Note: This review will contain spoilers, so if you have not seen the series and want to see it please don't read this.
You will find my review on Amazon.com here Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Titanic (Blu-ray/ DVD Combo)
However, being with a group of Titanic historians, I will be talking less about other things and more about history.
First off however, we should address the first thing that will make you or dislike this series and that is how it is filmed. Now I don't know if anyone has done a style like this before because this is the first time I have seen this style. I will first say that this style is no doubt creative and I think most of you can agree that this is a risky and new creative style to watching television and the series is rather fast and quick so you have to keep up with it. I was able to, but maybe some of you were not. So let me ask you a key question. Do you think the series actually could have been better if it was more chronological rather than having 3 separate parts that all come to form 1? I say yes, but again, I did not have problems with the way they filmed.
Now one of the key things that this brought out that I think no other Titanic move brought out, was before it even left Southampton. That means when it was in Belfast and they even showed William Pirrie, that is a first for a Titanic movie or show (I might by accident call this a movie several times). Now remember that this did not have a colossal budget like James Cameron's so did notice they left out things like the Grand Staircase, which is fine for me, because you have to understand how you can fit into your show or movie and not make it a waste of space. Instead, the public room they showed for first class was combination of Titanic's lounge and smoking room. They also miss out on showing the lookouts seeing the iceberg which is rare thing for a Titanic film to miss (I think Hollywood's 1953 was the only to now show in terms of the well known Titanic movies).
Now let's move to the stories. Many fans of Titanic history seem a little upset when they make too much drama in a Titanic movie or show, but I do not feel like this. Is it not dramatic to choose between loved ones or safety? Obviously this series had drama in it. They also added actually added more realistic drama by having Guggenheim and his mistress in it which I never shown a Titanic have both of them in it. A Night to Remember and Cameron's had Guggenheim and SOS Titanic from the 1979 had a man portray him giving his famous saying before his death, but they usually leave out his mistress and I always wonder why. However, I will admit sometimes they focus too much on love and less on something that can be rather good for a movie or show; friendship which is also not see in many Titanic movies. We know love, but what about friends or for that matter maybe siblings. I don't know why, but I really want to see a good story about Bride and Phillips which I feel I have yet to see. The closest to this was the 1996 mini series for me, then A Night to Remember, and Cameron's movie threw them in here and there, but I don't think we have yet to see a good one about them in it.
However, my big problem with the real life characters was how they portrayed Sir Cosmo and Lady Duff Gordon and Ismay. Let's start with the Duff Gordons. They simply enter the boat with a bunch of other people (12) and then they actually demand the boat be lowered which in the series is actually the first to leave. So they are made to look so evil and I don't think they were ordering the officer to lower the boat in real life. They actually don't take advantage of the real fact that Cosmo may had bribed the crew in their boat. Now let's go to Ismay. In one of the episodes he believes the Italian waiters are causing too much noise and will upset the ladies so he orders Officer Wilde to lock them up in a room causing them to nearly drown until they are saved. Then out of all the movies I have seen him leave on the boat in, this one those the worst dishonor to him (I am not saying Ismay is a good guy for influencing Smith to speed up but I think he left the ship because it was what his instincts told him to do). He literally walks into the boat as it is being lowered in front of all the mean watching him. If I am not mistaken, I believe he boarded it through the A deck promenade windows.
What is the worst thing for in this series? Simple: WE GOT NO ENDING. Now off course the show ended, but I mean no real closing for all the characters. Also the deaths of the characters who died seemed to sudden. Let me give you an example; one of the fictional characters, Georgiana, is in love with Harry Widener. I see Harry die in the show, but it is so sudden, now off course we all know he did know how to swim and he probably drowned in an instant unless he worse a lifebelt, but perhaps they could not make his death so brief. Then they end the show with what I call a nice ending, but not a good one. We never get to see how Georgiana will react to Harry's death and I think the end for any Titanic movie should be the Carpathia ending New York City or somewhere near that. Only one other version of Titanic has made me want more of it to know an ending and that is the book SOS Titanic. So those two. The ones that I think had a good ending were the 1996 mini series and A Night to Remember. I also want a better closing for Hollywood's 1953 and Cameron's (specifically what happened to Rose's mother).
Overall: 4 out of 5.
You will find my review on Amazon.com here Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Titanic (Blu-ray/ DVD Combo)
However, being with a group of Titanic historians, I will be talking less about other things and more about history.
First off however, we should address the first thing that will make you or dislike this series and that is how it is filmed. Now I don't know if anyone has done a style like this before because this is the first time I have seen this style. I will first say that this style is no doubt creative and I think most of you can agree that this is a risky and new creative style to watching television and the series is rather fast and quick so you have to keep up with it. I was able to, but maybe some of you were not. So let me ask you a key question. Do you think the series actually could have been better if it was more chronological rather than having 3 separate parts that all come to form 1? I say yes, but again, I did not have problems with the way they filmed.
Now one of the key things that this brought out that I think no other Titanic move brought out, was before it even left Southampton. That means when it was in Belfast and they even showed William Pirrie, that is a first for a Titanic movie or show (I might by accident call this a movie several times). Now remember that this did not have a colossal budget like James Cameron's so did notice they left out things like the Grand Staircase, which is fine for me, because you have to understand how you can fit into your show or movie and not make it a waste of space. Instead, the public room they showed for first class was combination of Titanic's lounge and smoking room. They also miss out on showing the lookouts seeing the iceberg which is rare thing for a Titanic film to miss (I think Hollywood's 1953 was the only to now show in terms of the well known Titanic movies).
Now let's move to the stories. Many fans of Titanic history seem a little upset when they make too much drama in a Titanic movie or show, but I do not feel like this. Is it not dramatic to choose between loved ones or safety? Obviously this series had drama in it. They also added actually added more realistic drama by having Guggenheim and his mistress in it which I never shown a Titanic have both of them in it. A Night to Remember and Cameron's had Guggenheim and SOS Titanic from the 1979 had a man portray him giving his famous saying before his death, but they usually leave out his mistress and I always wonder why. However, I will admit sometimes they focus too much on love and less on something that can be rather good for a movie or show; friendship which is also not see in many Titanic movies. We know love, but what about friends or for that matter maybe siblings. I don't know why, but I really want to see a good story about Bride and Phillips which I feel I have yet to see. The closest to this was the 1996 mini series for me, then A Night to Remember, and Cameron's movie threw them in here and there, but I don't think we have yet to see a good one about them in it.
However, my big problem with the real life characters was how they portrayed Sir Cosmo and Lady Duff Gordon and Ismay. Let's start with the Duff Gordons. They simply enter the boat with a bunch of other people (12) and then they actually demand the boat be lowered which in the series is actually the first to leave. So they are made to look so evil and I don't think they were ordering the officer to lower the boat in real life. They actually don't take advantage of the real fact that Cosmo may had bribed the crew in their boat. Now let's go to Ismay. In one of the episodes he believes the Italian waiters are causing too much noise and will upset the ladies so he orders Officer Wilde to lock them up in a room causing them to nearly drown until they are saved. Then out of all the movies I have seen him leave on the boat in, this one those the worst dishonor to him (I am not saying Ismay is a good guy for influencing Smith to speed up but I think he left the ship because it was what his instincts told him to do). He literally walks into the boat as it is being lowered in front of all the mean watching him. If I am not mistaken, I believe he boarded it through the A deck promenade windows.
What is the worst thing for in this series? Simple: WE GOT NO ENDING. Now off course the show ended, but I mean no real closing for all the characters. Also the deaths of the characters who died seemed to sudden. Let me give you an example; one of the fictional characters, Georgiana, is in love with Harry Widener. I see Harry die in the show, but it is so sudden, now off course we all know he did know how to swim and he probably drowned in an instant unless he worse a lifebelt, but perhaps they could not make his death so brief. Then they end the show with what I call a nice ending, but not a good one. We never get to see how Georgiana will react to Harry's death and I think the end for any Titanic movie should be the Carpathia ending New York City or somewhere near that. Only one other version of Titanic has made me want more of it to know an ending and that is the book SOS Titanic. So those two. The ones that I think had a good ending were the 1996 mini series and A Night to Remember. I also want a better closing for Hollywood's 1953 and Cameron's (specifically what happened to Rose's mother).
Overall: 4 out of 5.
