Band Of Brothers

The Black Oil

I'm behind the curve on some aspects of technology, and so haven't seen anything (film or TV) on Blu Ray. What difference do you notice with a show like this?

krudler

The Black Oil wrote: »

I'm behind the curve on some aspects of technology, and so haven't seen anything (film or TV) on Blu Ray. What difference do you notice with a show like this?

Much, much clearer and higher resolution. It looks phenomenal on blu-ray tbh.

DazMarz

A huge fan of all things World War II, I don't know how this slipped below my radar. Just started watching it last night.

It's pulled me in so far, and I can't wait to see how it develops. About to start the episode "Day of Days".

Utopia Parkway

NIMAN wrote: »

BoB one of the greatest TV shows ever, must get my BluRay set dusted off soon.

I started watching Pacific, and stopped at Episode 4 I think, simply wasn't doing it for me.

It's worth sticking with. The first few episodes are slow enough alright with all the Melbourne stuff but it improves a lot after that. Not as good as BoB but still pretty good. By the end of the Pacific you get the sense that they had a far far tougher time of it over there than the US troops in Europe. Last few episodes are fairly brutal.

krudler

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

It's worth sticking with. The first few episodes are slow enough alright with all the Melbourne stuff but it improves a lot after that. Not as good as BoB but still pretty good. By the end of the Pacific you get the sense that they had a far far tougher time of it over there than the US troops in Europe. Last few episodes are fairly brutal.

The European theatre was the more "glamorous" one alright.

The Black Oil

The episode after Bastogne, Breaking Point, is equally as tough, perhaps more so. An incompetent guy like Dike, then a crazy bastard like Speirs at the other end of the spectrum.

siblers

Never really understand why people dislike The Pacific so much, I thought it was superb. I did have to read the novel its based off of first as I knew so little about it but once I had read the novel I really could appreciate just what a brilliant job the series did. Some of the battle scenes in The Pacific are pretty astonishing and they could not have really done a better job of portraying the horrors of the pacific theater.

Starscream25

I love band of brothers, have not got around to watching pacific yet. I would put it in the top 5 tv shows ever made, although to call it a 'show', might not do it justice, it's a lot more than just a tv show, a work of art maybe.

krudler

The Black Oil wrote: »

The episode after Bastogne, Breaking Point, is equally as tough, perhaps more so. An incompetent guy like Dike, then a crazy bastard like Speirs at the other end of the spectrum.

"That" scene with Spiers running across the village is still goosebump inducing.

Starscream25

krudler wrote: »

"That" scene with Spiers running across the village is still goosebump inducing.

I'm not sure was that based on reality that he did that, I'm open to correction, but I thought that it was the cheesiest and only cheesy part in the whole series, I could imagine the America **** yeah music playing when he ran.

Burgo

Starscream25 wrote: »

I'm not sure was that based on reality that he did that, I'm open to correction, but I thought that it was the cheesiest and only cheesy part in the whole series, I could imagine the America **** yeah music playing when he ran.

I remember reading about it in band of brothers. Worth a read for a fan of the series btw.

siblers

Starscream25 wrote: »

I'm not sure was that based on reality that he did that, I'm open to correction, but I thought that it was the cheesiest and only cheesy part in the whole series, I could imagine the America **** yeah music playing when he ran.

Actually happened in the book. It strays very little from the book. One bit alright where Winters kills the young german soldier who was sitting on the grass, in reality that soldier tried to kill Winters.

snausages

David Schwimmer was surprisingly excellent in this.

kryogen

Will finish out Generation Kill then definitely get on to The Pacific

kryogen

snausages wrote: »

David Schwimmer was surprisingly excellent in this.

Did you think so? I thought he was the only mistake casting wise

Totally unbelievable as a tough guy in fairness/couldn't take him seriously at all on reflection. I got a laugh off him but he was miscast

Tipsy McSwagger

kryogen wrote: »

Did you think so? I thought he was the only mistake casting wise

Totally unbelievable as a tough guy in fairness/couldn't take him seriously at all on reflection. I got a laugh off him but he was miscast

You're mistake was thinking he was playing a tough guy.

Burgo

kryogen wrote: »

Did you think so? I thought he was the only mistake casting wise

Totally unbelievable as a tough guy in fairness/couldn't take him seriously at all on reflection. I got a laugh off him but he was miscast

In fairness this is the real Herbert Sobel, not exactly the toughest looking guy.

kryogen

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

You're mistake was thinking he was playing a tough guy.

Ah you know what I meant, I found the scenes where is berating the soldiers, like in ep 1, cringey and almost joke like, had the feel of a spoof about it

DazMarz

See, that's the thing about Schwimmer as Sobel. He was not a big, intimidating tough guy. But he was a Lieutenant (later Captain). He was in authority. He commanded these men. Regardless of what they thought of him, they had to obey him. That's the thing about being in the military.

If every soldier who ever existed decided "I don't like my CO, I'm not obeying him", absolute anarchy. That's why it's taken so seriously when

the group of soldiers send letters saying they won't fight if Sobel is their CO. It goes against everything that the military stands for.

As someone has said, Sobel doesn't look badass. He looks like a weedy accountant (which he ironically was). But he was still a Captain in the army. He was still a commissioned officer. He still had to be obeyed and respected, despite what his men thought. It's also shown that while he's an effective trainer, instructor and motivator, he's not a good man in combat. But that's besides the point.

krudler

DazMarz wrote: »

See, that's the thing about Schwimmer as Sobel. He was not a big, intimidating tough guy. But he was a Lieutenant (later Captain). He was in authority. He commanded these men. Regardless of what they thought of him, they had to obey him. That's the thing about being in the military.

If every soldier who ever existed decided "I don't like my CO, I'm not obeying him", absolute anarchy. That's why it's taken so seriously when

the group of soldiers send letters saying they won't fight if Sobel is their CO. It goes against everything that the military stands for.

As someone has said, Sobel doesn't look badass. He looks like a weedy accountant (which he ironically was). But he was still a Captain in the army. He was still a commissioned officer. He still had to be obeyed and respected, despite what his men thought. It's also shown that while he's an effective trainer, instructor and motivator, he's not a good man in combat. But that's besides the point.

Easy Company did say that they wouldn't have been the soldiers they were if wasn't for him though, despite hating him they were all the better for it, just not in a combat situation.


I do love the scene in the final episode where

Sobel sees Winters and tries to avoid saluting him "Captain Sobel? you salute the rank, not the man" what a badass Winters was in that.

Hitchens

Apart from

the concentration camp scene

, the most poignant clip for me was at the end of an episode set in

England when Mularkey was collecting and paying for his laundry and the woman asked him to bring the uncollected laundry of some of his comrades as well. She started going through the shelves containing each batch and calling out the names as Mularkey just stood there transfixed, knowing they were all dead or wounded and would never need their laundry again

The Black Oil

I didn't have an issue with Schwimmer. Sobel was a stickler for detail, standards, regulations and not slacking on the job. As said above, this stood to the men.

Why We Fight is a very sobering episode. I read a rather bizarre analysis of it today.

It's been touched on already in the thread, but I didn't feel much emotional resonance with the characters in the Pacific compared to BoB, would be interesting to jump straight into it having just finished this, though.

kryogen

Did you read the comments after the review?

Timmyctc

kryogen wrote: »

Did you read the comments after the review?

Jesus. Where did that review pop out of. A whole lot of anti Semitic feels going round :

DieselPowered

I think Band of Brothers came out in 2001. I've seen it most years at Christmas, except this one, and a couple of others.I nearly know it off by heart. Just a great series to watch and get into.

Alfred Borden

Just about to start this for the evening. Hopefully it lives uo to the hype i have heard about it.

Timmyctc

Raf32 wrote: »

Just about to start this for the evening. Hopefully it lives uo to the hype i have heard about it.

Let us know how blown your mind has been :pac:

Alfred Borden

Timmyctc wrote: »

Let us know how blown your mind has been :pac:

5 episodes in and absolutely mind blown :eek:

Timmyctc

Raf32 wrote: »

5 episodes in and absolutely mind blown :eek:

Fair play. Thats 5 hours of the last 7 or so :pac: :P

Alfred Borden

Timmyctc wrote: »

Fair play. Thats 5 hours of the last 7 or so :pac: :P

I have never got into anything war related until now, dunno how i havent seen this show before :pac: