45 minSeason 1 • Episode 6
LatestAn insight into the history of nuclear power. In the 1950s scientists and politicians thought they could create a different world with a limitless source of nuclear energy. But things began to go wrong. Scientists in America and the Soviet Union were duped into building dozens of potentially dangerous plants. Then came the disasters of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl which changed views on the safety of this new technology. This episode was named after a 1953 General Electric propaganda film explaining nuclear power and features artfully chosen footage from this film.
Pandora's Box is a six-part 1992 BBC documentary television series which examines the consequences of political and technocratic rationalism. The episodes deal, in order, with communism in The Soviet Union, systems analysis and game theory during the Cold War, economy in the United Kingdom during the 1970s, the insecticide DDT, Kwame Nkrumah's leadership in Ghana during the 1950s and 1960s and the history of nuclear power.
Direction
Curtis's signature montage: pop music + archival footage = brain rewiring
Editing
Jarring juxtapositions that make you question everything you just accepted
Writing
Narration so confident you'll believe any conspiracy he sells
Creator
Adam Curtis
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This launched Adam Curtis's signature style: no interviews, archival-only, narrator-as-provocateur. The BBC initially buried it in late-night slots.
Episode 2's game theory focus directly inspired Dr. Strangelove comparisons, but Curtis argues the real horror was bureaucrats believing the math.
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