Documentaries
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I've only watched Part 1, but a must-see for any fans of The Sopranos. It's interesting to see who auditioned for the main roles.
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@Bovidae said in Documentaries:
I've only watched Part 1, but a must-see for any fans of The Sopranos. It's interesting to see who auditioned for the main roles.
Ah crap, this is on Binge/Foxtel in Oz so I can't watch it.
Might have to find a copy ...
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Much to discuss about this one.
A youtube documentary "Britain v Argentina: Falklands War - Full Animated Documentary, by an outfit (channel?) called Historigraph.
Firstly am not sure how many Ferners are my age, but I was 13 when Argies invaded the Falklands. So it was vividly imprinted on my memory, nightly news reports etc.
Then the Documentary series "Task Force South" that came out a few months later was compulsory viewing.
So found this fascinating, both refreshing my memory, and filling in gaps.
Secondly, I've never thought of YouTube as a "TV" ("TB") option. Not even sure how I got on to it. Perhaps something flicked up on the Chromecast after quitting out of Stan ...
Let's face it, this new fangled interwebs wasn't around when Argentina was invading the Falklands when I was 13 in 1982 ...
Anyway, loved the animation of the positioning of the warships, telling the story as the Task Force moved south, and the attacks by the Argie air force (particularly the attack on the Sheffield). (Didn't love the resultant casualties, but fascinated by the stories told.)
But it wasn't just putting the ships and planes in positional context, it was the names and reactions of the actual combatants, pilots, commanders, officers etc and their reactions and comments.
Provided some background to the political framework of the time too.
Crazy to think just 40 years ago Argentina, who we'd think of as an ally and a staunch member of whatever we'd consider is some sort of western alliance, was ruled by dictators like Galtieri and the rest of his Junta. (FYI, have coincidentally just finished a podcast series by Real Dictators, on General Videla, a predecessor of Galtieri, and one of the fluffiest of bunnies amongst South America's long list of furry rabbits. He was nasty. Hard to believe in modern times these people existed. )
The success probably kept Maggie T in power too.
Some wild stats and facts, like the attack on the Sheffield used 40% (well 2 of 5) of the entire Arg stock of Exocets. Like, that was all they had.
So many bombs hit British ships, but didn't explode.
Quite old school militarily: No smart bombs for example.
Amazing to think this was only 40 years ago.
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@booboo said in Documentaries:
Much to discuss about this one.
A youtube documentary "Britain v Argentina: Falklands War - Full Animated Documentary, by an outfit (channel?) called Historigraph.
Firstly am not sure how many Ferners are my age, but I was 13 when Argies invaded the Falklands. So it was vividly imprinted on my memory, nightly news reports etc.
Then the Documentary series "Task Force South" that came out a few months later was compulsory viewing.
So found this fascinating, both refreshing my memory, and filling in gaps.
Secondly, I've never thought of YouTube as a "TV" ("TB") option. Not even sure how I got on to it. Perhaps something flicked up on the Chromecast after quitting out of Stan ...
Let's face it, this new fangled interwebs wasn't around when Argentina was invading the Falklands when I was 13 in 1982 ...
Anyway, loved the animation of the positioning of the warships, telling the story as the Task Force moved south, and the attacks by the Argie air force (particularly the attack on the Sheffield). (Didn't love the resultant casualties, but fascinated by the stories told.)
But it wasn't just putting the ships and planes in positional context, it was the names and reactions of the actual combatants, pilots, commanders, officers etc and their reactions and comments.
Provided some background to the political framework of the time too.
Crazy to think just 40 years ago Argentina, who we'd think of as an ally and a staunch member of whatever we'd consider is some sort of western alliance, was ruled by dictators like Galtieri and the rest of his Junta. (FYI, have coincidentally just finished a podcast series by Real Dictators, on General Videla, a predecessor of Galtieri, and one of the fluffiest of bunnies amongst South America's long list of furry rabbits. He was nasty. Hard to believe in modern times these people existed. )
The success probably kept Maggie T in power too.
Some wild stats and facts, like the attack on the Sheffield used 40% (well 2 of 5) of the entire Arg stock of Exocets. Like, that was all they had.
So many bombs hit British ships, but didn't explode.
Quite old school militarily: No smart bombs for example.
Amazing to think this was only 40 years ago.
The Rest is History did a 4 part podcast on the Falklands war, which I really enjoyed (the podcast, not the war).
I too was about 13 at the time and remember we did a school project on the war while it was still happening.
If your familiar with The Rest is History podcast then you'll know the guys are British, but they tell both sides of the story and are very sympathetic towards the argies. -
@booboo Having four grandparents from the UK me and my younger brother, a military man at the time of the invasion (ended up doing 20 years of service), still to this day refer to any Argentine team as The Fisms short for Falkland Island Silver Medalists. Don't forget they also got their just desserts on Anzac day when they also became silver medalists in South Georgia after getting sent packing after their three week hold of the place.
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I also remember The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole.
Adrian hearing on shortwave radio that Argentina had invaded the Falklands. Adrian wakes his parents to tell them, his dad starts to panic thinking that the Falklands are in Scotland and that the argies will be in their town by the evening.
When Adrian tells his dad that the Falklands are in the South Atlantic his dad growls at him and goes back to sleep. -
@WestieFella said in Documentaries:
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole.
Think I might still have some books of that series tucked away somewhere. Quite humorous and cleverly written by Sue Townshend if my memory serves me correctly.
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Yeah that is a good channel. Big impact on me, as a partially Brit, wannabe military kid. I also flew with a fair few vets, some as retired now civvie instructors - they 'swung the lamp' well. I also did a few tours down there, and you got the time to walk around the history.
FI conflict was very old school, last one side vs another, nothing really smart in the tech, no real problems with telling who the bad guys were- everyone in unitforms and no insurgents/guerilla types. It was also won on the back of good old fashioned guts, training and professionalism - the argies never felt the UK would react militarily, which was a total failure in diplomacy by the UK and the USA
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@Machpants also a refusal to listen to advice from the junta who needed a successful war to remain in power just as much as Maggie did. The last but one Arg Ambassador to the UK told Galtieri that if he invaded the evening papers would be "all leave cancelled as troops recalled to barracks", that there would be an emergency session of parliament resulting in a naval task force being sent to the Sth Atlantic to retake the islands. Exactly as it played out.
David Owens said the Argies had planned something similar in 1978 but that the Labour government had very publically sent a nuclear sub to patrol the Falklands which scared the Argies off.
I was living in London. It was pretty hard not to get swept up in the jingoism - until the body count started rising. Remarkable (last?) force projection by UK. I remember Canadian Defence Minister saying if the task force had steamed up to the St Lawrence there wouldn't have been a thing Canada could do to stop it.
Won the Tories the next election and staved off the planned defence cuts.
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Dunno if it has been mentioned but 'McLaren'.
Available on Stan.
Watched on plane today.
Life of Bruce McLaren. Racing car driver and founder of the McLaren race car team.
Really liked it.
He the all round nice guy stereotical Kiwi laconic bloke who became the champion driver then created the McLaren race car team with a bunch of other Kiwis and number 8 wire.
Expect there were embellishments but if it was half true (the Le Mans story was different to 'Ford v Ferrari'
) it was awesome.Taken ... shall we say succumbed... too young.
Great Kiwi story. Not just him, but the team.
Well worth a watch.
Wise Guy: David Chase and the Sopranos (TV Series 2024) ⭐ 8.2 | Documentary, Biography
