"Band of Brothers...your thoughts?" Topic

After reading the comments on the "terrible plot" and "inaccuracies" of Saving Private Ryan on the associated poll suggestion, I'm curious as to your thoughts on HBO's Band of Brothers series…

Personally, I think it's one of the best depictions of WWII out there. I've watched it probably 5 or 6 times…Good stuff…but hey, that's just my opinion.

1. Loved it!
2. Decent enough…a few things bugged me.
3. Didn't really care for it.
4. Just terrible…a waste of my time!
5. Other

1. I cant not watch it if I find it on.

1. Love it. Wondering how to work some of the scenes into my third year cadet class to demonstrate various styles of effective leadership. (and there a re some example sof ineffective leadership too)

The more I watch it the more admiration I have for Dick Winters.

And the more I want to paint some 15mm WW2 American paras… :)

1.

I know naff all about WWII but really do like the show.

1.
<<1. Love it. Wondering how to work some of the scenes into my third year cadet class to demonstrate various styles of effective leadership. (and there a re some example sof ineffective leadership too)>>

Look at Pork Chop Hill, it has some leadership issues also.

1. Love it!

1,

1111111111111111111111111

A 1 overall, except for a few episodes I didn't enjoy as much as the others. I would only give them a 1.

So overall that brings the average down to a 1.

1. All the way.

1

and ditto the other comments

Phil
pbeyecandy.wordpress.com

Yeah, it's pretty much the Gold Standard, and I suspect it will be for years to come.

Just started rewatching it for the 4th or 5th time myself.
1 is the only answer, Its the interviews with the real men who served that really lift it from entertainment to history, I can not see them doing that if the script was to far off from reality.

Robert

I like playing 'spot the Brit actor.' Simon Pegg is in there early on, and also that Mr. Tumnus fellow, James McAvoy.

1 throughout though "Day of Days" and the last episode would get a 0!

1+, EXCELLENT!

It was great! The Pacific, less so.

1, definitely a 1.

Stopped watching because I didn't know if I could bear the concentration camp scenes (we're talking weeks after 9/11, here). So I went and read the book. Ended up with the conundrum of whether I should read the book to spoil the series, or watch the series to spoil the book.

Both were excellent. Both wandered from merely covering the same path. They compliment each other wonderfully.

And if you're curious, the book won the debate and got read first …

1.

1.5….
I LIKED it (not love…), but nothing bugged me about it either…

1

A 1 from me, too.

But we're all agreeing. On TMP. Creepy!! :)

Holy !@$# not a single negative! Am I really on an internet forum? I read the book long before the series was made and thought it was very good. The series was great. So a 1 for me too.

1 for sure.

Though in a sense, it is apples and oranges if you are talking about "the plot" being the basis of liking or disliking. BoB is presenting real events as remembered by those who were there, SPR is fiction set in a real event (other than the opening invasion scene of course).

1) Loved it.

Okay, so I'll be the stick-in-the-mud and toss out a 3. From what little I know, the history looks and feels right. I also really enjoyed the first three episodes but around Operation Market-Garden I start to lose interest. The actions in Holland are cool, but very short and the Battle of the Bulge stuff is just hard to follow and kind of boring to me. After that it really goes down hill to me. The book, on the other hand, was excellent and only the first few episodes really do justice to it. Blame it on Dick Winters getting kicked upstairs I guess.

Now on the other hand, The Pacific was awesome! I loved every episode!

3. I lost interest towards the end.

1

1. I own the series on DVD(the Pacific,too). Go watch Henry Fonda in "The Battle of the Bulge" and then come back and debate the historical merits.

Definitely a "1". Particularly effective were the prefacing/perspective of the episodes by the actual paratrooper veterans. God Bless Them!

1. Loved it and bought it.

8)

1. The only way it could have been better would be if there were more episodes :)

Believe it or not, I haven't seen it. Want to – just haven't had the opportunity to.

1. I like it so much, I bought the whole set, and have watched it at least a dozen times. I love the interviews, and Nixon's video diary. Great stuff.

1 I watched it just last weekend

First time through I found it confusing; I mean they're all young guys in helmets, so it's hard to tell the characters apart.

SEcond time through I could start following the characters and watch them grow. And it was good to be able to watch ones in the background when another character is the focus for an episode. Like Winters quietly sending the company medic into Batogne for a hot meal and break, or keeping First Sgt Lipton motivated while he has to deal with an empty uniform of a coy cmdr.

And I really enjoyed the human interest aspects of the last episode and finding out what happens to some of these guys after the story ends. Relaying all this to us as a voice over by Winters while we watch them relax playing a game of baseball was directorial brilliance IMO.

1, absolutely!

It's everything Saving Private Ryan is not.

I've shown my wife the Bastogne episode to give my wife some idea of what her father went through. He was a Tech Sergeant in the 28th Division, who did not like to talk about the war.

Rick

1. I do not compare it to 'Saving Private Ryan'. It is a Miniseries with a lot more time for plot development.

Think how good 'Saviung Private Ryan' would have been if you had several 2 hour blocks to follow the Cpt and Sgt through all of the places where the Sgt picked up the cans of dirt.

Think how good 'Saviung Private Ryan' would have been if you had several 2 hour blocks to follow the Cpt and Sgt through all of the places where the Sgt picked up the cans of dirt.
>.
you mean the cans of dirt with the MAGIC MARKER writing on the lids??? ;-)

Bob

1. Loved it. Just watched it about a month ago for the first time. Made me really take an interest in the period. I never really had an interest prior to that.

1

1. For me the clincher is that is the ONLY military show my wife will watch and she watches it whenever it comes on. I, too, think the last scene was not only brilliant but essential.

1

1.

As for 'Pacific', it took me awhile to finish the series. Where as I found myself unable to turn off BoB every time I watch it.

Gert

One of the best things I've seen on TV.

Absolutely one of the best TV series of all time.

As an aside, I took the cadets to the site of the Brecourt Manor Battery two weeks ago and was amazed at how similar the actual site is to the scene depicted in the D-Day episode. They'd clearly put an incredible amount of effort into recreating that battery as faithfully as possible.

1! A great series altogether! I'd read the book first, and although it's very different from the book it's still well done.

1.5 – The first two episodes really hit the spot, after that it drops to a 2 as the rest of the episodes are really just more of the same. That BoB was based on real life is both its great strength but also its Achilles Heel since RL doesn't follow the conventions of drama – by episode 10 all the characters are exactly the same as they were in episode 1 – the inspirational leader is still the inspirational leader, the cheeky chappy is still the cheeky chappy, etc.