I liked Heroes a lot tonite, though I will not be happy if they erase some of what we are now seeing compliments of changes made to time lines in the past.  Time paradoxes suck, and time travelling and events that are changed (butterfly effect type stuff) gets too ridiculous to keep track of.

The War is good, but suffers a problem that inherent in many of Ken Burns' works -- too much repetition of the same things from one episode to the next.  It's ok if you haven't seen the whole thing or aren't paying attention to the whole series, but if you have been paying attention you realize he keeps going back to the same clips, same issues, same comments, etc.  I'm sure part of it is that he really wants to drive home points, but it cheapens his work and makes it seem that he and his partners were too cheap to film more or pay more for travel or other expenses involved in getting more *new* stuff into the film rather than repeating the same thing over and over again.

The War is good, but suffers a problem that inherent in many of Ken Burns' works -- too much repetition of the same things from one episode to the next. It's ok if you haven't seen the whole thing or aren't paying attention to the whole series

I haven't seen,  although I did record it,  the whole thing.  I'll be able to watch what you're talking about,  thanks  

When I see what you're referring to,  it for sure would ruin it for me to have that repetition! 

What did you think of "Civil War" by him?  That's a favorite of mine,  and actually I haven't seen the whole thing, ( even though I have the DVD)  it's really painful to watch the way things were back then.. my Greatgrandfather was a POW so it really hits home for me.

time travelling and events that are changed (butterfly effect type stuff) gets too ridiculous to keep track of.

Exactly! 

What did you think of "Civil War" by him? That's a favorite of mine, and actually I haven't seen the whole thing, ( even though I have the DVD) it's really painful to watch the way things were back then.. my Greatgrandfather was a POW so it really hits home for me.

All of his productions tend to get repetitive.  Not unbearably so, just noticably slow.  You'll hear the same things a few times, with just a tiny bit more information one time versus the other.  It's as if he got an answer one time that inspired a follow-up, and then the original question and the follow-up are both brought into play later giving you the repeat.

It was that way in Baseball, it was that way in The Civil War too.  Just about everything he's ever done winds up that way over time.  Most people probably wouldn't notice and/or care, but I'm a bit sensitive to such things and notice it more.  I fault him (Burns) for padding things out a bit in that manner because he could cut back on the time it takes to watch his films if not for some of the repetition.

From his perspective though I'm sure he's trying to keep each 'segment' separate and able to stand alone easier.  That's fine, but then again perhaps he could and should make the executive decision on just where the questions he is asking along with the answers he is getting belong in the sequence of things.

Before I forget - Trudy (and others), if you haven't seen the excellent HBO series "Band of Brothers" then please grab that on rental discs and watch it.  Personally I think it does an even better job of driving home the impact of war upon the people involved (compared to this Ken Burns film).  About 12 hours total done in 1 hour episodes.

Reply By: terpfan1980Posted: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 Before I forget - Trudy (and others), if you haven't seen the excellent HBO series "Band of Brothers" then please grab that on rental discs and watch it. Personally I think it does an even better job of driving home the impact of war upon the people involved (compared to this Ken Burns film). About 12 hours total done in 1 hour episodes.

Hadn't heard of it,  thanks!   genealogy has really opened the door to an interest in history and there's a mountain range of information, movies,  and documenteries out there!

All of his productions tend to get repetitive. Not unbearably so, just noticably slow. You'll hear the same things a few times, with just a tiny bit more information one time versus the other. It's as if he got an answer one time that inspired a follow-up, and then the original question and the follow-up are both brought into play later giving you the repeat.

I'm way guilty of not being observant enough,  especially if my emotions get involved in these type of programs so I really appreciate the objective viewpoint you bring to this! 

thanks terpfan!

I'm way guilty of not being observant enough, especially if my emotions get involved in these type of programs so I really appreciate the objective viewpoint you bring to this!

I think I said above, and don't mean to be guilty of what I pick at Ken Burns for in my replies here (as in repeating myself), but I think a lot of why his productions do tend to have segments with repeats in them is because each segment is meant to standalone so he's assuming to some extent that you might not have caught the comment or information that he was conveying in say the 3rd segment that is partially (or completely) repeated in the 4th or 5th segment of the total work.

It isn't that bad, but if you pick up on it easily then it may nag at you a bit (as it seems to do with me).

In the case of The War, I'd have to say that I really wish he had taken up the project about 20 years ago, back before so many of 'the greatest generation' had passed on which would have given him a lot larger pool of people to talk to and include in the story.  As time has moved on, and many of the veterans and their relatives have passed away we are losing a lot of the knowledge we had of events of that time.  The same has been happening with Korean War veterans.

It's hard to think that many of the Vietnam era veterans are also passing away at fairly alarming rates.  Those folks were at war about 40 years ago, though for people of my age, it seems in some ways to be much more recently.  Assuming that the people that were fighting there were 18 to 21 years of age when they were fighting, they are now hitting their 60s age wise.  Add in health problems that some came back with, or that many carried from exposure to pollutants, to things like asbestos, or Agent Orange, or a host of other causes and you figure out quickly that we'll soon be losing many more of those vets and the knowledge of events that they carry inside.

 

To follow-up a little more on the Band of Brothers series, it was a Tom Hanks/Steven Spielberg collaboration if memory serves.  Hanks didn't star in it, but he worked with HBO to produce it (again, if memory serves).  I do know he had earlier worked with HBO on the also quite excellent manned space flight related series From the Earth to the Moon.  That too gets high marks from me.  If you've not seen it, again it's 12 hours.  Each piece stands alone, but the whole collection makes an even greater package.

If you have Netflix or Blockbuster.com service, definitely worth the rental to sit and watch.

Band of Brothers follows one particular outfit from induction all the way through the war, with lots of interview segments with the real people involved.  It is not an easy series to watch all of, but it is very good.  Warning that the images that are shown of the death camps that were seen as the war in Germany was coming to an end are pretty shocking and quite realistic.

I do know he had earlier worked with HBO on the also quite excellent manned space flight related series From the Earth to the Moon. That too gets high marks from me. If you've not seen it, again it's 12 hours. Each piece stands alone, but the whole collection makes an even greater package. If you have Netflix or Blockbuster.com service, definitely worth the rental to sit and watch

Just got an offer from Netflix and think I'll try it and watch a couple of these you've reccomened. 

Appreciate the warning about the death camps and how shocking the scenes are,  I think that one never ever gets used to scenes like that...

I did catch Ken Burns on some talk show earlier today, and asked why he didn't do something like "The War" earlier,  he replied that up until now most of them weren't at a place in their lives where they  could talk about it,  that as recent as 10 years ago many couldn't have done it. 

I agree with you that if it had been done earlier,  we'd have far more,  more in memories,  feelings,  seeing the war through many different eyes....

If the soldiers didn't talk to whatever family they had,  then that is gone forever,  sometimes families have stories that were handed down to them,  from the soldiers.  My Uncle Bill was in Korea,  he's gone now.  I remember when he came home from Korea,  remember just a little bit of what he said,  ( i was only 6)  yet the emotions that he was going through as he talked about what he saw and what happened,  well it was overwhelming.