Popcorn & Coffee: The Titanic: The Epic Mini-series Event

NOT RATED; 174 minutes; $14.98; Amazon

When you hear the name Titanic, many us probably think of the James Cameron's 1997 Oscar-winning blockbuster starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. However, over a year before it's release there was a two-part miniseries called "The Titanic" that aired on CBS. Directed by Robert Lieberman, the mini-series starred Peter Gallagher, George C. Scott, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Eva Marie Saint, Tim Curry and Marilu Henner.

The Titanic: The Epic Mini-series Event is finally available on Blu-ray and DVD from Mill Creek Entertainment.

Similar to the 1997 film, The Titanic is a romantic-disaster movie, just with a much smaller budget. This story centers on four different characters, Isabella Paradine (played by Catherine Zeta-Jones), Wynn Park (played by Peter Gallagher), Jamie Perse (played by Mike Doyle) and Aase Ludvigsen (played by Sonsee Ahray).

Jamie is a young thief who steals himself a ticket on the fatal Titanic voyage, taking on a new identity to start a new life. There he meets the very religious Aase and the two quickly fall in love (Sounds familiar!). Unfortunately, Jamie's old criminal pal, Simon Doonan (played by Tim Curry) is working on the ship, and he wants Jamie to help him steal from rich passengers.

Isabella Paradine arrived on the Titanic so she could travel to England to meet up with her much older husband for his mother's funeral. Shortly after stepping aboard the ship, she runs into an old flame, Wynn. She quickly realizes that she still has romantic feelings for him. Wynn feels the same way about her, and the two start an affair.

Meanwhile, there is a side-character named Alice Cleaver (played by Felicity Waterman), the new nurse/nanny for the first class Allison family. Let's just say Alice has a dark secret she wants to keep from her new employers.

Final Thoughts: Out of the many mini-series and made-for-television about the RMS Titanic, The Titanic is one of the better the ones. Now I'm not saying it's perfect as it's far from it. There's plenty of bad acting, campy dialogue, jumpy editing (you will know what I mean when you see it), and bad CGI scenes.

The picture-quality is pretty decent on the Blu-ray; with the screen ratio in 1.78:1. There are no extras or special features on the disc.

Overall, The Titanic is long love story (stories) that ends in tragedy. It's not the greatest mini-series ever made, but it's also not the worst either. There is enough drama going around to keep you entertained for the nearly 174 minutes running-time.