Empires-Peter & Paul and the Christian Revolution (Roadshow) (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio Trailer-The Empires Series
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	110:37
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (57:49)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Margaret Koval
Studio Distributor	SBS Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Dana Kaproff

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.75:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.75:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    This documentary series has been of generally very high production quality so far, apart from some minor lapses from the rule in terms of DVD transfer quality (a couple of DVDs in this series (including as it happens this case at hand) are not presented 16x9 enhanced and another in the series came with notably lesser video quality than all the rest). But generally speaking, the transfer quality in this series of DVDs has been very good. Above all, the production quality and content of these independently written, produced and directed documentaries themselves has proven to be particularly high. Nearly all episodes in the Empires series have so far proven to be successful in their objective to educate and entertain (again, with only one exception it would seem in the writing approach taken with one of the very earliest in the series to be produced). As a documentary series per se, so far this one has proven to be a big winner, and at the same time very educational, enlightening and entertaining.

    So it was with again high expectation that I picked up the next in the series, Peter & Paul and the Christian Revolution, to review. This is the fascinating story of exactly how Christianity came into being. It covers the period commencing from Jesus' death by crucifixion through the next 40-odd years, and shows exactly how the faithful apostles Peter and Paul and a small band of others went about spreading the word of the new Christian religion to the masses of both Jews and non-Jews in Judea and throughout the Roman empire.

    It is worthwhile noting that Jesus was only one of thousands of men crucified by the Romans at the time for harbouring "dangerous political beliefs" that contradicted the strict Roman rule of law. Rome had conquered this entire region a century before and knew how to quash rebellion very effectively. Yet, unlike the thousands of other prophets and so-called Messiahs who died as martyrs on the cross, the teachings of Jesus were not lost in the period immediately following his death; this is solely because of the perseverance and hard work of Peter and Paul in spreading the faith among the masses and converting them to a new faith, struggling to do so, however, against political persecution from among those very masses they were trying to preach to and of course from the Roman establishment itself, and also struggling against crippling disagreements between Peter and Paul themselves, as to the methods and approach to spread the word. But despite these major setbacks, the new faith did not die and within the very brief span of only a single lifetime this new religion would spread to Rome and absorb the capital of the mighty empire itself.

    The two episodes on this DVD are:   

• Episode I: The Rock and the River (55:19)
  Commencing with the time of Jesus' crucifixion, this episode establishes the whereabouts and reactions of Jesus' small group of close apostles and concentrates first on telling the story of Peter, a peasant fisherman who had no formal education but who would be called the leader of the apostles. Peter and the other apostles saw a vision of Jesus after his death, proving to them that he had in fact risen from the dead, and this sparked Peter's instruction to the other apostles to come together and start living their model Christian society, with communal living, shared goods and mutual support, in readiness to see the prophecies fulfilled. But the prophecies were not immediately fulfilled and Peter had to struggle teaching to an increasingly harder audience of unconvinced Jews. By the middle of the 1st century AD, the followers of Jesus still only numbered a few hundred. As Peter suffered persecution, imprisonment and then saw the dispersal of his followers, support for him came from a very unlikely source; from Saul, a previous persecutor of the followers of Jesus. Saul had had a vision and revelation from Jesus himself and so began to see the error of his past ways. Such was the power of this revelation that he immediately embraced the faith as his very own. He travelled to Jerusalem and joined Peter and his core followers, introducing himself as Paul. Paul was an educated, refined man and a man now equally as zealous in his passion and conviction to help Peter lead them to spread the word of this new religion. Paul's most significant contribution to the cause was in recognising that if they were to be successful, then they must commence spreading the word not just to the wider Jews, but also to the Gentiles (non-Jews). Not an easy task, and a task that would also set them on a direct collision course with the mighty Roman Empire.
• Episode II: The Empire and the Kingdom (55:18)
  Led by missionaries, Christian ideas continue to spread among Jews and non-Jews throughout the Empire. However hostile locals, imperial forces and conflicting ideas threatened to tear this young movement apart. On the issue of conversion and how to go about achieving it among the masses, Paul now fell into open and vocal disagreement with Peter. Despite Peter's attempts to mediate the situation, Paul split with his one-time allies, establishing churches in his own image around the Mediterranean and writing letters to the Corinthians that would become a central part of the Christian teachings. Finally, in 70AD, disaster struck, and following decades of rising tension, Judea finally erupted in revolt against Rome, giving way to a bloody four-year war. Rome inevitably flexed its muscle and re-established rule over the city, but not before destroying much of Jerusalem, torching the sacred Christian Temple and enslaving the population in the process. The scorched ground of Jerusalem could no longer support a thriving Jewish Christian movement. Yet somehow, despite overwhelming odds, the small communities established by Peter and Paul did mange to survive and grow and, finally, prosper into one of history's most astonishing religious movements.

    Lack of chapter markers; a small complaint: as with all other DVDs in this Empires series, there is a complaint in respect of the placement of chapter markers on this disc; i.e. they leave a lot to be desired. There is a lack of adequate chapter markers in the appropriate places to separate the content in these episodes, despite clearly headed section breaks during the programme for such purpose, and so there is no quick access available to relevant key sections within each episode. The placement of what chapter markers have been included appears completely spurious and of no use at all.

Video

    The presented aspect ratio is the original 1.75:1, as screened on TV, but this time the transfer is NOT 16x9 enhanced. Consequently, sharpness, grain and the like is marginally worse off this time around, as we have to zoom in to the image.

    Sharpness is generally good, and would have been high with 16x9 enhancement, as would be expected of a very recently-produced, decent budget series. Most scenes offer satisfactory to quite pleasing levels of detail in foreground and background images, with little grain (although more noticeable this time without the 16x9 enhancement), sufficient shadow detail and minimal low level noise. As has been the case in others in this series, there is noticeably more grain in scenes shot in lower light levels and this is clearly a function of the type of film stock used throughout to film this series, resulting in softer resolution and, occasionally, low level noise in these low-light scenes. As it turns out though, a good majority of the action in these two episodes takes place in daylight or in sufficiently lit interiors, and so the vast majority of this DVD transfer boasts very good image quality.

    Colour is consistent and well rendered, although as a general comment I found the colour palette used in this particular documentary to be marginally more washed-out than for the others in the series (it is unclear if this was a deliberate artistic effect for this episode or not). Skin tones are fine and black levels are relatively solid, dropping off a bit in the occasional low-light scene.

    Pleasingly, there are virtually no artefacts to note at all - this is a modern, very clean and very well-handled transfer. MPEG artefacts are restricted to some minor pixelization noted in some scenes (a problem hindered by the lack of 16x9 enhancement). Film-to-video artefacts are restricted to only the most minor instances of near-aliasing, and there are no film artefacts at all, other than the visible grain in the low-light scenes.

    The English for the Hearing Impaired subtitle language stream is very clear, well timed and accurate. However, it is not well placed and, due to the lack of 16x9 enhancement, the bottom half of the bottom line of subtitles is lost off the bottom of the screen when zooming into the image. This means if you want to read the subtitles you will have to watch the transfer in 1.33:1 mode.

    This disc is RSDL-formatted, with the layer change occurring at 2:30 in Episode II - a crazy and infuriating place to put it when it could have more easily and logically been placed in between the two episodes.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The quality of the audio transfer is also high, being a perfectly sufficient English Dolby Digital 2.0 track (recorded at 224 Kb/s).

    Dialogue quality cannot be faulted; the narrator enunciates clearly. I had no issues with the audio sync.

    The music score is appropriate, lends well to the context and is not overused. The DVD's audio transfer handles the score clearly across the range.

    This is not a surround-sound audio track.

    Subwoofer use is minimal.
   

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    After a short Empires series main menu introduction sequence, being animated, with audio and provided in 1.78:1 but not 16x9 enhanced, the main menu for this DVD itself is static, with audio and provided in 1.33:1. It is sufficient.

    Yet another enlightening documentary in the Empires series makes it way to DVD. This plugs the knowledge gap of exactly how it was that the Christian revolution spread after Jesus' death. Another very well produced and highly recommended documentary.

    Video quality is good, although hindered this time by a lack of 16x9 enhancement.

    Audio quality is very good.

    As with the others in the Empires series, there are no real extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall