Listonixio
Fresh and Exciting
Gurlyndrobb
While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
Kimball
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
ellimic
Auf Wierdershen Pet was a little before my time but I have watched DVDs of the original several times and it is a very good series. Season 1 in Germany earnt it the it 8 stars of my review with season 2 not far behind in my estimation on 6-7 stars (I particularly liked the music in the cowboy bar the plumber took the lads too, and Jimmy Nail singing - I just wish he'd recorded it properly on one of his CD's)The later seasons in America and Cuba I watched on TV when they were released, despite a few good moments I thought they weren't that good thought, maybe a 3 star and 2 star respectively.
The wooden hut in America looked like a feeble attempt to recapture the feeling of season 1, and when they brought in Noel Clark as Wayne's son it seemed pointless, I didn't feel that they needed anyone else despite lacking the seventh menber of thier crew, but why him? In the original 2 seasons all 7 were craftsmen - bricklayers, a carpenter, an electrician and a plasterer, so how does a DJ fit in?
Artimidor Federkiel
When the first series of "Auf Wiedersehen, Pet" aired in Britain Lady Thatcher reigned the United Kingdom with her iron fist and work was scarcer than ever. As the Dire Straits would later put it in "Why Aye Man", the soundtrack of series 3: Many had no way of staying afloat, so they had to leave on the ferry boat - economic refugees, on the run to Germany... And here we have the story of the construction workers from Newcastle. With that premise the scenario is set for one of the greatest lads centered series that ever hit the television screen. Their journey over the years leads the guys also to Spain, Arizona or Cuba to name just a few locations, but these are just changing backdrops. The camaraderie is the same throughout all the lads' escapades, and that's what it's all about. The character mix is crafted beautifully by the writers and then played exactly by the right men for the jobs. The selection of the magnificent seven ranges from the man of action and thus unofficial leader Dennis (Tim Healy) over Neville, heavily dominated by his marriage vows (Kevin Whatley), womanizer Wayne as his counterpart (Gary Holton), loudmouth and oddball Oz (Jimmy Nail) to the bashful, boring and bumbling Barry (Timothy Spall), the gentle giant Bomber (Pat Roach) and finally to Moxey (Christopher Fairbank), who has his own troubles with the law."Auf Wiedersehen, Pet" deals with the working class, portraying the day to day life from laying bricks to drinking in the evening, but it's TV for everyone interested in good drama peppered with working class humor. And the brickies know how to build their stuff on reality. An alternative to artificially constructed, highly polished studio productions, "Pet" features guys that feel like lads, complete with heavy accents, and while it all is very eighties, the first two series definitely hold up and are as engaging as when they aired. Too bad that with the death of a key cast member things went downhill from there in the subsequent episodes made more than 15 years later. While series three still is good, the rest of the episodes cannot compete in any way with the original series. Nevertheless, if you're fed up with crime shows and high budget TV from the US rehashing the most common denominator recipe again and again, then take a nostalgic look back, and join the lads' visit to Germany - 'cause that's livin' alright!
Thorsten-Krings
All three series of Auf Wiedersehen Pet were very much "state of the nation" stuff. The first series showed a country crippled by a socialist government, the second series the changes Thatcherism brought and the third one now shows a world changed completely by the post 1989 events. The lads have all fallen on hard luck: Dennis is reduced to chaufeuring a drug dealer around, Neville's marriage is on the rocks and his business is failing, Wayne is dead, Bomber is terminally ill, Moxy wanted by the police (nothing new there) and Barry is married to a two timing Russian gold digger. To regain their self respect (and some money) they embark on a business venture orchestrated by a shady ex-politician ( a thinly disguised Jeffrey Archer). But Auf Wiedersehen is not just about the "state of the nation" but also about men, friendship and loyalty. So although they don't actually make any money they get back together and find themselves. As usual some of it is very funny, most of it very witty but it also shows the modern world in all its uglyness. For example Neville tells an embittered Dennis: This used to be coal mining country. Now half the men have donned a hair net and package airline meals. This story of friendship and camadery of these different characters leaves you feeling good. I don't think that there has ever been anything on TV that shows the nature of man (as opposed to woman) better and with more understanding.
steve-barry-1
I have enjoyed watching these episodes may times. Well written and brilliantly acted was the blurb on the DVD boxes, and the reviewers are right. The cast are second to none, you believe they are tradesmen working for a living. The supporting characters also have great strength, in particular, Herr Grunwald, Ally Fraser, Brenda, Dagmar, Norma, Joe, etc, etc, etc.To pick a favourite episode is difficult, especially as even the "weaker" ones are far superior to anything you will see on TV today. But if I had to, I would say my favourite is Suspicion. The sheer delight of Oz going on one over his stolen watch, Neville falling in lust, Wayne not pulling, Moxey fronting up to Oz, Barry absolutely drunk, Dennis poking fun out of Oz because Oz thinks the lads are threadbare and Bomber, well just for being Bomber. Favourite quote from the episode "The sum total of all our possessions wouldn't raise a f*rt at a bring-and-buy sale!"The first series was set in Dusseldorf, and followed their lives over (supposedly) 6 months. There was a common story theme but each individual episode was stand alone. Series two changed, as it followed their fortunes working for a Newcastle based villain, doing up his Manor in Derbyshire and then building him a swimming pool in Malaga. The third series finds the lads demolishing a famous bridge in Middlesborough, and rebuilding it in Arizona, and finally, the fourth sees them working for the Foreign Office in Cuba.I had mixed feelings about the revival of the format for series 3 & 4, as sometimes it is better to be wanting more, than actually to have it. But I was pleasantly surprised with the end results, although, not sure how Barry could've changed so much from Methodist prude, to drug taking womaniser.Still the best thing to have graced the TV screen. Cold & Rainy winter evenings are not so bad, when you surf SKY and see AWP on one of the channels.
