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*The Liberator*
The Liberator
Genre	War drama
Created by	Jeb Stuart
Based on	The Liberator: One World War II Soldier's 500-Day Odyssey; by Alex Kershaw
Written by	Jeb Stuart
Directed by	Greg Jonkajtys
Starring	Bradley James; Jose Miguel Vasquez; Martin Sensmeier;
Narrated by	Mike Rowe
Opening theme	"July 10, 1943"; by Jason Todd Shannon
Composers	Mikolai Stroinski; Jason Todd Shannon; Benjamin Scott Holst;
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	4
Production
Executive producers	Jeb Stuart; A&E Studios:; Barry Jossen; Unique Features:; Michael Lynne; Bob Shaye; Sarah Victor; Trioscope Studios:; L.C. Crowley; Grzegorz Jonkajtys; Brandon Barr; Mark Apen;
Producers	Alex Kershaw; Łukasz Dzięcioł; Natalia Lacosta;
Animator	Trioscope Studios
Editor	Akın Özçelik
Running time	45–56 minutes
Production companies	A&E Studios; Unique Features;
Original release
Network	Netflix
Release	November 11, 2020

The Liberator is an American adult animated war drama television mini-series created and written by Jeb Stuart.^[1] It is based on the book The Liberator: One World War II Soldier’s 500-Day Odyssey by Alex Kershaw.^[1]

Directed by Greg Jonkajtys, the miniseries was released on November 11, 2020, on Netflix.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Synopsis

The Liberator takes place during World War II where maverick U.S. Army officer Felix Sparks and the 157th Infantry Regiment fought for over five hundred days alongside the Allied forces during the Italian campaign.^[5]

The Liberator is a character-driven action miniseries based on the true story of World War II infantry commander Felix "Shotgun" Sparks, who led the members of the 157th Infantry Regiment of the 45th Infantry Division, an integrated group of white cowboys, Mexican Americans and Native soldiers drawn from across the west. Sparks and his battalion of "Thunderbirds" were classic citizen soldiers, and for over 500 days they led a special group of American soldiers from Italy to France to the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp, through some of the most grueling battles of the war, becoming one of the most decorated American combat units of World War II.^{[citation needed]} The unit received eight combat awards for service in Italy, France, Germany and Central Europe ^[6]

Cast

Bradley James as Felix Sparks
Martin Sensmeier as Samuel Coldfoot
Jose Miguel Vasquez as Able Gomez
Forrest Goodluck as Private Cloudfeather
Bryan Hibbard as Corporal Hallowell
Matt Mercurio as Private Cordosa
Pedro Leandro as Private Garcia
Billy Rayner as Jim Taylor
Billy Breed as Private Vacarro
Tatanka Means as Private Otaktay
Kiowa Gordon as Corporal Kanuna
Michael Shaeffer as Pop Bullock
Sam Gittins as Junior Bullock
Ross Anderson as Major Scott
Finney Cassidy as Michigan
David Shields as Colonel Avery
Jacob Collins-Levy as Corporal Tucker
David Elliot as Major General Robert T. Frederick

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	"Why We Fight"	Greg Jonkajtys	Jeb Stuart	November 11, 2020 (2020-11-11)
The Thunderbirds' time in Salerno hits some very big bumps, particularly for Capt. Sparks, whose early days as the unit's commander are also explored.
2	"One Word: Anzio"	Greg Jonkajtys	Jeb Stuart	November 11, 2020 (2020-11-11)
With their flank exposed, the Thunderbirds face a brutal standoff with the Germans while defending Anzio. Sparks faces discipline for his actions.
3	"The Enemy"	Greg Jonkajtys	Jeb Stuart	November 11, 2020 (2020-11-11)
A rebuilt E Company, with now-Major Sparks, ships off to France. Initially it's a welcome break, but it soon brings another impossible mission. Sparks receives high honors.
4	"Home"	Greg Jonkajtys	Jeb Stuart	November 11, 2020 (2020-11-11)
As the Allies close in on increasingly desperate German forces, now-Lieutenant Colonel Sparks and the Thunderbirds bear witness to the atrocities of their enemy, and their fellow troops.

Production

Announced in November 2018, the miniseries's production was handled by A&E Studios and Unique Features with animation services by Atlanta-based studio School of Humans.^[1] In January 2019, Bradley James was cast in the leading role of Felix Sparks and Martin Sensmeier was cast as Samuel Coldfoot.^[7]^[8]

Filmed primarily in Poland, some additional scenes were filmed in Atlanta.^[9]

The animation team behind the series launched Trioscope Studios, with the show as its first series in production.^[10] The miniseries was the first to use Trioscope Enhanced Hybrid Animation, a technique that blends live-action actors with CGI. In a November 2020 interview, Trioscope chief content officer Brandon Barr stated that the project had been "particularly challenging", while arguing that anime opened the door for other visual techniques and styles.^[11]

Release

The limited series was released on Veterans Day, November 11, 2020.^[2]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 69% of 13 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "The Liberator's eccentric animation gives it some creative gloss, but clichéd storytelling and stock characters keep this World War II tale from being wholly salute-worthy."^[12] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the miniseries a score of 59 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[13]

Reviewing the miniseries for Rolling Stone, Alan Sepinwall gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars and said, "The Liberator more often than not is an effective reminder about why pop culture keeps revisiting World War II material again and again."^[14] On contrast, Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter called the show a series which is "very watchable" but is infuriating due to its "inconsistent focus and narrative choices" even though his interest never wavered due to the interesting and "eye-popping" animation. Fienberg concluded that people should check out the show for the animation, for a commemoration of Veterans Days but to be prepared for frustration over "how much more complicated, and how much richer" the actual history is and how the show could have been better.^[15]