Emmy Awards
Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special
Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special
Outstanding Miniseries
Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special
Outstanding Single-Camera Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or a Movie
Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special
Golden Globe
Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Television Critics Association Awards
Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Mini-Series and Specials
It's safe to say that "Band of Brothers" is a mini-series that shouldn't be missed. Based on the book "Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest" by Stephen E. Ambrose, the mini-series became a ratings hit for cable channel HBO. The series follows "Easy Company" from their training in the US to their deployment in Europe and their journey to Hitler's Eagle's Nest.
Executive produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Speilberg, with episodes directed by David Nutter (X-Files, Roswell, Smallville, Dark Angel, Disturbing Behavior) David Frankel (Sex and the City, From the Earth to the Moon) Phil Alden Robinson (Field of Dreams, Sneakers) Mikael Salomon (Alias, The Agency, The Fugitive) and Tony To (Harsh Realm), the mini-series has numerous well-known, and not so well-known, actors in it. Among them are: Damian Lewis (Life Force, Robinson Crusoe), Donnie Wahlberg (Boomtown, The Sixth Sense, New Kids on the Block), Ron Livingston (The Practice, Sex and the City, Office Space), Matthew Settle (U-571, The In Crowd), Scott Grimes (Critters, Part of Five), Neal McDonough (Boomtown, Minority Report), Kirk Acevedo (Oz, The Thing Red Line), Richard Speight Jr. (The Agency), Dexter Fletcher (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), David Schwimmer (Friends, Uprising), Dale Dye (Starship Troopers, Medal of Honor) and Colin Hanks (Roswell, Orange County).
Movie Central was showing the series in Canada, but when I saw that it wasn't in widescreen I decided not to watch it, choosing to wait for the eventual DVD release. I know that the presentation on TV wouldn't compare to this wonderful DVD set.
Packaging
The set comes in a very attractive metal case that opens up to hold the 6 discs. The only drawback with this is if the case gets damaged, as mine was. HBO has provided a cardboard slip containing the promotional information instead of printing this on the metal case. Awesome decision as it keeps the case nice and clean.
Video
If you've seen "Saving Private Ryan" you know what to expect from "Band of Brothers". Shot with almost the identical desaturated color pallette, the picture is grainy and the film often run at high speeds to give it a strobe-look. HBO has given us a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, and it look great. There were a few instances of dust on the print, but that's the only thing dragging this transfer down.
Audio
I've never given a 10 for audio because up until now I haven't found a release that deserves it. The sound mix for "Band of Brothers" is amazing, and those of you with surround systems will love it. Explosions rock with the sub, and bullets fly by you with the rears. I expected to get a noise complaint from someone living in my apartment because of watching this disc, but luckily that didn't happen. This has become my new demo disc (or discs) to show off surround sound to someone that doesn't really know what to expect. I listened to the DTS track, but there are also English Dolby Digital 5.1 and Surround tracks as well as French and Spanish Surround. Spanish subtitles are included and the series is closed captioned.
We Stand Alone Together: The Men Of Easy Company (1:17:25)
The men of Easy Company tell their stories of the time spent in the war.
Behind the Scenes: The Making of "Band of Brothers" (29:29)
An excellent behind the scenes feature on the making of the mini-series.
Ron Livingston's Video Diaries (55:42 total)
Ron Livingston (Lewis Nixon) shot a 12 part video diary during the making of "Band of Brothers". I love these kind of extras because it gives a different perspective from the usual promotional pieces they do for movies and mini-series. There's a "play all" feature for this section as well.
Premiere in Normandy (3:00)
An HBO Entertainment News piece about the premiere of the mini-series in Normandy for Easy Company vets, their families, friends and stars of the series.
Who's Who: The Men of Easy Company (11:26)
Video highlites of the men of Easy Company taken from the mini-series. There's a "play all" feature here as well.
Lynn D. "Buck" Compton (0:52)
William J. Guarnere (1:01)
Joseph D. Liebgott (1:01)
C. Carwood Lipton (0:55)
George Luz (0:55)
Lewis Nixon (0:44)
Frank J. Perconte (0:59)
Denver "Bull" Randleman (0:42)
Ronald C. Speirs (0:58)
Joseph D. Toye (0:33)
David Kenyon Webster (1:01)
Harry F. Welsh (0:44)
Richard D. Winters (1:01)
Photo Gallery 196 photos
Currahee - 11 photos
Day of Days - 7 photos
Carentan - 23 photos
Replacements - 16 photos
Crossroads - 7 photos
Bastogne - 41 photos
The Breaking Point - 22 photos
The Last Patrol - 7 photos
Why We Fight - 23 photos
Points - 39 photos
A Message From Jeep (0:30)
A commercial from Jeep advertising the mini-series.
Series Index
Summaries of all the episodes, the disc it can be found on, and a video preview.
Field Manual
The wealth of information in this area is overwhelming. You can get information on the soldiers, the events of WWII, maps of the Easy Company's positions in Europe, information on Officer and enlisted men's ranks and a glossary of terms used in the series. You can easily spend an hour or two going through information in this section, and it's on every disc.
Summary
I had high expectations of this set before it ever arrived, and I'm happy to say that I wasn't let down at all. The content was amazing and the extras were great (although the set could have used a commentary track or two). I've already recommended that some friends pick up this set, and now I'm recommending it to you. Another solid release from HBO.
