The Film
As a book, Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth offers quite a read; and only the truly dedicated might be able to get through the entire story of love, lust, romance, betrayal and war in the era of anarchy in England. Fortunately, the Starz original mini-series manages to cram the epic novel into eight manageable episodes (428 minutes in total), which chronicle the building of an awe-inspiring cathedral over the course of 20 years.
The backdrop is the civil war between cousins King Steven (Tony Curran) and Empress Matilda (Alison Pill), but the real story is about the dream of Tom Builder (Rufus Sewell) who envisions building the holy church that will stand the test of time. Mixed in is more than enough court intrigue, plenty of secrets with accompanying plot twists, scheming nobleman and even a Bishop (Ian McShane) with delusions of grandeur.
The Picture
The Dark Ages have arguably never looked better. The 1080p 1.78:1 widescreen picture looks sharp and clear, and is actually a slight improvement over the cable channel's HD presentation of the series. The scenery really comes alive, while characters look their respective best/worst in this one. Whilst not an action adventure, there are some brief yet notable battle sequences and these look quite good, with the accompanying gore (and on that note, some sex as well) that you'd expect from cable TV. Finally it is worth noting that this one does a very convincing job with the computer generated graphics. The final shot (spoiler alert) is the cathedral in the "modern day" and this is actually a composite shot of a real English cathedral in Wells, modified with CGI. It was nearly impossible to tell what was real and was digitally added.
The Sound
It seems that most TV series don't quite have the same level of audio quality as a big budget movie production. The sound in Pillars of the Earth is very good; dialog is crystal clear, there is good use of the ambient sounds with discrete separation to the rear channels - notable in some of the wooded sequences as well as in some of the "cracks" in the construction moments. The "wind" blows quite accurately as well in one episode, but that said even with the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, this one seems to lack that cinematic audio in the overall mix. It is very good, but short of greatness.
The Extras
The bonus features are a far bit from the divine. The three disc box set includes a behind-the-scenes look at the sets, as well as the visual effects and even some insight from the creators, but it seems that the series' makers just didn't bother trying to reach any new heights with this one. That's a shame, because some back story on the novel, and insight into the real King Steven and Maude (Empress Matilda) would have been quite welcome.
Final Thoughts
Starz has proven that it can give HBO and Showtime a run for the money with quality original programming and this eight part series makes it easy to digest Follet's somewhat long winded novel. The Blu-ray offers the best possible visuals and sound for this production. With quality like this it might be worth canceling cable and waiting for the Blu-ray instead.
Product Details
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