YMMV / Seventeen Moments of Spring

• Broken Base: The colorized version, re-edited and re-released, caused considerable content among the viewers. Criticism mostly comes down to colorization being very, very poorly done and edits cutting out key moments for current political reasons or for seemingly no reason at all. And the simple fact that it used to be in black and white. On the other hand, colorising an entire mini-series was a tremendous job. A lot of details lost in the original version due to film limitations were re-added. And the result looks indistinguishable from proper colored films.
• It Was His Sled: The fact that Stierlitz is a Soviet spy isn't revealed until the very end of the first episode, and the reveal is clearly built up to be a Wham Line. But thanks to the series' immense popularity and the fact that people, as a rule, hear all the Stierlitz jokes before even watching it, you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone for whom it's a surprise.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Max Otto von Stierlitz, real name Maxim Isaev, is a brilliant Soviet spy who has infiltrated the SD, the Nazi intelligence agency. Ordered by the Moscow high command to investigate Operation Sunrise Crossword, he learns that his SD boss Schellenberg and Himmler are involved with it. Stierlitz simultaneously helps them and alerts Bormann, Himmler's political opponent, about the operation. As an asset for the operation, Stierlitz recruits Pastor Schlag on Schellenberg's orders by threatening his sister and nephews, but then convinces him to help Stierlitz's own cause by promising to protect his relatives. Without the Nazis' knowledge, Stierlitz also recruits Professor Pleischner, a man broken by the Nazi regime and the death of his brother. When Stierlitz's radio operator Kat accidentally breaks her cover, he arrests her and places her and her baby son under the Nazis' watch, since their immediate evacuation would compromise his mission. Even though Pleischner is tricked and Driven to Suicide by the Nazis and Stierlitz's fingerprints are found on Kat's suitcase, Stierlitz manages to convince the Gestapo of his loyalty to the Nazi Party and is able to send his findings to Moscow and rescue Kat. Resourceful and always calm, Stierlitz retains his honor despite the years spent posing as a Nazi, sympathizes with the civilians he has to use as assets, and undermines the Nazi war effort while remaining Beneath Suspicion at the SD.
  • Walter Schellenberg is the chief of German intelligence whose level-headed worldview is a contrast to that of the fanatical adepts of Nazism. Despite his readiness to sacrifice assets who know too much if needed, Schellenberg is friendly, jovial, and pleasant-mannered. Realizing that Germany is nearing defeat in World War II, he convinces Heinrich Himmler to start secretly negotiating for a separate peace with the UK and US to at least minimize the losses. When Himmler tells him he has picked Karl Wolff to lead the negotiations, Schellenberg immediately comes up with a plan of safeguarding himself in case rivaling fractions of the Nazi high command learn of Wolff's mission. Schellenberg orders his subordinate Stierlitz to send civilian asset Pastor Schlag to Bern to keep tabs on the negotiations, holding Schlag's family hostage to ensure his loyalty. Even after Stierlitz, who is a Soviet spy, sabotages the negotiations and leaks the info on them to Martin Bormann and the Gestapo, Schellenberg is quick to use one of his Plans B for that occasion. He meets Wolff in full uniform so that Gestapo agents don't dare arrest the latter in his presence, and has it announced that other high-ranked officers, whom Schellenberg had selected beforehand, were behind the negotiations, while Wolff has infiltrated their ranks and uncovered the treasonous plot. A brilliant strategist, Schellenberg is thus able to turn his defeat into a great success for his department, effortlessly outmaneuvering his constant rivals, the Gestapo.