The concept for this series came from a World War 2 saga titled THE DESERT RATS. It was expanded upon & fictionalized on ABC television.This color series was filmed in Spain for ABC in Color. Visually, the DVD set of season 1 that I have looked at is great.
There are several things to note which make the series not as good as it looks. ABC had an extremely limited budget shooting these & if you watch the first season a lot, you will find that many of the action shots are re-used in several episodes. No matter what plot is being followed, the same action sequence used in an earlier episode pops in.
The half hour format this series follows does not allow enough time for character development. COMBAT , the Vic Morrow series which was also on ABC, always had an hour to develop it's plots. There are some multiple parters to try & make up for this problem during the first season, but not enough. The main cast is quite good. Christopher George is a good actor & brings Sgt. Troy as close to being real as you can imagine. His three comrades in support are fine also. Hans Guidecast (now Eric Braden or Victor on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS) does well as the German Captain in pursuit of our heroes. often though, the scripts are limp & sometimes the re-use of the action sequences does detract from the quality of the series overall.
If you pick up the DVD set, watch for Ed Asner (Lou Grant) & Gavin McCloud (Captian Steubing of the LOVE BOAT Murray on Mary Tyler Moore series) in guest roles. The three parter features Claudine Longet several years before her lover Spider Savage died in mystery circumstances. This series is watchable & the DVD pictures are so good you can see the characters sun tans. Overall though, not as good as you remember when you were a child as the plots look a little limp to a grown up.
Sometimes, the jeeps suddenly get new equipment when our heroes are nowhere near their own lines. Amazing how they can do that & always get what they need & never run out of ammo. The action theme and fine camera work make this watchable.
When I was a child, I picked up & read a series of 7 paper back books based upon the series characters. The books developed the plots & characters in much more depth than the show. This makes my view of the series a little more negative than it should be.
There are several things to note which make the series not as good as it looks. ABC had an extremely limited budget shooting these & if you watch the first season a lot, you will find that many of the action shots are re-used in several episodes. No matter what plot is being followed, the same action sequence used in an earlier episode pops in.
The half hour format this series follows does not allow enough time for character development. COMBAT , the Vic Morrow series which was also on ABC, always had an hour to develop it's plots. There are some multiple parters to try & make up for this problem during the first season, but not enough. The main cast is quite good. Christopher George is a good actor & brings Sgt. Troy as close to being real as you can imagine. His three comrades in support are fine also. Hans Guidecast (now Eric Braden or Victor on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS) does well as the German Captain in pursuit of our heroes. often though, the scripts are limp & sometimes the re-use of the action sequences does detract from the quality of the series overall.
If you pick up the DVD set, watch for Ed Asner (Lou Grant) & Gavin McCloud (Captian Steubing of the LOVE BOAT Murray on Mary Tyler Moore series) in guest roles. The three parter features Claudine Longet several years before her lover Spider Savage died in mystery circumstances. This series is watchable & the DVD pictures are so good you can see the characters sun tans. Overall though, not as good as you remember when you were a child as the plots look a little limp to a grown up.
Sometimes, the jeeps suddenly get new equipment when our heroes are nowhere near their own lines. Amazing how they can do that & always get what they need & never run out of ammo. The action theme and fine camera work make this watchable.
When I was a child, I picked up & read a series of 7 paper back books based upon the series characters. The books developed the plots & characters in much more depth than the show. This makes my view of the series a little more negative than it should be.