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Titanic: Blood and Steel......Such good promise, but bad ending


Just when it was really getting good...it was OVER!! For a really good movie they left so much up in the air. Why didn't they continue the movie through the voyage of the Titanic.... All the people that we followed through the movie for the most part was traveling on the Titanic. There was no closer the way they ended the show...So sad, as this could have been GREAT!!! But they just left you hanging...
All the money they spend on this movie to just leave you wanting to know what happened to the cast of characters is so sad.

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I would guess that the reason why it was not continued through the illfated voyage and sinking was $$$$$. To do it right and with the same visuals and effects that most would expect, the budget would have to had been increased several fold. Any TITANIC movie from now on will, for better or worse, be compared to Cameron's bloated film. While the story in Cameron's work was cliched and the acting was questionalble at best, even detractors (like myself) will give him credit of making a visually fantastic movie.

The least they could have done was given an epologue... what happened to the people.

Of characters (both real or ficitional) we saw that were on the ship, we can say for certain the fate of some:

Historical characters:
- Capt. Smith: Died
- Thomas Andrews: Died
- J.Bruce Ismay: Survived

Two of the Fictional characters we can pretty say for certain:
- Dr.Mark Muir / Marcus Malone: Died (none of the Guarentee Group survived)
- ??? (the young Harland and Wolff worker, last person listed on the Guarentee Group list) Died (same raeson as above)

Other fictioanl characters that we saw we can make an educated guess:
If travelling first class, Kitty Carlton and Joanna probably survived (Historically, Ida Strauss and Edith Evans, Bessie Allison and Ann Isham were the only four first class ladies to be lost). If travelling second class, they had an 86% chance of survival.

As for the characters in third class, there was a 46% Chance that the women survived (Sophia and Violetta and I will throw in her baby too) and a 16% chance that the men survived (Michael).

As for the crew (Andrea was shown as part of the "black gang" / stoker), it is hard to tell... 23% of the crew survived... but the stokers were well below decks... though some of firemen/stokers did survive, including lead firman Fred Barret).


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Not even if Hell freezes over and they play The Stanley Cup down there.

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I really enjoy your educated guess as to who survived and who didn't. I have never written to such a format before, but did so out of total irritation over the fact that they spent so much money creating such a wonderful movie to just drop the ball in the end. I wasted so much of my time invested in a show that gave such promise but lacked ending.
I agree with you that in my opinion they could have saved this wonderful attempt of a movie to at least...the very least.. given us a epologue explaining what happened to the people that we have become so attached to, but oh no....they leave us high and dry after spending all that money not to give us any kind of a conclusion.....Such a waste of such a promising beautiful movie!!
I had a family member that was on the Titanic so anything Titanic has always been an interest to me.....just sorry that this movie had such promise and ended in such a way that left one wanting an ending. Thanks for writing!!

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Actually, I've found a total of four first-class ladies who perished during the sinking: Strauss, Bessie Allison, Ann Isham, and Edith Evans. Looking at the list of victims, I could find no passenger by the name of Edith Russel. I could only find one person on the passenger and crew list with the last name 'Russell': Boysie Richard Russell, a crewman who worked in the victualing department. Edith Rosenbaum was a survivor who later changed her name to Edith Russell for professional purposes. Maybe you were thinking of her instead?

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I was doing it all from memory.

I had forgotten about Bessie Allison (and her husband, Hudson, and baby Trevor)... rather, I had forgotten that the Allison's were in 1st class... I was thinking 2nd.

Ann Isham was new to me. Had to go to Encylopedia Titanica to find her.

Edith Russell (aka Rosembaum) and Edith Evans I ALWAYS get mixed up for their unique stories... Evans being one of the few 1st class ladies to die, and Russell/Rosembaum and her lucky/musical pig.

====Not even if Hell freezes over and they play The Stanley Cup down there.

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Interesting you don't include Lorraine Allison as a first class female passenger.

Survivor Archibald Gracie said there were five women from first class who perished.

In fact, I believe Lorraine is the only child from first and second class to perish.

Gracie's cabin was across from Isham's, and her family wrote to him hoping he could offer some insight as to what happened to her. He had to report that he knew nothing of her fate.

Edith Evans is shown in A Night To Remember, as she was traveling with the three sisters, Mrs. Appleton, Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Cornell, on their way to the funeral of a fourth sister, Mrs. Dubilla Dutton. I've always kept these names straight as they are alphabetical; Appleton, Brown, Cornell, Dutton, Evans.

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Agreed. Some here don't seem to mind, but for me it was a cheesy ending.

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We all know what happens next. The ship sinks. Many, if not all, of the characters on board would have died. What else do you show? These characters crying and desperately trying to save themselves?

While I would have loved for this show to continue with their lives in America, it's just not very feasible as most of the characters would have died on board the ship. So, honestly, there really isn't anywhere for this show to go.

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I like that they ended it where they did. It leaves it open for interpretation (or a possible second season, although given the budget, I doubt it), rather than the bitter reality that almost all the characters will be dead in a week. This way, we get to imagine that Michael survives. My real sorrow for them not continuing is no series/movie has ever dealt with the aftermath before, and I would like to see THIS Thomas Andrews deal with the collision and sinking, and the enormous impact it has on Harland & Wolff and the White Star Line.

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www.charitysplace.com

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Agreed. I like the ambiguous ending. Tremendous miniseries.

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I love the ending that the ship was sailing but I don't like that Mark and Sofia met each other again

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Why not?

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www.charitysplace.com

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I'm with Katherine. I thought it was heart-breakingly poignant and hopeless that Mark knocked on Sofia's cabin door, she greeted him with warmth and joy, and then...
I mean, come on, we all know the ship went down. In fact, the hubs and I had tivo'd the whole series (ten in all? Maybe 11?) and watched it over a week. When it was time for the final hour, the hubs fell onto the sofa, clicker in hand and said, "Let's sink this boat, baby!" I couldn't stop laughing for ten minutes. Then I remembered that 1,420 (appx) souls really did perish, albeit 104 years ago, and it sobered me up. For about 2 minutes. Then I started giggling again.

For those who felt somehow cheated or that it was $$$ that caused the ending to be NOT the sinking, my husband is with you guys. I LOVED it.

As I said, we all know she never made it.

And is that Margery as your avatar, Kat?

"No matter where you go..."

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Respectfully, I don't understand your, "left you hanging" comment, nor the "ambiguous ending" comment by another poster in this thread. Really, who doesn’t already know the ending? While I agree the series ended too quickly, it was very fitting. However, I’ll also agree that an epilogue would’ve been an enhancement.

How many movies and documentaries have already been produced about the sailing & sinking? For this production to go there again would've been redundant and would’ve been compared to the numerous recreations of the ending already out there *. And in my humble opinion would’ve been an insult to our capacity to simply know and understand what happens next… having heard and watched THAT PART of the story so many times already.

Blood & Steel ended just where it should have because it was the story of BUILDING Titanic. I would suggest that it was meant to go no further and as such, fills a void in the telling of Titanic’s history that has not been covered before. That's why I found it so fascinating - it brought to life that part of Titanic's history which is fresh and relatively ignored - and knew enough to stop there.

* Given the way they outright ignored the existence of the Olympic in the first episode, then the fictional way by which they injected Olympic into later episodes infers a lack of historical credibility. If they did produce an additional episode to cover the sailing and sinking, I would bet, given the plethora of other productions out there, it would be a definite challenge to compare favorably.

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Respectfully, I don't understand why you don't understand the term "left hanging?" When one watches a movie such as this, that is at least 10 hours long. We gets to know the characters in the movie, and would like to know the outcome of these people. I agree, that the story line around the building of the ship was new and refreshing, it still leaves one to want to know what happened to the characters that we have grown to know. This could have been done very simply with an epilogue. The epilogue would have made all the difference in the world with this movie. As I said before...this movie left one hanging. With all the money they spent putting this movie together the ending ruined it for me, and I am sure for others that took the time to watch.
I have NEVER written in about a movie before in my life, but I was soooooo upset with the ending that did write.

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They all die. There is nothing left hanging. Perhaps one or two survive, perhaps snotty Kitty Carlton lives. There's just not much left to tell.

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I watched the marathon yesterday and couldn't believe they wouldn't tell us what happened to everyone that left on the ship. Admittedly, it was tremendously poignant to see them all boarding the ship full of hope for the future and knowing what they were heading into. I think though they could've done maybe one more episode perhaps from the point of view of those left back in Dublin finding out about the sinking and waiting to hear. It wouldn't have cost as much as filming the sinking and could've wrapped things up nicely, but I guess the makers wanted to leave us all to wonder and hope.

Very sad that Mark/Marcus probably wouldn't have survived as a member of the Guarantee Group but you just can see him making sure Sofia got into a lifeboat and promising to see her soon.

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I agree with you completely. All the money they spent on this (could have been) wonderful movie became obivious that they dropped the ball with the ending. All the powers that be in Hollywood should have in their infinite wisdom seen that the ending was terrible. It is obvious that this movie cost a lot of money....It is just so sad that they blew it big time. I would not watch it again.

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My DVR absolutely will not stop recording this thing, each time it comes on, despite my repeated attempts to cancel it. I must have a Poltergeist who gets a kick out of my frustration!

Watching this series, last fall, was one of the more frustrating of my viewing experiences over the last 40 years. I thought the beginning was slow and they had a few too many angles going at the same time, but I stuck with it and became rather fond of some of the characters. I was rather enjoying the prospects of the Mark Muir character, which was totally fictitious, finding his biological daughter. It would have been extremely unusual, back then, for that to have happened, and I am speaking as someone who has helped four of my own children locate their birth parents. It isn't that easy, even now.

Anyway, with the ship finally underway, I was anxious to see what was going to happen. Obviously, many people were going to die, but it seemed that there would also have been some happy endings, and some inspiring acts of selflessness. I couldn't believe they were ending it there! If it was the story of almost any other transatlantic crossing, it would have been easy to just believe that all of the characters would find a better life in America.

But, who are Earth would have thought it was good entertainment to end a miniseries with "Oh well, they worked hard to get on that boat to America but now most of them are just going to freeze to death in the middle of the night".

Obviously, a great deal of money was sunk into that production. I would bet that it cost them millions just to get Chris Noth to appear as JP Morgan, in a few scenes. Either they better reassemble that cast, follow those characters through the crossing and come up with at least a few happy endings, or this is going to go down in my memory as one of the biggest wastes of time ever!

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AMEN,AMEN to all that you just said. I watched this series as it was coming from a different angle. With it being a mini-series I thought this is going to be GREAT!! But when it came to the end I felt so cheated!! Yes, we all know what happened to the Titanic, but as you just pointed out couldn't they have given us some happy endings? They put so much time and effort into letting us get to know all the characters then totally dropped the ball with that ending. What a total waste of MONEY!!!

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[deleted]

Here's a question though (which would impact Mark's possible survival.)

He's referred to as a member of the Guarantee Group that sailed, and at some point somebody says he is.

But the list posted of those who are on the Guarantee Group starting with Andrews does not include Mark Muir's name.

So he sailed. But maybe he was not "technically" a Guarantee Group person officially anyway.

Which, perhaps, might leave a tiny window of opportunity for his character to have survived.

Since he was never on the H&W's posted Guarantee Group list, he wouldn't have been on the list that officially died.

Oh well, grasping at straws. He was a man--which would have skyrocketed his chances of perishing anyway. Unless his expertise in ship building made the crew send him into a life boat to supervise its launch and maneuvering, he'd unlikely have tried to get on one--being a decent bloke.

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I noticed Mark's name was not on the list as a member of the Guarantee group as well. But just before the list was posted, You see Thomas Andrew's trying to keep Mark Muir on at Harland and Wolff to help with their next big ship. However, you never see Mark agree to stay. So I almost believe he declined the offer to stay with Harland and Wolff and traveled as a passenger so he could go and start his life with Sofia in America.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take; but by the moments that take our breath away

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I completely agree with you. It would have been wonderful to have some closure. Even if it was just a few lines of text under the faces of the characters at the end. And I read somewhere that they just officially announced that there would be no second season which is a total opportunity missed if you ask me. They could have had an episode or two about the sinking, and then had like for or five about the aftermath and proceedings. It would have especially been amazing I think if somehow Muir would have lived (unlikely as it is) and using his expertise explained the situation, how it happened and then having him have something to do with the changes made to the Olymipic and later the Britanic. But idk honestly I was just upset with the ambiguity

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