Das Boot Sky uk?

[Truscott Trotter]

I binge watched it a couple of weeks ago.
Starts well, looks good, great cast, big budget, and the action sequences are good.
But both the main U-boat storyline and particularly the secondary ‘resistance’ storyline set in La Rochelle, both get very silly and far fetched after about 5 episodes in. Not remotely credible in either case. Ridiculous in fact.
Still quite enjoyable though.
But not a patch on the original movie. Lacking the gallows humour in fact.

Jawohl Herr Kaleun! 

I have to say I was soooo looking forward to it but I have to agree with Capt Blood on this one

[tuco74]

I think it's one of the best things I've watched in a long time - highly recommended.

[Captain Blood]

I think it's one of the best things I've watched in a long time - highly recommended.

Like I say, I enjoyed it at one level

SPOILER ALERT
 
But in comparison with the original - a gripping and gritty tale of men at war and in terrifying extremis, yet always with a whiff of sardonic black humour – this new ‘Das Boot’ is much more fantasy soap opera.
The U-boat crew casting their captain adrift in a life raft in a mutiny led by a deranged rival U-boat captain plucked from the sea, abetted by the previously ramrod-straight, rules-obeying Prussian second in command? Bonkers.
The glamorous American Spanish Civil War veteran who has somehow taken charge of the French Resistance cell in La Rochelle, despite being a flaky heroin addict who speaks only English to them (while they speak to her only in French)?
And who also happens to be gay and plunges headlong into a lesbian affair with the German female clerk who happens to be a traitor, yet manages to wander around La Rochelle in her time off having all sorts of clandestine meetings – all the while holding the amorous attentions of the town’s (nice) Gestapo chief at arm’s length whilst breaking into the Gestapo’s cells to kill a compromised prisoner, and stealing information from the Gestapo’s office…
It’s fun in parts, and the submarine action sequences are great. But there are so many far-fetched aspects it’s a fantasy ‘on the theme of’, and a very different creature to the original of the same name… Which some people might find a bit disappointing.

The original movie is on Netflix in the UK by the way. Well worth the couple of hours it takes. I recall it has been voted the best war film ever made in assorted polls down the last 30 years...

[smirnoff]

But in comparison with the original - a gripping and gritty tale of men at war and in terrifying extremis, yet always with a whiff of sardonic black humour – this new ‘Das Boot’ is much more fantasy soap opera.
The U-boat crew casting their captain adrift in a life raft in a mutiny led by a deranged rival U-boat captain plucked from the sea, abetted by the previously ramrod-straight, rules-obeying Prussian second in command? Bonkers.
The glamorous American Spanish Civil War veteran who has somehow taken charge of the French Resistance cell in La Rochelle, despite being a flaky heroin addict who speaks only English to them (while they speak to her only in French)?
And who also happens to be gay and plunges headlong into a lesbian affair with the German female clerk who happens to be a traitor, yet manages to wander around La Rochelle in her time off having all sorts of clandestine meetings – all the while holding the amorous attentions of the town’s (nice) Gestapo chief at arm’s length whilst breaking into the Gestapo’s cells to kill a compromised prisoner, and stealing information from the Gestapo’s office…
It’s fun in parts, and the submarine action sequences are great. But there are so many far-fetched aspects it’s a fantasy ‘on the theme of’, and a very different creature to the original of the same name… Which some people might find a bit disappointing.

but it does have a Sunderland in it for 15 seconds....

[Captain Blood]

but it does have a Sunderland in it for 15 seconds....

That is true, and I too appreciated that at the time 

Honestly, overall I enjoyed it. It started out so well. Both the main storylines dived off down an implausible, soap shaped rabbit hole halfway through, which turned it into something quite different from the sort of gritty, awful realism central to previous incarnations of the ‘Das Boot’ brand...

[Plynkes]

The movie length version of the original series was the first DVD I ever owned. My dad gave it to me and I said, "what the hell is this thing?" I didn't even know what a DVD was at that point. What a thicko.

He said "it will play on your computer", and he was right. Happy times. But even happier times was when the TV series version was shown on the BBC many years before. I once had a computer game set on a U-boat, and you could put your own sound files into the game and play them on the in-game gramophone. So of course, I had to add "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" to it.

Such a good programme. I've loved  Jürgen Prochnow ever since. He's one of those actors who is almost always worth watching, even when the thing he is in stinks. And also, German pop singer Herbert Grönemeyer was in it. Anyone remember him? Back in the 90s when in the UK we used to get MTV Europe (before MTV UK was a thing) he was all over it. I loved MTV Europe, it exposed us to lots of European music I wouldn't have known otherwise. Okay, a lot of it was terrible, but there were some gems in there. I would never have known about Les Negresses Vertes without MTV Europe, and I loved that band.

Sorry, rambling on a bit, as is my wont. Incidentally, for the British GLAM veterans, and speaking of Herbert Grönemeyer: He did a song called "Currywurst!" 

[tuco74]

So of course, I had to add "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" to it.

I live in Stalybridge where the song was first performed and there is a statue of it being written in the town centre. It's also played by the brass band every Remembrance Day.

[Plynkes]

I've been to Stalybridge! Went to see Hereford play Stalybridge Celtic once. It was such a lovely sunny day as I've never seen in Lancashire, before or since.


I also got shit-faced on Bacardi Breezers in the pub just by the ground. I don't recall the outcome of the match.

[smirnoff]

Blimey. I remember when Stalybridge was still in Cheshire....

[SpaceCudet]

Blimey. I remember when Stalybridge was still in Cheshire....

Still a bloody long way to go to see Hereford play

(Furthest I've been is Kington to watch Herefordshire beat Middlesex)

[Plynkes]

Oops, Cheshire was it? I apologise. In that case the nicest day I ever saw in Lancashire was at Old Trafford. It was an England vs. South Africa friendly, complete with African dancers before the kick-off.

That was almost as nice a day as the Stalybridge day, though it had slipped my mind when I posted before. I've still to see Wigan, Oldham,  Preston, Morecambe, Lancaster or Blackpool on a nice day, mind. 

[Truscott Trotter]

I remember when pubs in Cheshire didn't serve Bacardi Breezers......just sayin 

[ARKOUDAKI]

I watched all of the new TV version and while it started out well enough it got kinda lame in the end. I won't create any spoilers but the ending was just plain weak! Plus, the show's producers clearly sought to cover all the demographics rather than focus on the story of a U-Boat crew, like the original. I give it a 6/10 overall...started off more like 8-9/10 but then just fell apart.

[Doug ex-em4]

I remember when pubs in Cheshire didn't serve Bacardi Breezers......just sayin 

Are you telling me there’s pubs that sell Bacardi Breezers....!?

Doug

[Emir of Askaristan]

Well I quite enjoyed that.
Nothing like the original but since I can't remember much about that I wasn't too bothered. Some fanciful storytelling but nothing worse than any other tv show.

A second series is planned apparently.

(If you liked the onshore storyline and haven't seen Babylon Berlin you might like it too).