The Tudors - The Complete First Season
by Alison Maclean, Brian Kirk, Charles McDougall, Ciaran Donnelly, Steve Shill
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Actor: Callum Blue, Henry Cavill, Henry Czerny, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Sam NeillDirector: Alison Maclean, Brian Kirk, Charles McDougall, Ciaran Donnelly, Steve Shill
Brand: Paramount
Producer: Charles McDougall
Producer: Benjamin Silverman
Writer: Michael Hirst
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Original Language), Mono; Spanish (Dubbed), Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 556 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-01-01
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Showtime Ent.
DVD Reviews of The Tudors - The Complete First Season
DVD Review: Lavish, well-produced and thoroughly enjoyable - superb series
Summary: 5 Stars
A very enjoyable series that's entertaining, intense, and well-crafted on many levels. The environments, set design and acting are all top-notch and the characterizations made me really want to follow along with the many plots and subplots to see what happens next.
The artistry of the series is what brings it to life -- the actors do a great job of creating believable portrayals, the dp/photography and shot setups are terrific, and it's a thoroughly watchable (and re-watchable) series that's one of the best ones out in the last 5 years. Well done!
-Ken Calhoun
DVD Review: add a bit of history, a bit of softcore porn = pure entertainment
Summary: 4 Stars
Okay so this is junk TV at its best. It's like those gossip magazines that I love reading while I'm waiting in the grocery store line. I know the stories are probably false but I still read them for the entertainment value. The writers intended this series to be loosely based on historical references, but some of the scandals, major background events, and characters are fact. In real life, Henry VIII was already in his 40s when he met Anne who was just in her teens. He wasn't the hot and steamy Jonathan Rhys Meyers which I won't argue against. People who are complaining about the historical inaccuracy of this show, go watch PBS or the History Channel instead. The ads for this show have cleavages and sex plastered all over, so it's clearly expected that the storyline needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The script is still very well written despite all the fabrications and sexcapades. Season 2 and 3 are even better!DVD Review: The Tudors - The Complete F... (DVD) ~ Jonathan
Summary: 5 Stars
This DVD collection is a 'must have' for the HENRY THE EIGHT buffs! This series gives you the feel of actually being there. Get lost in the love and hate, and deceit! DVD Review: Lusty and Passionate and Compelling
Summary: 5 Stars
The Mrs. and I were pretty big fans of many HBO shows: Six Feet Under, Sex and the City, Curb Your Enthusiasm, but now many of our favorite shows are on Showtime. Our two favorites are "Dexter" and "The Tudors".
People who get their panties all in a wad over things like "historical accuracy" can't wait to pounce on this fictionally skewed storyline. I'm not as tore up about it, knowing some of the historical differences. I think that "The Tudors" stays pretty true to the historical spirit of Henry VIII, and hardly any of the artistic deviations are a detriment to knowledge of the "Historical Henry".
The production is rich and lavish. The only series in memory that compares was HBO's "Rome", which we loved, but shut down after only two seasons mainly due to the cost of producing the thing. Knowing that "Rome" was split between HBO, BBC and RAI (the Italian BBC) makes a production like "The Tudors" heady stuff.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers stars as Henvy VIII, the second Tudor King. Henry became King after his older brother, Arthur, died. Henry's father, Henry VII, gained the throne from Richard III, ending the Wars of the Roses.
Henry VIII married Arthur's widow - Catherine of Aragon, daughter of famed Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. By all accounts Henry loved Catherine, and he was married to her longer than his other six wives combined, from 1509 to 1533. Catherine was six years older than Henry, and bore him four children, but the only one to survive into adulthood was daughter Mary.
Henry, a devout Catholic, commisioned his religious scholars to write "Defense of the Seven Sacraments", in opposition to Martin Luther's protestant reformation. Pope Leo X conferred upon King Henry the title "Defender of the Faith" - a title that the English monarch carries to this day.
But when Catherine gave Henry no boys and her age began to make that less likely Henry was in a bit of a political pickle. No woman had ever ruled England, and at the time it didn't even occur to Henry or anyone else that one could. No - Henry absolutely had to have a son. (There were many ironies - a mistress gave birth to Henry Fitzroy, an illegitimate son, and daughters Mary and Elizabeth both ruled England after the death of their younger brother Edward.)
Henry also was falling under the spell of Lady-in-Waiting Anne Boleyn. Fifteen years younger, Lady Anne also seemed capable of giving birth to a son.
Season one of "The Tudors" deals with this time-period. Myers, in his late 20s, is a little young to play the Henry who was past forty when he finally married Anne Boleyn. But the casting makes sense: many familiar with Henry VIII are most acquainted with his portraits and portrayals later in life, when he had gained considerable weight as a result of a never healing leg ulcer. (As a physician, I often reflect on how different the life of Henry would have been with availability of modern medicine. The leg likely could have easily been treated. Surely at least one of Catherine's sons would have lived...)
Sam Neill is excellent as Cardinal Wolsey, the kind of Priest Luther complained about, more than willing to sacrifice his religion for political or financial purposes. Maria Doyle Kennedy makes a superb Katherine of Aragon - I have no problem believing this woman loves Henry, loves her faith, and descends from Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain.
Natalie Dormer brings a saucy, eager, conspiratorial willingness to the role of Anne Boleyn. Jeremy Northam is sublime as the Sainted Thomas More, a perfect Renaissance man equally comfortable and fit in the worlds of the church and the state. Peter O'Toole lends his weight to the part of Pope Paul III. Nick Dunning, as Anne's father Thomas Boleyn, is perfectly willing to urge her daughter to use every trick she has available to gain the favor of the King. Gabrielle Anwar plays the King's sister, Margaret. (Yes, yes, yes, we know Henry had two sisters. Unwad thy panties.) Henry Cavill grows perhaps as much as any actor in the course of the series as Henry's best friend, Charles Brandon, who becomes the Duke of Suffolk.
The pertinent aspects of this part of the life of Henry VIII ring true. The screen is full of heaving bosoms and candle-lit trysts. The acting, editing, music, set decoration, etc are all top notch. If you're at all interested in historical dramatizations, I say "The Tudors" is an entertainment of the highest order.
DVD Review: Brilliant!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
The Tudors has become one of my favourite tv shows. When first I heard who had been cast in the lead roles I was a bit sceptical- and as much as I wanted to watch and love it originally I found that the major historical inaccuracies annoyed me no end. I could not imagine the actors selected as the family that I have grown up reading about. Having said that though, I persevered, and as before this is one of my favourite shows.
They are not trying to portray the life of Henry VIII in immaculate detail- they are trying to portray history in a fresh and entertaining light- and they succeed. The actors- for the most part- do a wonderful job of staying true to their characters and the time in which they lived, the costumes are exquisite and the sets are artistic masterpieces. I am particularly fond of the friendship between Henry and Charles Brandon and Natalie Dormer's portrayal of Anne- she doesn't present her as a victim or as a "whore" but as a complex and intelligent human being- complete with flaws and goodness.
Once you can get past the inaccuracies (which apparently have all but dissapeared in season two) the show makes for vivid and compelling entertainment and leaves you breathless with anticipation as you watch history in action. No character is presented as good or bad, but all have been written as human beings and rather than the shows writers taking a side (for or against) they are presenting their story in an unbiased way which is commendable. The sets and costumes have been done to perfection and all in all the entire show fits together like a puzzle to present a gorgeous interpretation of history.
I look forward to receiving season two in the mail shortly- I have nearly burnt a hole in the disks from overuse. Showtime has done a fantastic job and I hope they continue to do so in the seasons to come.
5 stars.
Description of The Tudors - The Complete First Season
The Tudors presents the rarely dramatized, tumultuous early years of King Henry VIII's nearly 40 year, omnipotent reign (1509-1547). In addition to his famous female consorts and 20+ year marriage to Catherine of Aragon to the infamous dalliance with Anne Boleyn, the series delves in to Henry's most notable political relationship and the deconstruction of the Roman Catholic Church in England.The Tudors: The Complete First Season may cover the same subject matter as the 1970 BBC series The Six Wives of Henry VIII, but in every other respect it is a different idea of historical drama. Sexy and violent, The Tudors envisions Henry VIII (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) as a young man of both passion and ambition, driven by boundless sexual energy and the desire to establish a legacy early in his monarchy. When he isn't sleeping with any available beauty--heedless of whose daughter or wife a lover might be--he's getting fired up about going to war with France. He is amenable, however, to alternative ideas, including the counsel of his Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey (Sam Neill), who wants his king to sign a treaty of universal peace with all of Europe. Henry's fiery temperament endangers such a move, but Wolsey persists in hopes of gaining France's support for his own, possible ascendance to the papacy. His ambitions are not to be, however, and his fortunes go downhill as Henry's desire to wed Ann Boleyn (Natalie Dormer) puts Wolsey in the position of petitioning Rome for a hearing on the legitimacy of Henry's marriage to Queen Katherine.
Henry's shrewd alliance with the king of Spain is also testament to his desire to have more influence over European affairs. But his even greater desire for another woman proves an obstacle there, too. Over the course of the ten episodes on The Complete First Season, Henry's confidence grows as a monarch while his self-interest undercuts his better judgement about making a difference to Europe's progress. While the series makes the historical events rich and captivating, it also makes Henry's love life a voyeuristic delight, full of candlelit flesh and romps in the royal bed. Some of the most fascinating characters in the show are those who figure out the link between Henry's libido and his exercise of power--including Boleyn's own father (Nick Dunning), who encourages Ann to keep up the good work. Sheesh. --Tom Keogh
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