BoB is great!!!! I was so curious, I had to look for myself. I was rather surprised..
One of my problems was that I could not connect to the story as the characters were changed with every episode. It looked more like a dramatized documentary than a gripping story.
I also found the mood heavily sentimental. At regular intervals you would be confronted by a sad-looking GI, pondering the horror of it all, but then at the next moment ready to do his bit because his fellows depended on him, as he depended on them: they were after all; a band of brothers.
I also had problems with the role of the 'europeans'. If they appeared at all, it was in a vague and distant manner, more props then real live persons. More to spark a scene of thoughtful pondering, than to give them their own piece to act. There was a foolishness English tank-commander who was blown to pieces by a tiger despite being warned by the valiant Americans. Had he but listened to them, he would still be alive This event echo's the remark made at the beginning of the episode by one of the vet's: if we had been dropped at Arnhem, the operation would have been a success.
Then there was the Belgian damsel, who's only role seem to be to give the protagonist of the episode a moment of sadness. Cruel was fate, snuffing out the live of one so young and beautiful. The Germans had the obvious role allotted to them, like Indians in cowboy series, like Vietcong in Nam series and Russians in cold war movies. As all the baddies do: they stand up, march forward and get gunned down by droves. If they temporarily seem to win it was because there were too many of them or they had tanks. If they lose it was because they had to, faced by the superior Americans. This is underscored by the fact that the only German to rise above the role of target and have more line's than 'argg' or 'scheise' happened to be an German-American who joined the Germans. Eventually as Germans go, he was killed too. Of course triggering another dark moody pondering moment: how cruel was the fate setting up two country-man against each other.
At last I found some part of the series plain boring, especially the episode one called bastogne. A large part of the episode we follow the leading character, a medic, wandering through the woods from one place to the other. Nothing really happens.
I all: it's a reasonable series, but hardly worth high praise..
One of my problems was that I could not connect to the story as the characters were changed with every episode. It looked more like a dramatized documentary than a gripping story.
I also found the mood heavily sentimental. At regular intervals you would be confronted by a sad-looking GI, pondering the horror of it all, but then at the next moment ready to do his bit because his fellows depended on him, as he depended on them: they were after all; a band of brothers.
I also had problems with the role of the 'europeans'. If they appeared at all, it was in a vague and distant manner, more props then real live persons. More to spark a scene of thoughtful pondering, than to give them their own piece to act. There was a foolishness English tank-commander who was blown to pieces by a tiger despite being warned by the valiant Americans. Had he but listened to them, he would still be alive This event echo's the remark made at the beginning of the episode by one of the vet's: if we had been dropped at Arnhem, the operation would have been a success.
Then there was the Belgian damsel, who's only role seem to be to give the protagonist of the episode a moment of sadness. Cruel was fate, snuffing out the live of one so young and beautiful. The Germans had the obvious role allotted to them, like Indians in cowboy series, like Vietcong in Nam series and Russians in cold war movies. As all the baddies do: they stand up, march forward and get gunned down by droves. If they temporarily seem to win it was because there were too many of them or they had tanks. If they lose it was because they had to, faced by the superior Americans. This is underscored by the fact that the only German to rise above the role of target and have more line's than 'argg' or 'scheise' happened to be an German-American who joined the Germans. Eventually as Germans go, he was killed too. Of course triggering another dark moody pondering moment: how cruel was the fate setting up two country-man against each other.
At last I found some part of the series plain boring, especially the episode one called bastogne. A large part of the episode we follow the leading character, a medic, wandering through the woods from one place to the other. Nothing really happens.
I all: it's a reasonable series, but hardly worth high praise..