STUDIO: HBO
RELEASE DATE: November 11, 2008
STARRING: Ron Livingston, Donnie Wahlberg, Neal McDonough, Kirk Acevedo, and Damian D. Lewis
PRODUCED BY: Steven Spielberg & Tom Hanks
FEATURES: 80 Minute Documentary We Stand Alone Together: The Men Of Easy Company
30 Minute Making Of Band Of Brothers Featurette
The Premiere In Normandy
Picture In Picture Commentary
Interactive Field Guide

Is Band of Brothers the best mini-series of all time? It's a question that certainly deserves consideration. Sure, Roots has its historical significance and should probably included in the conversation for it, but even fans of that would admit that it's not quite the artistic achievement as Band of Brothers. HBO would probably dominate the top ten with Angels in America certainly deserving a spot on the list and possibly even this year's John Adams and Generation Kill. What else? Pride and Prejudice. I, Claudius. North and South. For you BBC fans, the wonderful The Singing Detective and State of Play are required viewing by all. But none of these great mini-series can touch Band of Brothers, a flawless experience that has only grown in esteem since it debuted seven years ago. I think when I first saw Band of Brothers on HBO - long before the days of HD, widescreen TVs, or Blu-Ray - I was too overwhelmed by the experience to appreciate it. Years down the road and in a gorgeous Blu-Ray box set that anyone would be lucky to get this holiday season, Band of Brothers already feels like not just a classic of TV or the mini-series genre but a classic, period. I think the discussion can actually turn from whether or not Band of Brothers is the best mini-series of all time to whether or not, taken as a whole, it's the best war film Hollywood has ever produced. It's that good.

Band of Brothers is the story of Easy Company, the 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division in installments that take the audience from the training in 1942 at boot camp to the end of World War II. This group of brave young men - many of whom introduce the episodes and are interviewed for the amazing documentary at the end, "We Stand Alone Together" - parachuted behind enemy lines on D-Day, participated in the liberation of Carentan, dealt with Operation Market Garden, freed a concentration camp, and watched many of their friends fall in battle. Band of Brothers is an episodic mini-series - many times the same characters don't appear in back-to-back episodes - but it's meant to be taken as a whole, as a document of the experience behind enemy lines from 1942 to the end of the war. It's an absolute masterpiece that should be required viewing for everyone old enough to handle it. All those kids playing Call of Duty this holiday season? Make them watch Band of Brothers too.

The first HBO mini-series released on Blu-Ray would have to be Band of Brothers. In fact, most HBO programming still has not made the leap to the next-gen format with only a lone season of The Sopranos also in BD. I don't understand why a network with one of the most gorgeous HD pictures on the dial when it broadcasts its shows isn't leading the way in Blu-Ray TV. They've been a pioneer for so long that it's disappointing. But even if they're a little late to the BD game, that doesn't mean that they're not doing it right. The cinematography and sound design in Band of Brothers are not only flawless, they are an essential part of the experience. In the second episode, when Easy Company jumps into chaos, it truly intensifies the experience to hear it with BD sound. And the special features on Band of Brothers are great. All of the standard edition special features including a 30-minute making-of, video diaries, and a featurette about premiering the film on the beaches of Normandy have been ported to the BD release.

The episodes speak for themselves but if you want more detail, you can watch "In the Words of Easy Company", a picture-in-picture video commentary from the veterans themselves. The video commentary is, of course, BD-exclusive, as is "In the Field with the Men of Easy Company", an interactive field guide that charts the path of the men with maps, timelines, soldier profiles, and more. The video commentary and the field guide allows fans who thought they knew everything about Band of Brothers and Easy Company an in-depth experience that they probably never thought they'd have. And "We Stand Alone Together" is simply one of the best war documentaries ever made. I know, I know. The hyperbole is too much, but Band of Brothers is THAT good. Don't believe me? Pick it up on BD and see for yourself. There will probably never be another mini-series like it.