Line #33 Film/CountdownToLookingGlass


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/countdown_to_looking_glass_dvd.jpg]]
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3	''Countdown to Looking Glass'' is a 1984 Canadian AlternateHistory and SpeculativeFiction {{film}} starring Creator/ScottGlenn and Creator/HelenShaver among others, centered around the events that lead up to a [[UsefulNotes/NuclearWeapons nuclear war]] between the USA and the Soviet Union, as depicted in a series of evening newscasts that becomes a [[TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks 24 Hour News Network]].
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5	Notable for its realism at the time (though not so much anymore) and for occasionally being HarsherInHindsight. One of the less famous of the nuclear war movies of the 1980s along with ''Film/{{Threads}}'', ''Film/TheDayAfter'', and ''Film/WorldWarIII''. Notable along with ''Threads'' for being on the "hard" end of the SpeculativeFiction spectrum in that, at the time, such an attack could have happened exactly as it depicted ''and'' that it even bears some relevance in the present.
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7	It is available in its entirety on Youtube.
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9	----
10	!!Tropes included in this film are:
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12	* AlphabetNewsNetwork: The fictional news network taking center stage is CVN. We're not privy to what "CVN" is supposed to stand for, outside of the MeaningfulName (see below).
13	* AlternateHistory: ''Countdown to Looking Glass'' makes it clear at the very start that this is meant to be a "what if" scenario, and not simply TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture.
14	* ApocalypseHow: Compared to its contemporaries, ''Countdown to Looking Glass'' doesn't show the full nuclear exchange or the aftermath. The film instead alludes to the apocalypse unfolding, starting with the presumed exchange of tactical nuclear exchange in the Persian Gulf, evacuation of the President and White House staff, and then with the activation of the Emergency Broadcast System. That being said, the reports from CVN leading up to the end give the sense that everyone in the world is anticipating Societal Collapse or outright Species Extinction.
15	* ApocalypticLog: The film explicitly says at the start that "you will witness a series of events reported by the evening news on television" that (in the film at least) leads to WorldWarIII.
16	* BookEnds: The film begins and ends with a video clip of Looking Glass taking off.
17	* CaliforniaDoubling: More like Canada Doubling. The entire production was made in Canada but was supposed to be occurring in the US. This becomes very, very obvious at points.
18	* DeadlineNews: Surprisingly averted in the case of Michael Boyle, aboard the USS Nimitz in the end when the nuclear war begins, as he's standing on the deck of the aircraft carrier when a nuclear depth bomb goes off to destroy the submarine, and also manages to survive a Soviet nuclear weapon exploding within the carrier group, as he was inside the carrier's island at the time and was shielded from the worst of the initial burst of radiation. That being said, his fate is left unknown, as the incredible amounts of radiation in the atmosphere completely block out his television feed, and worse still, a third explosion is heard just before it cuts out altogether.
19	* DownerEnding: Once you go nuclear, you can't go back.
20	* EmergencyBroadcast: At the end of the film, the Emergency Broadcast System is activated with an EAN.
21	* EmergencyPresidentialAddress: Of the "not the President, we're all screwed" variety.
22	* EverybodySmokes: That said, for being set in the 1980s and during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar becoming [[UsefulNotes/NuclearWeapons very, very hot]] it is a JustifiedTrope.
23	* HopeSpot: Several times. Unfortunately, neither reason nor an IntrepidReporter can stop the race to war...
24	* JustBeforeTheEnd: The film covers a span of nine days, concluding with full-scale nuclear war.
25	* LastNoteNightmare: The last few moments of the film show Looking Glass taking off as the Emergency Broadcast System activates. Then, as the plane gets airborne, the screen freezes and there's a piercing high pitched note akin to [[ShellShockSilence tinnitus]], as if the network's already been destroyed by a nuclear attack.
26	* LostInTransmission: [[spoiler: In regards to DeadlineNews above, there were two nuclear bombs detonated outside of the Nimitz while Michael Boyle was reporting, the first nuke detonated underwater while Michael was reporting on the flight deck (with Michael assuming it was a nuclear depth charge dropped by one of the Nimitz's picket ships to attack a Russian submarine), the second nuke detonated much closer and shook around but didn't sink the Nimitz. The sound of another explosion can be heard before the broadcast cuts out, but it is never elaborated whether this is the carrier exploding, or a second Soviet nuke going off.]]
27	* MassOhCrap: An interesting one that doesn't involve mass rioting and chaos. Instead, as the crisis threatens to bring the U.S. and U.S.S.R. into direct conflict, CVN reports on an organic prayer meeting occurring in Hiroshima, with some reported to have traveled across the country to attend. In addition to reports of people evacuating large cities like New York City, across America schools close early with no intention of reopening the next day. Events nationwide also get canceled. Don Tobin describes it as a growing "feeling of prudence and restraint, as the only response we have to events we cannot control."
28	* MeaningfulName: CVN is the network the film centers on, and it is also the US Navy designation for a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, such as the ''Nimitz'' (CVN-68). Making the link even more explicit, the logo for CVN looks similar to military stencil.
29	* NewscasterCameo: Eric Sevareid. Newt Gingrich also appeared. The main anchor in the film is played by Patrick Watson, a well known and recognizable Canadian TV journalist in one of his few acting roles.
30	* NukeEm: When the ''Nimitz'' battle group reaches the Persian Gulf, what's thought by Michael Boyle to be a nuclear depth charge is used on a Soviet sub that slips into the battlegroup and gets too close to the ''Nimitz''. Boyle isn't able to find out if someone in the fleet went rogue, or who even in the fleet had launch authority--not that it matters, because the Soviets retaliate with tactical nuclear weapons of their own. [[MutuallyAssuredDestruction And from there it goes global.]]
31	* OhCrap: A chain reaction OhCrap at that: Mick / Michael sees the explosion of the first nuclear bomb of WorldWarIII behind him, and when the video relays this to the studio, before he has time to speak, the anchor Don has his OhCrap moment.
32	* PhonyNewscast: Unlike similar productions like ''Film/SpecialBulletin'', however, the film isn't completely shown as a newscast, as it cuts away for dramatic sequences.
33	* TemptingFate: As newscaster Don Tobin says in the film:
34	--> '''Tobin:''' Reasonable people, once they've looked the Devil in the face, aren't going to shake hands with him.
35	* ThisJustIn: As to be expected of a news network reporting on a crisis--
36	** Shortly after the announcement that CVN News is shifting to twenty-four hour coverage, right as he is about to cut to a State Department briefing, Don Tobin is handed a bulletin announcing that the government ordered the shutdown of all nuclear power plants as a precautionary measure.
37	** The most poignant one happens at the very end of the film, when Don Tobin announces "here's a bulletin that's just come in" and it turns out to be about Air Force One taking off to join Looking Glass in the air. The "countdown to Looking Glass" is over.
38	* TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks: On the eighth day of the crisis as the ''Nimitz'' battle group approaches the Persian Gulf, Don Tobin announces that CVN News will remain on the air until further notice.
39	--> '''Tobin:''' Broadcasting twenty-four hours a day is a big job, and if we seem to trip over our feet from time to time, we're gonna ask you in advance to bear with us.
40	* WatchTheWorldDie: Having just watched the tactical nuclear warfare unfold in the Gulf, with full-scale nuclear war minutes away and the Emergency Broadcast System about to activate, a bewildered Don Tobin spends the last few moments he has on air reflecting on what one of the pioneers of nuclear weapons policy had told him about the inevitability of an exchange.
41	* WeInterruptThisProgram: A CVN News Alert on the fifth day reports on the battle between American and unknown aircraft in Saudi Arabia. We're actually shown an executive ordering the interrupt to the network's master control over the phone, which required him to provide an authorization code.

Context Film / CountdownToLookingGlass