Rating: 
Summary: Good introduction to the Crusades
Review: This is a very good introduction to the Crsades, although not comprehensive, it gives you enough to under stand a very important part of history and a good lead to research the subject on your own.
Rating: 
Summary: Good basic introduction to the Crusades
Review: This is a very nice introduction to the Crusades, presented with humor and drama. It is by no means complete or very detailed to any degree. I do think that it accomplishes what it was intended to do, give an individual a general overview of the crusades in an entertaining way and make him want to learn more. As with almost any modern works on history, there are some mistakes and it is presented with overtones of some of todays societal standards. I realize that too many people take what they are told at face value and may be led to believe that all muslims were kind, sophisticated, cultured, etc when compared to their European counterparts, when in reality there are good and bad on both sides. Quite frankly, both sides were barbarians when viewed by todays standards. That being said, I do believe that this show is acceptable in it's presentation and technical quality and makes one want to learn more. I do believe that is does present both sides a bit more evenly than some of the other reviewers have.
Rating:
Summary: Brings history to life
Review: This is an excellent series that has the advantage of bringing history alive. Factually, the account is fairly balanced and while it would have been preferable if some time had been spent on the differences between the Latin Church and the Eastern Orthodox to underscore just how far the two churches had grown apart, many important facts are presented to counter how the Crusades have been characterised in the past. Additionally, we actually see and hear Lord Runciman -- one of the 20th century's greatest historians and experts on Byzantium. For young adults, ages 14 and up, the series is sure to grab their interest. Many of the difficulties and battles are recreated which infuses the whole prospect of the Crusades with a reality that is too often missed when reading about them. In terms of who gets the blame, the series manages to pass blame around. However, it does convey the fact that Byzantium, the Orthodox Christian East, was the cultural and scientific center of the world. Since its purpose was to discuss the Crusades proper, it can also be forgiven its negligence with regard to Byzantium's wars with the Persians and later the Arabs -- both of whom invaded Orthodox lands and subjected Orthodox Christians to terror and bloodshed:the Persians when they took Jerusalem in the 7th century; the Arabs who eventually over ran Constantinople and insultingly defiled the Sophia Hagia by turning it into a mosque. But rather than open these wounds, perhaps it is better that the series simply concentrates on the ugliness of the Crusaders, the western invaders who did so much harm to Orthodox Christian and Muslim alike.
Rating:
Summary: fair interpretation
Review: this movie although being presented strangely was interesting. it gives the viewer a fair documentation of the injustices & atrocities committed by the crusaders.
Rating: 
Summary: piece of krap movie
Review: This movie was a huge waste of time. The actors were terrificly terrible. The fight scenes were marginal and the voiceover man was a total bum. I dont like faggots in knight suits and i dont like no women either. The plot was rank with poop and i think the director should go to hell.
Rating:
Summary: The humor of history triumphs in all the wrong places
Review: This set of two disks takes a very modern look at about two hundred years of history, but I am not going to remember which two hundred. It was so long ago that people no longer seem to be concerned about how everyone involved managed to absorb all of the financial costs involved. Warfare often upsets some apple carts, and this presentation of the Crusades is openly aware of aristocratic ambition that could be condemned as a desire for conquest while it remains mired in the inversion of spiritual values which prompted the institutional churches at that time to consider each pathetic episode a great thing for one reason or another.My intellectual bias in this area is that no college professor could have made a better version of a history for our times. Back in 1995, the nature of the Order of Assassins with its suicide squads high from hashish was hardly as important as it is in the world since September 11, 2001, but on the other side, the financial suicide involved in trying to change the nature of the Middle East by military invasion was as clear then as more recent expeditions threatening to last another two hundred years boggle the mind today. I might be taking a stand that is too political for 2004, which might be a year in which people in America try to impose their own interest in intelligence, competence, and living within the limits of our ability to absorb losses. This series of television shows puts a lot of emphasis on the extraordinary wealth of Constantinople and Egypt in those times, when military equipment also had a high price. What really gets your goat the first time through this series, though, is the treachery: cities plundered, caravans attacked, truces violated, and hostages held for ransom. People with pride might feel that this DVD set is trying to chip away at it by using ridicule as the ultimate weapon against everything that used to consider itself great, and well they might. They should, too. Why am I giving this stars? Why can't I give it ARFs? ARF, ARF, ARF, ARF, ARF!
Rating:
Summary: The humor of history triumphs in all the wrong places
Review: This set of two disks takes a very modern look at about two hundred years of history, but I am not going to remember which two hundred. It was so long ago that people no longer seem to be concerned about how everyone involved managed to absorb all of the financial costs involved. Warfare often upsets some apple carts, and this presentation of the Crusades is openly aware of aristocratic ambition that could be condemned as a desire for conquest while it remains mired in the inversion of spiritual values which prompted the institutional churches at that time to consider each pathetic episode a great thing for one reason or another. My intellectual bias in this area is that no college professor could have made a better version of a history for our times. Back in 1995, the nature of the Order of Assassins with its suicide squads high from hashish was hardly as important as it is in the world since September 11, 2001, but on the other side, the financial suicide involved in trying to change the nature of the Middle East by military invasion was as clear then as more recent expeditions threatening to last another two hundred years boggle the mind today. I might be taking a stand that is too political for 2004, which might be a year in which people in America try to impose their own interest in intelligence, competence, and living within the limits of our ability to absorb losses. This series of television shows puts a lot of emphasis on the extraordinary wealth of Constantinople and Egypt in those times, when military equipment also had a high price. What really gets your goat the first time through this series, though, is the treachery: cities plundered, caravans attacked, truces violated, and hostages held for ransom. People with pride might feel that this DVD set is trying to chip away at it by using ridicule as the ultimate weapon against everything that used to consider itself great, and well they might. They should, too. Why am I giving this stars? Why can't I give it ARFs? ARF, ARF, ARF, ARF, ARF!
Rating: 
Summary: very enjoyable.......
Review: this video is entertaining and enjoyable, and is wonderful to watch if youve just become interested in this history. the filming is elaborate and entertaining, the filming in the middle east is beautiful. worth a look, but not a really excellent resource on the crusades END
Rating:
Summary: Focus on the Positive
Review: This video manages to teach a lot about the crusades in an engaging and amusing format. Unfortunately, the negative comments here about the politically correct anti-western, crusader, Christian, etc. tilt are mostly right on the mark. My recommendation: watch it for the 90% entertaining and informative part and tune out when he gets to the inevitable, skewed and (the worst offense of all) tedious white-man's guilt part.
Rating:
Summary: Excruciatingly Simplistic (pun intended)
Review: Watching the video, I almost felt I was watching an Islamic indoctrination tape. Jones's perspective is absolutely one-sided, and completely ignores the effect Islamic invasions had on the European psyche. He gloats at the deaths of Christians, but bewails those of Muslims. His final parting shot that it was the Crusades that started Islamic fundamentalism is patently absurd, as Muslims had been waging war against each other and "infidels" for a full three centuries prior to the first Crusade was even conceived. If anything, the Crusades, as misguided as they seem in a modern light, were a response to the Islamic notion (and implementation) of Jihad. Perhaps now, after the events of September 11, it might be possible for one to form some criticisms of Islam? (though I am sure Jones and his ilk would find some convoluted way to blame that tragedy on the crusades as well.)
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