Wings

[hughesyman]

Has anyone seen this before? was thinking of buying it but just thought i'd ask here if anyone seen it before and is it worth a watch?

cheers

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wings-1-2-DVD-Tim-Woodward/dp/B002R2FE0U/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=IITB0IQ0N6PV6&colid=UDSK27MGCXLN

[Von Paulus]

I think it's a very accurate picture of the flying war on the western front in it's first two years.

A good effort; a pity they didn't go for the whole WWI.

I recomend it.

 

EDIT: Don't expect much special effects and big combat scenes. It's more drama than anything.

Edited June 29, 2010 by Von Paulus

[+RAF_Louvert]

.

 

hughesyman, it's an outstanding BBC series, and I had the pleasure of seeing it the first time around in the 1970's whilest stationed in the UK. And VP is quite correct about it being a drama rather than an "action" series. Still some good flying scenes though, and an excellent story line. I say, "Go for it".

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

 

.

[Mike Dora]

Actually the special effects work pretty well. The series used full size mock-ups of period ac such as the BE2c, Alb CI, Fok EIII etc, together with flying replicas of a Boxkite, Vickers Gunbus & Avro 504, and large flying scale models of all the relevant types. There were no painted-up Tiger Moths or Stampes or other non-period types, and no stock clips from Hells Angels, the Blue Max or whatever.

 

Two things stand out: they got the continuity dead right, so you don't the usual movie-style immersion-killer of seeing a BE2c morphing from scene to scene into a Tiger Moth or a Stampe. If a scene starts with a specific type, then all subsequent shots both long and close-up remain of the same type. Secondly, for some reason the use of the large flying models worked successfully on the small screen (I'm now watching Series 1 on my 52" flat-screen, it still works for me).

 

Lastly, the series bring out very well both the shock of suddenly losing known, well-developed characters, and especially the frightening confusion when a strange Hun monoplane starts shooting down RFC ac with a _forward_-firing machine gun!

 

In other words, vey highly recommended!

 

Mike

[rabu]

Has anyone seen this documentary on the Red Baron? I just noticed it on Amazon.. click here

[Von Paulus]

I too think they work pretty well, Mike.

Only it's more drama than flight scenes, which in my personal case suits well. I tend to prefer the drama to SFX.

[+Olham]

rabu, the customer comments are rather bad.

Maybe the original (German ?) version is good: haven't seen it though.

[Tonyo - legion]

I have the complete series Wings DVD, and as many have said, it is a drama series showing the RFC and home life of the "families involved"

 

The parts based on the flying and life in France are very good, they've also captured the period of the Fokker scourge very well, the first series is 12 episodes & the second is 13 episodes equating to about 20.5 hours of viewing !!!

 

 

All in all, I think its well worth getting.

 

 

Regards

TonyO

[+Polovski]

Go for it, it's about as far from "hollywood" as you can get. It actually attempts to tackle the air service from the point of view of people of the time, so people think and react as they would mostly. For example there is a lot of resentment of the mixing of classes, working class, upper class etc. It shows the war from several viewpoints.

 

Has some good attention to detail and also lets you feel the confusion there must have been then, when limited info of the enemy dribbled through with rumours and daft orders from command etc. First couple of episodes are building the characters so slower, but stick at it and it's very good. THIS is how they should make a WW1 movie - realistic where possible (some episodes are a little more hollywood but only slightly) but with a bigger budget and more flying and I'd be in heaven :)

[vonOben]

Hi

 

I’ve never heard about the Wings series until I read this topic!

Now I’ve seen all episodes and I liked it very much!

 

Highly recommended to anyone interested in the air war during WW1.

 

Cheers

 

vonOben

[TSmoke]

I have a copy of that documentary Rabu. Save your money you will only be hearing the same ole stuff.

[BirdDogICT]

Anyone know if Wings is available as a Region 1 DVD for play in the U.S.? Haven't found a copy

[Von Paulus]

Anyone know if Wings is available as a Region 1 DVD for play in the U.S.? Haven't found a copy

As far as I know, no. And I doubt it will. Why not unlock your DVD player and then import, BirdDog?

 

There exists also software to copy and change the region of a DVD.

Edited October 29, 2010 by Von Paulus