Saints and Strangers- on National Geographic

Erica Howton @ Dan Cornett Erin Ishimoticha Pam Wilson (on hiatus) Lloyd Alfred Doss, Jr.

Eldon Lester Clark

William Owen "Bill" Irwin

I haven't seen it.

Dr. R. Owen Wyant, (PhD)

Sorry, I haven't seen it either.

Encores Thursday @ 6/7 thought you all might like to watch or know. Interesting.

I missed it! I'll record so wont bloop that again. What did you think?

I think I need to watch it again...I recorded it. It is very interesting. Dispels the whole Thanksgiving tradition most of us were taught. It does show both sides. Wait and see what you think Erica Howton

I don't the National Geographic Channel. It sounds good

I just watched the trailers on line, and the behind the scenes. I'm impressed.

Two points:

- Squanto's translations "were" suspect
- Stephen Hopkins was a burly, rough, no nonsense man who went through a biggest character change

Just watched the trailers, I am most definitely recording, can't wait, Thanks Jamie

Saints & Strangers Season 1 Episode 1
i got a external link to share ready to play streaming (its not from National Geographic)
as i am from Canada it wont let me watch the episode on the site

i can share the link,
can i paste it here?
for the moment i add the url into my profile (About)

I think so Martin, as long as it's in the post that it's not from the official channel?

Here is a little more about Squanto's amazing life, including his time in (what became) Canada

http://www.cupids400.com/english/about/squanto.php

I set it to record Thursday.

I watched it though it is my spouses family that is connected to the Mayflower (my family is connected to Jamestown). I was very impressed. I will let you all watch it before commenting further. :)

Lizzie - there's a wonderful compare & contrast with the Jamestown colony, alluded to within the show. Is that historic? I believe it is:

"After his return to England, his promotional writings contributed significantly to English efforts for an American empire. ... "

http://www.history.com/topics/john-smith

I will say that the show does try to debunk some long held beliefs about the Mayflower and Plymouth. Here are a few on The History Channels page:

http://tvblogs.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/06/mayflower-annivers...

I also missed it but hope it's On Demand and definitely plan to watch it.

It's On Demand (free) until Nov 25 and well worth watching - I saw part 1 last night. As a production it's gorgeous and well acted. And unlike many historical dramas I've seen, it's staying with me on the questions and thoughts it's raised. Especially good job (so far) in portraying competing / allying interests and how they played out.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Van06yOeqcUlVzcmx5U3k3Mk0/view episode 1

I am re-watching it. I missed a few things.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Van06yOeqcZ1pzbHEtSWYwOHc/view?u...

Saints and strangers episode 2

I must say, I've gotten quite interested in Squanto. Here's from one of my favorite sites:

http://www.executedtoday.com/2010/05/31/1622-not-squanto-tisquantum...

great article Erica Howton . Thanks for sharing! :)

What a wonderful production, couldn't pull my self away from it. We recorded it and watched straight through last night, both parts. Mt wife isn't really a "history" person but truly enjoyed this. I'm not much of a TV person in this day of "reality TV" we live in. This, in my opinion is reality at it's best. Thank you so very much Jamey for bringing this to my attention. I too will re watch, what a wonderful well researched, written and produced movie.

Your welcome Lloyd Alfred Doss, Jr. I have been discussing the movie a bit with one of my distant Chickasaw cousins. He brings up the point that that Native Wamapanoag council of today was not particularly happy with the production as it did not consult with them on the lanugage and used a variation of the neighboring language and all of the Native costumes were not completely accurate. I read an article after watching it about this, however, I did like the 2 part series and I think that they did a good job of portraying what really happened. Maybe not everything, but it must have been taken mostly from the point of view of the settlers account. I was informed that the Wampanoag consider the day we celebrate Thanksgiving as a day of mourning. I understand this as my heritage is made up of of both settlers and Native tribes. I have found that have a path to many of the settlers of Plymouth from my relatives. I am glad that people are making an effort to retell history with the truth of both sides.

I thought the setting was convincing, and the actors all did a great job. Thanks everyone for commenting on this.

I'm not done commenting! :)

- the acting was really first rate. Here's a bit about the native actors:

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/mobile/2015/11/25/experie...

My bet? http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0703398/ is going to "break through" as a result of this performance. At least I hope so. So nuanced a performance. And he's very cute. :) :)

And that brings me to the language controversy. I remember the articles from when they were shooting; apparently the first group of consultants hired as dialect coaches walked off, when the producers didn't / couldnt meet their request for script approval. Which is why they went with the "trade language" of Western Abenaki instead of (what they think was) the Wampanoag language of 400 years ago.

And my point here is the show is "art.". It's not a documentary; the wonderful Ric Burns documentary http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/pbs-busts-thanksg... is. (I didn't see any major discrepancies between the two shows by the way).

I'm pretty sure this is the first time "mass media" has given a convincing portrayal of the native points of view on that big party in 1622.

My mother did not like this show. She felt it was disrespectful to the Mayflower passengers.

How about your own opinion? Bradford comes across as brilliant. Standish gets a better rap than historians usually give him. Hopkins was amusing. Howland grew, as did Winslow.

Weston's settlers from the Sparrow was perhaps caricatured.

http://www.histarch.illinois.edu/plymouth/townpop.html