TV/Movies Megathread

[Valmy]

Maybe they were talking about that one time that Churchill got in a punch-up with a French farmer.

That French farmer was still mad about Blenheim.

[grumbler]

Oh, and BTW, Churchill was at Verdun.  Here's a picture:

Compliments of the Imperial War Museum. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/churchills-first-world-war

Caption:

Major Winston Churchill, wearing a French steel shrapnel helmet, stands with General Emile Fayolle and other officers including Captain Edward Spears (third from left) at the headquarters of XXXIII Corps, French Army, while visiting the French front line on 15 December 1915.

The XXXIII Corps was part of the defensive force at Verdun.

It took less than 5 minutes of Googling to find this.

[viper37]

Having Russians invade America from the Rockies in the Seven Years War is the equivalent to showing Churchill at Verdun and it's not a minor detail, and given that it's only mentionned in passing, it is not only distracting, but a sign of lazyness and makes you wonder about all the inacuracies you did not spot.

These analogies just keep getting worse.

I am ashamed for you, that you did not get my reference.  You totally fail at being a true nerd!


That was the final plot in the second act of Age of Empires III 

[viper37]

Geez veep. 

I propose Australians at Guadalcanal or Midway.

Gee, was that game so damn obscure??  Am I really the only one here who played it time and time again?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Empires_III#Act_II:_Ice


John and Kanyenke intercept Warwick's supply train and destroy a fortified Circle base in the mountains. They soon discover that Warwick and his soldiers have fled even farther west to Colorado, where they have allied with the Russians. They discover that the Circle plans to capture British and French colonies and towns while their soldiers are at war with one another, and that Warwick wants the Circle of Ossus to take over the world.

While John pursues Warwick, Kanyenke and some miners bring down large rock bridges to stop the Russians' large cannons from getting through. He and the mercenaries return east as John plants explosives to cause an avalanche and bury the Russians. Warwick ambushes John, but he successfully detonates the explosives, killing himself and Warwick. The resulting avalanche buries the Russians and the Circle's troops, ending their current plans. In the spring, Kanyenke returns to his village and learns that his sister has given birth to John's son Nathaniel, whom he begins to help raise.

Now, I await your collective apoligies, sirs!
You should all know by now I totally lack imagination and would be unable to come up with something like that by myself

[Valmy]

The XXXIII Corps was part of the defensive force at Verdun.

It took less than 5 minutes of Googling to find this.

Ah ha! But it did take 5 minutes!

Well there you guys go. You can all go back to watching Peaky Blinders now.

[viper37]

Oh, and BTW, Churchill was at Verdun.  Here's a picture:

Compliments of the Imperial War Museum. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/churchills-first-world-war

Caption:

Major Winston Churchill, wearing a French steel shrapnel helmet, stands with General Emile Fayolle and other officers including Captain Edward Spears (third from left) at the headquarters of XXXIII Corps, French Army, while visiting the French front line on 15 December 1915.

The XXXIII Corps was part of the defensive force at Verdun.

It took less than 5 minutes of Googling to find this.

I believe the claim was that Churchill fought at Verdun, that is incorrect.
As you said, the XXXIII Corps was a French unit, so that does not indicate a British military presence, other than advisers, liaisons or medical units.

Tamas was right

[Admiral Yi]

Just learned from Peaky Blinders that Charlie Chaplain was a gypsy.

[Valmy]

I believe the claim was that Churchill fought at Verdun, that is incorrect.
As you said, the XXXIII Corps was a French unit, so that does not indicate a British military presence, other than advisers, liaisons or medical units.

Tamas was right

Right. Churchill was obviously visiting the Verdun sector, he even was there with Captain Spears the British liaison officer who was everywhere and knew everybody on the Western Front.

But still mad props to Grumbler there. I appreciate good historical research, even if it took less than five minutes on google

[Tamas]

Yes the scene where this happened was how Churchill turned a room full of British guys to support him against some other dude, by appealing to their shared experience in the trenches at various battlefields, including Verdun. It was not "I briefly visited Verdun when I was doing a PR visit, woe me".

And as Viper said: how many other ridiculous inaccuracies must be there that I missed if the creators are THIS lazy?

[garbon]

Yes the scene where this happened was how Churchill turned a room full of British guys to support him against some other dude, by appealing to their shared experience in the trenches at various battlefields, including Verdun. It was not "I briefly visited Verdun when I was doing a PR visit, woe me".

And as Viper said: how many other ridiculous inaccuracies must be there that I missed if the creators are THIS lazy?

I'm not sure why you went in expecting a historical documentary.

[Tamas]

Yes the scene where this happened was how Churchill turned a room full of British guys to support him against some other dude, by appealing to their shared experience in the trenches at various battlefields, including Verdun. It was not "I briefly visited Verdun when I was doing a PR visit, woe me".

And as Viper said: how many other ridiculous inaccuracies must be there that I missed if the creators are THIS lazy?

I'm not sure why you went in expecting a historical documentary.

Who said that I did? Really, you are just being dense on purpose. I am not trying to prevent you from watching it. I am just telling you why I think it is shite.

[garbon]

Yes the scene where this happened was how Churchill turned a room full of British guys to support him against some other dude, by appealing to their shared experience in the trenches at various battlefields, including Verdun. It was not "I briefly visited Verdun when I was doing a PR visit, woe me".

And as Viper said: how many other ridiculous inaccuracies must be there that I missed if the creators are THIS lazy?

I'm not sure why you went in expecting a historical documentary.

Who said that I did? Really, you are just being dense on purpose. I am not trying to prevent you from watching it. I am just telling you why I think it is shite.

Because there was one detail throwaway detail that bothered you and that means there must be lots of other historical inaccuracies...even though it wasn't a show that boasted itself as a faithfully historical account.

[Tamas]

Yes the scene where this happened was how Churchill turned a room full of British guys to support him against some other dude, by appealing to their shared experience in the trenches at various battlefields, including Verdun. It was not "I briefly visited Verdun when I was doing a PR visit, woe me".

And as Viper said: how many other ridiculous inaccuracies must be there that I missed if the creators are THIS lazy?

I'm not sure why you went in expecting a historical documentary.

Who said that I did? Really, you are just being dense on purpose. I am not trying to prevent you from watching it. I am just telling you why I think it is shite.

Because there was one detail throwaway detail that bothered you and that means there must be lots of other historical inaccuracies...even though it wasn't a show that boasted itself as a faithfully historical account.

Listen, we have talked through these same points 15 times already above, I am going to do it for the 16th time and then I am done.

This one example underlines for me my other impressions from the series about the general interest and effort the creators put into the environment.

I have no interest in watching something that is on the surface taking place in 1920s England but then refusing to put any effort into conveying 1920s England. There are plenty of gangster flicks that require far less suspension of disbelief and yet feature the exact same set of two-dimensional characters and standard trope storylines.

[Sheilbh]

Fair, I mean Goodfellas made us suspend our disbelief and believe Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci were 21 year olds.

[garbon]

Listen, we have talked through these same points 15 times already above, I am going to do it for the 16th time and then I am done.

This one example underlines for me my other impressions from the series about the general interest and effort the creators put into the environment.

I have no interest in watching something that is on the surface taking place in 1920s England but then refusing to put any effort into conveying 1920s England. There are plenty of gangster flicks that require far less suspension of disbelief and yet feature the exact same set of two-dimensional characters and standard trope storylines.

Which is fine. I'd just say that if you are going to use as a criterion for watching a drama set in the past is that dialogue needs to get every detail correct (and it is that, a minor detail that has basically no bearing on the plot besides letting Churchill express that he knows what it is like in the trenches), you're going to find few dramas worth watching.