A look at the years 1523-1536 in the reign of Henry VIII, focusing on his marriage to Anne Boleyn and his battle with the Catholic Church.

CRITIQUE

The Tudors is one of the most solid series on TV, a very solid mix of historical drama, ensemble character work, and even some sex.  This is the kind of series that works even better on DVD, when one can watch it over a week or two and better keep all the characters and storylines straight, and it is well worth checking out.

Season One focused on Henry VIII making the decision to force out his wife Queen Katherine and try to get his marriage annulled, in favor of trying to marry his mistress Anne Boleyn and elevate her to queen.  Season Two focuses on Anne’s reign as queen; in order to do this, Henry must go against the wishes of the Pope (memorably played by Peter O’Toole in a few short, sharp scenes), leading to a major reformation against the church.

All of this religious strife could have made for some dry going, but the writing here is sharp throughout, and the subject matter here is intriguing no matter what one’s religious predilections are.  There is a large cast of characters, but all are given some nice scenes that held define them and make them memorable, while the fact that everyone has their own varying motivations keeps this constantly spinning nicely, particularly once heads literally start to roll.

The cast here is solid top to bottom.  Though Jonathan Rhys Meyers still seems a little too pretty to be a convincing Henry VIII (there’s no sign of the beefy Henry he is usually depicted as), Meyers does a good job throughout bringing across the conflicted emotions of what Henry was going through, as well as Henry’s hypocritical behavior in regards to Anne.

The supporting characters are well drawn as well, taking sides along the way and then having to live or die by decisions that they made.  Natalie Dormer is a good Anne Boleyn, particularly when things start to unravel for the character, while there isn’t a misstep throughout in terms of casting.

The series also feels authentic, apparently shooting much of this in Ireland; it captures a good period look on what one guesses wasn’t a huge budget.  As historical dramas go, this is very entertaining stuff, and it merits catching up on.

THE VIDEO

The Tudors is presented in widescreen, enhanced for 16x9 TVs.  The picture quality is very good throughout.

THE AUDIO

The Tudors is presented in English 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby Surround, and in Spanish Mono.  Dialogue, music and sound effects come through clear.  There are Spanish and French soundtracks, as well as English and Spanish subtitles.

THE EXTRAS

The Tower of London is a 6-minute featurette about Anne Boleyn’s trips to the Tower of London, featuring a tour with actress Natalie Dormer. 

Descendants of Henry is a somewhat-amusing 3-minute featurette in which Henry’s descendants are interviewed, and try to remember how exactly they are related to him.

There is a behind-the-scenes Photo Gallery, though it only consists of 12 photos.  There are also text Biographies of 13 of the main actors here.

There is a copy of the premiere episode of This American Life Season 2, as well as the premiere episode of Californication Season 2.

There is also a feature that allows you to unlink additional features on your PC, including a copy of the premiere episode of Dexter Season 3 and the first two episodes of The United States of Tara.

FINAL THOUGHT