John Kettler Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 The episode in rotation is all about the formerly sadly decrepit APG Ferdinand and its return to martial glory in a mere five weeks. The facts definitely all aren't correctly presented, but even so, it's fascinating. They keep calling it a tank, for one! What's really cool is the ammunition display. There, you can really see why the Ferdinand, Nashorn and King Tiger were such fearsome antiarmor weapons. Hope you get to see it! Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dietrich Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 First a couple o' 109s, then a Tiger, then a 190, then a Panther, now this.... I tell ya, they're tryin' to resurrect the Wehrmacht! *shakes fist in mock indignation* =P 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted March 13, 2009 Author Share Posted March 13, 2009 Dietrich, Fear not, for the APG refurbs are cosmetic only. No runners result. Sigh! Contrast them with, say, the Isle of Wight Comet recently on the same show. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ww2steel Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 That show was REALLY gay. Why did they spend half the show talking about the friggin M109 (modern US artillery)- just because it LOOKS similar??? Really stupid. The 109 is cool and all, but serves a COMPLETELY different role than the Elefant, as everyone here knows. I would rather have seen them spraying paint on the Elefant for ten minutes straight than watch something completely irrelevant to the show. (end complaining mode) It looks cool, seen it in person before and after the paint, glad they did it! Mike 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted March 26, 2009 Author Share Posted March 26, 2009 ww2steel, I, too, thought a great deal of the show was wasted on ridiculously extraneous stuff, and there was so much more which could've been said about the Ferdinand and Elefant, this on the strength of having perused a friend's copy of the Fedorowicz 653rd schewere Panzerjaeger Abteilung. May get to see the beast myself in late May when I go back east. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeatEtr Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 They did the same damn thing with the BMP show, half of it was spent on the Bradley. Yeah we all know it's the US counterpart to the BMP, but come on. I'd say about half the shows are about the restoration of the vehicle and the other half is a documentary split between the actual vehicle and a counterpart or similar vehicle. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dietrich Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Likewise during the Panther episode: a surprising amount of screentime was devoted to the Leopard 2 and its way-dangerous 120mm cannon. I suppose they reasoned that it tied in fairly well, since the Leopard is German and parts of it (sadly, I forget which parts) are made in the same factory where parts of the Panther were made. But I agree: secondary focus on a modern pseudo-equivalent is not sufficiently pertinent. Perhaps it's comparable to how Future Weapons not infrequently comes across as propaganda for modern (and mostly Western) weaponry -- "Check out this rifle/tank/missile/aircraft; isn't it awesome?" =P 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted April 20, 2009 Author Share Posted April 20, 2009 Dietrich, I believe it's the engine. The larger question, though, is what relevance the Panzer IV H has to the BMP story. Haven't seen the actual episode, but the clips definitely showed a column of Panzer IV Hs from the rear quarter. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dietrich Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 Ah, yes -- thanks for the clarification, John. =) Countless times in watching TV documentaries I've seen where the narrator is talking about a certain vehicle (or gun or plane or whatever) and the stock footage clearly shows a different vehicle than the one the narrator is talking about. Perhaps the studios are too busy churning out these shows (some of which are better than others) to do much fact-checking, especially when it comes to using stock footage to provide something for the audience to look at other than bespectacled talking heads. *shrug* Also, more and more the editors of these historicomilitary documentaries are going for almost MTV-like cuts, even while a historian or scholar is on the screen -- shoulder-mounted cameras, axial panning, apparent encouragement for talking heads to emote more.... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrocles Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 Ah, yes -- thanks for the clarification, John. =) Countless times in watching TV documentaries I've seen where the narrator is talking about a certain vehicle (or gun or plane or whatever) and the stock footage clearly shows a different vehicle than the one the narrator is talking about. Perhaps the studios are too busy churning out these shows (some of which are better than others) to do much fact-checking, especially when it comes to using stock footage to provide something for the audience to look at other than bespectacled talking heads. *shrug* Also, more and more the editors of these historicomilitary documentaries are going for almost MTV-like cuts, even while a historian or scholar is on the screen -- shoulder-mounted cameras, axial panning, apparent encouragement for talking heads to emote more.... Sad, but true! Has anyone seen the air combat show on HDNet(?) channel? I can't recall the exact name, but it appears to be very similar to the "Dogfights" show from THC but with more details of the aircraft. I caught a bit of one episode detailing WWII combat between the Japanese fighters and American fighters (probably Zeros and F4Fs?). The show cuts between computer graphics of the dogfight and, check this, the narrator flying in a plane at 5,000ft describing the battle. Odd thing was the narrators voice is transmitted over his microphone while he is flying so it is hard to understand half of what he says due to the background noise of the airplane engine (ymmv, imho)! haha 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted April 23, 2009 Author Share Posted April 23, 2009 Patrocles, It's called Showdown: Air Combat and is pretty good, but the broadcasting on a hashy radio channel gimmick is so incredibly annoying I have changed the channel several times, despite a lifelong interest in fighter combat. There is, SOFAIK, absolutely no reason to subject the audience to that static filled torture, made worse by the fact that the host presents key information for understanding the dogfight in precisely that part of the program. Generally, this show does a good job matching the visuals with the VO, but there have been some doozies on occasion. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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