Aftermath: Population Zero - Comparison To Life After People

Comparison To Life After People

As with Life After People, the similar special feature on the History Channel, Aftermath does not explain how humanity disappeared, but rather what would happen to the Earth after we disappeared. It also shows that humans have disappeared instantly, not a few at a time. Both series depicts the possible fates of famous pieces of infrastructure and buildings. It, too, uses CGI dramatizations to depict the possible fate of such icons as the Statue of Liberty and, in both programs, the Eiffel Tower and Hoover Dam. However, it does not emphasize this as much as Life After People does, following much more closely the effects on the natural world and its recovery after mankind departs the scene.

In addition, unlike Life After People, Aftermath depicts what would happen if various modes of transportation—such as automobiles, planes, and trains—are abandoned in mid-motion when their passengers and operators instantly disappear, not unlike the Rapture in Christian eschatology. Life After People does not show what would happen to these vehicles left in motion.

Also, Aftermath shows what would happen if a nuclear power plant's spent fuel rods are left without the cooling equipment governing its condition. Life After People suggest that nuclear power plants would safely shut down with no ill effects with no mention of what would happen to spent fuel rods in storage. However, in an episode of Life After People: The Series, "Toxic Revenge", spent fuel rods are shown 10 days after people heating up and exploding the reactors containing it. Aftermath also shows that the nuclear power plants themselves would shut down without incident, but the spent fuel rod storage in separate buildings would eventually blow up and spread radiation into the air and the surrounding countryside after the backup safety devices fail, due to lack of fuel a few days after the main power plant supplying power shutdown. Life After People also does not mention the release of poisonous gas from chemical plants when their safety features fail, lacking the fuel to run them. Life After People does however talk about the Hoover Dam still generating power after people, but neither show talks about the things powered by batteries and solar power. In the Life After People episode, "Crypt of Civilization", watches with batteries are shown to last at least a year after us. In another episode, "Waves of Devastation", one of the landmarks the episode centers around is the ferris wheel on the Santa Monica Pier, that features LED lights that run automatically at night, powered by solar power. In another episode, "Sin City Meltdown", Springs Preserve's visitor center in Las Vegas is powered by the sun, and so the recorded voices of man still echo, until ten years after people, where silt has accumulated on the solar panels and the last vestiges of the human voice vanish.

Aftermath does not talk about the International Space Station while Life After People discusses the fate of the Immortality Drive aboard the ISS. Both documentaries make reference to objects on the Moon, although Life After People does this as part of the miniseries episode "Roads to Nowhere". Unlike Life After People, Aftermath does not comment on the Voyager 2 spacecraft. Life After People episode "Sky's The Limit" mentions the Cassini–Huygens Space orbiter. However no other space probes were noted. It should however be noted that the original Life After People documentary made reference to man's radio communications in space.