Empires-Kingdom of David: The Saga of the Israelites (Roadshow) (2003)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio Trailer-The Empires Series
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	221:11 (Case: 220)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Carl Byker Mitch Wilson
Studio Distributor	SBS Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual
RPI	$39.95	Music	Erik Friedlander

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

    By way of background, the Empires documentary series was produced over the years 1999-2003 and created 11 different documentaries in total, with each subject story told using between 2 to 4 one-hour episodes. Each title in the series deals with a different period in man's history, in which a particular supreme dominion or religious belief ruled or prevailed over mankind, or went on to ultimately influence the future of mankind in a profound and permanent way. Each title in the series has been written, produced and directed for the most part largely independent of the others, and so each tackles its subject matter from a slightly different angle. The documentary may deal with a specific aspect or aspects of that particular empire, such as telling the history of how that empire was established or came to pass, how the previous rule or convention was challenged and overthrown, or just more simply what life must have been like (according to the best/most current knowledge of historians) under the rule at that time.

    The episodes of the Empires series have been receiving a slow release on DVD in Region 4 since November last year. Nearly all of the titles released on DVD to date have now been reviewed by this site, as indicated by the links following, where shown (note: the first two titles in this series will be reviewed in due course - please do a review search from the site's home page for the most up-to-date list of reviews for this series). In order of DVD release date, the Empires series consists of titles on: Napoleon, Queen Victoria's Empire, Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire, Egypt's Golden Empire, The Greeks: Crucible of Civilisation, The Roman Empire: In the First Century, Martin Luther and Peter and Paul and the Christian Revolution. The final two titles in this series to be released and reviewed very soon are episodes on Islam and The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance. As stated, for an up-to-date listing of all reviews in this series, please do a review search under "Empires" using the site's home page review search engine.

    This Empires documentary series has been, generally speaking, of excellent production quality. As stated, each title in the series has been written, produced and directed independent of the others, and tackles its subject matter in different ways. Of necessity, you can not expect every single title to convey the absolute, definitive story of every aspect of that particular empire. Rather, each episode covers the main timeline of crucial key events for that period in history and at the same time offers a rare insight into specific aspects of the time. All titles are extremely well-researched, featuring interviews with prominent historians and relevant experts. Above all, each episode successfully puts into context the impact and legacy of that period on the future of mankind. Having reviewed a number of titles in the Empires series now, I for one have been very impressed with the overall writing and production quality on offer here and found this series to be, on the whole, an outstanding success as a highly authoritative, well-researched, entertaining and enlightening documentary series.

    The story of The Kingdom of David: The Saga of the Israelites is told over four one-hour episodes and is the very interesting story of the history of the Israelites, who would change human history as much as any other empire that ever existed subsequently. In so doing, this documentary tells the story of several key figures in the Israelites' history, figures both real and (possibly) mythological, including: Abraham, a (possibly mythological) figure featuring prominently in the stories of the ancient Hebrew Bible, and the first man to encounter the one true God Yahweh; Moses, the only human being to see God face-to-face; and King David, a poor young boy anointed by God to be King of the Israelites and proving himself by slaying Goliath, the fearsome warrior of the opposing Philistines. In putting these historical figures into context, this documentary also comprehensively tells the story of the creation of what would prove to become the world's first and most influential monotheistic (that is, belief in a single God) religion - Judaism. It tells the story of how this religious belief started and spread and then, eventually, the story of the split between Judaism and Christianity, following the life and death of Jesus. The period of history spanned by this documentary is the 6th century BC through to the 2nd century AD.

    The four episodes on this double-DVD set are:   

• Episode I: By the Rivers of Babylon (55:17)
  The story starts in 589BC, when the city of Jerusalem was sacked by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar and the last of the Israelites were exiled from Judea and led to a new life in Babylon. The Israelites as a people appeared destined to disappear, but fought back by writing a book using Judean stories to explain their present day situation, The Hebrew Bible; not a strict literary history, but more a book describing a way for the exiled Judeans to live their life in Babylon. The stories of Abraham and Moses featured prominently, forming the essence of the Israelite religion. This period in history was also the time of David, who would be King, warrior and, ultimately, shamed adulterer. This was also the time of the discovery of the Book of Deuteronomy, a key breakthrough, re-telling the stories of Moses, but in so doing bringing forward the concept of monotheism, or the exclusive worship of the one true God. This thinking revolutionised the Israelites in the face of all previous beliefs to that point in history, which acknowledged the existence of many gods in one form or another. This transferred the Israelite religion into the very first form of Judaism.
• Episode II: The Book and the Sword (55:17)
  In the 5th century BC, a new, wider interpretation of the Hebrew Bible was born, the Torah. This book was more a code of living for the masses, discussing how the Israelites should treat God and each other - a religious law book of the times. Meanwhile, the Greeks, the next great empire the world would see, invaded and ruled Europe. The Greek culture forever changed daily lives for all, delivering in its wake new understandings and reverence for both the body (the Olympics) and the mind (bringing philosophy, mathematics, politics and architecture). It also brought a new commerce based no longer on the barter of goods, but on money, subsequently freeing up trading between people and villages and promoting travel. This new intellectual Greek world also results in the Israelites embarking on the first serious studies of the bible. But the new Greek rule also brought inherent and irreparable cultural conflict with the Israelites, not least of which was the Greek's entrenched belief in the worship of multiple gods. Devout Jews refused the Greek rule and influence on their way of life, leading to civil war.
• Episode III: The End of Days (55:18)
  The 1st century BC: Europe is now ruled by the mighty and forceful Roman Empire. This clash of cultures in the land of Judea lead to the longest and most brutal civil war in all of history. It also pitted Jew against Jew for the first time. The world sees the birth of terrorism and political assassinations during this time, over a landscape marred by widespread starvation and crucifixion. Finally, in 70AD, the Romans have sacked the heavily defended city of Jerusalem and destroyed the sacred Jewish Temple - a devastating blow, as the Temple was the only place on earth, according to the Hebrew Bible, where the one true God could be worshipped. With the religion apparently in tatters, out of the ashes of this brutal period emerged two news religions: rabbinical Judaism and Christianity, as told in Episode IV.
• Episode IV: The Gifts of the Jews (55:19)
  The 2nd century AD saw Jewish zealots (a faction of Jews using terrorism to attack wealthy Jews) rebel against Rome's legions, forcing them temporarily to withdraw from Jerusalem. But the victory was short-lived as, such was the strength of the mighty Roman Empire, the Romans inevitably returned with a vastly superior army, under the command of the feared Roman Emperor Hadrian. Hadrian killed 600,000 Jews, changed the name of the land from Judea to Palestine, and banned all Jews from Jerusalem. As the Jews were forced to again flee to distant lands, they discovered the next big threat to their dwindling religion; the emergence and growth of the new religious teachings of Christianity (once a type of Judaism but now a completely separate movement under Peter and Paul). The Jews were a race seemingly destined to be displaced over this history, first by the Assyrians, then by the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Greeks and finally the Romans. But instead of falling, they survived and flourished, not through the power of their weapons, but through their beliefs.

    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 as stated this time around 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 higher with 16x9 enhancement), as we would come to expect 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 for all others in this series, there is again noticeably more grain in scenes shot in lower light levels, and this is quite evidently now a function of the type of film stock used throughout the filming of this series. Softer resolution and occasional low level noise is much more apparent in these low-light scenes, where they are much less an issue in the daytime/well-lit scenes. As it turns out though, the vast majority of the visual action in these documentaries takes place either in daylight or in sufficiently lit interiors. Certainly all of the historian interview footage is fine, as is the majority of the re-enactment footage; it is only the night-time and some indoor re-enactment footage that detracts. Overall, the vast majority of this DVD transfer boasts very good image quality.

    Colour is consistent and very well rendered, showcasing a varied colour palette that accentuates oranges and browns effectively. Skin tones are perfectly fine and black levels are quite solid, dropping off a bit only in the occasional low-light scene.

    As with previous releases in the Empires series, again 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 only highlighted 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 aforementioned 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.

    Both discs in this set are single-layered.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

     As with previous releases in the series, the quality of the audio transfer is again very high, featuring a perfectly sufficient English Dolby Digital 2.0 track (recorded at 224 Kb/s).

    Dialogue quality cannot be faulted at all; the narrator (Keith David) enunciates very clearly throughout. I had no issues with the audio sync.

    The music score is appropriate, lending well to the context and is not overused. The DVD's audio transfer handles the music 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 main menu introduction sequence, being animated with audio in 1.78:1 (but not 16x9 enhanced), the main menu for this DVD itself is static, presented in 1.33:1 and with (somewhat repetitious) audio underscore. The menu design is sufficient for the basic job at hand.

    Yet another authoritative, well-researched and highly enlightening documentary in the Empires series makes it way to DVD. This one is a two-disc set, spanning four one-hour episodes that comprehensively covers the history of the Israelites, from their 6th century BC exile to Babylon to their 2nd century AD exile at the hands of the Romans, including the split between Judaism and Christianity. Another very well produced and highly recommended documentary.

    The video quality is good, although annoyingly hindered this time (again) by a lack of 16x9 enhancement (this is now the third DVD out of seven reviewed so far to suffer this annoying slip-up in the DVD transfer process).

    Audio quality is very good.

    As with all the DVDs in this series, there are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall