Volume
1 Episodes: Part 1: Currahee/Part 2: Day Of Days
Volume
2 Episodes: Part 3: Carentan/Part 4: Replacements
Volume
3 Episodes: Part 5: Crossroads/Part 6: Bastogne
Volume
4 Episodes: Part 7: The Breaking Point/Part 8: The Patrol
Volume 5 Episodes: Part 9: Why We Fight/Part 10: Points
Stars:
Kirk Acevedo, Eion Bailey, Michael Cudlitz, Dale Dye, Rick Gomez, Scott Grimes,
Colin Hanks, Frank John Hughes, Damien Lewis, Ron Livingston, James Madio, Neal
McDonough, David Schwimmer, Matthew Settle, Douglas Spain, Richard Speight, Jr.,
and Donnie Wahlberg
Writers:
Erik Jendresen, Tom Hanks, John Orloff, E. Max Frye, Graham Yost, Bruce C.
McKenna, and Erik Bork
Based
On The Book By: Stephen E. Ambrose
Directors:
Phil Alden Robinson, Richard Loncraine, Mikael Salamon, David Nutter, Tom Hanks,
David Leland, David Frankel, and Tony To
Executive
Producers: Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg
Languages:
English Stereo Sound
Subtitles:
N/A
Packaging:
Five Two-Disc Jewel Cases Individually Packaged In Cardboard Slipcases
Sound:
Stereo Sound
Year
of VCD Release: 2002
Home
Video Distributor: Home Box Office, Warner Home Video, and DreamWorks Home
Entertainment Through Movie Magic (In Malaysia Only)
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
After
the outstanding success of “Saving Private Ryan” Tom Hanks and Steven
Spielberg collaborated on bringing Stephen E. Ambrose’s book “Band Of
Brothers” to the small screen through HBO where it would become one of the
premium cable network’s best miniseries of the past year. Now the series has
been released to home video worldwide and has proven to be popular on DVD while
sales of the VHS set are effected by the overall downward cycle of the entire
sell through VHS tape market. So it is no surprise that abroad the complete
miniseries has been made available on VCD since the popularity of Video-CDs in
Asia in particular has continued to flourish in part due to the demand as well
as the price to manufacture and sell on a large scale is far less than it is to
produce video tapes. While the DVD is the obvious worthy successor to the home
video market, the backward compatibility of most players and computers with a
CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive has allowed for VCD to get a second wind as a compliment
to DVD for those who are looking for titles unavailable on DVD and that may
never become available as well as those interested in buying a particular title,
but not wanting to spend as much as some pricey box sets. So as I have done in
the past on certain titles available or unavailable on DVD in the United States,
I took a look at the VCD release of “Band Of Brothers” because I never saw
it when it aired on HBO and quite honestly was not willing to buy the box set
despite the great reviews precisely because I have not seen it.
While
the VCD set cannot compare to the DVD set in terms of extra features and the
obvious better picture and enhanced theatrical sound quality encoded on to the
DVD-Videos, they are definitely cheaper and for the most part a better
alternative than buying the NTSC VHS set, which does not have digital quality
sound and will not last as long as either the VCD or DVD releases of this
acclaimed miniseries are likely to endure. The complete miniseries on the VCD
set of “Band Of Brothers” is spread across ten discs so each disc contains
one episode. However in not trying to compress so much on to these discs, the
VCD set looks far better than I expected. The first thing I think that is easy
to notice right away is that the VCD picture quality is surprisingly good
considering the limitations of MPEG-1 compression. Once each episode starts the
MPEG-1 compression artifacts that are inherent to the format are kept to such a
minimum that many times they are simply not there or barely noticeable. When
they do appear it is usually in a sequence where there are many things happening
at once on screen, but for the most part as far as VCD is concerned, it does not
get much better than this. The scenes such as the airborne drop on D-Day with
the planes being shot at is jaw dropping and the picture for the most part is
very solid and free of color bleeding. While “Band Of Brothers” was shot in
widescreen for high definition television, the VCD presents each episode in a
(1.33:1) aspect ratio, which is pretty standard for VCD imports as a whole too.
The
CD quality English stereo soundtrack is very clear and full and there are no
foreign captions or subtitles burned into the discs that obstruct the viewing
image. The discs are sold separately in five volumes containing two episodes
each on it’s own VCD separately and housed within a standard sized jewel case
built for two discs within a handsome cardboard slipcase. The surface art of the
discs matches the cover art on the slipcases. The five volumes containing the
entire series are also sold collectively and are cheaper than both the NTSC VHS
and DVD counterparts. There are no extra features at all, but as an inexpensive
digital alternative to buy and view the series in case you are not sure you will
be happy with it, this is not a bad way to go.
The
series itself is excellent with each episode taking us through the war with
“Easy Company” from their training through their post-war epilogues. To
separate any one cast member from the other would be unfair because this is an
ensemble piece and everyone in it does a good job. Tom Hanks co-wrote the
opening episode and directed the episode entitled “Crossroads.” Each episode
begins with interviews from real company veterans and ends with brief notes on
the outcome of the campaign or how it affected the course of the war and or the
company. There are some home video trailers before the first episode on each
first disc within all five volumes. The quality of these home video preview
trailers is poor and in no way reflects the picture and sound quality of the
episodes that follow. The trailers included were comprised of home video
previews for “Murder By Numbers,” “Death To Smoochy,” and “The Salton
Sea.”
HBO,
DreamWorks, and Warner Brothers have done excellent work on this set that is
truly nothing short of remarkable. Please note that these are PAL VCD discs and
while most DVD Players can play them back without any problem, not all are
capable of VCD playback so check your player’s documentation before
purchasing. These discs will work in computers with either a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM
player with at least a Pentium processor or better and as long as the player can
convert PAL to NTSC, these discs should be playable in all VCD players.
“Band
Of Brothers: Volumes 1 Through 5” are available now for sale separately or
collectively at import retailers on and off line and can be ordered directly
from www.Eurekamovies.com.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.