Titanic

I have just finished a rewatch of this tv series.

My experience with it started when it was first broadcast in 2012 and I enjoyed it that much that I got it on dvd.

I then watched it several more times before it got left at the back of my dvd collection and subsequently forgotten about until now.

Dusting it off after all these years. It still holds up.

Yeah as with any Titanic related media one has to take it with a pinch of salt.

While not entirely accurate and at times it does contradict the testimony of survivors.

It is still well made. Great story. Hits all the right notes and leaves you feeling emotionally drained at the end.

It's entertaining enough with a well known bit of history as the backdrop for this tv show.

Good casting too.

Set design is alright. Parts of it are right and some aren't.

Being from the same writer as one would expect it's Downton Abbey on the Titanic.

I'd recommend it highly.

I thought I would re-write my review for the DVD and Blu-Ray version, as it might be of some interest or knowledge to some. I recently purchased my own copy of Titanic on Blu-Ray since and thought it would be of some use to share what I discovered. The DVD version has additional deleted scenes that fill in the gaps of where they put the commercial breaks. The most predominant scenes include: 1. Thomas Andrews and Benjamin Guggenheim in the first class smoking room as the ship is foundering as both the Manton's and Lightholler pass through. 2. A conversation on the bridge between Chief Officer Wilde and First Officer Murdoch. 3. A conversation on the bridge between First officer Murdoch and Captain Smith before Titanic's bridge is submerged. Other additional scenes (although not as drastic) are included that make the story lines better developed and flow much nicer between each episode. Also because of the added scenes, the characters' conclusions are much more satisfying (the only conclusion that still left me unsatisfied was that of Mary Maloney, in the end you are almost left wondering if you were ever supposed to really care about her or her story at all. I feel as though her character never truly developed as much as the other characters, because I was still lacking understanding for some of her actions). The deleted scenes are not bonus features and are included within the film. You have the option to "play all" episodes, or watch them one by one. I highly recommend the "play all" option, it has a running time of 187 minutes which will be long for some, but I find you are more aware and drawn into the stories, and because it is a drama it is much more of an emotional experience if you watch them consecutively because you are still in that mindset. The 1080i (not 1080p) high definition quality of the picture is beautiful and crisp. I didn't pay much attention to the sound quality but it was good for my ears (on a side note I did have to put subtitles on at times to understand some muddled dialogue because of some of their accents). Titanic is a two disc collection, Disc One contains all four episodes and the Set Up options. Disc Two contains 2 hours of bonus material for those interested, including: The making-of Featurette, Titanic: Behind-the-Production, Episode One Audio Commentary, and "The Curse of the Titanic Sisters" Documentary. Do not go on the opinion of others, watch it first then make your own judgements. Julian Fellowes' Titanic felt to me more like a re-imagining than a retelling of an all too familiar story. Titanic is told in such a style both visually and narratively, that I found it to be compelling. Of course that is just a personal opinion. If you still feel uncertain about purchasing Titanic, rent it (if you can) first it is your safest and cheapest option.

9 out of 10 stars

If you compare this four hour TV mini-series to the twelve hour "Titanic: Blood and Steel" series, which also came out in 2012, then this shorter series is more enjoyable. And even with a much smaller budget, they accomplished a much more captivating and entertaining series. And one that is not actually a drag to sit through.

The 2012 "Titanic" series focus on the ship and the stories of the passengers, which is what the audience wants to see. Unlike the twelve hours series of political drama and shipyard problems.

The acting in this series was good and they had some good talents on the cast list.

I will say that the practical effects and special effects team managed to pull off the effects quite amazingly. And the visuals do play a big part in a drama about the Titanic.

The costume and props department also did their job quite well, fleshing out the atmosphere nicely.

If you have an interest in the Titanic then you should take the time to sit down and watch this 2012 TV mini-series, because it is actually quite entertaining and good.

I've read several reviews of Julian Fellowes' Titanic, and I agree with comments about the choppy, confusing editing (I'm sure there was a point to it, but I kept thinking I had started with the wrong episode, or in the middel of one...) I also agree with those that found the cast to be lacking in chemistry or real emotion. But what bothered me most about this version was that there was absolutely no sense of the arctic, icy cold. Nobody breathed vapor. Nobody froze to death -- EVRYBODY that went into the water drowned? Really? That sounds like (yet another) glaring historical inaccuracy. There was no mention of the cold throughout the "sinking scenes" except for one character mentioned she'd rather freeze than deal with "those people." There was no ice anywhere except the CGI iceberg. This version could have been set in a lukewarm summer lake, for all the impression of cold it produced. (And okay, maybe James Cameron put a little TOO much emphasis on clouds of vapor and frozen hair, but at least you FELT how cold it was!) If the point of this version was to make us feel the total experience of this tragedy, it missed by an artic ocean. Pun intended.

The DVD hasn't been released here yet but the 'mini-series' is now over. It is difficult to call this amalgamation of snippets about an historic tragedy a miniseries because it was spread out so unevenly (3 hours on first night, one hour on second night) and we are now informed that the film is a total of 184 minutes which means that the fourth hour was completely filled with the most distracting and disrupting of commercials. Why this new version of TITANIC wasn't place on cable television where it could have been enjoyed on one uninterrupted three hour showing is beyond understanding. Perhaps when the DVD is released and there are no loud and ugly commercials every 5 minutes the story will hold together.

Julian Fellowes, so respected for his writing of such series as Downton Abbey, etc. seems to have the urge to tell the story of the event through quick snippets of personal stories among the passengers - a commendable idea, but when the tiny tales are buried in the almost immediate collision with the iceberg and the attempt to flesh out the story by making it about how tragedy affects people's relationships come as little disconnected pop-ups, it is difficult to care about anybody, much less get to know them well enough to remember them at picture's end. Granted there are some moments before the ship is finished that emphasize the fact that the unsinkable Titanic was rushed to completion before it was safely ready, and those flashbacks to offer some interesting moments.

But basically the story is the same as all the other TITANIC movies - a study about class distinction not only among the peerage of Brits but also the differentiation among first, second and third (steerage) classes - with a hefty dollop of snubbing the crass American passengers. Jon Jones directs this amalgamation of ideas. There are some brief but tasty moments for actors such as Glen Blackhall (a memorable Paolo) and Antonio Magro (Paolo's brother Mario), Peter McDonald, Steven Waddington, Ruth Bradley Linus Roache and Geraldine Somerville as the Mantons, Toby Jones and Maria Doyle Kennedy, Celia Emrie, James Wilby and Dragos Bucur (the stowaway Russian). The rest of the cast is so little used that they all but disappear.

The film was apparently shot on digital video. Some of the effects are fine, but the whole film lacks cohesion - at least on the American release on commercial television!