| Battle 360 - Season 1 (History Channel) (Steelbook) | 
 enlarge | Director: Various
Actor: Uss Enterprise
Studio: A&E Home Video (New REleaset)
Category: DVD
List Price: $39.95
Buy New: $19.81
You Save: $20.14 (50%)
New (32) Used (6) from $19.81
Avg. Customer Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 6403
Format: Box Set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 4
Running Time: 470
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: AAED115310D
UPC: 733961115314
EAN: 0733961115314
ASIN: B0016OCTUI
Release Date: August 26, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new Factory Sealed DVDs ***100% GUARANTEED!!!***
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Product Description
Studio: A&e Home Video Release Date: 12/16/2008
Amazon.com
It would be an understatement say that Battle 360: Season 1 has substantial appeal for World War II and naval history "enthusiasts." Considering the depth and thoroughness of the program and the sheer volume of data and information on hand--and with ten episodes, each more than 50 minutes long, there's very little that's not covered--it's likely that experts, fanatics, and obsessives will be well satisfied too. Using a combination of extensive computer-generated imagery (CGI), charts, graphics, statistics, file footage, photos, interviews with military men both past and present, and more, the program focuses on the Pacific Theater, where the United States and its allies battled Japan for the three and half years between Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and the end of the war in August 1945. At the center of virtually every battle during that span was the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. Launched in 1936, this Yorktown class vessel, also known as "a fighting city of steel" and "the Lucky E" (for its ability to avoid major catastrophe, at least for the most part), carried 96 planes, a huge amount of weaponry, and a crew whose average was an astonishing 19 years old. Proceeding chronologically, the series details such major conflicts as Midway (when the U.S. disabled no less than four Japanese carriers), Guadalcanal (when the Enterprise suffered serious damage while helping to thwart the enemy's plans to invade Australia), and Leyte Gulf ("the largest naval battle in the history of mankind"), finishing with the Japanese's last-gasp use of kamikaze pilots to attack the U.S. fleet. Much of this is genuinely gripping, as the episodes provide literally minute-by-minute accounts of every encounter and the size, speed, function, and firepower of every vessel and aircraft on both sides. But there are notable drawbacks as well, starting with the fact that for all of its detail, we see almost nothing of the Enterprise's interior or descriptions of daily life on board the enormous vessel. There's also the issue of how much CGI you can take; although there is some film footage (which may or may not be from the specific skirmish being described), the computer work, while generally pretty convincing, is pervasive and rather like a video game without a controller. What's more, each episode is kinetic almost to distraction, with a ceaseless flow of pounding music and sound effects, flashing graphics, and macho voice-over detailing the action. On the other hand, the reminiscences of those who were actually there are often very moving, not to mention a welcome surcease from the high-tech assault of the rest of the show. Bonus material is limited--a few additional scenes--but the steel box it all comes in is pretty cool. --Sam Graham
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| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
 glued to the tv January 6, 2009
I bought this DVD as a christmas gift for my husband & now he is glued to the tv. guess I'll have to set a time limit for him so I can watch a few programs of my own.
Thank you for the good service.
Lindy Richee
Awesome series! January 6, 2009
This is a tremendous look at the fight in the pacific. There is a lot of computer generated images that some may find disquieting, however, it is the only way to tell the story. If you like world war 2, then get this set!
Excellent show for getting kids interested in History January 5, 2009
When this originally aired on History Channel, my 10 year old son was glued to the TV every Friday night. He learned so much about the Enterprise and LOVED this show. He had tears in his eyes after the last episode when they scraped "The Big E". He really liked the music, the action, the CGI graphics, but the best part is he retained everything he learned. We had an opportunity to spend a Saturday afternoon with a local gentleman who was on Enterprise during WWII and he and my son really hit it off - all for the love of a ship. I just bought two copies of this series, one for my son and one for his new friend - the WWII Vet. For myself, I grew tired of seeing much of the same CGI and the constant music, but my son learned so much and became interested in other historical accounts of WWII that buying this is well worth the money.
 Good Show, Disappointing DVD Set December 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'll save space and say that I agree with the other posts that laud the show for it's quality and usefulness.
Unfortunately, the DVD set is seriously flawed. Amazon lists the aspect ration as 1.33:1 and technically that is correct. But, just as the History Channel did with the Dogfight series, the DVDs are actually letterboxed 16:9 matted into a 4:3 frame. Why the History Channel continues to use this outmoded format for their DVD releases is a mystery. Even cheap direct to video DVD releases are in anamorphic format. I can author a disc in anamorphic format on my home PC so it can't be that hard or expensive to do.
If you have an older home theater system, this set being letterboxed may not matter to you but if you have a HDTV with your DVD player connected via HDMI, it is likely that you will not be able to watch this in other than letterbox format without lowering the resolution of your system.
Come on, History Channel, move your DVD releases into the 21st Century.
battle 360 December 12, 2008
historical accuracy on a scale of nine out of ten. actual film clips intermixed with computer graphics. more care should of been taken in selecting some clips.
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