History Channel: Life After People (Blu-ray)

Some state-of-the-art special effects work brings a disturbing vision of the future to life in this History Channel presentation. LIFE AFTER PEOPLE takes a look at what would happen to everything left behind on Earth if the human race was annihilated. The program makers consulted structural engineers, who demonstrate how landmarks such as the Sears Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge would simply wither and ultimately collapse in a future world without humans. The show also examines how the animal kingdom and the natural world would adapt to this human-less future, and ponders how quickly the various records of our existence on Earth would decay. A real-life example of this possible future is accounted for by a close analysis of the area around Chernobyl, which remains uninhabitable 22 years after the explosion at a nuclear power plant. But the most impressive feature of LIFE AFTER PEOPLE is the incredible effects work, which provide an all-too-real depiction of what the planet may look like in the future.