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GET BUSY WITH THE FIZZY

2020-02-07 · explainer · Hank · 3:58 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Science & nature (also: Pop culture) · mode: Explainer · tags: timely hook

Saying he just can't right now, Hank overanalyzes SodaStream's Super Bowl commercial shot by shot, using it to explain that liquid water on Mars is physically impossible but that Mars has plenty of water, known for decades, and once had oceans.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Hank can't right now; SodaStream's Super Bowl ad and its old 'get busy with the fizzy' commercials

  • ★★ Hank says he just can't right now, so instead he will indulge in three things he likes: home soda carbonation, Mars and pedantic overanalysis. — 00:00:00 · Mars
  • ★ Hank says SodaStream's Super Bowl commercial is among his top five SodaStream commercials; number one is one from the 90s. (playful) — 00:00:00

00:00:29 — The slogan; shots one to five end on 'water on Mars'

  • ★★ Hank says SodaStream never settled on a jingle in those years but stuck with 'get busy with the fizzy' for decades. — 00:00:29

00:00:58 — Liquid water on Mars is physically impossible; saline perchlorate streaks

  • ★★★ Hank says liquid water on Mars is physically impossible: the temperature is too low, and with such low pressure it would immediately evaporate. — 00:00:58 · Mars
  • ★★ Hank says we are probably never going to find liquid water on Mars, and there is already enough confusion about the water situation there. (hedged) — 00:00:58 · Mars
  • ★★ Hank says the streaks on very steep Martian slopes might be water seeping through soil, but if they exist they are extremely saline, with super toxic perchlorate salts. (hedged) — 00:00:58 · Mars

00:01:27 — Mission control: no NASA logos, 'Great Pacific Plastic', the in-ad news site

  • ★★ Hank finds the ad's mission control confusing because it has no NASA logos, and wonders if it is a SpaceX thing. (playful) — 00:01:27
  • ★★ Noting an Earth image captioned 'Great Pacific Plastic' on the mission-control wall, Hank says ocean plastic is a big deal, but not one to monitor from Mars. (playful) — 00:01:27 · Mars
  • ★ Hank lists the in-ad news site's other articles (Super Bowl, plastic waste, climate optimism, sparkling water on Wall Street) and wonders who else looked. (playful) — 00:01:56

00:02:26 — Mars has lots of water, known for decades, and once had oceans

  • ★★★ Against the ad's 'Water on Mars' headline, Hank says people are excited to maybe find water on Mars, but it has lots of water, known for decades; melted, it would make oceans. — 00:02:26 · Mars
  • ★★ Hank says we know from the Curiosity rover that Mars once had oceans. — 00:02:26 · Mars

00:02:55 — Remaining shots: the emperor-named mission, the air sampler, perchlorate poisoning; sign-off

  • ★ Hank asked on Twitter, and someone identified a device in the ad as a microbiological air sampler, a real science instrument. — 00:03:24 · Twitter

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says SodaStream is a 107-year-old company. (playful) — video description

Humor (significant)

  • Hank reflects on SodaStream's decades-old slogan 'get busy with the fizzy'. — 00:00:29

    “I will do a lot with the fizzy, but I tend to not get busy with it.”

  • The ad's mission-control wall monitors Earth with a caption reading 'Great Pacific Plastic'. — 00:01:56

    “Look, ocean plastic is a big deal, but not like a we're just gonna keep an eye on it from Mars mission control big deal.”

  • The ad's Mars mission is named after a Roman emperor known for debauchery and incompetence; Hank wonders why. — 00:02:55

    “Subtle dig at the current leadership, maybe?”

  • The astronaut looks worried as her colleague drinks SodaStream-carbonated Mars water. — 00:03:24

    “it's the face of a woman who realizes that her colleague is about to die of perchlorate poisoning”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Mars · SodaStream · SodaStream Super Bowl commercial · water on Mars

Also: Garbage patch · Mars Science Laboratory · NASA · perchlorate · SpaceX · Super Bowl · Twitter

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