schwarz-10 I am happy to realize that so many people share my personal feelings on these miniseries. I cannot add anything to the fine words said about the acting, the score or the story - I just can add another touch to the tapestry of opinions which I believe a few will be able to add.Living in Bulgaria during the Communist regime certainly had its limitations :-), including not being able to watch most of the TV shows that the whole world grew with. For obvious reasons, Bulgaria's then-one and only state-run TV station did not care to show the working class of the country how did the working class in the US, Europe or Australia live at the time. Occasionally, the censure treated us with some British costume drama or historical miniseries so we could not really make any 'politically incorrect' parallels. Against The Wind was one of those series that kinda passed the censorship and I can remember streets of Bulgaria getting empty when an episode was on air. I was about 10 at the time but I still remember the score being played on the radio in a café and everybody hushing down to hear it. You couldn't buy the soundtrack it in stores then... A friend of mine still keeps a cassette tape with the opening theme recorded from the speaker of his TV set. It even has the Bulgarian voice-over reciting the title of the series and the names of the leading casts. The series had a huge cultural impact on me and many of my friends in Bulgaria at that time and was a measure for every new miniseries coming on Bulgarian TV for years.

Michael Oaks I remember seeing all episodes of the series; however, so many years have passed since I watched it. I couldn't remember the name but I do remember it being a fascinating account of convict labor sent to Australia from England. One of the convicts stole a loaf of bread in England, was caught, tried and found guilty. He was banished to Australia and all prisoners were treated like slaves, spending a good deal of their journey to South Wales in the hold of the ship.I too would love to see the series again. It was superb! The acting was excellent and the young lady was a thing of beauty. Colonial Australia was very harsh on convicts. They were forced into making bricks for buildings, building roads etc. In short, they were given way to much punishment to fit the crime.

spit_firee This movie is very good. I saw it on TV several years ago and truly enjoyed it. I recently discovered it available on DVD in Australia so my husband and I ordered it. Problem: It won't play on our system. I researched and found a site Digicast Production Pty LTD {digicast.com.au}out of Victoria, Australia. Their article says any DVD's or VHS created for sale in America must be converted to NTSC compatible for viewing on American equipment. I am currently trying to decide on getting a refund from purchaser or seeing if they will convert a copy and forward it to us. My point is - be careful when purchasing something of this nature from other countries unless you know your equipment will play it or you request the seller to make sure your copy is NTSC compatible. This is frustrating mainly because I've wanted this movie for many years and on DVD I can watch it anytime I want to. I copied it to VHS all those years ago but now it is hazy. i'd rather have an original. ES, Ivey,Georgia

dlewis-5 Can anyone explain this to me? The Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) has a very offhanded response to any email queries about this historical-series... I hope (at least) that the original tapes have been digitized by SOMEBODY, and will eventually be re-released to the public. Any program with a "9.1" score on IMDb has a latent market (on re-release) that "they" are overlooking--aside from the importance of preserving and promoting historical awareness of "history in general"."Against the Wind" would make a stunning companion to *another* overlooked ABC broadcasting mini-series, produced in 1987, "Captain James Cook"--starring Keith Michell-- that was also highly-rated, had extremely high production-values, and has (also) been totally overlooked for the DVD re-issue marketplace.ABC Broadcasting seems to have it's collective corporate "head" stuck in the sand!I hope somebody there "wakes up" and does the legal shuffling to allow BOTH of these fine series to be re-issued worldwide, on DVD.