Plans to invade and take Silesia by people not Fritz: well, I guess both Poland and Saxony do in fact share borders with Silesia, but Sulkowski planning to take it is entirely invented (by either the tv show or the original novelist). Yes, the Austrian army was in decline, but the Habsburgs still had not only their territories but the entire HRE to draw on (since this was before MT's Dad had died, his rule was uncontested). Such an action would have made August III. an outlaw all the other German princes would have been obliged to go against. And the Saxon army really wasn't nothing much, not least because all the money went elsehwere. If you don't have a completely modern, drilled and well equipped army at your disposal like Fritz did in 1740, in a situation where MT's rule hasn't been accepted yet, it can't be done.
It is, however, in tandem with this show letting the Saxons think of everything first - Silesia, and later the Diplomatic Revolution. (It's true that Brühl was involved in some of the negotiations, but it definitely hadn't been his brainchild.)
...this would seriously distract me, sort of like when I watched Hamilton and the guy playing Hamilton was taller than anyone else in the cast, like, apparently it is totally OK with me that they're all POCs but the height thing is so weird??
I know. It kept bugging me. The Fritz actor in general is taller than most cast members. Then again: Peter O'Toole is way, way, taller than rl T.E. Lawrence was in Lawrence of Arabia, and I never had a problem there, possibly because I first saw the movie before learning about TEL.
The ending is weird. I mean, Brühl just disappears out of the story after he and August III. flee to Warsaw, and we never even learn what became of the Countess Brühl. (Since they don't have children in this miniseries as opposed to rl, the miniseries doesn't have to cover them.) This after having been the villain protagonist for several episodes. So after the two young lovers are reunited and pledged to each other, you get this montage obout the Triumphs Of Fritz (with one defeat in betweeen, which he bears in stoic manliness) and then a sentence to justify the title, and we're done.
What I found interesting from a contemporary history pov is what the series shows, and doesn't show of its locations. Because Dresden in the 1980s didn't look like it does now; a lot of reconstruction and restoriation only happened after the German reunification. So you see some bits and pieces of the royal palaces, but it's no coincidence that the only palace you see completely from the outside Moritzburg, far away from Dresden and in a lake, so there's no WWII damage or modern buildings to cover. And the outside of Sanssouci looks far older and neglected than it does now; clearly they hadn't done a paint job in a while. Not to mention that today, the vineyard is a vineyard again, whereas it wasn't in GDR times (too expensive). What we see of the inside of the Sanssouci palaces is in fine condition, by contrast, though I note the series cheats a bit now and then and lets Fredersdorf and Fritz talk in a room inthe Neue Kammern, not in the main palace itself, while giving the impression we're in the main building. But like I said, you can tell the director and producers decided to milk that permission to film there for all it was worth, and to hell with the fact Fritz would have been with the army in Saxony after the first two or so scenes he has.
But the dogs were really well done. They're not just around running after him; he's shown more than once coddling or stroking them while being a Machiavellian bastard to everyone else, and they're the correct size. I haven'd made a screencap yet because I've never done this before, and I don't know whether it's possible with an Amazon Prime video, but I will try to capture the dog bits and make you and Mildred go awwww.
ETA: Alas. I tried, and I did get screenshots, but it seems they only show black if you do it from Amazon Prime.
Son of ETA: Aha! But the series is also on one of our public broadcast channels and archives, and I just suceeded in a screenshot. Will try further.
Re: Sachsens Glanz und Preußens Gloria: A Miniseries in six parts (B)
It is, however, in tandem with this show letting the Saxons think of everything first - Silesia, and later the Diplomatic Revolution. (It's true that Brühl was involved in some of the negotiations, but it definitely hadn't been his brainchild.)
...this would seriously distract me, sort of like when I watched Hamilton and the guy playing Hamilton was taller than anyone else in the cast, like, apparently it is totally OK with me that they're all POCs but the height thing is so weird??
I know. It kept bugging me. The Fritz actor in general is taller than most cast members. Then again: Peter O'Toole is way, way, taller than rl T.E. Lawrence was in Lawrence of Arabia, and I never had a problem there, possibly because I first saw the movie before learning about TEL.
The ending is weird. I mean, Brühl just disappears out of the story after he and August III. flee to Warsaw, and we never even learn what became of the Countess Brühl. (Since they don't have children in this miniseries as opposed to rl, the miniseries doesn't have to cover them.) This after having been the villain protagonist for several episodes. So after the two young lovers are reunited and pledged to each other, you get this montage obout the Triumphs Of Fritz (with one defeat in betweeen, which he bears in stoic manliness) and then a sentence to justify the title, and we're done.
What I found interesting from a contemporary history pov is what the series shows, and doesn't show of its locations. Because Dresden in the 1980s didn't look like it does now; a lot of reconstruction and restoriation only happened after the German reunification. So you see some bits and pieces of the royal palaces, but it's no coincidence that the only palace you see completely from the outside Moritzburg, far away from Dresden and in a lake, so there's no WWII damage or modern buildings to cover. And the outside of Sanssouci looks far older and neglected than it does now; clearly they hadn't done a paint job in a while. Not to mention that today, the vineyard is a vineyard again, whereas it wasn't in GDR times (too expensive). What we see of the inside of the Sanssouci palaces is in fine condition, by contrast, though I note the series cheats a bit now and then and lets Fredersdorf and Fritz talk in a room inthe Neue Kammern, not in the main palace itself, while giving the impression we're in the main building. But like I said, you can tell the director and producers decided to milk that permission to film there for all it was worth, and to hell with the fact Fritz would have been with the army in Saxony after the first two or so scenes he has.
But the dogs were really well done. They're not just around running after him; he's shown more than once coddling or stroking them while being a Machiavellian bastard to everyone else, and they're the correct size. I haven'd made a screencap yet because I've never done this before, and I don't know whether it's possible with an Amazon Prime video, but I will try to capture the dog bits and make you and Mildred go awwww.
ETA: Alas. I tried, and I did get screenshots, but it seems they only show black if you do it from Amazon Prime.
Son of ETA: Aha! But the series is also on one of our public broadcast channels and archives, and I just suceeded in a screenshot. Will try further.