Dogfights - The Complete Season One (History Channel)
by Jason McKinley, Robert Kirk
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Caitlin Harrington, Phil CrowleyDirector: Jason McKinley, Robert Kirk
Brand: A&E
Producer: Jason McKinley
Writer: Jason McKinley
Producer: Abe Scheuermann
Producer: Brooks Wachtel
Writer: Brooks Wachtel
Producer: Cynthia Harrison
Writer: Cynthia Harrison
Producer: Rob Lihani
Writer: Arthur Drooker
Writer: Debbie Blum
Writer: Doug Miller
Writer: Douglas Miller
Writer: Greg DeHart
Writer: Jonathan B. Taylor
Writer: Richard Mueller
Writer: Wayne Weiss
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Black & White, Box set, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 517 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-04-24
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: A&E Home Video
Movie Reviews of Dogfights - The Complete Season One (History Channel)
Movie Review: Outstanding!
Summary: 5 Stars
This four dvd set has some really beautiful highlights. The CGI is fabulous. The resulting episodes are visually arresting - much more lifelike than actual combat footage, which tends to be grainy or washed out. The CGI is so accurate that even the reflections on the fuselage of each aircraft follow the sun as the pilots maintain an orbit above or around a target, or pursue their enemy. The sequences of aerial combat are very fluid and very close to the sort of dogfight scenarios that one might visualize without having had the actual experience of air combat.
"Long Odds", a WWII segment that features "Old 666", a B-17 outfitted with thirteen .50 calibre machine guns and heavier armament. That Flying Fortress was tasked with the reconnaissance of Japanese troop movements over various land locations. Old 666 was involved in a 45-minute dogfight, facing an overwhelming Japanese presence. Its pilot, Jay Zeamer won the Medal of Honor for his heroism. Ultimately, the crew of Old 666 became the most Highly decorated B-17 crew of WWII. A great story.
"The Hunt for the Bismark" and "Death of the Japanese Navy" depict WWII aerial engagements involving naval vessels. The latter episode is a CGI adaptation of the actions surrounding Taffy III, and how that task force, which was cut off from the rest of the US Pacific fleet for a few days, managed to inflict serious damage on Japanese naval forces in the straights of the Phillipine islands.
"MIG Alley" illustrates the leap in jet technology during the Koean War and the effect it had on aerial combat and the resulting high speed problems each pilot faced are explained in surprising detail. Ace Pilots Frederick "Boots" Blesse, Robbie Risner and Ralph Parr give great commentary.
"Air Ambush" with commentary by by legendary Air Force Ace Robin Olds depicts the F4 Phantom and a rather unusual mission assigned to their Pilots and Radar Intercept Officers. It's difficult to imagine to be at the top front of all that raw power. This episode has a brief flashback - sort of a story within a story - to his days as a P-38 combat pilot in the skies over western Europe during World War II. "Hell Over Hanoi" is also about the F4 Phantom over Vietnam, with narration by Fred Olmsted and Dan Cherry. Again, Great CGI.
As a bonus on disc one, "One Inch from Out of Control," features commentary by Willie "Irish" Driscoll and Randy "Duke" Cunningham and is simply put, amazing. At the controls of the USS Constallation's VF-96 "Showtime 100," the Pilot and RIO score three MIG kills and escape a Surface to Air Missile hit which tears their Phantom apart and with only nanoseconds to spare, eject into the waters of the south China Sea.
There isn't much about World War I, but the series' introductory episode feautres a segment devoted to Eddie Rickenbacker and the techniques of aerial combat that he and other notables such as Manfred Von Richtoffen helped to develop and are still studied by combat pilots today.
To its credit, the History Channel also put together a CGI series that dealt more with ground combat in World War II, but the CGI didn't work all that well. Even though the historical information was accurately depicted, the CGI wasn't nearly what it should have been mostly by virtue of the complicated nature of recreating computer-generated human beings. In other words, the soldiers didn't look real.
"Dogfights" Seasons One is a four dvd set that I highly recommend. Devotees of air combat will find themselves watching many of these episodes several times to get all of the nuance of the air engagements depicted on these dvds.
Summary of Dogfights - The Complete Season One (History Channel)
Harnessing the technology from the latest cgi video game flight simulators this puts the viewers behind the cockpit pitted against enemy aircraft in 11 of modern historys greatest air battles. Studio: A&e Home Video Release Date: 04/24/2007 Run time: 517 minutesDetailed digital re-creations of aerial combat are the obvious highlight of Dogfights, but the greatest value of this popular History Channel series lies in its assembly of priceless interviews with veteran pilots who fought in history's most dangerous dogfights and lived to tell the tale. As an oral and visual history that will enthrall viewers of all ages, the series pays tribute to these men and their remarkable skill, and their vivid recollections ensure that this series will be discussed and studied for many years to come. Filling four DVDs, these 11 first-season episodes run about 43 minutes in length, with each episode focusing on specific dogfights where "you're in the pilot's seat" for a breathtaking study of how these potentially deadly aerial encounters began, developed, and concluded. From the biplanes of World War I to the F-15 Eagles of the U.S. and Israeli Air Forces, the series re-creates legendary dogfights with computer-generated aircraft so authentically detailed (including accurate paint-schemes and military markings) that you can even see the rivets in their fuselages. With CGI pilots nestled in their cockpits, these airplanes look and move like the real thing, and while other details such as aircraft debris, flames, explosions, and crashes are rendered in video-game quality resolution (i.e., not state-of-the-art but sufficiently impressive) the aerial activity also includes gun-tracers, rockets, and missiles that are instantly convincing. As you learn about strategic maneuvers like the "Thatch Weave" and "Rolling Scissors," the only thing missing is the G-forces you'd feel if you were actually flying the planes.
With highlights too numerous to mention individually, each episode follows a precise and logical structure, thrusting the viewer into the chaos of combat, then supplementing the visual excitement with detailed schematics and comparison charts of aircraft on both sides of battle. Each chart examines the characteristic strengths and weaknesses of the aircraft involved (from structural integrity to weapons systems, maximum speed, climbing rates, etc.), and archival footage of the actual aircraft in action is accompanied by background history and pilot testimonials. Although most of the action is taken from Pacific theater combat of World War II, dogfights from the Vietnam War (as in "The Last Gunfighter," a tribute to the F8 Crusader) and the Middle East are also included. Among the most thrilling episodes are "Long Odds" (focusing on the heroic endurance of WWII Navy Ace "Swede" Vejtasa and Medal of Honor winner Jay Zeamer) and "Hunt for the Bismarck," a riveting study of aerial supremacy over Germany's legendary battleship. As a bonus feature on disc 1, the feature-length pilot episode "Dogfights: Greatest Air Battles" was produced a year before the 2006 premiere of Dogfights and offers a more generalized history of aerial combat and flying-ace heroes. Also included is "Dogfights: The Planes," a featurette compilation of individual aircraft profiles culled from the series proper. Unfortunately, Dogfights is presented in "plain" widescreen (i.e., not enhanced for widescreen TVs), and subtitles and closed captioning are not included. These are the only drawbacks in a four-disc set that's an absolute must-have for military buffs, future "Top Gun" candidates and anyone interested in the history of aerial combat. --Jeff Shannon
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