MovieChat Forums > Bonekickers (2008) Discussion > don't people just sut back and enjoy ent...

don't people just sut back and enjoy entertainment anymore?


I've caught up on this series in the meantime and found it entertaining.

I didn't find it a waste of time. I enjoyed everything about it. No analysis, no reviewing and other blabla...

It's unbelievable when you read some of the crap people write here about 'accuracy' etc. Haven't you got anything better to do???

Get a life?

I am feeling sorry for a lot of people right now...

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[deleted]

Well, you could say the same about "The Da Vinci Code" (which I guess you think is the best book you have ever read - really well researched......) - it might be a story, but when something professes facts which are inaccurate or poorly researched, then I think it's justifiable to point out those errors.

Simple fact is BBC is trying to make dramas that it can flog abroad. However the competition from across the pond is a bit too strong, leaving the BBC to come out with howlers such as this one, and that god awful "Prehistoric".

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gruffnut wrote:

Simple fact is BBC is trying to make dramas that it can flog abroad. However the competition from across the pond is a bit too strong, leaving the BBC to come out with howlers such as this one, and that god awful "Prehistoric"


As someone from across the pond who has seen this show, they can flog all they want, but I can't see this one making it.

I was really looking forward to this show. The production team had great bona fides, I have always been interested in archeaology, and my educational background is in history.

What a disappointment. I can live with certain changes made for the sake of dramatic narrative - the way that the digs are conducted, the uber ground penetrating radar, and the fact that our cast seems to specialize in every era of history. Heck, I can even live with the fact that in 4 weeks they've found the true cross and Boudica - if Indy hadn't already recoverd the Ark of the Covenant, they'd probably found that too! BTW - I love all the Indy's and National Treasure for the cheesey fun they are.

But, since this is a series, it can't treat every episode like a movie and continue to have the characters get involved in situations where they end up destroying (or being in ways responsible for the destruction) of pretty much everything they find. Heck, at the rate they're going, there won't be an artifact left in the UK. Also, while I can understand that they have to simplify certain historical facts, it gets to the point that anything that is factual is now so obscured or twisted, that nothing seems plausible.

It seems like every note they try to hit, turns out to be flat. The writing, not the best, the characters (and I blame the writing of them) seem to be a bit all over the place, and they seem to be trying too hard to make the ancient relevant by hitting us over the head with the connection. Yep - religious extremism is bad, yep - there are folks who don't want a black man to be US president, yep - love conquers all, and a little child shall lead them....


Oh, and by the way - the first time Dolly talked to me the way he talked to Viv - I'd have clocked him!

For me, this show is like a bad habit I can't break. Every week I keep hoping it will get better, and I keep being disappointed. I'll finish it out, but I won't look for it in the future.

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There's more choice on TV now. People don't want to eat *beep* and pretend its strawberrys and cream.

"If I'm laughing at what I think I am, its very funny"

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I agree the show's archaeological accurateness is indeed hilarious (they have managed to discover more legendary artefacts than Indian Jones in four films :) ), but don't forget it is still a TV show. I didn't know that BBC was trying to link it to real archaeology, but I do hope that people are smarter than learn about history from a fictional TV show. If not, then I guess no one could make them think otherwise.

Well, the authors of the show might have given it a little bit more thought, in order not to look so ridiculous at some moments, but who really cares - it's television, nothing more. My point is that there is no need of all this, it's only giving the show more clout than it deserves. Besides, it's not healthy to watch a show only to comment how bad it is on the forums afterwards ...

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ok, dodgy dialogue, dodgy storylines, dodgy professionalism shown by the archaeologists and the whole thing is barking mad.

So what? I watch television to be entertained and Bonekickers entertains me.

The Long Walk stops every year, just once.

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Thats a great argument so what?

So what if im a brain dead moron

So what if i think big brother is socially educational

cant be arsed to think of a third but you get the idea



"If I'm laughing at what I think I am, its very funny"

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Good lord what is wrong with the complainers.

This is fiction.......... the clue is in the word....... not fact!

If it were fact it would be a documentary, if it were loosely based on fact it would be a docudrama, but it's fiction, pure and simple, and in my personal opinion ruddy good fiction at that. It's amusing, pacey, and all round fun entertainment.

Dr. Who and Torchwood are fiction, the films National Treasure and NT2 are fiction, Midsomer Murders is fiction. It doesn't make any of them less entertaining, even though they are about as close to fact as I am to being a size zero.

MM

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>>Good lord what is wrong with the complainers.<<

Nothing.

>>This is fiction.......... the clue is in the word....... not fact!<<

We are quite aware that it is fiction. However, we have brains, and so we demand a better standard of fiction.

Got that?

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Good lord what is wrong with the apologists?!

This is crap......the clue is in the word......sh!te!

If it were well done it would be a drama. If it was remotely well researched it would be an informative drama. If it was competently made it would be a well-made, informative drama. If it was entertaining too, that would be a bonus. But it's crap, pure and simple, and in my personal opinion a very stinky crap at that. It's amusing for all the wrong reasons, slow-paced, and an all-round insult to the intelligence of the viewer.

Dr. Who and Torchwood are professionally made, but are SCIENCE FICTION FANTASY and therefore not comparable in terms of depicting a 'real world history' or archaeological practice accurately. The films National Treasure and NT2 are professionally made and have high production values. They follow an established formula that is tried and tested - and they are big-budget Hollywood movies, so again not comparable. Midsomer Murders is professionally made BY A COMMERCIAL CHANNEL, and is again working within the rules of its genre. But even if it was badly made, WE didn't finance it through a license fee that we are FORCED to pay under threat of stiff penalty. And again, it is a totally different genre, so it is NOT comparable.

But all your examples (poor though they may be) have one important thing in common. They are WELL MADE. (As far as I can tell, since I don’t watch any of them regularly.)

Bonekickers is compelling and entertaining - but ONLY because it is so bad. It is an atrociously amateurish piece of arse-gravy that repeatedly insults the intelligence of the audience, while expecting them to ignore the sub-zero production values, lousy scripts, terrible stories, embarrassing acting, moronic humour, insulting levels of inaccuracy, and worst of all the sledgehammer-over-the-head propaganda and politically correct agenda. That is the part that REALLY makes me (and most others) fume. We don't pay the license fee so that the BBC can tell us how and what to think, and preach its questionable political 'messages' to us in the thinly veiled guise of so-called 'entertainment'.

Bonekickers is an offense against - well, very nearly everything. It is good reason for refusing to pay the LF. But I'll be watching tonight. Why? 'Cos I enjoy the anticipation of coming HERE afterwards to see what people have to say about the latest offering.

Watching Bonekickers makes me wonder if I'm the only intelligent and discerning viewer left. But the acumen and wit of the detractors in these boards gives me back my faith in humanity!

It's the programme that's dumb. Not the viewers. (Well, most of them anyway.)

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Indeed. What disturbs me is that some press reviewers have referred to the series as "educational", as well as "entertaining". "Educational"? The historical content is garbage.

Seingner Conrat, tot per vostr'amor chan
http://www.silverwhistle.co.uk/knightlife

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I saw an episode last; the acting was bad, script rotten and I half expected Basil Fawlty any moment to appear to also have a go at the Germans and French.

Bad bad BBC - you should know better to broadcast this rubbish.

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Yes, it's pretty damn awful. But it's also unintentionally hilarious in places and I love a bit of accidental comedy.

Dear Buddha, please send me a pony and a plastic rocket.

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And you know what's really scary? I think that was one of their better episodes!

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If the BEEB are trying to flog this then the phrase a dead horse springs to mind

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[deleted]

[deleted]

What astounds me is that someone could be so ignorant and insensitive as to take another persons mistake and use it as a reason to insult their intelligence - and no less than three times. Judging by the rest of their post they are not one of the idiots who spells 'friend' without the 'I' or shortens perfectly good words by removing all of the vowels and still considers them worthy of reading at all, so the fact that you wasted your time quoting and demeaning this post is frankly laughable.

As for Bonekickers, I have found each and every hour of it extremely enjoyable. Whilst this is just my personal opinion and everyone - including those writing here - is entitled to their own; I cannot understand why someone would continue to watch the programme after establishing their distaste for it, simply for the novelty of reading the imdb message boards and challenging people who have found anything other than fault with it. When these people were told to 'Get a life', the writer had the right idea. Yes, the characters occasionally show signs of less-than-professionalism. Yes, in each episode another great event in history is brought up and butchered for the sake of creating something more interesting than a programme following a group of archaeologists failing at their job. Whilst I'm sure some of the people here would enjoy to see this - it would give them something else to complain about - it doesn't make great television. I stand firm in the belief that Bonekickers is a well thought-out and entertaining programme, which I hope will return to our screens in the near future. Finally, though the programme is by no means factual, it is certainly not intended to be so. The historical references have been changed - and why not? If you want to learn about historical figures and events: study history.

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[deleted]

Wellit does depress me that is the very low standard of drama that the beeb seems to put out these days. As I am one of the many licence payers I am allowed a point of view even if I don't watch it.

One and a half episodes, the half being a generous second chance from me, told just how crap it really is.

I find myself watching something like Elizebeth R on the history channel with it's concentration on dialogue and some sort of historical accuracy and compare it to The Tudors and oh dear me. Yes it's all dumbing down nicely.

Still time to move on - really!

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Entertainment is fine, its just that when the writers include real people, real places and real events, people expect them to get it somewhat right, not twist it to suit their own agenda.

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Sit back and enjoy? Not when we're paying to have our money wasted on this crap. This was the BBC laughing at it's audience.

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Get a life?

Seriously, f"ck you. How about I write the biggest piece of crap series about sitting on a toilet and taking the biggest dump in the world and call it entertainment? You'd like that wouldn't you, eh? Idiot.

Now, I could care less about historical accuracy. What I do care about is having my intelligence insulted by a bad story teller who makes me hate the story, characters, pacing, everything, everything, everything, everything... and even more so are ass-clowns like you getting on your high horse and insulting everyone for outing the piece of sh!t series this series really is. Crawl back in your box you puppet or you'll get the blowtorch!

"Well I didn't expect a kind-of Spanish Inquisition!" - Monty Python

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