[Douglas S]

[Bill Tsafa]

I just watch Pirate vs Knight. My feeling is that it could go either way. The Pirate having multiple pistols and knight having armor. Any of the knights weapons could kill the pirate. The pirate has to make that lucky shot.

What I do know for certain is that the pirate expert in the show had no idea how to wield the two swords he kept waving around... and the knight expert had no idea how to wield a sword from behind a shield. They are probably trained as stage fighters. I have no problem with stage fighting, just making an observation.

[Edward Hitchens]

Last night was Samurai vs. Viking.

It was somewhat entertaining, and I do like the idea of using a ballistic human torso complete with 'bone' and organs. What we need to do is capture the part where the Japanese swordsman tries to cut the mail armor with a katana, and the mail is barely scratched. That ought to silence the Japanese-katanas-can-cut-a-Chevy-in-two crowd!! Didn't Vikings usually fight in large groups much like Roman legionnaires instead of one-on-one dueling?

In truth though, Nathan pointed out a good question earlier: Who were these 'experts?' I'm talking about the two guys watching the fancy displays on the laptop. I was hoping to see some sort of credential about what these 'experts' knew about Viking and Samurai weapons and tactics. It would have been nice to have the late Dr. Jan Petersen and Musashi Mayamoto weigh in!

Knight vs. Pirate?? That's a new one! As much as I would cheer for the Knight, I'm quite certain the pirate's flintlock pistol would give our armored friend a quick demise (that was painful to type, BTW).

Hmmm, what would I like to see? How about the Alexander the Great and his forces vs. those of William the Conquerer?

Oh, before I forget. Somewhere on SwordForum, there's an article that John Clements did about a Japanese Samurai vs. a 17th century swordsman with a rapier - more of a 'clash of the titans' between the world's best cutting sword vs. the world's most efficient thrusting sword. Though these two warriors never encountered one another, it's a very interesting article!

[Sam Gordon Campbell]

I did a quick Google search on the 'experts' in the Knight vs. Pirate one, and it seems they're either stuntmen or stage-fight trainers... In fact, I struggled to find any actual historical qualifications other than "... Such and such choreographed a fight scene in 'Troy'".
And how the heck couldn't a piece of lead going faster than a crossbow bolt penertrate plate armour, and what was up with that, they flipped between a brigadine and a curiuss?! Blarg, rage! And if the 'bullets' didn't go through the armour, the pirate would be dead, not some cheap shot (excuse the pun) to the knights face
Then again, entertainment and such.

[Christopher VaughnStrever]

On the knight vs pirate.... I looked closely at the gun shot to the knights breastplate and it was interesting to note that it was 1 out of 4 or 5 bullets actually went through the armour. The other bullets left obvious dents in the armour. Also there is no darn testing done with the effectiveness of the knights shield being used as a defensive and offensive weapon.... Ok i'll stop this now we all know this.

On another note, There is a game called ffxi and they put a corsair job into the game, the character resembles a pirate to a large degree and has pirate like weapons. Well my point is that the entire job of corsair on this game is played with a large amount of "Luck" or "Chance" Every move that the job uses can have a possible positive or possible negative outcome. So, I did learn that a pirate's life involving weapons with gun powder was more of a life of chance and that the game i once played had a tad bit of accuracy in it, lol..

[Nat Lamb]

Wow, the ER doctor was needed to give the pronouncement that the open skull with brain on floor would be "lethal". no, really?
Its like mythbusters, but stupid. "Ok, the ball wouldn't penetrate the armour, but it would still knock him on his ass" Huh? I hadn't realised that flintlocks bypased Newton's 3rd law of motion

[Douglas S]

[Jeff A. Arbogast]

[Patrik Erik Lars Lindblom]

I have only watched the Viking vs Samurai episode,
i like that Dummy they use

[George Hill]

I'm curreently having issues about this damned show.....

Because a friend of mine was talking about it, and I was saying it's not very realistic and quoting this and that.... (I tried to tell her about George Silver and true and false times, and how the cutlass hasn't got a chance of penetrating the Knight's Armor, Statistics and references and SOLID information....

And I'm not even trying to say I'm the only one who knows, I'm mentioning which books to look in!

And I get "They have experts. I'm going to beleive them."

[Randall Moffett]

Man just when you think the show cannot get worse.....

The pirate must have had magic reloading pistols or 10 of them on him during that fight. He just kept shooting round after round off. I thought you had to reload guns?

In the end I think they have shown once more with this series where a little bit of understanding could have gone a long way. I really think I will not waste my time with anymore of the program it is that bad. I watched two of them now and the knight verse pirate was so bad I think I will not risk further stupidity. I had high hopes but sadly this one is just not worth it for even fun... BLAH!!!

RPM

[Jean-Carle Hudon]

Patrick,
to which dummy were you referring ? The dummy they used to think up the project, the dummy who okayed the script, the dummy( ies) who are acting in that piece, or .... ok, by now I expect that you understand that I really can't tolerate ninjas vs spartans, nor pirates vs GI's, nor SS Stormtroopers vs the Popes' Swiss Guards, and I really am surprised that some of our friends here would. But, different strokes for different folks and live and let live, and Que Sera Sera... but what garbage... please bring back Superman vs The Flash, or Green Lantern vs Jon Jonzz, the Martian Manhunter... more realistic and historically correct than what Spike has proposed so far...

[Emmet J. McGauran]

Personally I'm waiting for Caveman from 10,000 BC vs. Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 Terminator.

The Terminator has a reinforced alloy combat chasis and carries a phased plasma rifle in a 40 watt range, but the Caveman carries a club made out of mammoth tusk and has really shaggy hair that acts as armour for his head and face.

Who will be the deadliest warrior!?!

[George Hill]

Heh. You remind of the film "10,000 BC" which I always referred to as "Cavemen Vs Egyptians."

[Edward Hitchens]

[Werner Stiegler]

[Randall Moffett]

Ah I had forgot about the crossbow. That was really funny actually. I keep one hidden on me at all times as well. Of course loaded!

There were so many gaping errors in the tests it was pretty bad as well.

The viking one was near as bad.... I though some of the tests were neat in that one, though still 'off'. The knight one I found worse.

Where on earth do they find these people?

RPM

[J.D. Crawford]

I finally saw the Knight vs. Pirate episode last night and agree that it was the worst one yet.

-why did the blunderbuss win over the poleaxe? (the former misfired the first time under ideal conditions and then later made one small hole in the knight's armor, after the 'trauma doctor' stated that people often survive several bullet wounds. In contrast the poleaxe destroyed the pirate dummy in two seconds and was described as 'the knight's best weapon')
-how could the cutlass and arming sword possibly be classed as even in this contest when one was opposing armor and the other was not? (they were both tested on unarmored pigs).
-why was the knightly sword called a heavy battering weapon designed to break bones? (at least they then showed how well it cut).
-why was the knight only given a short arming sword, not a longsword?
-why were the arming sword and cutlass only compared in cut, not thrust?
-why did they keep showing a viking sword when they talked about the knight sword?
-why was the French knight guy playing with a Renaissance era Scottish two hand claymore at one point?
-if you're going to give the knight a poleaxe, why take it away in the final fight? (do two wrongs make a right?)
-how did the unarmored pirate survive the sword fight / grapple with the fully armored knight?
-best of all, at the end, how did the pirate keep getting up, again and again, after being hit dead on by a morningstar that earlier destroyed the dummy in one swing?

It was evident from their comments that they had made up their mind from the beginning that the knight could not defeat someone with any kind of gun, no matter how poor, so they ignored their own evidence to the contrary and stacked the story toward their expectations, sometimes to the point of ridiculousness.

I kept my sense of humor through the first few, but this one had me cringing.

[Alex Spreier]

*sigh* a part of me died when they introduced the pollaxe as the "halberd". Then another part died when their "expert" took a GIGANTIC wind-up and swing with it. While what it did to the dummy made me smile, I would have preferred to see the same test done with proper technique.

[Chad Arnow]

I've stayed out of this thread until now, but can't any longer. Why do people expect anything better out of Hollywood?

They have proven time after time they don't care to do proper research. This show obviously appeals to some viewers and advertisers so they run with it. I have yet to see a network take the time and money to get it right to satisfy the relatively small number of people who know the difference.

For every one of us who notices the inaccuracies, many people watch it and don't care because they don't know the difference. It's television; it's entertainment. It's not a documentary. We shouldn't expect most networks (especially the one that brought us "Manswers") to educate the populace.

I am always amazed by how much time and effort is expended talking about this. I guess people need to rant to get it off their chest, but it doesn't seem to change anything and just gets people worked up.

I've said it before and will say it again: expecting historical accuracy from Hollywood is like expecting the Nobel Prize in physics to be awarded to a trout. Not gonna happen.