The Tudors Season 1, Ep. 1 "The Tudors"

 

The Tudors Season 1, Ep. 1 "The Tudors"

 

Product Details

• Watch a Clip
• Episode 1, "The Tudors"
• Synopsis: King Henry VIII prepares for war with France but is dissuaded by the diplomatic manipulation of his powerful Lord Chancellor. The harmony of the King's domestic affairs is threatened when he discovers that Elizabeth Blount lady-in-waiting to his Queen, Katherine of Aragon, is pregnant with his child.
• Original air date: April 1, 2007
• Runtime: 56 minutes
• ASIN: B000OJFV3S

Product Description

King Henry VIII prepares for war with France but is dissuaded by the diplomatic manipulation of his effective Lord Chancellor. The harmony of the King's domestic affairs is threatened when he discovers that Elizabeth Blount lady-in-waiting to his Queen, Katherine of Aragon, is pregnant with his youngster.

• Runtime: 56 minutes
• Original air date: April 01, 2007
• Network: Showtime

Customer Reviews

This is a Review for Seasons 1-4.
How does The Tudors compare to other movies about this period?
A Man for All Seasons (Paul Scofield, Robert Shaw, John Hurt) is one of my favorite movies; I've also seen the Charlton Heston version, too. I recently watched Anne of The Thousand Days (Richard Burton, Genevieve Bujold). Stable movies, wonderful acting, movies of their time (1960s), emphasizing issues of their day, modestly dancing around King Henry and his list of wives. The movies, as the times in which they were made, were largely sexless on-screen, hinting at all the plot and intrigue behind the door and curtain, and beneath the bed sheets but never really exploring it further.
The Tudors opens the privy door, pulls back the thick curtain, and puts you in the royal bed of one of the most critical periods of Western history: the age of the Tudors. I never thought I would say this: to understand the times, the portrayal had to be this honest.
The Tudors show is a raw look at a crucial period of history and aptly pulls it off by setting its main characters in the contrasting shadows of Spain, France, the Roman Catholic Church, the Reformation, and the inner intrigue within England itself by dueling factions. You won't fall asleep. I found myself entranced: What will happen next?
If you enjoy beautiful costumes and historical sets, this is a show for you.
This is no series for the faint of heart. Make no mistake: if you're sensitive and unable to bear the realities of this time in history, then it is best a pass.
The Tudors leaves no stone unturned. The moral scab has been pulled off the period, and it bleeds in vivid colors and passions.
The acting is superb and well cast with special note to my favorite in the show, the lead: Jonathan Rhys Meyers. The supporting cast is equally up to the task. Cameos by screen legends enthrall. Actors that I see here now appear in other movies galore.
In some places great license is taken to the historical narrative, and somewhat unnecessarily. In defense of the writers and producers, I doubt less than what William Shakespeare did with Caesar et al. To the point: let's just say that people understand the historical discrepancies, but few people complain about the historicity of the movie Amadeus because it invites others to celebrate music so eloquently. I would say the same about The Tudors and its history. There is much to celebrate.
What The Tudors does get right is the intrigue of the period, the harsh status of women in an age of men, and (almost laughable today) the fixation on a male heir and all things manly. The great rift between Catholicism and the Church of England are portrayed in all their religious zeal and hypocrisy. Jilting, jarring, thrilling, despondently tragic with regret.
If you want to get a sense of how far we have come as a Western society, perhaps how far we have to go, then The Tudors, for all the faults others may properly find in it, The Tudors will help you appreciate the age, give you the basic historical markers for the period if you want to study more, and leave you with a sense of shock, even perhaps respect and humility, for a period of history like few others.
Highly recommended.

After having heard great things from multiple people, I finally decided to sit down and start watching the series. I now understand what all the fuss was about!
First of all, the casting is fantastic. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Sam Neill are so compelling, and Natalie Dormer captures the seductiveness and conniving nature of Anne Boleyn that we all imagine. Also worth mentioning are Maria Doyle Kennedy as Catherine of Aragon and James Frain as Thomas Cromwell.
The bulk of the plot revolves around King Henry VIII's desire to leave his wife, Catherine of Aragon, to wed Anne Boleyn. Catherine has been unable to produce any living male heirs, and Henry (whose string of mistresses never ends) has quite obviously grown tired of her. However, since England still answers to the Pope, he has to get permission from Rome to have his marriage annulled -- which isn't very likely.
Meanwhile, Anne's motives for seducing the king are somewhat less than noble. Her father and uncle want nothing more than to bring about the demise of the king's chancellor, Catholic Cardinal Wolsey, and know that if Henry is under Anne's spell, then she will be able to persuade him to dismiss Wolsey from court. Much of this revolves around the rise of Lutheranism and the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. There is a growing faction in England that wants the country to split from the Catholic Church. Not only can Anne hold some influence over the king, but he can't be free to marry her as long as the Church has dominion over England since divorce is disallowed. Drama! Dun, dun, dun...
Of course, there are other fish to fry for the king as well as he flip flops from alliance to alliance. Does he align himself with France or does he align himself with Spain? Which of these two countries supports the Pope? And which of these two countries is betraying him? More importantly, who in the king's court is secretly working for France or Spain?
When it comes to entertainment value, this series will never fail to impress. It's fast-paced, political, sexy, and dramatic. Just keep in mind that it IS a series from a premium channel; thus, nudity, semi-graphic sexual content, and language are taken to a much higher level than other shows. Not for the kiddos.
My one beef with the series is that it does fail in the certain areas of historical accuracy. Some of them aren't really that important, but there are several biggies that did get under my skin. Just take everything with a grain of salt, and make sure to double-check your facts before including any of this information in a history paper. Some of the dramatic highlights are actually fiction.

 

The Tudors Season 1, Ep. 1 "The Tudors"

 

Rating: 4.5