Home Forums General Films and TV I've just discovered the Sharpe series!

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  • #81104
    Avatar photoPatrice
    Participant

    Um, many of you will laugh at this… but some weeks ago, as I was looking (by sheer curiosity) what actor Sean Bean had been doing else than Boromir in LotR, and Ned Stark in GoT, I discovered the Sharpe series!

    Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe novels (and Hornblower novels too) have been translated and published in French long ago (I still haven’t read them yet, although I’ve heard about them) but the Sharpe TV series have never been shown on French TV, and not even subtitled it seems …for obvious reasons.

    I’ve spent a few evenings watching them on internet. The plots are a bit Zorro-esque, and the regiments and companies are obviously understrength, but uniforms and clothing seem right and look real clothes (which for me is a winner) and action scenes are quite good.

    I think I like it. 🙂

    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
    https://www.anargader.net/

    #81106
    Avatar photoMike
    Keymaster

    I remember watching them as they were released, I also remember watching them a few years back.
    I also remember buying the fancy boxed set so I can watch them whenever I like.

    I think they are great entertainment, with some great characters like Obadiah Hakeswill, Sir Henry Simmerson and Captain Jack Spears.

    Do share what episodes you have watched and I will reminisce !

    #81109
    Avatar photoRhoderic
    Member

    I was a bit late in discovering them, also. It was after the Lord of the Rings films at any rate. Maybe they just weren’t that big outside of the UK.

    For all that they feel like a Napoleonic version of a Robin Hood story, and a bit cheap at times, they’re fairly representative of the way I want to game historicals: As adventure yarns rather than simulations of reality.

    Gods, but I wish Hollywood would drop all the superhero stuff and make more historical adventure films instead.

    #81110
    Avatar photoMike
    Keymaster

    For all that they feel like a Napoleonic version of a Robin Hood story, and a bit cheap at times, they’re fairly representative of the way I want to game historicals: As adventure yarns rather than simulations of reality.

     

    I was this close to my 6mm sci-fi Sharpe game. He pursued some Hussars through a cave network only to emerge in a different time period. He would adventure there for a few games and then return to the cave, but each time he emerged he was in another time period.

    I had dinosaurs and Daleks all ready.

    Never did do it though.

    #81148
    Avatar photoshelldrake
    Participant

    I was able to get a few on VHS many years ago when they first came out, and that was all of them I could watch, as they never appeared on Australian TV.

    I was totally stoked when I found the entire DVD collection on sale for $40. One of the best buys I have made.

    I enjoy the series, but they do wander from the original books from time to time.

    #81153
    Avatar photoMartinR
    Participant

    They are enjoyable romps, but do suffer a bit from having a cast of dozens and the Chosen Men apparently modelling themselves on the cast of Platoon.

    A source of memorable and entertaining adventures and quotes which will enliven any Napoleonic game, as well as endless derision.

    "Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" - Helmuth von Moltke

    #81209
    Avatar photoPatrice
    Participant

    I understand the series may probably look old-fashioned for people in the UK who’ve been watching them 20 years ago, but we frogs have been plagued for years with Christian Clavier masquerading as Napoleon on the French TV…

    …after that, watching young Sean Bean running around in Rifles uniform seems happily refreshing. 

    I also enjoy many small details in the dialogues which (at least from a non-English-native-speaker point of view) are enjoyable and instructive if you listen well.

    they’re fairly representative of the way I want to game historicals

    Ye-es I hadn’t really thought of a direct link between the spirit of the series and my gaming ways but it’s true I find it inspiring. I might even buy the “Choosen Men” miniatures from Brigade Games now…

    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
    https://www.anargader.net/

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