Diagonaldi Very well executed

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Per Johnsen When the Norwegian Broadcasting channel NRK sent Centennial back in 1978 or maybe 1979, there was no other TV channel in Norway. If there were, absolutely nothing could have kept me away from attending a new episode every Saturday evening. I was totally glued to the screen, waiting to see what happened to Pasquinel or McKeag, and perhaps most of all, to get a glimpse of Clay Basket, played by the beautiful Barbara Carrera. I believe many young boys were in love with Clay Basket, at least I was. In fact I was in love with the whole idea of getting such a large peace of American history into my life. Back then we were used to western series like Gunsmoke and Alias Smith & Jones, both popular and exciting but oh so romantic, still the basics for a common boy's play that we simply called - to play cowboy, mainly having a broad hat, a gun and a gun belt, shooting each other, and being dead while counting to a hundred. Besides that both many boys and girls read a popular cartoon called - Silver Arrow, a semi realistic western series about a young Kiowa chief and his friends, out on weekly adventures in an historical factually based, but still imaginary world.It was quite educational, and the Centennial came along. It set a very new standard to the historical basics. It really was a revolution, not only in the historical perspective, but the characters, the scenery, the coloring, it was like never seen before, and so true to cultural history. No silly headbands on fake Indians, but Arapaho, Pawnee, Cheyenne and Lakota people as they actually appeared, and top of it all, with a story told from their perspectives. It was more than what an eleven year old boy could ever ask for. It's both hard and easy now to imagine how it was without internet streaming, video - simply no other possibility to watch it than when sent on TV. Back then I carefully put all other things aside to follow a new episode, but later I have seen it at least twice on YouTube, and now also on DVD, borrowed from the library. Oh, how fantastic it is to see it once again, digitally restored and being able to rewind and really get to really the bottom of it all. With certain cultural changes in denominations and the necessity of using actual native language, Centennial in all matters has withstood the time since it was made. It could not have been made better, perhaps much because the TV version has been true to a remarkable original book, but also because it's epic film and TV historical drama at it's very very best.

Nazi_Fighter_David "Centennial" is a great mini-series to discover America… It goes over a span of 200 years…It's about Pasquinel, a solitary trader with the Indians, who made his way through territory no white man has ever traveled, defending his trade and his life… It's about a man from Scotland who had come seeking solitude, but he found friendship and love… His name was Alexander McKeag… It's about the legendary Arapaho leader, Lame Beaver, who knew that the coming of the white man was the beginning of change… "Centennial" is also about strong men, men of destiny and vision… It's also about stubborn men who only saw little in the windy, water-shy stretch of plains to stop for on their trek to a new place called Oregon… "Centennial" is also about men of integrity like the young Mennonite named Levi Zendt who could not know it at the time that he was destined to leave the home he loved and share the dream of Alexander McKeag… It's about traders like Zendt, and soldiers like Maxwell Mercy… It's about men of honor, like Major Mercy who worked tirelessly to bring about a lasting peace… Men of vision like the stubborn German from the Volga named Hans Brumbaugh, who had walked from St. Louis to find gold… It's about the Englishman Oliver Seccombe, who would found an empire from the dream of a lifetime… A ranch that would spread from the Rocky Mountains on the west to the Nebraska border with Longhorns driven north from Texas by John Skimmerhorn and R. J. Poteet…"Centennial is about many more characters like Clay Basket, the fiery Indian woman who shared the life Pasquinel loved best; Lise Bockweiss, the golden-haired lady of St. Louis; Pasquinel brothers whose names would strike terror into the hearts of all white men who thought of crossing the plains; Frank Skimmerhorn, the obsessed militia colonel who led a disgraceful massacre against Cheyenne chief, Broken Thumb; the frontier lawman Alex Dumire who would fall prey to a kind of crime the presence of his badge and gun could not prevent; the traveling actors, Mervin and Maude Wendell who founded its fortune power and prestige on stolen money and a murder

balata96783 This movie is one of the reasons I moved to Colorado. In fact, I married a lady from Centennial, Colorado! We live in Highlands Ranch, very near to the mansion used in the movie. I found the DVD's through the Blockbuster Online ticket store and watched all 26 hours in about 3 weeks. Compared to the 3 months of regular broadcasting, (10/01/1978) to (2/04/1979). Can you imagine spending $25 million in the 1970's for a TV miniseries in today's economy of 2008, some 30 years later? With the one hundred stars in the show, I guess that's where some of the money went? Probably that all the scenes were shot on location had an economic impact on the budget, but I think that is why the piece is so beautiful. It brought back all the memories of why I moved here and how ironic it is to find my lady in the same namesake.

skyhouse5 The lead commentator here is absolutely on the mark. Again, belatedly, I opted for the DVD version, and, having accessed the first three disks, am here to join mikehess in proclaiming this James A. Michener opus a masterwork for all time. Indeed, less than halfway through a revisiting, this series has forecast the likes of Dubya, AND the sad FACT THAT THIS NATION HAS YET TO RISE TO THE FAINTEST GLIMMER OF AN UNDERSTANDING OF ITS OWN HUBRIS, ITS BOAST, ITS VAUNTED "SUPERIORITY." What FRANK Skimmerhorn did in the name of vengeance is no better and no worse than what we, today, are doing unto the entire globe, unto humanity itself, AND, more to the point OURSELVES. It isn't merely the land, or even the "people," it's our joined humanity. That is, if we recognize such an "ideology.",