Oceania Band of Brothers

I unfortunately missed this mini-series... how long did it go for?

Does anyone know if it will be released as a DVD set?

 

Well, I have to say, I loved the whole series, and it was wrapped up with a great touch. It will definately be a series I will miss...

Gatherer:
Originally posted by: General Cargin
There's a 5 disc box set coming out in November in the States packed in a collectors tin or some such. Found this on another website -

5 DVD disks; packaged in metal box; includes the following:
We Stand Alone Together: The Men of Easy Company." (documentary)
"The Making of Band of Brothers" (featurette)
"Video Diaries" making the series seen trough an actor (featurette)
a featurette of HBO's premiere screening of the miniseries on the beaches of Normandy
"Field Guide" information specific to the current episode being viewed
Character biographies
Scene selections
a still photo gallery
episodic previews

And that package is going to cost $89.95 in greenbacks, probably around $160 when it finally gets here.

 

An update to the DVD release of Band of Brothers - I've seen some reports of pre-orders on American and Canadian sites going for $US55, so the $US90 report may be inaccurate, but I have no idea as to the Region 4 release date, seeing as Channel 9 jerked us around for nearly a year.

 

How many hours does the actual series go for?

Is it as good as all the critics say? Is it as realistic as Saving Private Ryan??

 

um IT WAS VERY REALISTIC

some of the vetrens it was based on couldn't stand to watch it and cracked into hysterics

I think each episode went for 2 hours

 

You must of gotten absorbed into it

1 hour each.

 

Yep, 1 hour for every episode, with 10 episodes.

To me, the series was more realistic then saving private ryan. The weapons and vehicles were more realistic in BoB then the movie and when something went Boom! it really went BOOM!

 

oh but the first episode went for an 2 hours didint it?

 

No. The first episode was actually the first two episodes. Although "Currahee" actually went for about ninety minutes without ads.

Part 1 - Currahee (02/09/2002)
Part 2 - Day of Days (02/09/2002)
Part 3 - Carentan (09/09/2002)
Part 4 - Replacements (16/09/2002)
Part 5 - Crossroads (23/09/2002)
Part 6 - Bastogne (30/09/2002)
Part 7 - The Breaking Point (7/10/2002)
Part 8 - The Last Patrol (14/10/2002)
Part 9 - Why We Fight (21/10/2002)
Part 10 - Points (28/10/2002)

 

It was good, although at times the story lines were very corny and non-original. Then again I guess it is based on facts that all war shows before it have used at some time. SOme of the casting choices were brilliant and others not so. Using Tom Hank's name as a producer was a good marketing ploy.

 

Sure it was good, but I enjoyed Saving Private Ryan better. SPR pulled no punches, where BOB was a tamer TV version IMO. Though I did think there were some harrowing moments and the action, sets and props were generally great, the series got a bit bogged down with characters new and old IMO. The Bastogne show that was centred around the medic was exceptionally dull. For a company that was surrounded during the Battle of the Bulge, these couple of shows were a bit of a let down.

 

I thought the episode with the spun out soldier looking up ot the sky all the time was rather weak.

 

Okay, Carentan and Bastogne were kind of weak, but the other episodes made up for it. The only reason Bastogne is a weak episode is because Band of Brothers is about Easy Company, 506th PIR. At Bastogne, Easy didn't do much of anything, so the episode had to concentrate on something.

The job of combat medic is easily the most under-rated job in the army. He is the guy that everyone avoided in basic training - to the extent that medics were trained in seperate units (the reasoning was that medics were generally conscientous objectors and the brass didn't want the feeling spreading), yet were often the bravest individuals to put on a uniform. This was the best time to focus on the efforts of the combat medics, when the glamour boys aren't doing much. Episodes such as Day of Days and The Breaking Point more than make up for the lack of action in other episodes.

 

Yeah, I get where you are coming from with the medic angle, but the story really did bore me. If E Coy didn't do much during the Battle of the Bulge, why show it? I'm sure there was something interesting they did somewhere else that wasn't depicted during the series.

 

The producers were pretty much caught between a rock and a very hard place. The Battle of the Bulge is the defining moment in the unit history of the 101st Airborne Division, so much so that it was the first time an entire division earned the Presidential Unit Citation. If the producers didn't show even the smallest piece of the events of Bastogne, they would have been crucified by everyone from the veterans of the Screaming Eagles to film critics to history buffs.

It may have been boring to the viewer (I know it was for me) but it also demonstrates that military life is a crapload of boredom interspersed with moments fo sheer terror.

 

Doesn't make for good viewing though.

SPR is a much better production.

 

Oh, please, let's not get into that debate. Saving Private Ryan is a steaming load of stereotyped garbage, which is saved only by the all-in shooting gallery that makes up the first thirty minutes.

"Day of Days" had twice as much action and intensity as the opening sequence of SPR, and was done infinitely better. The mass formation para drop in "Replacements", and the follow-up action on Hell's Highway was far better than the transitory subplot in SPR. The sheer terror of shelling and Buck Compton's nervous breakdown at the end of "The Breaking Point" was handled far better than anything comparable in any other production in the war genre. And I will settle for the last ten minutes of "Foy" over the finale of SPR any day.

 

I think the last episode bored me, but other than that I loved the series., And u need the last ep to see what happened.

I liked it better than SPR as well.

 

General Cargin, I saw all but 2 episodes of BOB, and I didn't see anything with the intensity and action that anywhere near approached SPR. The final battle in SPR was brilliantly choreographed IMO. One of the few action sequences in a war film where you understood the terrain, knew the objective, knew where the action was in relation to the setting, where it was going and knew who all the main characters were. Can't say that for BOB or Blackhawk Down or Thin Red Line.

I can't name episodes because I didn't pay that much attention to the names.

You say SPR is cliched, well show me a war flick that isn't.

 

The battle scenes in "Saving Private Ryan" are so far unsurpassed! "The Thin Red Line" on the other hand was not an action scene orientates movie but a dialog and inner-monologue driven show. The 2 movie complemented each other very well.