Paul Magne Haakonsen
As much as I am fascinated by the ship and the tragedy that sunk her, then this 2012 series was a very lukewarm experience. Why? Well, first of all it was 12 hours long! And secondly, but most importantly, the ship itself was a mere backdrop around which all other stories were told. And that was a major disappointment."Titanic: Blood and Steel" tells the backstory of Titanic, of how it was built and trying to tie in stories of the working man, the shipyard board-members, the executives of the White Star Line, and so forth. Individually there were some good enough stories, but all thrown together in a 12 hours long series, no, it just became too much.The ship itself wasn't the heart and core of the series. It was, at best, a mere backdrop to which director Ciaran Donnelly tried to connect all other stories around. But it just didn't work out all that great. I was sorely disappointed, because I had such high hopes and expectations.It should be said that the series was quite well-cast and that the cast really performed quite well with their given roles and characters. And there is a good early 1900's atmosphere to the series.But all in all, a mediocre result that lacked the grand ship itself and a far too long playtime.
Matthew Smathers
O------M-----G Just finished 'Titanic: Blood And Steel' and i am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO beyond disappointed! This HELLISHLY fictional series i jumped into with LOW expectations........I had already read enough to know that this show was going to have some ATROCIOUS inaccuracies and subplots.However the PERK of going into something with LOW expectations is that you USUALLY end up on a WINNING END............ESPECIALLY if it involves TITANIC.This WAS true.............till the final episode.For me, i rather enjoyed it......... It had some likable characters, the acting was pretty good and the animation of Titanic and Olympic (though faulty) wasn't half bad. The plot-lines didn't bother me so much as my worry that they would wrap them up by the final curtain call............They DID NOT!!!!!! Seriously what the HECK were the writers SMOKING when they finished the LAST EPISODE. I mean..........OKAY if you'r NOT going to give us a SECOND SEASON to WRAP IT ALL UP............then give us TWO OR THREE MORE EPISODES to DO THAT INSTEAD!!!!! These are just SOME of the holes we are left with..........and i do mean SOME....Dr. Muer: has seemingly reconciled with his love, both are on Titanic....but he HASN'T told her he's returning to belfast to work on GIGANTIC. Also, even though he made DIRECT EYE CONTACT and got a "Huh i think i know that girl" feeling from his MISSING DAUGHTER (Also on Titanic) will he realize its her and save her during the sinking? for that matter...........as a member of the GUARANTEE GROUP will HE SURVIVE when historically ALL OTHERS DIE (from this group) the Irish worker dude who pulled up stakes and married his brothers widow and child to start a new life, HOW WILL HE COPE with the responsibilities? What about the German WAR SUBPLOT and the REPORTER who helped instigate it? Will the TOP SECRET plans she stole make it to New York? Will her Brother be freed from prison? What about our favorite slut turned ACTRESS 'Kitty'.........will she make it to New York? or will shacking up with mister fictional BIG BUCKS and his motion picture industry work out? for that matter will HE even survive long enough to give her what she desires in life? How the FRICK did that wussy Andrea and that other dude manage to secure a job in the BOILER ROOM of Titanic? and will they make it to CHICAGO? I am just left with SOOOOOO many loose ends that i hate to say it leave me feeling LARGELY EMPTY. With NO SEQUEL or Second season in sight.......it appears this is one Titanic program i am going to have to use my imagination..........so......****BOOM**** ALL MAIN CHARACTERS SURVIVE AND LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER!!!!!!! There..............if your not gonna give me an ENDING i'm gonna envision an EQUALLY FICTIONAL...........HAPPY ONE.On a scale of 1-10 i rate this a 3.5 It woulda rated an EIGHT but there are TOO MANY loose ends to make this show watchable a second time. I DID NOT ENJOY IT because the ending RUINED IT.
J Kent Layton
As a maritime and Titanic author and historian, I was quite interested to see this production, as it focused on the construction of the legendary liner and came at things from a unique perspective. Unfortunately, I am beyond disappointed (appalled would be a more apt word) by the historical errors that made their way into the miniseries.I have been working my way through the 12-part miniseries, trying desperately not to shred the arms of my chair or grinding my teeth to powder in so doing. Although the production might be an enjoyable piece if it were purely fictional, the history of the Titanic became a tragic, jumbled mess in this production.In some respects I found that it captured the period. However even there the effect was not complete; for example, the "jazz" music in the early-episode society scenes was about 10-15 years too premature, and that's something that anyone could get right.Was it poor research that caused this historical monstrosity? Apparently not. Why? Because of how many little details they apparently had easy access to and saw fit to include in the production (i.e., the number of passengers on Olympic's crossing where she tangled with the Hawke, the design of the Great Gantry, the fact that the riveters were paid by the rivet, the way the rivet seals were tested, the name of the British Board of Trade inspector, etc.). Meanwhile, the production included an overwhelming number of serious historical errors, many of which were easier to "get right" than the aforementioned factoids.Included in this list of grievous technical and historical mistakes are:* The "fact" that J. P. Morgan bankrolled and exercised great influence in the design and construction of the vessels. White Star paid for the vessels, and Ismay and White Star, rather than Morgan directly, had primary influence in the design and construction; * The steel issues, which is an older theory which has really been addressed and is blown entirely out of proportion in this production; * The blueprints for the Titanic shown from the opening credits through every episode, and which are actually, in every instance I noticed, of the Lusitania; * The slip that the Titanic was built on in the show is actually Olympic's slip; * The "fact" that the Olympic/Hawke collision (September 20, 1911) took place long before the launch of the Titanic (May 31, 1911) (???!!!); * The term "unsinkable" (or "practically unsinkable") is dreamed up and applied primarily to Titanic by the fictional character after the collision with the Hawke, when in reality it was introduced by White Star publicity and period Trade journals such as The Shipbuilder during construction of the two liners, and was applied to both equally. (Coincidentally, the special number of The Shipbuilder in which the term appeared is seen in the series long before Muir supposedly dreamed up the term); * The damage to the Olympic appears on the forward-port quarter of the hull, rather than the aft-starboard quarter; * Ismay saying that the Titanic would be 'much larger' than the Olympic; * Ismay didn't even have a speaking part, I don't believe, until the third episode; * The timing of any discussion regarding the possibilities of a double hull would have been back around 1907-1908 and applied to both ships, and would not have been applied solely to Titanic after the collision between the Olympic and the Hawke (in the end, a double-bottom was adopted for each); * The complete out-of-character, irritated, gruff behavior of Thomas Andrews throughout much of the first half of the series; * The worries within the yard that Titanic was just "too big" (the Germans were already starting work on the Imperator, which was still larger); * BOT Inspector Francis Carruthers was on site virtually every day of construction, yet he is not seen - until what, the fifth episode? - when he is lethargically tapping a couple of rivets. The implication is that Carruthers and the BOT exercised no real authority or oversight during construction, when in reality the original documentation and correspondence shows that they did not always see 'eye-to-eye' and had to work together to reach satisfactory results for both; * The concept that Harland & Wolff paid an unusually small amount of money to laborers (for the period, mind you) or were extraordinarily ungenerous in paying out benefits to families of those who were injured or killed in their yard (again, for the period). The record of payout benefits given to injured workers or to the families of those killed during construction of the two ships is still available and is actually quite high for the period.The list of egregious historical blunders just goes on and on. They are quite shocking in this series, especially since someone involved with the production/screenplay writing so clearly had access to little factoids that they saw fit to include. It was so badly done that I began to see in the fictional Muir character shades of the German Second Officer from the Nazi propaganda film, where he was the sole voice of reason warning everyone that the ship was doomed.If one even bothers to watch this miniseries, don't take anything in it as fact unless it is checked against leading research on the subject. In my view, this was a completely missed opportunity.
