Though I've always been haunted by the story of Titanic's tragic voyage somehow I've never been familiar with it's history - where and how it was built, so I was excited when the mini series were announced. It sounded like a very ambitious project back then, but I've heard very little about it afterwards and was surprised when I recently discovered it aired long ago and went generally unnoticed. For the first five episodes I just bought everything without doubting it's validity. Then I checked with Wikipedia and found out all about the blatant historical inaccuracy, but it did not actually put me off. The story itself is good enough, the main problem is in it's *pacing* and *editing*. From the very beginning and right to the end it was very uneven, some events and their outcome felt quite unnatural and odd and it felt almost as though a lot of things (certain events, plot turns, character personalities etc.) were changed or made up as they went along. In the end character's personal problems have almost completely overshadowed the building process – not quite fair to Titanic itself since the series were meant to be primarily about it. A lot of time has been devoted to the constructional problems, but essentially no information at all was given about the work on the ship's insides, which no doubt would've been no less interesting then the work in the yard. Considering the acting – it was mostly well-done (specially by the *older* generation), and I'd like to mention that Kevin Zegers keeps surprising me every time I stumble upon him on screen, there is a diversity in his choice of roles that keeps me interested. But my own personal favorite was Thomas Andrews Jr. (played by Billy Carter). Again, Wikipedia specifically points out that the personality of the real life Mr. Andrews was vastly different from the one presented in the series, but as a character he is likable (being hardworking, earnest and upright), sympathetic and his impending fate really does strike a chord. All in all, despite some obvious production flaws and already established historical inaccuracy, the series manage to keep the viewer interested and produce some really moving human stories.
Review of Titanic: Blood and Steel
