Zulu War Mini Series

Subject: Zulu War Mini Series Fri Jul 01, 2011 12:49 pm

How good would a TV mini series be of the Zulu War! I just thought that it could be made in a similar way to Band of Brothers and The Pacific, with different parts showing various aspects of the war, with all the other engagements such as Ulundi and Hlobane being shown for the first time! It could be an epic!

Subject: Re: Zulu War Mini Series Fri Jul 01, 2011 1:12 pm

i must say that would be a brilliant series.. kinda like "sharpe" .. i think the only problem would be funding because zulu dawn did very poorly

Subject: Zulu War Mini - Series Fri Jul 01, 2011 1:20 pm

Hi Bayonet - Charge.
I agree it would be well worth seeing .
cheers 90th.

Subject: Re: Zulu War Mini Series Fri Jul 01, 2011 5:53 pm

It would have me glued to the TV.....The1stLt

Posts : 187 Join date : 2010-02-04

I love Sharpe, if it was done well we'd all be over the moon, however it *could* end up terrible and would be such a let down.

I think with the interest of Zulu (the film), it could possibly do very well...

Posts : 2008 Join date : 2011-08-01 Age : 27

I loved watching Sharpe ( except waterloo where all his men died )

If their was a Zulu TV series i think it would do very well but how many episodes could their be, around 8 at the most i think if all the battles where covered. Would be very intresting to watch but the funding would have to be very high to recreate Isandlwana again.

Regards DB14 Idea

Subject: Re: Zulu War Mini Series Thu Oct 06, 2011 8:29 pm

Films are fine.
A series would not be able to hide the fact that this was a British imperialist invasion on a peaceful, sovereign state, that was no threat to Britain or Europe.
Sharpe, WW1 and 2 are based on conflicts where the Brits were in the right.
It would not be popular.
We don't like to see ourselves as the bad guys.

Guest

Same as Sharpe though, lacking in scale regarding extras. It could end up jarring the eye, amounting to something like ten 24th men defending a poorly construted prop of Rorke's Drift against twenty Zulus. Suspect

Posts : 1862 Join date : 2009-03-25

How about a mini series based on Mitfords travels after the Zulu War. Like his return to Isandlwana. And the various Zulu's he spoke to who to part.

Subject: Zulu war mini series Fri Oct 07, 2011 12:51 am

Hi 24th .
Pity Mitford didnt have a camera by todays standards , imagine the Documentary he would have made . His book
is a fantastic read , the way he describes arriving at Isandlwana is certainly Spine Tingling stuff !.
cheers 90th.

Subject: Re: Zulu War Mini Series Fri Oct 07, 2011 12:08 pm

The saving of the Colours.(One of my Favorites parts)

One morning I started from Isandhlwana to explore the line of retreat to ' Fugitives' Drift,' as it is now called, accompanied by one of the mission clergy, who had kindly offered to act as guide. Eiding over the camp ground we crossed the waggon road on the ' neck,' and struck into the narrow path running along the base of ' Black's Kopje ' down into the ravine. Heaps of debris lay about — bones and skulls of oxen, belt buckles, sardine tins, shrivelled-up boots, the nails falling out of the rotting soles, odds and ends of clothing, old brushes — in fact, rubbish of all sorts ; while every ten or twenty yards we would come upon sadder traces of the flight in the shape of Httle heaps of stones, through the interstices of which could be seen the bones of some unfortunate buried underneath.

The track is smooth enough for three or four hundred yards, and then the trouble begins ; as we get among the thorns the ground is seamed with deep dongas yawning suddenly before us, rendering riding anything but safe. Now we are on the brink of one of these chasms ; then the track suddenly diverging, takes us along a narrow razor-hke ridge with a fall of some fifteen or twenty feet on either side.

I pictured to myself what long odds were against a lot of men riding for their lives over such ground, all crowding upon each other, and the savage enemy behind rushing in among them with unearthly yells, driving the maddened horses into the dongas and stabbing their riders — and many seemed to have come to grief here, judging from the traces. At the bottom of one of these fissures lay the fragments of anammunition train, which had evidently taken a regular ' header,' the shattered skeletons of four horses or mules in a heap together, and thinly covered over with stones those of the two unfortunates who presumably were with the team. Among twisted-up ends of old straps and harness, ammunition boxes splintered and broken were strewn. I found the rope handle of one of these intact, and very hard I had to saw at it before I could get it off. Pretty good this, after three years of exposure to weather. On all sides were traces and remains of the flight ; here and there one would come upon significant heaps of earth or stones, or a rag of clothing fluttering on a bush just as it had been torn from some fugitive.

After crossing the stream at the bottom of the valley the ground is open, but fearfully rough and stony, and so it continues the whole way. The bulk of those who fled must have been killed within the first couple of miles, according to the signs.

My companion had brought his gun, and a covey of partridges rising in front of us, he made a good right and left shot, dropping his brace ; but
owing to the length and thickness of the grass, we could only find one of the birds, after much searching. Then we put up three or four bucks, which, however, kept religiously out of shot range, and we had no rifle ; so the mission larder was defrauded again.

At length we reach the brow of the last steep, and scramble down its rugged side. It is appallingly hot, as the middle of a February day in South Africa can be, and we have taken two hours and a half to get here, for so stony is the ground that we have been obliged to lead the horses nearly the whole way. 'Fugitives' Drift,' strictly speaking, is not a ' drift ' at all ; probably no one ever rode through it before the event from which it takes its
name, or ever will again. There is no gradual descent to the river, which at this point runs deep and wide, and is only got at by scrambling almost
headlong down a high, crumbling bank. The crossing was made at the lower end of a long rea'ch ; in the middle of the water is a large stone, to which Melvill was clinging when his gallant companion, deliberately throwing away his own ife, turned back to help him. Let us picture the scene. The swift, swollen river flowing on with a sullen roar ; the high wooded banks, whose tangled undergrowth resounds with the song of birds, while ever and anon the long-drawn whistle of a flight of spreuws, their bright plumage flashing in the sun, echoes from an overhanging cliff*. Opposite, a
ong ravine, its aloe-covered sides sleeping in the dim heat of the sultry midsummer day. Presently an approaching clamour — louder and louder,
nearer and nearer — and a crowd of men comes pouring over the brow of yon slope in wildest con- fusion. Horses lose their footing on the rocky
steep and roll over, falling upon their riders, and the dark forms of a thousand infuriated savages are bounding in and out among the demoralised
mass, plying the deadly assegai ; blades gleam redly in the sun ; despairing death cries mingling with the triumphant howls of the maddened bar-
barians, and the cliff's, which, a moment before, had softly echoed the peaceful song of birds, now throw back, in thunderous reverberation, volley
upon volley of ringing shots.

A few, however, have got clear of that frantic crowd. Look at those two, especially, who are riding as if they had something more than their
lives to save : and so they have — the honour of their regiment — its Colours. A plunge — the water rises in jets around them, the falling drops mingling with the plash of leaden hail. Now they are through — no — one has disappeared. See, the other turns back. Why does he not keep on, the bulk of the peril is over now ? A few more steps and he will be safe ; it is madness, deliberate mad- ness, to throw away his life ; he can do no good by it ! Who shall say that all this and more — the vision of home, a future career, a hundred hopes and ambitions — does not flash across his mind at this moment ? But he is a Briton and a soldier ; a comrade is in danger, and the Colours must be saved ; his own life is as nothing in the balance. Again he disappears in that turbid, boiling flood. See, the bank is lined with dark eager forms ; puffs of smoke issue from many a point — ' ping,' * ping,' fall the vengeful bullets. Both are down. No, they are up again, on the opposite shore, but they have lost their horses and — the Colours. A fright- ful yell wakes the echoes from the surrounding heights as the fierce foemen dash into the river. like bloodhounds, in pursuit. The two heroes toil laboriously up a long ravine, but they are wounded and exhausted ; their fleet foes gain upon them ; a few hundred yards, a short struggle, and — another brilliant page has been added to the glowing annals of British deeds of arms. The two soldiers lie pierced through and through with many a wound, and the Colours are lost ; but they have done their best — their very best. And the current rolls on its course beneath the great overhanging silent cliffs, and at evening time the low of cattle wending down to drink, and the song and laughter of Zulu girls coming from a neighbouring kraal to fill their calabashes, are tlie only sounds that now wake these solitudes formerly rent by the din of fierce and deadly strife.

About five hundred yards from the river, near the upper end of the ravine, rest the two heroes, beneath a stone cross on which is recorded their
names and the manner of their deaths.

Our way back lay through a long bushy valley to the left of the Fugitives' Track, returning from the river ; the heat was fearful, and our horses
were in a perfect bath as they stepped lazily along. Presently something white lying among the grass catches my eye ; it is a human skull, large and well formed. How can it have come here, right out of the line of flight as we are ? Some poor wretch who has perhaps crept away to die in
soUtude. Truly the region round about Isandhlwana seems a very Golgotha.

Source: THROUGH THE ZULU COUNTRY ITS BATTLEFIELDS AND ITS PEOPLE

BY BEETEAM MITFOED

Posts : 187 Join date : 2010-02-04

Colin J. wrote:: Same as Sharpe though, lacking in scale regarding extras. It could end up jarring the eye, amounting to something like ten 24th men defending a poorly construted prop of Rorke's Drift against twenty Zulus.

:lol!:

Mate - I was thinking the same, the Waterloo Sharpe has me in stitches, they pulled out all the stops and had about 200 extras. Chuck in a load of smoke and guitar music to hide the fact that they are missing 200k people from the real batttle :-)

Guest

The only option to go with would be the methods used in '300' for the small screen, but if you intend to spend that sort of money, it'd be better wiser to just make the full film, or follow the Lord Of The Rings concept, which was to make films on the same subject, in this case the Zulu War 1879, back-to-back at the same time, so when the first one is released, as in Isandhlwana, the second film meantime, of course being Rorke's Drift, is being edited, etc., in preparation for its release the following year. Now how cool would that be ?

Subject: Re: Zulu War Mini Series Sat Oct 08, 2011 8:38 am

In Gladiator, they used CGI effects to hugely increase the number of Romans and Gauls in the opening battle scenes in the forest.

No one on here would object to a new epic film on the AZW - it would be epic. But a series, no. (see above).

Zulu and Zulu Dawn we all know are not particularly accurate and contain much artistic licence, but who cares? They still send tingles down my spine.

Very annoying that my ancestors missed the AZW for Egypt a few years later, but can't complain - If they had been in SA as opposed to Egypt, I might not be here!

Subject: Zulu war mini series Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:04 am

Hi Tasker.
True , Tasker True !. :lol!: :lol!: .
cheers 90th.

Posts : 2008 Join date : 2011-08-01 Age : 27

Just read

NEW SHARPE EPISODES COMING OUT WHERE HE TRIES TO FIND HIS LONG LOST DAUGHTER :) :)

Regards DB14

Posts : 187 Join date : 2010-02-04

Drummer Boy 14 wrote:: Just read

NEW SHARPE EPISODES COMING OUT WHERE HE TRIES TO FIND HIS LONG LOST DAUGHTER :) :)

Regards DB14

Not sure how long old Sean Bean can keep going for - the Sharpe in India was ok, but you could tell he's getting long in the tooth. I'll watch this but suspect it might be watchable more for the comedy value.

I hope that a fit bird like Beatrice Rosen makes an appearance to make this easy on the eye :-)

Subject: Re: Zulu War Mini Series Sun Oct 09, 2011 3:07 pm

I think I can guess the plot:

Sticky situation, Sharpe appears, duffs up the arogany, snobby public school boy, fights off the advances of the pretty, young, titled lady before finally succumbing to her charms, kills the bad guy, rescues his daughter.
Turns, looks over his shoulder smoulderingly to excite the watching (and ageing) housewives, credits roll to "o'er the hills and far away."

As a latter day James Bond, this could be the "Octopussy" of Sean Bean's career. I wonder if a toupee will be needed?

Posts : 2008 Join date : 2011-08-01 Age : 27

From what i read it was set in south america and it will be the last Sharpe episode ever.

Regards DB14

Posts : 187 Join date : 2010-02-04

Drummer Boy 14 wrote:: From what i read it was set in south america and it will be the last Sharpe episode ever.

Regards DB14

There will be a cult with people being executed to some sort of sun god..

Posts : 420 Join date : 2011-05-14

If it follows the books and is based on 'Sharpe's Devil' then it should involve Admiral Thomas Cochrane, the 10th Earl of Dundonald, and an attempt to free Napoleon Bonaparte from exile on St. Helena. So there's three Zulu War connections straight off!

kwaJimu1879

Posts : 2008 Join date : 2011-08-01 Age : 27

Hi Kwa-jimu1879

I dont think the episodes follow any books.

Regards DB14

Guest

Either way, I'll not be watching it, as I couldn't help but cringe at the earlier series. Better with the Sharpe books, at least by imagining the locations, battles, characters, and the thousands of soldiers described would be more realistic.

Posts : 420 Join date : 2011-05-14

Drummer Boy 14,

I've obviously missed something as I thought they were based on Bernard Cornwall's novels.

That said, the two novels set in India should show Sharpe's service prior to the Napoleonic War, rather than post the Napoleonic War as portrayed in the series.

kwaJimu1879

Guest

Regarding the original topic, I think a Zulu War 1879 mini-series, covering the likes of Isandhlwana and Rorke's Drift, which lacks the funding and necessary detail, would be a travesty, so much so, that on seeing it once made, would make us regret having wished for it in the first place! - 'Be careful what you wish for' is something quoted to me constantly.

Posts : 2008 Join date : 2011-08-01 Age : 27

Hi Kwa-Jimu1879

Sharpes Peril as far as i am aware is not based on a novel and the artical i read said for the last Sharpe film would be one where he went to South America to search for his long lost daughter. A few of the Sharpes are not based on the Novels, the one before Waterloo for example Sharpes Justice i think is not based on a book.

Regards

Posts : 420 Join date : 2011-05-14

Drummer Boy 14,

'Peril' & 'Challenge' have their roots in and can be seen as an amalgam of three of Cornwell novels 'Sharpe's Tiger', 'Sharpe's Triumph' & 'Sharpe's Fortress' which were set in India between 1799 and 1803.

'Sharpe's Justice' does indeed fall outside of realms of any novel, and 'Sharpe's Siege' bares not resemblance to the novel.

If you read the same author's 'Starbuck' novels you'll discover where Sharpe's son winds up. As to Richard & Teresa's daughter I had not give her a thought! I'll await its release!

kwaJimu1879

Posts : 2008 Join date : 2011-08-01 Age : 27

Thanks Kwa-jimu1879

I will certinaly read the novels you suggest.

Harper better be in this new episode Wink

Regards

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