Shogun (Complete Mini-Series)

Pros: Virtually everything.
Cons: Virtually nothing.

You will often hear people say that Bruce Lee brought martial arts to America. The fact is, there isn't even really much room to argue the point. Sure, there were people who studied martial arts in America before Lee popularized it, but it wasn't everywhe ...

Pros: Absolutely superb adaptation of an all-time classic book! Richard Chamberlain is brilliant in this.
Cons: Not suitable for children, heavy accents sometimes difficult to understand

Making a TV adaptation of one of the greatest works of fiction of all time (and in the view of many, including myself, Shogun deserves to be counted as one of these) must be a pretty daunting task – just how do you turn well over a thousand pages in i ...

Pros: Superlative production of a timeless classic, Great Acting, Art and Costuming. Almost perfect.
Cons: A few contrivances and some production shortages; not real detractions.

Shogun (1980) Directed by Jerry London from the Novel by James Clavell.Roots is the definitive mini-series.  However, a close second has to be the epic Shogun, featuring the adventures of Pilot-Major John Blackthorne, ...

Pros: A truly amazing film
Cons: Some of the dialogue, even when remastered, is difficult to understand.

James Clavell ruled the best seller lists with his release of the novel, “Shogun”, an epic thriller set in 16th century Japan, just as the western world was uncovering the secrets of the great Asian societies. Clavell wrote over one thousand pages of ...

Pros: Stays true to novel, excellent acting, beautiful sets and costumes.
Cons: Lousy music, clumsy execution of some of the plot.

Right out of the gate, this DVD had some disadvantages from my point of view. First, Shogun has been and probably will remain one of my top favorite novels, so my standards are high. Second, I had just finished watching today's Hollywood wizardry in ...

Pros: A roller coaster ride One of the best book adaptations around
Cons: In this day of whiz-bang technology, the effects are a bit passé

I'm old enough to remember when this TV series was the talk of the town when it first aired in 1981 or 82. The ratings were phenomenal. The reason for this is that it is an epic adventure with something in it to please all palates.

The story...

Pros: exotic, educational, entertaining
Cons: too short

This adaptation of James Clavell's Shogun is worth seeing. There are two versions of this: an edited 2 hour version, and the 8-10 hour original mini-series. The setting is medieval Japan in the late 1500s/1600s. Protestant England and the Netherlands...