Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

Ken Burns Documentaries just suck you in as it does a great job of telling both sides. Looking forward to the rest of this over the next few days.

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

Pretty engaging so far.

I took a class about the Vietnam War in college about 15 years ago. The first 1/4 of the class, if not more, focused on the events described in the first episode.

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

I'm only a little more than halfway through the first episode and it has already presented more detail on the events and conditions leading up to the war than either Vietnam: A Television History (which is a pretty darn good series also) or Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War.

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

Fantastic start. Usually something this long I take a look at my tablet for a few minutes, but I didn't do that once during this.

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

The surround mix on this is incredible...

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

Really gripping and it's just going to get more so. I'm not sure if I'll be up to watching this night after night as the subject matter hits too close to home to just casually watch and enjoy the program.

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

Was able to catch both eps so far, man that Monk scene blew me away...

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

Missed it the last two nights and finally watched it tonight. Amazing, just amazing!

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

Loved episode 1. Riveting. It was crazy thorough and I loved how they went deep into what set in motion for the war to happen. It went all the way back to when the French occupied Vietnam in the late 1800s.

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

If you missed any episodes, they can be watched right here. Either unedited or broadcast version:

http://www.pbs.org/show/vietnam-war-...ited/episodes/

http://www.pbs.org/show/vietnam-war/episodes/


The first 5 episodes are available to watch.

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

I don't think I am going to keep up the pace, only got through 1 hr of the 2hr Ep 3 last night, but I will keep working my way through this. The government lies and deception oh my....

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

That's great- I wish they would do that with more of their shows. I hate when they bleep and blur the BBC dramas. I wonder if their streaming AppleTV App has this option.

I watched the first 3 episodes live. It's good, but I think I will have to record the rest. I always have that problem with Ken Burns documentaries. Once you start watching them, you feel an obligation to finish them and it becomes a chore to watch every night for 10 days or 2 weeks. I think it's better to do as you said earlier and just get them on disc to watch at your own pace. I recently watched "Jazz" that way (dvd from the library) and it was much more enjoyable and interesting. I only made through a few episodes in it's original run.

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

I believe "The Vietnam War" documentary is available on DVD..

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

It is interesting that one of the biggest problem with the Vietnam War was actually the South Vietnamese. Their government was so corrupt as they were going through leaders (or puppets to our government) left and right and they never had the will to win like the North did. LBJ knew in 1963 we couldn't win the war, but I think our country got cocky after WW2 and they just couldn't believe we could ever lose a war so we stayed and stayed and it just turned into a quagmire. This should have been required viewing for the Neo-Cons who pushed the Iraq War in 2003.

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

Yes, it's available on Blu-Ray and DVD. It was released yesterday.

I bought the BD version and watched episode 1 yesterday as I mentioned. However, the BD is now sold out at Amazon.

It's 10 discs total and each part is on one disc.

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

Good to know. Thanks for checking.

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

I cannot find any reviews on the Google that detail the differences between broadcast and explicit versions. Given that the ones on broadcast PBS are fairly graphic visually, I've only heard the word "shit" muted from a veteran's interview in Ep1 but the narrator said LBJ's quote with "shit" intact in Ep3. Any guidance would be appreciated.

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

Man, the opening of ep 2 with the marine talking about how he has had to sleep with a night light because he's been scared of the dark since Vietnam was something. The way he told the story was terrifying, I can't imagine actually having lived it.

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

This documentary is just brutal on every level. The vet talking about the nightlight broke my heart and another vet from last night saying "they knew back in 65 that there was no way to win this and this was before I got sent in." The look of anger and disappointment on his face just broke me.

I made the mistake of watching last night's episode right before bedtime. Yeah, I won't do that again.

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

This has been riveting to watch so far. I didn't buy the set yet, just recording each night on PBS. I'm about one episode behind. I agree it's tough to watch more than one episode at a time. Not just because of the subject matter, but each episode manages to cover so much material. Totally agree about the soldier's nightlight story.

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

Burns has hit this one out of the ballpark. Really fantastic.

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

It almost seems that the US can't learn from history when taking on countries like Vietnam, Afghanistan, etc. or, maybe, it's the French and Russians thing....I really don't know, but I've been waiting all summer for this series. I never really understood this war and couldn't spare the time for figuring it out. Now....much, much too late, it plagues my memory. I remember the marches and the anger, but never quiet understood. I even had a brother that served...but he NEVER talked/talks about it!

What I have understood is how our troops were treated and, since, how our behaviors have changed toward returning troops. I've ALWAYS felt our VIETNAM WARRIORS were terribly slighted and not given the honor they deserved fighting such a bad, unpopular, and vicious war.

Thank you, Ken Burns and Lynn Novick

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

I'm on episode 2 and this just sucks you in and wears you out. This is not something you can binge watch IMO. You need time to digest all the information.

Oh man, those images of the monks who burned themselves to death were pretty graphic and horrifying. Couldn't imagine being present there to see it 1st hand.

and damn that South Vietnamese Prime Minister Ngo Diem was not a good guy. I can see why he was eventually assassinated.

Love Peter Coyote's narration.

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

Episode 6 will air on Sunday night. All episodes are online, if others want to continue watching.

Re: The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Thread
 

Since this is a Burns catch-all thread, I just wanted to say that I've seen most of his documentaries (haven't seen Vietnam yet), and my favorite one, by far, has to be Prohibition.