes life seem even more impermanent than it already seemed. Struggling up for a fortifying G and T afterwards, kneecaps felt slightly precarious in the mild expectation of a couple of plates grinding under the house and causing a bit of lounge-floor spreading. The photography and graphics were very impressive, from the “alien deep” to “darkest space” (why are they always alien and darkest?). The camerawork was good enough to show the sheer power and magnitude of the elemental forces which support us. And it was mixed with a wellcontrived series of explanation by people who appeared to know what they were talking about.

For someone who has difficulty in remembering what happened yesterday, coping with geological

concepts is not that easy. “Surprisingly, no rocks were older than 150 million years.” Well, there are surprises and surprises. Unless one is familiar with geological time, this surprise hardly seemed the occasion for more than a slight elevation of the eyebrows.

Mostly though the commentary and explanations matched the pictures, although much of it was delivered by a narrator

with a sleep-inducing voice. The only slip into silliness was “The more we know, the more we want to know.”

The only real foolishness was "Japan’s people seem to know their country owes it existence to volcanic destruction,” this being accompanied by a shot of a family helping an old lady along the road. It’s a fair bet that none of them had ever given a thought to what Japan owes its existence to.

"Planet Earth” then was very worthwhile and makes one look forward to the other six. It is easily acquired, entertaining knowledge. It was also a sharp contrast to the programmes which followed it on Sunday. “Hi de Hi” grinds on, not unlike tectonic plates, amazingly maintaining its popularity. It is rubbish, although the relationship between the splendidly Welsh, oversexed Gladys and the academicallyinhibited Jeffrey has its moments.

Finally, the “Tenko” reunion had one grinding one’s plates in boredom. It surely deserves a prize for one of the most tedi-

ous programmes of the year. How can something be taken seriously which contains the line — “She tells me you’ve moved about quite a bit since you left the leper colony?”