The first three episodes of “Der Schwarm” have been available in the ZDF media library for a few days, and three more are available as streams from today. We’ve already reported that not everyone is excited about the series adaptation. After all, “The Swarm” author Frank Schätzing has himself criticized the film adaptation of his most famous novel. If he had his way, the creators of the series would have had to move much further away from the literary original – if only because the book was published in 2004 and a few years have passed since then.
Schätzing explained in his critique that media and communication dynamics have changed significantly over the past few decades and that the impacts of climate destruction, which are an essential part of “The Swarm”, were also important to groups like Fridays For Future. In 2004 it was completely different.
However, the destroyed environment and its many consequences are still relevant and have only gotten worse – which is exactly what the ZDF series is about. But how much reality is there in the dark dystopia?
“The Swarm”: Many facts, but also fiction
“The Swarm” tells of a mysterious organism that spreads through the oceans and attacks people in different ways. Ships are sunk in seconds by gas explosions caused by ice worms on the ocean floor, restaurant workers die of cytotoxins after gutting a lobster, and whales attack tourists – and at first no one understands the reasons for these accidents. Scientists around the world search for clues and soon encounter an intelligent life form that seems inexplicable and wants to wipe out humanity.
›› “The Swarm” in the ZDF media library
In producing the series, the creators of “The Swarm” hired marine biologist Dr. Antje Boetius, ocean researcher at the Alfred Wegener Institute, for advice. In an interview with prism the scientist told what her work in production looked like and of course she was also asked how realistic the scenario shown was. According to Boetius, many of the show’s phenomena are fact-based. For example, whales can cooperate with each other during the hunt and there are algae and protozoa that produce toxins and can make people sick – as it happens in The Swarm. But the scientist also says: “There is certainly no creature in the sea that wants to throw people off the planet”.
But it is also a fact that less than five percent of the oceans have been explored so far. Boetius explains that she repeatedly encounters completely unknown creatures in the sea on expeditions: “We assume that there are still about a million unknown species living in the seas”. For Boetius, it is mainly the message of the series that is important and must be experienced as genuine. Global climate protection and biodiversity conservation must be clearly regulated. Otherwise it would be the natural disasters that make us fun “the wrath of the sea” could happen…
The first six episodes of “Der Schwarm” are accessible as streams in the ZDF media library. The last two episodes will follow on March 8. The series can be seen linearly on TV on March 6 at 8:15 p.m. Two episodes will be broadcast on three consecutive days.