Customer Reviews

Battle 360 - Season One (History Channel) (Steelbook)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am thrilled to have this released so quickly onto DVD. It just ended on the History Channel, and three months is a good turnaround time.

I am a little biased in my anticipation, as my grandfather is one of the veteran "stars" of this series. (My last name is the same as his in case you are interested.) He appeared in seven of the ten episodes and, as one of the sailors who served on board Enterprise during the entire war, I couldn't be prouder of him!

Anyway, my intent was not to just review my grandfather's role in the show, as this is really a terrific series. There is a good blend of veterans and current "field experts" to give a variety of angles. Some of the heroics outlined truly give you chills, and the story of this amazing ship is phenomenal.

There is a ton of CGI, and this could perhaps be both the strength and weakness of the show. I know my grandfather grew weary of it and felt it was ridiculous, but at the same time it gave us re-enactments of some of the battles that would otherwise not be possible. Overall, the CGI gave a dimension to this series that really blows you out of the water (no pun intended.)

If you are a history buff, Navy buff, or WW2 buff, you should watch this show. You'll get a fantastic snapshot of a fantastic ship whose story is unequaled by any other American ship during WW2.

For content, this series has it all. This ten-episode epic on the history of the USS Enterprise (CV-6) during WWII is an insightful, all-encompassing look at one significant thread of the Pacific campaign. Like the Forrest Gump character, the Big E seems to be at nearly every famous and significant moment in this bloody conflict. Of note, each episode is about 55 minutes long, so you really get your money's worth.


As for the production, it is a mixed bag. The production in all areas is extremely similar to the History Channel's "Dogfights".

First, CGI is mixed liberally with historical footage, some of which may not be from the actual event referenced. If you are not a fan of using copious amounts of CGI to tell a story, you may not enjoy this. Note, the viewer cannot mistake the CGI for the real thing.

Second, interviews are conducted with both actual participants and modern "experts". The interviews with actual participants are priceless. The modern personnel are a bit less so.

Third, the sound production is very poor. An over-emphasis on sound effects constantly drowns out the dialog. This is especially offensive when it steps over the soft spoken veterans whose tales are so inspiring. Deafening explosions are interspersed with quiet dialog, making the audio frustrating and, at times, painful.

This series could have been a bit better with a little more attention to production values.

All in all, a worthy tribute to the gallant E and her heroic crews. I thank you for your service. May God Bless each and every one of you.

I loved the show and purchased the DVDs as soon as they were released and have thought long and hard about what kind of rating to give this series. I finally decided that, unlike some of the other reviewers, I simply could NOT give it 5 stars for one simple reason - am I the only one who got sick of, or even noticed, the use of some of the same graphics over and over again!?!?

For the time and care they spent/used correctly identifying the different classes of ships, both USN and IJN, and then generating the different graphics representing each different class of ship/type of plane, it is almost unforgivable that they often used the wrong one when it came time to produce each individual episode!

The most glaring example that comes to mind was the repeated use of the Hornet and Enterprise sailing together during the Doolittle raid sequence. I saw it several more times in later episodes, when every self-respecting Navy and/or military history buff knows that the Enterprise was the ONLY Yorktown class carrier left after Guadalcanal. But there it was in later episodes, those supposedly depicting 1944, another Yorktown class carrier sailing right next to "The Lucky E" - big as day!

Almost as bad was, during the battle of Savo island sequence, they showed the correct profile for the Vincennes (Chicago class) but, during the action scenes, they repeatedly used the graphic for the Indianapolis class, with its huge observation tower over the forward superstructure. Another glaring example, also during the first Guadalcanal episode was when they showed the same graphic for the Fleet carrier Shokaku and the Light carrier Ryujo (which didn't even have a super structure)!

I also saw several different sequences where they called, by name, another class of IJN battleship (Nagato, Fuso, etc) but always showed the Kirishima graphic from Guadalcanal, and also confused American battleship classes as well. And there were several instances, American and Japanese where they used the incorrect type of ship (and aircraft) entirely! They would mention a battleship but the graphic would be a heavy cruiser, etc.

I would say all this was simply skimping on the budget except for the fact that all the proper graphics HAD ALREADY BEEN CREATED!! So it was simply a combination of lack of respect for the subject matter and/or the (so-called) technical advisor(s) were asleep at the wheel and did not double check their reference materials before finalizing the visuals. Heck, I'm nothing more than a naval history buff but I can tell the difference between the Akagi and Kaga on sight, to say nothing of the North Carolina and the South Dakota classes!! And even my son knows the difference between a battleship and a heavy cruiser. I would have done a better job for free!!

And how many times did we have to listen to the narrator say "The Enterprise and her sister ship Saratoga" or "The Enterprise and her sister ship Wasp"?!? Every Navy buff knows they were NOT sister ships!

While this may seem nit-picking to some (and don't get me wrong, I still LOVE the series and can't wait to see next season), after the care they took building the graphics in the first place, and hyping up "the respect and dedication of the men and women of Enterprise rent-a-car", how hard could it have been to ensure the correct graphic was being used? Once again - where were the so-called "technical advisors"? Would the extra expense really have broken the budget?

While certainly not as bad as some movies depicting WWII Naval battles (a Korean war era Essex class with angled bow and Jets at Midway with the graphic "USS Yorktown", a WWII Essex class with the graphic "IJN Akagi"?!?!? Yes the movie Midway is pretty awful if you are a history buff), it did lessen my enjoyment of the show a little.

Another thing that really got annoying after 4 or 5 episodes was the narration. After the 300th time hearing "PULLED THE TRIGGER FILLING HIS COCKPIT WITH 50cal HOT LEAD" I began to wonder just what it was this narrator thought he was reading for; a serious historical documentary or a videogame?

It was at this moment that I suddenly realized that this program might not even have been produced for Navy and/or history buffs!! While it was assumed we would probably tune in, I think this program was really created for the younger generation of first-person shooter videogame junkies!! The ones who think Pearl Harbor happened during the Civil war and D-Day was on July 4th. The kind that might play "Medal of honor" or "Pacific Theater Of Operations" or "Battleship" and get momentarily distracted by the graphics of this show while flipping through the channels on their way to the latest MTV produced sleaze-fest or wrestling program, and linger for a minute thinking it's an advertisement for a new videogame!

But I must say that these gripes did not significantly diminish my enjoyment of the show, it's still a pretty cool concept and I am looking forward to seeing what they do with the second season. It only diminished it enough to take away one star because, with more respect to the accuracy of the graphics and the narration, this would be a true 5-star product and one of the best shows ever made about the war in the Pacific during WWII.

I'll save space and say that I agree with the other posts that laud the show for it's quality and usefulness.

Unfortunately, the DVD set is seriously flawed. Amazon lists the aspect ration as 1.33:1 and technically that is correct. But, just as the History Channel did with the Dogfight series, the DVDs are actually letterboxed 16:9 matted into a 4:3 frame. Why the History Channel continues to use this outmoded format for their DVD releases is a mystery. Even cheap direct to video DVD releases are in anamorphic format. I can author a disc in anamorphic format on my home PC so it can't be that hard or expensive to do.

If you have an older home theater system, this set being letterboxed may not matter to you but if you have a HDTV with your DVD player connected via HDMI, it is likely that you will not be able to watch this in other than letterbox format without lowering the resolution of your system.

Come on, History Channel, move your DVD releases into the 21st Century.

I love this show! I knew a little bit about the war but this show brings you through the major battles as if you're there with them. I was surprised how much I cared about what was happening. When you hear a teacher talk about WWII in school, it just isn't the same.
Every time the fleet got hit hard it felt like it was really happening and when we lost the Hornet I kept thinking what a horrible shame it was. I still think they should have tried harder to save Hornet!
My favorite episode is probably Truk Atoll and of course the epic battle of Leyte Gulf. The Heroic charge of the Tin Can destroyers against the Japanese Center Force was nothing less than the stuff of legends. Heroes, all of them.
I can think of nothing other than the fighter pilots and ship gunners must have been built of courage because they didn't have the technology that we take for granted today. No Satilite survalence, No radar guided missiles, no homing torpedoes. No GPS guided bombs. No Phalanx ship defenses. You have the 5 inch gun and the 20MM and if that's not good enough, then you die.

These men were made of sterner stuff than we see today. Battles like this aren't fought anymore.

First let me say that I loved the historical account related by this series: the following of the Enterprise throughout its time at war, the interviews with the veterans that served aboard her, the CGI and actual footage presentation of the battles in which she engaged. It's a great idea for a series and I much anticipanted watching it.

However, I found the episodes difficult to watch due to the vast overuse of "attention grabbing" film techniques, such as periods of rapid jump cutting between short bits of film (bits of less than 1 second), which often included bits of what looked like transmission interference and those flashed numbers and letters you get when old-time films run out. Also, the longer duration shots were often polluted with overlays of moving navigational charts.

In my opinion, these sort of techniques show a disrespect for the viewer, as if the producers can't imagine that we have an attention span sufficient to stay with a steady image. It's just a shame that such a promising premise was related with such headache-making techniques.

The Enterprise (CV-6) was one of the three ship Yorktown-class of aircraft carriers which debuted in the late 1930's and were designed from the keel up for this purpose. It is notable that Enterprise was one of only 3 pre-war aircraft carriers that survived WWII (the others being the Saratoga (CV-3) and Ranger (CV-4) while the rest, including Enterprise' two class members (Yorktown (CV-5) and Hornet (CV-8) were sank in various battles throughout the early years of the war. Battle 360 covers the exploits of this remarkable ship, and her even more remarkable crew, and their participation of most of the great moments of the Pacific Theater of WWII.

If you have not experienced this show, then some explanation will definitely be needed. Battle 360 comes in 10 parts, Part 1 beginning with events occurring directly after the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7th, 1941 all the way up to Enterprise's untimely strike by a kamikaze at war's end off of Japan which put her out of the war's waning months. The show relies heavily upon CG animation which recreates the battles Enterprise took part in over her 3 1/2 years in theater. A narrator gives explanations for each sides moves and maneuvers, weapons and aircraft used, and describes life on board the ship. In fact, if you've seen "Dogfights" you'll know what to expect when you view "Battle 360", albeit with a focus on the ship for it's entire career, rather than with a single pilot.

Interspersed throughout the episodes are clips from surviving sailors and marines who served on board the ship, as well as commentary from current fighter pilots and historians. The show is deeply moving and you'll find yourself start crossing your fingers when you start seeing puffy ack exploding around an incoming Japanese attack. The sight of SBD Dauntlesses diving en masse with their dive brakes extended on the Japanese carriers at Midway is an amazing and thrilling sight. And this is one of the very few places you'll get to see the antiquated and doomed TBD Devastator take flight, be it in CG or archival footage, including George Gay's lone assault on the Kaga at Midway.

This is a wonderful series and I hope that they not only have a Season 2 (which would obviously have to be about either another ship or centered on a particular person) but are able to surpass what they have done here. If I have quibbles it has to do with what others have mentioned before me. Many shots used in the series are re-used repeatedly, and some are obviously pulled from "Dogfights" episodes (the Cactus Air Force and F6F Hellcat episodes in particular). I think it's a safe assumption that the folks who made "Dogfights" probably had a hand in this show as well, and this makes me glad since we'll probably not see another season of "Dogfights" on History Channel again anytime soon. Given that so much footage is reused you'll start to notice the same Japanese supply ship getting bombed by the same SBD every other episode, or the Akagi getting hit by another bomb on her bow every third episode. That may wear thin on some folks, and to be honest, I started to get weary of seeing the same clips over and over again. But I think this was originally mitigated by the fact that the show aired one episode a week and the producers must have gambled on viewers not being able to catch issues like this from week to week, whereas with the DVD set the reused footage is pretty blatant.

The set comes in a nicely detailed metal tin which isn't super-huge like "Band of Brothers", or even anywhere near the size of a "Dogfights" season. In fact it is only slightly wider than your average DVD case. In addition to the 10 episodes there is a small featurette highlighting certain aspects of the Enterprise, including the different defensive weapons system used on board the ship to interviews with surviving sailors. This part is more like a highlights reel in that the material contained it is already largely covered by the series itself, but more focused on small particulars. While there are no options to enable closed captioning on the DVD's (that I saw) I found that the CC worked with my TV, so if all else fails one can go that route.

This is a fantastic show and most definitely worth the purchase. If you know of any WWII buffs in your family, or have any friends into the subject, this is definitely a "must" for a gift. They will not be disappointed!

By now, a few of the other reviewers have shared the often held opinion that the story of USS Enterprise CV6 for a modern audience was long overdue. Unless you're a Naval history buff, chances are the story of "The Big E" is probably new to you, considering the replayed emphasis of other WWII stories that are so popular these days (retellings of D-Day, etc). Hollywood has somehow ignored this area. Long story short, for a Pacific Fleet reeling in the weeks after Pearl Harbor, Enterprise, her sister carriers, and a handful of cruisers and destroyers were all that stood in the way of Japanese victory. In the months, and years to come, Enterprise and her crew would fight on as a valuable weapon of democracy, and would somehow survive some of the worst battles at sea in the 20th Century.

This program is a fitting tribute to that legacy.

Notable are the dozens of interviews with Enterprise sailors, Naval Aviators, and members of her Marine Detachment, as well as the occasional inclusion of veterans from other vessels such as "E's" sister USS Hornet, and cruiser Northampton. Like a documentary "Band of Brothers" many of the veteran stories continue as recurring subplots throughout the series, a pleasant departure from other similar programs. The depictions of battles, moments of heroism, and the sadness of burials at sea are still vivid (and at times emotional) some six decades after the fact.

Of course the CGI is a signature of the episodes, at times providing a visual account of moments in battle for which there may be no archival footage. As such, the CGI can be very helpful when the blow by blow of an air attack is underway (particularly in the case of the lesser known engagements).

A great show, and a solid testament to the story of the US Navy in the Pacific War.

I just finished watching the Battle 360 series on History HD, and can't recommend this series enough for anyone interested in the Pacific theater of WWII. Battle 360 follows the exploits of the USS Enterprise and her crew from Pearl Harbor through the Empire's last stand involving Kamikaze attacks on the Big E. Prior to viewing this, I had not realized that for a period of time the USS Enterprise was the ONLY operational US air craft carrier in the entire Pacific theater. As the Enterprise was involved in a very high number of the important Pacific naval battles, it makes an excellent vehicle through which to tell the story.

What makes Battle 360 stand out is the battle sequences are depicted using CGI, so we get a view of the action as most of us have never seen before. The CGI battle scenes are very well done. In addition, like most History Channel series the action scenes are broken up with clips interviewing WWII survivors that served on the Enterprise as well as military historians.

I imagine I will end up purchasing more than one of these DVD sets to give as gifts to some of my history nerd friends and family members. The only reason I didn't give this excellent series 5-stars is that after enjoying it on History HD I would have liked to see it released on Blu-ray in addition to DVD. I doubt the DVD format can really allow the excellent CGI graphics to shine as they do in HD (though the series will undoubtedly still look very good and is very much worth purchasing).

This is the movie to buy if your a history buff, or just like war movies. OK, they do go a little over board on the animation, and I wish it was a little more detailed, I'd buy an expanded version if they made it. I recommend this movie, I got it on Amazon for $21, think it was a gold box but I'm forgetful. Wait for it to come back down to$21, which it dose every so many weeks. Its the same version as that, which was on television last year. You can tape it off the air but, it will take 8 or 9 weeks, you will have to sit and take out the commercials, and when your done, you will probably be like me and just want a good master copy, pay the $21 its worth it.I watched it last year on TV, and now twice since I received it. Now my son is watching it.