Mike Reiss, the legendary The Simpsons writer who was the co-showrunner for arguably the show’s best season and now travels the world seeing cool things, has taken multiple trips aboard the same submersible that’s gone missing while exploring the Titanic wreckage. Having seen firsthand what it’s like in the underwater tin can, he’s not optimistic about the Titan being found in time.
“I know the logistics of it and I know how vast the ocean is and how very tiny this craft is,” he told BBC Breakfast. “If it’s down at the bottom, I don’t know how anyone is going to be able to access it, much less bring it back up.”
In a seperate interview with CNN, he said, “I took four different dives with the company, one to the Titanic and three off of New York City, and communication was lost, at least briefly, every single time. It just seems baked into the system. I don’t blame the submarine as much as I blame deep water, but you would always lose it and come back.”
Reiss said that each time he traveled aboard Titan, he feared that something dire could happen. “I got on the sub and at the back of my mind was, ‘Well, I may never get off this thing,’ that’s always with you,” he said.
The Critic co-creator compared pulling a James Cameron to space travel. “This is not to say this is a shoddy ship or anything, it’s just that this is all new technology and [Oceangate is] learning it as they go along,” he said. “You have to just remember the early days of the space program or the early days of aviation, where you just make a lot of mistakes on the way to figuring out what you’re doing.”
Anyone who has seen the “Simpsons Tide” episode of The Simpsons should know that subs should be avoided at all costs (and that “it’s my first day” is the perfect excuse).
Reiss further discussed his travels aboard the Titan on his podcast.
(Via Decider)