Babylon Berlin

[3fingers]

Anyone know if/when this will be on Netflix UK?

I don't know the answer to your question, but I have been told that there is a way to watch any country's Netflix from your home account. I have considered looking into it, but haven't yet. I would think it would appear there at some point since Sky was involved with it somehow .

 

[MikeKardec]

I don't know the answer to your question, but I have been told that there is a way to watch any country's Netflix from your home account. I have considered looking into it, but haven't yet. I would think it would appear there at some point since Sky was involved with it somehow .

Some slight memory tells me that the show had a relationship to SKY in the production phase. Netflix may not be the distributor in all territories. Most of the old US cable distributors, HBO, TNT, etc. are full up with their own programming, so Netflix makes sense. SKY is not, I know this because they still occasionally run a film of mine in the European market (I don't think this includes England). It's an 18 year old movie now, my last check was a blistering $41.25! Seeing that BB was a German show and very expensive I'd expect (though I do not know) that RTL/UFA was involved. The only point I'm making is that it could show up on a number of different channels and searching the entire spectrum might pay off.

 

[Fading Fast]

Only on episode 2 (and haven't read all the above to avoid potential spoilers), but the period details are off-the-charts - the "soft" color of the filming is perfect, it should be in the "How to do pre-war period color film" textbook. The budget for this series must be off the charts.

The nightclub scene was incredible and, from what I've read over the years, perfectly captured the frenetic, free, sexual, youthful vibe of that moment of the Weimar Republic, but also captured the always-present background drumbeat of fear. From the champagne tower opening to the contagious "line" dancing scene you were fully engaged.

The plot, at least to my small brain, is still too tangled to unwind, but the threads are all interesting and some connections are becoming visible. I'm intrigued about what appears to be the Russian Government selling out the Russian and German Berlin communist - but am not sure that's what happened.

 

[3fingers]

The various plots remain tangled at first then they begin to sort themselves.

 

[AmateisGal]

From what I've read, this is the most expensive historical drama Germany has ever done. I believe it.

I can't wait for the next season, but I think I'll be waiting awhile. I don't even think they've started filming!

 

[Fading Fast]

From what I've read, this is the most expensive historical drama Germany has ever done. I believe it.

I can't wait for the next season, but I think I'll be waiting awhile. I don't even think they've started filming!

Money well spent, but no doubt you are correct - a lot got spent.

If it is at all like "Man in the High Castle," we'll be waiting a long time - it has to be over a year since they've released a new season - sigh.

 

[AmateisGal]

Money well spent, but no doubt you are correct - a lot got spent.

If it is at all like "Man in the High Castle," we'll be waiting a long time - it has to be over a year since they've released a new season - sigh.

I know! I can't figure out why they're taking so long to release Season 3.

 

[MikeKardec]

I know! I can't figure out why they're taking so long to release Season 3.

Re, The Man in the High Castle -- Amazon productions need to make more money per viewer than the cost of Amazon Prime per subscriber. I suspect that TMITHC is close to the limit. It's been very popular and gotten Amazon good publicity as both a piece of art and entertainment but they've been spending money like it's going out of style compared to the membership fees they bring in. There are other ways for them to make money, like the cost of all the other goods they sell, but they can't allow one division to remain in the hole forever. They have also recently replaced the head of their studio and that may bode ill for anything approved by the old administration that is not in profit. The new person can't take credit for the old regime's accomplishments but will get blamed for perpetuating their mistakes. In the past an outlet could count on things like DVD sales to be the "long tail" financially, but streaming is replacing DVD so services like Amazon Prime have complicated their business model. I hope High Castle continues to make the cut!

Re, Babylon Berlin -- If you went from a dead stop after the end of a two season burst, as in the production of BB, I'd say that getting season 3 out would take 18 to 21 months. If it wasn't a dead stop then maybe a bit faster. Maybe. German productions are very different and don't need the rush often seen in Hollywood to maintain their momentum within the company.

Relating to everything, these TV seasons are terribly expensive, roughly $50 to $100 million dollars. I suspect you can't produce a number of them at the exact same time and maintain your cash flow. Staggering the outlay is important even for HUGE corporations.

 

[Fading Fast]

Re, The Man in the High Castle -- Amazon productions need to make more money per viewer than the cost of Amazon Prime per subscriber. I suspect that TMITHC is close to the limit. It's been very popular and gotten Amazon good publicity as both a piece of art and entertainment but they've been spending money like it's going out of style compared to the membership fees they bring in. There are other ways for them to make money, like the cost of all the other goods they sell, but they can't allow one division to remain in the hole forever. They have also recently replaced the head of their studio and that may bode ill for anything approved by the old administration that is not in profit. The new person can't take credit for the old regime's accomplishments but will get blamed for perpetuating their mistakes. In the past an outlet could count on things like DVD sales to be the "long tail" financially, but streaming is replacing DVD so services like Amazon Prime have complicated their business model. I hope High Castle continues to make the cut!

Re, Babylon Berlin -- If you went from a dead stop after the end of a two season burst, as in the production of BB, I'd say that getting season 3 out would take 18 to 21 months. If it wasn't a dead stop then maybe a bit faster. Maybe. German productions are very different and don't need the rush often seen in Hollywood to maintain their momentum within the company.

Relating to everything, these TV seasons are terribly expensive, roughly $50 to $100 million dollars. I suspect you can't produce a number of them at the exact same time and maintain your cash flow. Staggering the outlay is important even for HUGE corporations.

You know way more about the inside-baseball, details of the finances and studio business models of all this than I do. But looking at it as an outsider, it looks like a "bubble" in TV show making - enthusiasm past the point of rational economic sense - the will come crashing down sooner or later.

My dad used to say, "at the end of the day, somebody has to pay the bill." If these shows aren't turning a profit - and there seem to be so many of them with small audiences owing to the fragmented market that I doubt they are - then somebody will get tired of "paying the bill."

For now, financial markets and studios seem content with the "build it and they will come mentalist" or the "gain market share" approach or some other similar idea about growing now and turning a profit later. But, my financial markets experience tells me a day of reckoning will come and there will be a major washout, many shows and companies and studios will shut down, the market will right-size to profitability and we'll all look back on this time as an incredible moment when viewers benefitted greatly.

 

[MikeKardec]

You know way more about the inside-baseball, details of the finances and studio business models of all this than I do. But looking at it as an outsider, it looks like a "bubble" in TV show making - enthusiasm past the point of rational economic sense - the will come crashing down sooner or later.

There's a lot of benefit to creating a break out show ... if you are new to the TV world. Much of this vision of how to establish yourself was created by AMC doing Mad Men. It had been done before but that was sort of an "out of nowhere" arrival and it drew people to AMC who had never bothered to watch them before. With a proprietary system like Netflix or Amazon and now Hulu (earlier used as an internet outlet for Network programming), the upside is even bigger; you collect a subscription by having 'must see TV.' Obviously, the grandfather of all of this is HBO which initially used it's own high quality movies to attract subscribers to cable packages. Of them all it is the only one that decade after decade has been able to keep management from killing creativity and excellence.

But, yeah, eventually it's all got to be worth it. I suspect that there is also a great deal of exploration into other markets going on, where else can you sell your programming. Mad Men probably doesn't travel to many other cultures, to a certain extent Band of Brothers does not either. Game of Thrones on the other hand, providing translators can keep up with its internal terminology and unscramble it's complicated politics is probably something you can sell anywhere.

 

[AmateisGal]

I have yet to start on Game of Thrones. Not sure I want to go down that rabbit hole...

 

[Fading Fast]

Episode 3 and 4.

It continues to be outstanding TV - complex story telling beautifully filmed and intelligently rolled out with characters getting more interesting each episode. The juxtaposition of the abject poverty and excess partying of the Weimar Republic seems consistent with everything I've read about that period. The Russia Stalin-versus-Trotsky plot feels fresh as, thankfully, it's one that hasn't been done to death.

 

[Edward]

I have yet to start on Game of Thrones. Not sure I want to go down that rabbit hole...

If you're not offended by rampant female nudity and good, old-fashioned, honest violence and bloodshed in your story telling, it's worth a shot. To be fair on the female front, while the nudity is largely biased that way, there are as many great, strong female characters as there are male so it's not traditionally sexist in that way.

 

[Fading Fast]

If you're not offended by rampant female nudity and good, old-fashioned, honest violence and bloodshed in your story telling, it's worth a shot. To be fair on the female front, while the nudity is largely biased that way, there are as many great, strong female characters as there are male so it's not traditionally sexist in that way.

More and more male nudity is...er...popping up on TV shows like "Babylon Berlin." I'd say that only started to happen with some regularity in the last five, at most, years. Basically, nudity on TV (non-network anyway) is just becoming common and, now, for both male and female actors.

 

[Mr. Godfrey]

Having just been on vacation in the US, I was able to watch it in my iPad on Netflicks as Indo not subscribe to Sky. I found the show very good viewing and a good story too.

 

[Fading Fast]

Episode 5. The visual, cinematography, period details and the modern noir feel continue to amaze. We've had to rewind to read the subtitles many times as we start looking at all the incredible visual details and, then, realize several minutes of dialogue have gone unread.

 

[scotrace]

It's so real I can almost smell the BO.

 

[Fading Fast]

It's so real I can almost smell the BO.

Funny. They make note, on more than one occasion, that someone "could use a bath." It's part of the striking juxtaposition of the free-spirited opulence of, for example, the the nightclubs and the abject poverty of so many.

The architecture provides more contrast. It is incredibly impressive in scale, gorgeous in detail and built, I assume, before WWI. It must feel like an affront to a people struggling under war reparation payments knowing that they can't afford to build buildings like that now.

 

[Fading Fast]

S1 E6 - the opening scene at the lake front club was so beautiful - so time-travel magnificent - that we missed reading most of the subtitles and kept having to going back. Yes, the story is strong and smartly complex; yes, the characters are interesting, nuanced and evolving; but the whole thing is so gorgeous to see that we are having trouble keeping up with the subtitles as we get lost just watching pre-war Germany go by.

 

[MikeKardec]

Typically, the one potentially glaring error (depending on how they try to use it) was introducing a "see in the dark" rifle scope.

Having seen the series again and spent more time focusing on the subtitles I can now relay that this was textually (in dialog) no problem at all. The scope's reticle wires have supposedly been coated in radium. This would NOT create an, impossible for 1930, light amplifying effect, it would merely allow the shooter to faintly see the cross hairs in the dark. Exactly right. However, when the point of view moves to show what it looks like when looking through the scope they went to an inaccurate, greenish, light amplified (meaning video image looking) insert shot. A mistake on the directors part that was not a mistake in the script!

The Russia Stalin-versus-Trotsky plot feels fresh as, thankfully, it's one that hasn't been done to death.

In any American production mentioning Stalin v Trotsky would get you laughed out of a network executives office. In their minds the little people out there in TV audience-land are WAY to stupid to be aware of Trotsky. There's also the point that most executives are way too stupid (and young) to be aware of Trotsky, but that's another story.