implication that it helped extract valuable information from detainees

Thanks to Hollywood, this is now what low information voters will remember about water-boarding.

That dreadful thing was so far off the mark it gave me indigestion for a month. There isn’t enough writing room or time to point out the numberless, unfathomable mistakes.

As I said, allowing for artistic license. The series touched on enough of what occurred during Tudor England to encourage people to seek additional info. Again, there were numerous websites as a result that both explained the story and compared and discussed the actual historical record.

Just a small example: Mary, Henry’s youngest sister, was married off to the King of France, not Portugal. (Of course, given the state of education in today’s world, the makers of the series may have had no idea that France and Portugal are two entirely different countries.) And Jonathan Rhys-Meyer bears no resemblance to Henry outside of the fact they are both male. (Yes, young Henry was much skinnier than old Henry, but even young Henry was known for his muscular, sturdy build. And Henry had strawberry blond hair and a very ruddy complexion.)

Portugal — oh, noesss! Wrong color hair — more oh noessss!!1!!! Nobody wants to watch a series with an old smelly fat guy. The series & Rys-Meyer did an excellent job portraying Henry’s cruelty.

And if you don’t have six hours to burn, rent a copy of Mary, Queen of Scots starring Jackson and one of the Redgraves. (That’s the Readers Digest version of Elizabeth R.)

catsandbooks on December 22, 2012 at 3:37 PM

Saw it. It was crap.

I thought The Tudors did a pretty good job, allowing for some artistic license.

Blake on December 22, 2012 at 1:30 PM

You wha-a-a-at????? Oh. My. God.

That dreadful thing was so far off the mark it gave me indigestion for a month. There isn’t enough writing room or time to point out the numberless, unfathomable mistakes. Just a small example: Mary, Henry’s youngest sister, was married off to the King of France, not Portugal. (Of course, given the state of education in today’s world, the makers of the series may have had no idea that France and Portugal are two entirely different countries.) And Jonathan Rhys-Meyer bears no resemblance to Henry outside of the fact they are both male. (Yes, young Henry was much skinnier than old Henry, but even young Henry was known for his muscular, sturdy build. And Henry had strawberry blond hair and a very ruddy complexion.)

Try Glenda Jackson’s Elisabeth R.

Blake on December 22, 2012 at 1:21 PM

And if you don’t have six hours to burn, rent a copy of Mary, Queen of Scots starring Jackson and one of the Redgraves. (That’s the Readers Digest version of Elizabeth R.)

Clearly, those were style choices (which I found very annoying, too). I’m talking about historical facts about the people and the period. Coppola did a pretty good job sticking to those, or at least better than most of her filmmaking colleagues.

Ed Morrissey on December 22, 2012 at 1:24 PM

I own a dvd copy of it (I don’t know why) I’ll have to watch it again. I thought The Tudors did a pretty good job, allowing for some artistic license. At least it inspired people to create hundreds of historical websites on the subject.

Oh, Ed, they did not wear sneakers back then or listen to rock music.

Clearly, those were style choices (which I found very annoying, too). I’m talking about historical facts about the people and the period. Coppola did a pretty good job sticking to those, or at least better than most of her filmmaking colleagues.

On the other hand, Sofia Coppola did a pretty good job in sticking with the historical facts in Marie Antoinette, but that didn’t save it from being a monumental bore.

Oh, Ed, they did not wear sneakers back then or listen to rock music.

(By the way, if you want a good cinematic version of Elizabeth I’s life that comports somewhat to reality, try Helen Mirren’s Elizabeth I two-part miniseries.)

Try Glenda Jackson’s Elisabeth R.

“We dumped him in the sea like Megatron.”

Abobo’s just waiting for the sequel.