'Das Boot' reboot

Tony EH

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Boot_(TV_series)

This is a really, really, bad idea.

The original 'Das Boot' was one, if not the, greatest films (I prefer the miniseries) about the war I've seen. It's no nonsense and reasonably factual presentation of the German war effort at sea encompasses everything that I expect from a film production about the U-Boat war.

But, to see it remade I think is probably one of the worst ideas I've heard in ages. I just cannot imagine that the makers will do either Buchheim's novel or the original version any justice at all.

Hopefully, I'm wrong, but wiki's line

"The series focus on the narratives of the upcoming Resistance in La Rochelle and the claustrophobic life aboard U-612"

does not bode well at all.

We don't need any "resistance" nonsense in a film about men in U-Boats and I feel that it's only there so the film makers can wave a flag and avoid accusations of glorifying nazism. But, it'll just come across as mealy-mouthed and weak. Yeah, we all know, Nazis are bad, etc. But, people watch a film like 'Das Boot' to see the other side of the hill, as Liddel-Hart put it. Not to get a half assed lecture about the evils of right wing totalitarianism.

'Das Boot' should JUST be about the boat and the men who sail in her. There shouldn't be any scenes on land, except where we see the German submariners in their doomed, drunken, revelling before their patrol.

As I said, I really hope to be wrong on this one. But, I won't hold my breath.




*EDIT

Elsewhere, I've read...

The second storyline takes place in the port of La Rochelle where Simone Strasser (Krieps) becomes engulfed in a dangerous liaison and forbidden love.

No...just no.

MayoForSam

Some classics should not be re-made and this is one of them. Stupid idea but tell that to the money men. 'U-571' was bad enough when it came to re-writing history.

aziz

And to make matters worse,in keeping with current Hollywood trends, the cast will be all female:pac:

TerrorFirmer

I don't mind things being remade as much as others appear to, as it brings the story and original work to a whole new audience who may have no interest in the original material for whatever reason.

However....

The second storyline takes place in the port of La Rochelle where Simone Strasser (Krieps) becomes engulfed in a dangerous liaison and forbidden love.

pls no

silverharp

will be kinda like Pearl Harbour versus Tora Tora Tora , take a great movie and inject a pointless love story to slow down and spoil the tension, and if anything like hollywood we will be introduced to kick ass female resistance fighters who drop kick 6ft Jerries with their little finger

pixelburp

The fact it's a Sky production is the biggest turn off for me, they're own productions have nearly always tended to be a load of rubbish. Making a sequel to Das Boot is a bit out of left field anyway.

Spon Farmer

A good idea or a bad one, I cannot say, but isn't a remake.

artanevilla

However bad it is, you have to remember, the original still exists.

Spon Farmer

artanevilla wrote: »

However bad it is, you have to remember, the original still exists.

Very true.

kneemos

It's not a remake. It says it's a sequel to the movie. Also it's a series not a movie.

Tony EH

True, it's a sequel, not a remake. Jumping the gun a bit there. Maybe it's a re-boot...:pac:

Although why they can't call it anything other than 'Das Boot'? It is a bit off putting.

In any case, I'm still twisting my face at the unnecessary resistance subplot and tacked on love story. What's the point? It's just going to be distracting form what should be the main focus of something that's called 'Das Boot".

Also, U-612 had a very uneventful war, to say the least. She didn't see any action and was sunk in manoeuvres from an accident with another boat. And she was never near La Rochelle either.

It just sounds awful.

I'll happily eat my words if it turns out to be good. A decent WWII U-Boat story would be very welcome round my way.

Agent Coulson

Looks like it's been a financial success anyway before it's even aired.

U-Boat Drama ‘Das Boot’ Sold to More Than 100 Territories

World War II drama series “Das Boot,” which was produced on a budget of $33 million, has been sold to more than 100 territories worldwide. The show will debut on Hulu in the U.S. and pay TV operator Sky across Europe.

The series is produced by Bavaria Fiction, Sky Deutschland and Sonar Entertainment, which distribution rights for the world, except for Germany, Austria, Switzerland, U.K., Ireland and Italy, where Sky holds the rights.

Territories sold to date include StarzPlay in France; AMC in Spain and Portugal; Epix/Viasat in Russia, Central & Eastern Europe; DI and MA in Serbia; Czech TV in the Czech Republic; VRT in Belgium; NRK in Norway; SVT in Sweden; YLE in Finland; RUV in Iceland; MNET in South Africa; StarzPlay in Latin America; SBS in Australia; and TVNZ in New Zealand.

Inspired by the Oscar-nominated movie by Wolfgang Petersen, and Lothar-Günther Buchheim’s bestselling novel, the series filmed in Munich, La Rochelle, Prague and Malta. It seeks to bring the brutal reality of World War II to life with two storylines running parallel on land and sea.

https://variety.com/2018/tv/global/u-boat-drama-das-boot-sold-to-more-than-100-territories-1202976943/

Melodeon

Starting to see trailers for this across the SKY platform, all episodes available next Wednesday (February 6th) on SKY Atlantic.

If your'er old enough to remember and love the original series like me i would have no interest in this, but for anyone who hasn't seen the original this could be quite intriguing i suppose.

Im in two minds myself whether i should watch this?

tigerboon

Wrong boat to start. Doesn't bode well.

two wheels good

Who's starring - Bruce Willis or Liam Neeson?

Pythagorean

aziz wrote: »

And to make matters worse,in keeping with current Hollywood trends, the cast will be all female:pac:

And black, to boot.

Skerries

have to bring up this classic tune

Melodeon

This is all available on SKY now.

ronnie3585

Pretty decent review from the Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/feb/06/the-new-and-improved-das-boot-now-with-added-women

E mac

One episode in it's not bad ! Tension ! Foreboding! Deceit!

Melodeon

Just watched the first 2 episodes, pretty good so far.

Keplar240B

Is it just one season, a mini series?

squawker

Tony EH wrote: »

The second storyline takes place in the port of La Rochelle where Simone Strasser (Krieps) becomes engulfed in a dangerous liaison and forbidden love.

lol, why do they do this?

think I will stick to the original

Keplar240B

squawker wrote: »

lol, why do they do this?

think I will stick to the original

Prochaska discussed how the series ties in with the Me Too movement, describing the series as "[going] a step further than the film did" by adding the Resistance storyline, stating, "[it] gives a chance to bring in strong female characters.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Boot_(TV_series)

Melodeon

Yay, the Irish get a mention in episode 3!

E mac

Melodeon wrote: »

Yay, the Irish get a mention in episode 3!

Well we did too in the original film when the Germans all sang 'long way to Tipperary '

Tony EH

Keplar240B wrote: »

Prochaska discussed how the series ties in with the Me Too movement, describing the series as "[going] a step further than the film did" by adding the Resistance storyline, stating, "[it] gives a chance to bring in strong female characters.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Boot_(TV_series)

Haven't bothered seeing it yet, but...

Wibbs

Tony EH wrote: »

Haven't bothered seeing it yet, but...

To be fair T it's fashionable at the moment and half the time(at least) producers and marketing types for TV and film just parrot that stuff for the PR angle. Hollywood has always done this. Pick damn near any Hollywood flic over the last century and somewhere it'll be pandering to the fashion of the day, so long as it put bums on seats. There are many who would reboot Triumph of the Will if they thought it would be a surefire blockbuster.

I've watched the first two of Das ReBoot™ and I like it so far I have to say. They had to extend it beyond the submarine and her crew. If they hadn't it would have invited too many comparisons with the original and likely not so great comparisons either. They had to go beyond the original which was almost a stage play with the U Boat as the stage. Very close in, personal. a film/TV series helmed by someone like Wolfgang Petersen and had a the best of German speaking fantastic top level cast. It was also original in its treatment of submariners and war. The tracking shots through the hull were fantastic then and still are. You can damn near smell the sweat and claustrophobia and it still holds up bloody well today.

Anyway in my humble the current one is watchable and well bolted together, at least of far of what I've seen and I'd say give it a go.

SoundsRight

Seems ok so far. They capture the sweaty, claustrophobia inside the U-Boat well. There's something mesmerising about submarine films, they are tailor made for tension and dread.

I get why they introduced the female element, but it seems a bit hackneyed and sucks away a lot of the suspense built up in the boat. It's not like the Battle of the Atlantic was lacking in source material. Besides, why pander to an audience that would have no interest in the show to begin with?

Tony EH

Wibbs wrote: »

To be fair T it's fashionable at the moment and half the time(at least) producers and marketing types for TV and film just parrot that stuff for the PR angle. Hollywood has always done this. Pick damn near any Hollywood flic over the last century and somewhere it'll be pandering to the fashion of the day, so long as it put bums on seats. There are many who would reboot Triumph of the Will if they thought it would be a surefire blockbuster.

I've watched the first two of Das ReBoot™ and I like it so far I have to say. They had to extend it beyond the submarine and her crew. If they hadn't it would have invited too many comparisons with the original and likely not so great comparisons either. They had to go beyond the original which was almost a stage play with the U Boat as the stage. Very close in, personal. a film/TV series helmed by someone like Wolfgang Petersen and had a the best of German speaking fantastic top level cast. It was also original in its treatment of submariners and war. The tracking shots through the hull were fantastic then and still are. You can damn near smell the sweat and claustrophobia and it still holds up bloody well today.

Anyway in my humble the current one is watchable and well bolted together, at least of far of what I've seen and I'd say give it a go.

Never cared for fashions much Wibbs.

But, my puke gif is more of a response to the simpering quote from Prochaska and his effort to piggyback causes which don't belong near a WWII drama about German U-Boat crews.

But, yeh, I agree. It's a money thing, not a principled thing.

In any case, I don't have Sky Atlantic, so I won't be watching it any time soon, for that reason alone.

Tony EH

^

Ended up finding a stream for this. Started off ok, but then descended into the usual cliches by episode 3.

Nasty nazi types √

Heroic French resistance √

Hiding Jew subplot √

Too much English speaking √

I'm already bored to be honest. This "Das Boot" hasn't a clue what it wants to be. Far too much time wasted on land with insipid subplots when everyone wants to view what's happening at sea.

Wibbs

Tony EH wrote: »

This "Das Boot" hasn't a clue what it wants to be. Far too much time wasted on land with insipid subplots when everyone wants to view what's happening at sea.

Yeah, now I'm more episodes in I'm agreeing with you. Went more than a bit soap opera too. And the plots are all over the place and utterly unrealistic. Not unless everyone in La Rochelle were dropping primo acid.

jeremyj1968

It should be made in English with German subtitles this time.

Tony EH

Wibbs wrote: »

Yeah, now I'm more episodes in I'm agreeing with you. Went more than a bit soap opera too. And the plots are all over the place and utterly unrealistic. Not unless everyone in La Rochelle were dropping primo acid.

I'm on Ep 4 at the moment, but I don't know whether I'll bother finishing it. There's too much nonsense and melodrama. The actual U-Boat action has been on screen for about 20 minutes of the last 4 hours. This show should be called Was Boot?

But, beyond that, there's just too many irritating rabbit holes in this story. It's all too schizophrenic. If they wanted to make a drama about the resistance in La Rochelle, why didn't they just di it?

The rape fo the Jewish barmaid was utterly ridiculous. Everyone in that bar would have been arrested and the senior officer thrown in the brig for letting discipline break down like that. Captain Schultz would in for some serious crap too.

And why is the female leader of the resistance cell American? And constantly speaking English?

And what's with that First Officer? Just annoying stuff.

Waiting for more tiresome cliches to rear their head too. One of the crew will be outed as gay or something and Vicky Kriep's character will fall in love with the Gestapo guy and an illicit affair will happen.

Scratch that. I just reached the end of Ep.4. :pac: LOL.

FFS :rolleyes:

Lastly, this show's depiction of U-Boat crews is pretty reprehensible. The amount of ill discipline on that sub is a joke. Those men were volunteers and hand picked for their abilities to operate under the most extreme pressures imaginable. None of that crew would have seen the inside of a single U-Boat in real life.

Blazer

I didn't realise this was already released.
Will just watch the original instead.

Apart from Battlestar Galactica has there ever been a successful and decent remake?

Wibbs

Tony EH wrote: »

Scratch that. I just reached the end of Ep.4. :pac: LOL.

FFS :rolleyes:

Lastly, this show's depiction of U-Boat crews is pretty reprehensible. The amount of ill discipline on that sub is a joke. Those men were volunteers and hand picked for their abilities to operate under the most extreme pressures imaginable. None of that crew would have seen the inside of a single U-Boat in real life.

+1. It went rapidly total fantasy land and unbelievable with it. I don't mind some fantasy stuff to rattle a plot along but it went really overboard(pun not quite intended). It didn't even do it too well either. Inglorious basterds went full fantasy but was bloody well done. This wasn't. Forget the original, even if this were a project unconnected to that, it was still daft.

E mac

Finished the season have to agree it did go downhill as it went on. Anyone else find the French resistance characters unlikable?

cozar

i really enjoyed it watched it all over a few nights. submarine scenes were done very well.

Tony EH

E mac wrote: »

Finished the season have to agree it did go downhill as it went on. Anyone else find the French resistance characters unlikable?

Everyone is pretty unlikable. There are few characters that aren't murderers, rapists, sociopaths or psychopaths and if they aren't one of those things, then they're just scumbags. The show's depiction of people, especially men, is just odd.

Re: the resistance, that was one of the few things in this show that was sort of ok. Most of those resistance "cells" were pretty incompetent and did more to antagonise situations for their own ends, rather than actually help the war effort. The French resistance wasn't the unified fantasy that popular books and films make them out to be. It was made up of disparate groups who were all adherent to different political goals. The SOE had to urge them to stop interfering at several points, because they were just making things worse.

E mac

I'd a soft spot myself for the u boat cook. He was always trying to keep morale up even if he did slip into uncle Albert mode at times with his war stories.

silverharp

Tony EH wrote: »

Everyone is pretty unlikable. There are few characters that aren't murderers, rapists, sociopaths or psychopaths and if they aren't one of those things, then they're just scumbags. The show's depiction of people, especially men, is just odd.

Re: the resistance, that was one of the few things in this show that was sort of ok. Most of those resistance "cells" were pretty incompetent and did more to antagonise situations for their own ends, rather than actually help the war effort. The French resistance wasn't the unified fantasy that popular books and films make them out to be. It was made up of disparate groups who were all adherent to different political goals. The SOE had to urge them to stop interfering at several points, because they were just making things worse.

I havnt watched this yet but your comments reminded me of the 70's BBC show Secret Army. In particular the communist resistance were portrayed as being completely amoral , selling other groups out to the Germans if it suited them.

Tony EH

silverharp wrote: »

I havnt watched this yet but your comments reminded me of the 70's BBC show Secret Army. In particular the communist resistance were portrayed as being completely amoral , selling other groups out to the Germans if it suited them.

I remember 'Secret Army', mainly because of Jan Francis






But, yeah, the "resistance" were groups of Gaulists, Communists, Socialists, Nationalists and whatnot and all at different levels of conviction as well, for instance, there were Gaulists who didn't agree with each other an Socialists who fought with Communists. Each of them had very different ideas of what kind of France they wanted to see after the war and weren't in any way unified in their approach or goals. They were largely a headache for the SOE, who had to bring in measures in 1944 to try and organise them into something useful.

But, the French resistance is largely myth. It was practically non-existent as as effective entity until late in the war and even then it's effectiveness was questionable. But, it was trumpeted by De Gaul as a propaganda device to make it look like something was going on and that France was still in the fight as it were. The reality was that most French people just got on with their lives as best they could, because they realised that there wasn't that much they could do anyway.

As for selling out by resistance groups, they all did it. If there was gain or an upper hand to be had, there wasn't any one group who had trumps on that type of activity. Giving up a name here and there or the time of an operation happened across the board. The thing is everybody suspected everybody and were only too willing to get rid off people they didn't trust or just didn't even like.

storker

silverharp wrote: »

I havnt watched this yet but your comments reminded me of the 70's BBC show Secret Army. In particular the communist resistance were portrayed as being completely amoral , selling other groups out to the Germans if it suited them.

It seems to be borrowing from a few sources. The antagonism between skipper and first officer is from Run Silent, Run Deep*. Secret Army as has already been mentioned (maybe Allo Allo would have provided more likable resistance types )

There are some nods to the original too...the holy Joe in the control room praying as the depth charges go off...someone being helped down the ladder with blood coming from a bullet wound in the shoulder (a la Kriechbaum), docking beside a supply ship...and it may be an unintentional easter egg, but a wireless operator was referred to as "Hermann". In Buchheim's original novel there were two wireless/sonar operators: Hinrich (the one we saw in the movie/TV version) and another called Hermann. The movie makers must have decided that Hinrich could handle several weeks of 24-hour watches.


(*I doubt they'll be crossing swords with Bungo Pete...but maybe there's a "Dover Dave"?)

Walter Bishop

Got an episode and a half in: crap.

Some pretty woeful acting, the writing was worse.

recipio

A bit too Hollywood for me. All that bitching is unlikely as German U boat crews were volunteers and noted for their loyalty and disciple.That surgical' scene wold simply not have happened - the sailor would have ended up 100 % dead.

cozar

Season 2 on sky Atlantic now. If you enjoyed season 1 this is even better.

E mac

It is better. Lots more submarine action going on this season. Only downside is the American angle it's so predictable and boring, the Hoffman character sucks the life out of every scene.

peterobrien100

Watched 5 x episodes of Season 2 so far its utterly fantastic really enjoying it

Homelander

Just watching S1 now. It is good, but there's definitely something wrong when 80% of a show called "Das Boot" isn't about the submarine or its crew.

Love these historical German shows though. Unsere Mutter, Unsere Vater, Deutschland 83/86 and Babylon Berlin are all amazing productions in a similar fashion.

silverharp

cool, season one was only average