The Mysterious Death of Admiral Yamamoto
- Episode aired May 15, 2002
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
5
YOUR RATING
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Isoroku Yamamoto
- Self
- (archive footage)
Storyline
Featured review
Flawed, Factually and Otherwise
This was the first episode of this series seen. If it is an example of the series, then there is no point in watching it. In the first twenty minutes there were numerous factual errors plus many questionable opinions presented as facts. Two examples of blatant factual errors; 1) At the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese Navy's battle line included more and superior battleships compared to the U. S. battle ships. -- Only in one, limited situation can part of this statement be true. At the start of the war, the IJN had ten battleships, plus the battleship Yamato which was about to be commissioned. The USN had seventeen battleships, including the two new North Carolina class battleships, which were superior to anything in commission in the IJN. If the meaning of the statement applies only to the US Pacific Fleet, then the IJN is superior in numbers, with ten to nine battleships; however, the poorest of the USN Pacific Fleet ships were clearly superior to all but the two newest IJN ships (the Nagato class).
2) At the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese Navy had nine aircraft carriers with the US Navy having only three. -- One must wonder what the writers thought about the other four USN carriers? Yes, there were only three active USN carriers in the Pacific, but that is not what is said, and the Panama Canal was built to enable the USN to reinforce the Pacific reasonably quickly.
If these two errors were the only one, there might be hope for the show. But it seems like hyperbole and the desire to inflate everything to make it sound more exciting got the best of the writers.
Another issue is the pacing of the show. The first half is used to provide background information on Admiral Yamamoto and the beginning of the Pacific war. Having gotten the war started with the attack on Pearl Harbor, the story jumps over the war situation to get to the beginning of the US attack on Yamamoto's flight. Once the flight of the US attack group starts, the pace slows to a crawl. It isn't that there is a lot to present, the narration just slows down and the show relies on CGI (which is adequate but not notable).
Finally, where is the "Mysterious Death"? There is very little which is not known about the attack on Admiral Yamamoto; and the show makes no effort to suggest otherwise. Did someone fail to tell the writers what the title would be? It looks like this is another one of the seemingly innumerable second rate histories being prepared quickly to fill the schedules on the various "History" channels.
2) At the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese Navy had nine aircraft carriers with the US Navy having only three. -- One must wonder what the writers thought about the other four USN carriers? Yes, there were only three active USN carriers in the Pacific, but that is not what is said, and the Panama Canal was built to enable the USN to reinforce the Pacific reasonably quickly.
If these two errors were the only one, there might be hope for the show. But it seems like hyperbole and the desire to inflate everything to make it sound more exciting got the best of the writers.
Another issue is the pacing of the show. The first half is used to provide background information on Admiral Yamamoto and the beginning of the Pacific war. Having gotten the war started with the attack on Pearl Harbor, the story jumps over the war situation to get to the beginning of the US attack on Yamamoto's flight. Once the flight of the US attack group starts, the pace slows to a crawl. It isn't that there is a lot to present, the narration just slows down and the show relies on CGI (which is adequate but not notable).
Finally, where is the "Mysterious Death"? There is very little which is not known about the attack on Admiral Yamamoto; and the show makes no effort to suggest otherwise. Did someone fail to tell the writers what the title would be? It looks like this is another one of the seemingly innumerable second rate histories being prepared quickly to fill the schedules on the various "History" channels.
helpful•21
- HeadMMoid
- Feb 16, 2011
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