User reviews

I agree that the humorous element of this series seems misplaced and jangling but the basic story line comes through. Maybe the English and Australian key characters are caricatures but maybe not so much given this is 1956. The dispossessed Aboriginal people and presence in the region comes through, as does the unfolding horror of significant radiation exposure. I think give the series a go and some of the reviews are perhaps overly harsh. An important event in Australia's history.

As only one episode has been aired I wonder at the low scores. I may revisit this but at the moment my opinion is that it is good. The complaints are about the fact that they did not get what they expected or decided it would be ahead of watching it. The acting is fine and the mystery is intriguing and I am curious about where it is heading. It shocked and surprised me and kept me interested. The desert is an unforgiving landscape unless you are Aboriginal and understand it. I am happy with what I have seen so far and look forward to episode two.

Entertaining dark comedy and original period drama about the A.Bomb testing at Maralinga. An authentic depiction of life in the 1950s, the hair styles, clothing, cars, advertising signs.... everything except for women using the 'F bomb'. Even men rarely used the F word in the 1950s and women NEVER used it. Why do writers and producers insist on spoiling good period dramas by using present day swearing? Some may say its to appeal to a younger audience, but why go to the meticulous effort of making everything else a true reflection of an era, then spoil it with modern day language.

I found the series a little inconsistent at times, but overall an enjoyable satire. James Cromwell definitely stole the show.

I agree that this is most definitely an imperfect title. For non-Australian readers the reason for this lies solely at the feet of director Peter Duncan. He is well known in Australia for his overcooked political and satirical plot lines. He throws the kitchen sink at much of his dialogue,and characterisations. However this means his work is also dense with cultural,and political references that are often founded on research but then interpreted very creatively. He works with very creative people and this shows, perhaps a bit too much in this work. The actors, set designers and costume people are obviously all bringing dedication but Mr Duncan doesn't show the discipline of the artists he references like Nabokov, Kubrick, Joseph Heller, Robert Altman etc. In Australia we too often sing the praises of our compatriots succeeding in the marvel comic universe and downplay their local work.This work is as believable as any franchise invention. Overall I admire the efforts everyone dedicates to this series and see some relevance in the work(despite historical inaccuracies), given the type of political leaders who have emerged in recent times.

Sadly it looks as though this series is going to be unseen by many due to a combination of bad timing and some truly terrible reviews here. Personally I think it's excellent, using humour in the vein of Catch-22 to highlight the horrific, callous and ignorant ineptitude around the Maralinga atom tests. Ewen Leslie is excellent as the overwhelmed, undermined base commander, trying to keep everything under control. All the cast are good, the setting and period feel are beautiful, and it highlights a period in Australian and British history many know little about.

Finally, it's always refreshing to see an Australian drama which doesn't take itself so deadly seriously, while still managing to deliver its message.

'A gripping thriller'? I don't think so. I started watching this tonight, expecting it to be a sensitive, shocking exploration of the effects on the local Indigenous people of the British atomic bomb tests at Maralinga In outback Australia. Instead, it's a crude, ugly, unfunny and deeply hammy farce about the soldiers at the base. I have no idea who is responsible for this pathetic effort, but everyone concerned should be ashamed of themselves. I watched it for 25 tedious, appalling minutes and gave up. My advice? Don't waste your time.

Up until the series' closure, I didn't know whether the disclaimer at the start of each episode wanted us not to take things too seriously or if some of the appaling things we were shown did indeed take place (I still feel too lazy to look for historically accurate answers).

Apparently nothing of what constitutes the main storylines truly happened except for the general setting and sociological POV of those involved. This said the series is an ambitious attempt to an historical set drama-thriller with lots of comedy elements. Indeed most of the episodes contain extremely funny sections, which surprisingly meld effortlessly with the rest despite the contrast with the heavy theme of secret-dangerous war operations during the anti-comunist paranoid era of 50-60.

Unfortunately due to 2-3 major plot holes and the main characters' inconsistent behaviour, by the 5th episode most of the plot falls apart in an unbelievable sequence of events. Still there's a lot of fun to be had all around and the storyline is gripping enough to justify a full view.

As a drama it's a 5: when you can't suspend the disbelief anymore, it just gets sappy. As a thriller it's a 3: the last episode especially enters parody territory. But as a comedy it's an 8. So I'll go with a 6. Really a pity, because I don't think they needed to take all the tortuous (and ultimately pointless) storyline paths they actually took. Baffling.

What a contrast there is among the reviews so far posted about "Operation Buffalo"! Were all these people watching the same show? I have a suspicion that the 1/10 reviews were written by ASIO agents, keen to avoid the scrutiny of the public (as usual). It is a light satire, set in a cringe-worthy period of Australian history in which politicians routinely doffed their caps to Englishmen (who would have happily let them be over-run by Japanese in 1944). There are very serious issues to consider in this series: nuclear war, treatment of aboriginal people in the vicinity of the nuclear tests, lack of protection for the soldiers who "volunteered", political intrigue, blackmail, cover-ups, all of which were true to at least some degree. The Wilcox MP character is clearly Richard Casey who spent much of his career trying to knife Menzies PM. Lachlan MP is based on Philip McBride. Both of these worthless pollies were knighted by Menzies and pushed sideways, leaving Menzies to rule as a dictator. There were times when I laughed uncontrollably in Episode 4 but the humour is generally subtle. There is a dark side to the plot but the writing takes the viewpoint of the soldiers involved and they probably didn't appreciate the danger they were in. Before "This Day Tonight" and the standard of investigative journalism that we have today, ordinary people were unaware of the egregious lack of talent of their leaders. There were Reds under every bed and King Ming was keeping us safe. We were part of an empire on which the sun never set, well didn't set for very long. If you didn't live through this period, you could not appreciate this series fully.

Worth a watch, but only just. Disappointing that such a serious subject could be presented in such a slap hazard way. There are some talented performances alongside some terrible ones. Cinematography is great, scenery is great but presented in this sometimes twisted comedy and switching back drama mode, just doesn't do justice to what Operation Buffalo could have been.

You won't pick it from the trailer but this is not an intense cold war spy drama about nuclear tests in Australia as it was supposedly written as a satire to contrast humour with the dark themes. Someone must have believed that because they blew a lot of money on this dog.

Neither satirical, nor humourous or even cleverly written it's just an embarrassment that must have had the actors cringing as they watched themselves in the rushes.

The production values of recreating the period look set in the beautiful Australian desert just brought into contrast how much of a wasted opportunity of a story and production resources this was.

It's not even bad enough to be worth watching, it just comes over as lazy storytelling, scriptwriting and directing. If you last ten minutes you'll be doing well.

Recommended by a friend. Enjoyed the first 2 episodes, looking forward to the rest.

I wanted to love this show but, just like the Uncle who made that drunken speech at the wedding, it was a bit of a look-away experience. The main reason was the laziness it showed in attention to detail. The opening scene showing Ewen Leslie with an immaculately waxed chest should have been a warning. Not sure how common that fashion was back on the day. Then came the plethora of poor British accents. Followed by the old school 'British' characters drinking wine from plain, IKEA/style wine glasses. Surely the nobs of the day would have taken their best crystal with them. And the bomb - a nuclear bomb that had been dropped into the desert sands, sticking out with nary any impact crater or sandy disturbance to evident. You'd almost think it was just placed there nose down by a production crew! And this quote is the one that finished it for me: "Come over here and try one of these bad boys!" Had the character time-travelled from 2010? Just lazy production and direction that prevented me from being immersed in an important part of Australia's past. Compare it to the wonderful production values of The Singapore Grip. Actually, there is no comparison.

Marilinga, South Australia was the British above ground testing area for nuclear weapons in the 1950's.

The British Government indescriminatly murdered thousands of Aboriginal People and their own soldiers with reckless and incompetent testing protocols, corruption and and cover ups. It was a serious disaster that by and large has been kept from history books. It was the first nuclear disaster that never happened.

They approach the story with a fictionalized account, that has some dark humor and downplay the genocide. Aboriginal People were intentionally contaminated with nuclear fallout, the studied, dissected and tested.

Read up on Marilinga, then comment. Otherwise you just have no standing to reviwe this series.

It's good, worth a watch, do some homework.

While the setting of this show in post WWII Au. reminds me at times from A Place To Call Home. Mostly in the way a character of being good or bad can very from one episode to the next.

This is a show that tries to tick all the boxes. Comedy, drama, mystery and thriller, but fails at each of them. It almost shows itself to be a satire and reminds me of a bit of a Monty Python routine but there is no punchline.

Short bits of serious scenes about nuclear testing on a secret base in the desert should give the director lots of opportunity for a tense drama but the first episode all we get is a test that has a pushed up time frame that is supposed to get us on the edge of our seats.

Then another big reveal at the end of the episode and we are supposed to get the impression of an x-files type show with a mystery. But the main characters just play it off like it's no big deal.

The core subject of this show should have plenty of good lines for the director to follow, but he can't help himself by putting in witty lines that turn this into an Australian keystone cops show.

It's sad to see the one star ratings from people with no sense of humour. Very watch able and quite amusing at times. Not for those who want to deny our past.

I had high hopes for this show. Cinematography was beautiful showing the great Australian outback. I was almost shocked at the low rate acting by all actor's as if they were forced to an amateur level. The fake Ocker slang comes through poorly and the storyline is childish and crass. It reverts to some of the early weird and strange Australian movies of the past. Why are we always portrayed as morons by our own writers. A certain work of absolute fiction. There is no discipline in the show to even make one wonder if these things could happen. Of course, they had to include a bizarre gay relationship, to tick a box. I have to agree with reviewer pristarius in that it an embarrassment and a wasted opportunity. I started to watch episode 2, but checked myself 5 minutes in. Why am I wasting my time.

The dark story of Maralinga sent up as a fantastic satire. Hilarious plot, great actors and a serious critique.

I enjoyed this series. The cast was excellent, the camera work and locations stunning. I got the humour and enjoyed the contrast with the more serious aspects.

I had one minor quibble - the series was set in 1956, but "Eva" sported a wardrobe and hairstyles from the 1940s. I was ten years old in 1956, I can say no-one was wearing Victory Roll hairdos and baggy, high-waisted slacks with 1940s blouses then. What were the designers thinking!

What an embarrassment and a travesty. To portray one of the darkest periods in Australian history as a background to some Monty Pythonesque comedy? Pantomime? God knows what it was. An appallingly Ill portrayal of stereotypes, wooden scripting and farcical moments that made little sense in a story based upon a missing prostitute in the bush.

It has prompted us to want to learn more about what actually happened during that time period. I was barely a thought back then but my parents and other family members were living in Adelaide at the time.

Enjoyed the humour and the drama and thought it was well played out, making me wonder what was going to happen next. Another great Australian series - well done.

Highly disappointing waste of talent. Corny script, misplaced music, terribly overplayed accents. I know it was supposed to be fiction, although it suggests a lot is factual. Maybe Dr Google was the fact check source. I can only imagine what the people who were there or affected by it would think. There are plot holes everywhere. Branded as satirical - they forgot satire is clever. This is an over-acted slapstick. I feel sorry for the actors who were contracted to this lame waste of air time.

Whilst the first two episodes may seem a little hard to enjoy, the series really picks up from episode 3 onwards. Operation Buffalo covers an important but often overlooked part of Australian history not a lot of people know about. Through dark humour, the series elaborates upon a dramatised version of the happenings at Maralinga, SA. Without giving too much away, the series captures the uneasy feel of deception around the atomic bomb tests at the site and starts to expose some of the atrocities. Overall, production quality feels quite high oh and James Cromwell definitely steals the show and quickly became my favourite character amidst all the things his character stood for.