Ultimate Force - Series 3 (DVD)

...the first two series of Ultimate Force I once again eagerly awaited the arrival of the next series. The series however was far from what I expected and in short was truly disappointing.

I'd expected to see a series that wasn't simply action packed but that dealt with some of the issues of the previous series, how was Pete coping with his PTSD, were Jamie and Caroline ever going to get back together, how had Henno explained Macalwain's ...
...you can probably gather this is not what I found.

To start with the episodes had changed from 55 minute long episodes to 75 minutes long episodes (90 minutes including the adverts), too long in my opinion and the series online contaisn 4 episodes, rather than the previous six, because of this. Next someone somewhere had the deluded idea that removing half of the well established and well loved cast. Why on earth?

In ... more

After absolutely loving the first two series of Ultimate Force I once again eagerly awaited the arrival of the next series. The series however was far from what I expected and in short was truly disappointing.

I'd expected to see a series that wasn't simply action packed but that dealt with some of the issues of the previous series, how was Pete coping with his PTSD, were Jamie and Caroline ever going to get back together, how had Henno explained Macalwain's death and could Henno actually be happy with Pru. As you can probably gather this is not what I found.

To start with the episodes had changed from 55 minute long episodes to 75 minutes long episodes (90 minutes including the adverts), too long in my opinion and the series online contaisn 4 episodes, rather than the previous six, because of this. Next someone somewhere had the deluded idea that removing half of the well established and well loved cast. Why on earth?

In the first five minutes of the first episodes Jamie, Pete and Ricky are all killed off in a mission in Iraq that goes terribly wrong. If that wasn't bad enough Caroline is transferred to another unit (we only hear about this never see) and Pru simply disappears without mention. To make matters worse we don't once see the characters as they are all played by body doubles in the initial few minutes.

Just to add salt to the wounds these characters are then swiftly replaced by others who in my opinion are all too like the ones they have replaced. They are replaced by Ed Dwyer (Liam Garrigan), Dave Woolston (Louis Decosta Johnson), Becca Gallagher (Heather Peace) and Kathy Crompton (Hannah Yelland). The latter taking over Pru's liaison role but with none of the class that Pru had.

Despite all of this however the actions sequences, stunts and special effects are one again superb and the comic element within the programme still remains. The storylines, which range from terrorists on a plane to confrontations between rival forces in Zimbabwe and hunting down rebel leaders in Chechnya, are like in previous series well written, well acted and well filmed.They tackle difficult subjects in a way that makes them both manageable and enjoyabel to watch.

So I suppose therefore that if you can get past the initial shock then the series is still entertaining. The shock is however just that a big shock and so somehow I feel, that even thought the series grows on me the more I see it; it will in my eyes at least always be tainted.

The DVD itself includes subtitles and does have a few special features including an exclusive series 3 documentary. These special features are ok for something extra to watch but aren't exactly something to write home about.

Also on dooyoo under same username 

...less