"The War" series by Ken Burns on PBS....

Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:44 pm

I've been sitting here Watching the second installment of Ken Burns excellent new series, "The War" and realized I hadn't seen anyone mention it on-line. It's on your local PBS channnel and is excellent....
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/

They are showing each segment many times....Check this for listings in your area....
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/broadcast_schedule.htm?edit_st=y

It looks like they will be showing the complete 5 parts of the series Sunday morning thru Sunday night with the final shows on Monday, Oct. 1st and Tuesday, Oct. 2nd.... You can also set up e-mail notification so you don't miss one during the week....

Mon Sep 24, 2007 10:28 pm

Pretty good show so far. My only gripe is the B-17s sounding like Cessna Skyhawks during the take-off scenes

Mon Sep 24, 2007 10:43 pm

LOL!!!!!!! Too funny!!!!! You are right in some places it does!!!!
If you get a chance, read the stuff behind the scenes on the narration, music, episode guide and such. Ken Burns pours his soul into anything he undertakes....Pretty good endeavor.

Tue Sep 25, 2007 8:20 am

It is truly well done. The portion of it that sets it off from the rest, in my opinion, is the overall look at the war both on the fronts and on the home front. Last night's episode (1943) was interesting for the Rosie the Riveter coverage (anyone see the P-51D tail section sub assembly line?) and the honest appraisal of the very poor start of U.S. soldiers in Africa and of the bombing campaign over Europe. The words of Ernie Pyle who covered the Africa debacle were prophetic - where are the Ernie Pyle's in today's media?

I noticed the book is already available in the book shops (Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc.) and the DVD set will be out once the series has been shown in its entirety on the boob tube.

Enjoy the Day! Mark

Tue Sep 25, 2007 4:47 pm

Mark, that was very well put my friend. And I agree that there doesn't seem to be any Ernie Pyles today. I have collected 7 of his books and respect the man and his work so much. What a loss it was when he was killed. I think he did as much or more than the news reels to bring the war alive to the home folks and help them to understand the GI and what he was going through. And it seems that the honest apprasial of the US entry into the war in Africa is new and refreshing. I applaud Burns and all that were involved in bringing this to the screen....

Tue Sep 25, 2007 5:45 pm

adflyer wrote:Pretty good show so far. My only gripe is the B-17s sounding like Cessna Skyhawks during the take-off scenes

I had the very same thought last night when I watched that scene. To me, it sounded more like a Cessna taking off than a multi-engined bomber. I'd like to think they would have taken greater care in choosing their sound effects and not just lifted some track from some generic sound effects CD.

I know it's a tiny point to nitpick over, but it was something they didn't have to do. Any veteran of the air war who heard that had to immediately spot that mistake.

Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:38 pm

I was a bit shocked & surprised that the "Doolittle Raider" Mission was never even mentioned in the first episode.
However, they still had plenty of time to make Us all feel guilty about the Japanese Internment Camps & White racism towards Blacks in each episode... Digger

Tue Sep 25, 2007 9:59 pm

i dont get pbs over in this town so i ordered the entire dvd set. And that comes to another thing i was on the pbs site and saw a clip of a French flying boat. It had six engines and almost resembled the Spruce Goose, does anyone know what im talking about? was this a transport aircraft?

Wed Sep 26, 2007 5:40 am

It's pretty good so far. Anyone else notice the B-17 "Yo-Yo - it always comes back"? I don't remember ever hearing of that A/C before. I do suffer from CRS, however. :roll:

Dave

Wed Sep 26, 2007 6:06 am

Bax101,

Not seen the programme, but from your description, probably a Latécoère 631.

les.

Wed Sep 26, 2007 6:13 am

Hey Digger...was hoping someone else would bring that up as it will probably get some negative remarks from the politically correct crowd :roll:

Seems to be a lot of references to the horrible treatment of minorities, but little about how the American servicemen were treated as POWs...Bataan etc.

That would be my only gripe so far...fascinating work by Burns again. Loved the Baseball series he did a few years back.

Wed Sep 26, 2007 11:13 am

I was a bit suprised that they used so much footage from the original Memphis Belle movie in the documentary.

Wed Sep 26, 2007 11:23 am

Dolittle raid left out? Big oversight.

I thought the first epsisode dealt with treatment of American (and allied Fillipino) POWs in the Phillipines, as well as civiliain atrocities by the Japanese. There were several verbal descriptions and images of the death March, beheadings, beatings, starvation, and almost constant deaths of POWs due to abuse, neglect, and disease in the camps. I had tears running down my face watching that segment.

The War is showing not just the combat aspects of the war but the impacts on our society at home. So I thought the treatment of minorities at home is a valid subject. I did not feel guilty watching that, but it does give me pause to think and consider.

Ken Burns rocks, because his work always makes me think. Having just reread WWII by James Jones, I recommend it as supplementary reading.

Wed Sep 26, 2007 4:19 pm

The treatment of minorities, both in the factory towns and in the service, is a fair part of the war although I don't think it is the main focus. For good or bad bullets or bombs don't discriminate. Seeing how brutality was ingrained in the Japanese concept of war and prisoners makes me look at their society in a critical light. Is it really much different than what radical Muslims are taught today, or what some of our soldiers or prison guards are indoctrinated into? As for a bomber name Yo- Yo or maybe Boomerang seems like a great one.

Wed Sep 26, 2007 9:15 pm

I am listening to the Ken Burns special now, Wed night. The part about one GI who is a Japanese POW and keeps up hope with thought of home. It said sometimes he got so hungry he could not even remember his family, if he even had a sister. The images of this series are so real and human that it is almost too intense to take in big doses.