Mediocre
This set of videos was disappointing, especially because the History Channel usually is better.

First, it's not just about the war in Europe, so if you want to focus on the European theater, you're also going to get some about Japan, Asia and Africa. Which means the European focus is weaker.

Second, they use some of the shots and narratives twice. Which is okay if you watch an episode a week, but not if you watch all 4 in a couple of days. The repetition seemed pointless.

The videos also don't give a good feel for plans or battles. It seemed to be more like 'a battle went here, and here, and here...'

I'm looking for something better.

The Story Of How It Happened
This is actual footage of the war. The film quality isn't the best so if thats what your looking for don't buy it. If your looking for the story of the war it's a great buy. I had seen most of this on The History Channel and so forth, but it makes more sence seeing it all together. I have a number of coworkers who want to borrow it, I'll post comments in future.

Never mind the Fake Color.
I've been *trying* to watch this, but every time I try I have to hit "Stop" on the remote before too long. I'm onto the third disk after about 3 months.

Wade pretty much took the words right out of my mouth, but did it better.

The packaging is deceptive, but I knew that from the get-go. There probably isn't 5 DVDs worth of color WWII footage to begin with! But what I wasn't prepared for, but should have been, is that the job of colorizing would be butchered to the point of painful to watch.

Beyond the color however, is basically a Cliff Note's version of WWII. I try to get beyond the hatchet job on the color and instead focus on listening to the content, but the content is so busy and each topic is covered so briefly I feel like I'm watching a cross between Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Robotron, but with even less substance. When the lack of historic content again comes to the forefront of my consciousness, I am left with nothing else but to return my focus to the hatchet job on the color. While watching this I often recognize footage from other productions that were presented in the original grayscale, and miss seeing them presented that way.

Then I hit "Stop" and return this failure to my selves & drawers of my DVD collection. Actually, now that I have written this I will be adding it to my next load of things heading for donation to the thrift shop. Although I have reservations with that. If I want someone to gain knowledge about WWII, I would recommend many other productions and sources and warn them of this waste of time.

Basically, the colorizing is just lipstick on a pig. Except this lipstick is blue and not an inviting color like red.

One of the greatest documentaries of WWII I've seen
This 3-hour single disc covers every aspect of the war. I highly recommend this DVD for anyone interested or someone that may be a teacher. The narrator Dale Reed is exellent in guiding the story as well as adding insight. Also recommended "The Korean War" by Marathon Music & Video.

Good not great...
This is not a BBC quality DVD package but well worth the money. It's educational and I have watched it a few times already. This is a TV program and a pretty good one. I like it.