The Tudors (tv show)

[selenak]

Recently watched: The Tudors, which accomplishes the difficult feat of making Henry VIII and his court very dull indeed. With the exception of Cardinal Wolsey; Sam Neill has by far the best role as smart ambiguous Renaissance man into power, intrigue, and the greater good, though the order of these priorities keeps changing. If this show were about him, it would be ever so much better. Standout moments: the entire scene after he had to bury his ambitions to become Pope one day. "Perhaps you think too highly of me, Thomas," said to Thomas More.

However, alas, most of the show is not about him. Instead, you get to see Johnathan Rhys Myers having lots of sex as young Henry, which presumably should be entertaining - he can smoulder with the best of them, and yes, in Gormenghast I did find him sexy - but really isn't. The clue to on screen eroticism is that you actually care about the characters first, otherwise it's just gymnastics. There is some tentative characterisation in his scenes with Thomas More which I guess are a set up to make it tragic later when the sainted Sir Thomas and he have their fallout, but it's so clumsy that it doesn't work, either. (Henry likes Machiavelli better than More's Utopia, gasp!)

History? Forget about it. This was written by the same scriptwriter who is responsible for Elizabeth, so it's better you switch off your inner historian right from the start. (My personal favourite highlight of absurdity so far is when Charles V. comes a-visiting, in person, because he needs the alliance with England so much. You wish, Henry, you wish. And let's not get even into everyone's ages.)

Mind you: I'm not saying a tv show or a film based on history shouldn't be able to take liberties. Or drop some characters rather than to just name-check them. But what I do demand is that the result in itself creates something interesting and coherent, and The Tudors just doesn't. Pity.

Comments

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

Are you planning on watching the spin-off, Blood Ties, wherein Henry Fitzroy is turned into a vampire and reaches the 21st Century, when he becomes the sidekick to a kick-ass Toronto P.I. named Vicki Nelson?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Is it worth watching?

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

[bimo.livejournal.com]

You get to see Johnathan Rhys-Davies having lots of sex as young Henry

Jonathan Rhys-Davies (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0722636/), the actor who played Sallah in Raiders of the Lost Ark? As young Henry? Hach, the astounding results of plastic surgery ... *g*
(You probably mean Jonathan Rhys Myers (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001667/), don't you? Trust me,I wouldn't be able to keep them apart, either, if Rhys-Myers hadn't functioned as a certain Jedi Knight's co-star in Velvet Goldmine ;-))

Too bad, though, that The Tudors turned out such a wasted opportunity. As much as I enjoy sci-fi and medical dramas, I'd love to see some good historical dramas on television.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

LOL, yes, that's the right name.

Good historical drama: did you watch Rome? I have a few nitpicks, but overall it was a tv show worth seeing, well cast, and with interesting characters.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, I found that Rome achieved the difficult feat of making Caesar and his contemporaries very dull indeed, and I stopped watching halfway in. It was all the more disappointing because I'd come to regard HBO as a sign of reliability.

From what I've heard of the The Tudors, I'm not sure I'd try it at all, except perhaps as carcrash television.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Rome was a show that improved very much in the second half of its first season. Before, it was so-so, some good, some bad, but I found enough well done in the early eps to keep watching...

[bimo.livejournal.com]

Good historical drama: did you watch Rome?

I haven't seen any episodes yet, but am surely willing to give it a try once I' ve finished watching This Life. (Don't ask. British drama show about a handful of twenty-somethings. Young Jack Davenport, good writing *g*)

Based on what I've read about Rome on my flist, I'd say there's a pretty good chance I might enjoy it :-)

[wabbitseason.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I didn't hold out a lot of hope when I saw who was involved with the writing, especially reading how they handled Henry's sisters. "Gosh, how do we handle all these people with the same name? The average tv viewer won't be able to keep them straight... I know, we'll change one's name and alliance and no one will notice. It's all dusty history anyway." *head desks* God help them when they'd get to all of his other wives, if they went that far. (One friend of mine wondered if they'd gotten Mary Queen of Scots/ Bloody Mary/ Mary, Henry's sister all mixed up somehow and it wouldn't at all surprise me.)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Me neither. I mean, I have sympathy with the name problem, but they could have done what many a novelist did, use derivations.*g* In any case, it's not like there aren't enough precedents of shows tackling Henry & descendants and actually using the right names (and number of sisters)....

[shezan.livejournal.com]

The clue to on screen eroticism is that you actually care about the characters first, otherwise it's just gymnastics.

Absolutely!

(I sent you an email last week, did you get it?)

[wanderlustlover]

I agree. I was mostly hopeful for this series and within the firs twenty minutes I was disappointed. By the end of the episode I knew I'd most likely follow an episode or two more, but really I wasn't all that interested.

[artaxastra.livejournal.com]

I seriously laughed out loud at "which accomplishes the difficult feat of making Henry VIII and his court very dull indeed!" I can't even imagine how one could do that!

Having just read the incandescent Legacy by Susan Kay, in which she does the best Elizabeth I've ever read, I can't even stomach Philippa Gregory right now!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Doesn't she just? I so love Legacy, and so wanted you to read it.

[artaxastra.livejournal.com]

[artaxastra.livejournal.com]

[artaxastra.livejournal.com]

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

I knew as soon as I saw the subway ads for this that I'd never watch it. They'd pitched it at a sub-teen movie level of sophistication, with a strangely bland Anne Boleyn pictured next to the slogan: "The Queen's Maiden Will Do Anything To Get Her Hands On The King's Crown Jewels." Get it? Also, hot though JRM is and Henry VIII apparently was in his day, I think of them as such distinctly different physical types that I don't think I'd be able to buy JRM for one second. (Daniel Craig, now, you'd be talking.) But how very, very sad to have such amazing material to work with and only come up with this.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

*headdesks*

They really used that for advertising?

Daniel Craig as young Henry before he got bloated is a good idea, but not anywhwere near the people responsible for The Tudors, as he would be utterly wasted!

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

I'm not watching this, and it sounds about like what I thought it would be like. . .but your Wolsey description almost tempts me. What, you're surprised?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Not really. But well-done though he is, Wolsey isn't worth watching the rest of the show. Besides, don't you have B5 to finish, woman?