Rating: 
Summary: Kindred - the Embraced
Review: The series was cancelled by Fox due to low rating .. it COULD have been better but is nonetheless a must-see for practically everyone! It is based on White Fox Game Studios' Vampire: The Masquerade roleplaying game, and it takes you into a world of immortal beings, filled with passion, intrigue, betrayal and drama. It makes you sit on the edge of your chair as you follow Julian Luna, the Prince and leader of the vampires in Los Angeles (I THINK that was the city ...), as he desperately tries to uphold the laws of the Kindred and keep peace between the Clans. Eddie Fiori, leader of the Brujah Clan, does not make it easy for him, but he have unexpected allies and friends, among these Frank, a man who has sworn to kill him but who ends up on his side.
Rating: 
Summary: Kindred - The Embraced
Review: Where can I start with this volume of Vampire Tales? It is set in San Francisco and tells the tale of A vampire Prince, Julian Luna. A handsome charismatic man who rules the vampiric clans righteously and with justice. The Clans are made up of The business orientated Ventrue, The beautiful artistic Toreadors, The criminal like Brujah, The ganglike Gangrels and the ferocious Nosferatu. All have their place and they mingle along with humans living by the law of the MASQUERADE. This is an elaborate ploy to make humans think that the Kindred are mortal. It is a carefully woven tale, full of intrigue, and anyone that has a fascination with vampires will not fail to enjoy this DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Great
Review: I missed some episdoes when it originally aired on TV. I was so glad this DVD collection was available. I did not purchase it here but I am referring a friend to do so. Mark Frankel, the main character's untimely death makes me wonder what would have happened had he lived. I love the chemistry of all the characters/actors/actresses. Daedelis (sp??) was/is my favorite character. He was charming, disturbing and intriguing all at once. Julian, for looks was next, of course. What a sexy dman vampire! His inner beauty as well as outward is resting in heaven now. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Rating: 
Summary: For all of your continuity geeks....
Review: When I heard of Kindred: the Embraced, I was interested. I was a freshman in college, had loved shows like Forever Knight and the movie version of Interview with a Vampire, and was just getting involved with the hugely popular, Vampire: the Masquerade game. When I heard that a series based on this game was coming on, I was eager to watch it, eager to see the re-enactment of such a fascinating game.Boy, was I dissappointed. First of all, this show was supposed to be based on White Wolf's World of Darkness line, instead it came out to be more like the World of Farceness. Much like online chatrooms based on the popular RPG game, this shows was so full of bad acting, bad writing, bad direction, and bad interpretation of the matieral put out by White Wolf game studios that it was almost laughable, if it wasn't so pathetic. Aaron Spelling, in typical fashion, took what should have been a study in Gothic/Punk horror into an angst ridden soap opera with fangs. Not only did he ignore all the basic rules that WW had set out for it's imaginary world, but he even ignored some of the adages that have followed vampiric myth and legend for centuries. (Vampires, as far as I knew were never able to walk out in sunlight.) The acting, outside of the two rival female leads, was forced, stilted, and hysterical, with the characters being cardboard cutouts of stereotypes using terms that just didn't seem to flow from them, like people who used these terms consitently should. And I won't even bring up the poorly done special effects, which caused all of who watched it to laugh with hysteria. Come on, I know people who done better with Photoshop than that. To make matters worse, this show was to appeal to the Gothic, gamer subculture out there, most of whom have been playing the game Vampire: The Masquerade and it's companion games for several years, if not most of the decade. They are sensitive to what was included in the show and what wasn't. For example, where was the Sabbat, the Camarilla's perennial rivals, or the Anarchs, who were supposedly in control of most of California in the WoD. Why did the court of Prince Luna not refer to themselves as the Camarilla, which they undoubtedly were. Where were the missing two clans in the city, the Tremere, clan of blood magicians, and the Malkavians, the clan of Lunatics, two of the most important clans in the Camarilla. They portray five clans, and a sixth, Assamite, where are the other seven clans and umpteen bloodlines that are in exsistence, and why are all the powers possessed by all the clans? Only a few clans own certain powers, to learn others it takes time, blood, and a teacher to do it. Why weren't the Traditions, the laws of all Kindred, mentioned, such as the Law of Domain, giving the Prince carte blanche in almost all affairs of the city, and as for the Masquerade, if it was so important to them, why was it violated to often and let off so lightly? Why were human's allowed to know of their presence without even being ghouled to be kept loyal, and how could a vampire Prince be such a open member of the community without the Camarilla at large being angered by the Prince's presumption? The list goes on and on. It was a large and rather grand idea to put this expansive, inrtiquite, and often times complicated game on to the small screen, and I don't envy anyone the challenge. To be honest, I doubt that any television series could bring out the nuances of the game, there is just to much of it to bring out to give it the gothic punk feel without Aaron Spelling's trademark teen angst, drama queen, soap opera stamp on it. These writers, however, hit no where near the mark, cut out Mark Rein Hagen from it's production, and detroyed any semblance of what makes the game great. It's no wonder Rein-Hagen went to court and the it's no wonder that the show was cancelled. It wasn't good, it wasn't even mediocre, it was laughable. To all of you who love the posing, fawning, and the angst, buy this video, it will please all you vampiric/lust/romantic fantasies. But if you truly respect the WoD and V:tM, don't waste your money, you'll only pull your hair out in frustration and feel badly for wasting you money on it.
Rating:
Summary: For all you continuity geeks out there...
Review: This show, to all red blooded WW gamer types out there, like myself, should be laughable at best, deplorable at worst. Not only did they competly rape, pillage, and tear apart the continuity of the World of Darkness which this game is set in, they ignored the basic rules set out that give any sense and order to Vampire: The Masquerade, which this show is based from. Why is the Prince such a weeny? What happened to the Traditions? Since when could Kindred walk in daylight, eat food, and have sex? When did the Masquerade become so pliable? Why don't they use the term like "Camarilla", which this court is, or "Sabbat", their perennial enemies? The Gangrel were members of the Camarilla at the time, but where were the Tremere or the Malkavians? They are some of the most devious and plot furthering clans in Vampire? Why does every clan have powers they should not posses? Why do all the primogen get along, despite their respective political views? Since when do the Brujah and Gangrel have a hatred of each other? When were the Assamites a bloodline, and how do they become chameleons? Why do Nosferatu have magic, and without Tremere, where do they get it from, and what is their 'primal form' anyway? Why does Julian's sire have the name of a high ranking Camarilla official, Archon, the right hand of the Justicar's? Where are the Traditions? Why do vampires care about love, romance, or anything like that? Why aren't there Bysantine politics and enough political manuevering to make C-Span drool with envy? Why was the plot so badly written and completly incongrous with WW? Where are the 13 clans and umpteen bloodlines? Why, why, why? Why was this show even on? Mark Rein-Hagen pulled it because Aaron Spelling butchered it so badly, turning it from the World of Darkness to the World of Farceness. Despite the good looking cast, the hot and steamy scenes, and enough angst to choke a dead horse, tehre was nothing to make this show any better. It was awful, and to the White Wolf gamer, it was an embarrassment. Sorry to say, but unless you are a angst ridden, gothy, drama queen, this show is not worth your time. Go watch Forever Knight for good vampire television, you won't find it here.
Rating:
Summary: Love the show, hate the uninformed fans.
Review: (1)Once there was a show about vampires. (2)Then that show got cancelled, due to any number of factors. (3)Then the actor who played Luna was killed in a car crash. Do you understand? There is a progression of events 1-2-3. Now I'm sure we would like to think of it as 1-3-2 because then it would make us feel better about ourselves if the show was cancelled over something serious, but alas no.. the show WAS canned before the actor died.
Rating:
Summary: Sucked.
Review: How to save 30 bucks: 1) Watch the USA Network for the eventual reruns of Dark Shadows 2) Record them. 3) Stop purchasing everything white wolf releases just because it has the ww logo on it. You Drones. This midseason replacement show lacked.......strong writing, distinct characters,purpose,tone,or continuity. Never mind the hokey angst ridden dynasty ripoffs pining for human existance or posing as they discuss the masquerade. The writing was on par with bad,bad web fanfiction ('ohhhhh to never see the sun again my love!') and is considered by many to be one of the most emabarrassing and blatant projects white wolf has released. The cutscenes for Vampire:The Masquerade, Redemption have more convincing acting, more pathos in the voices, and more expressive characters...and you won't have to sit through every regurigated cutscene or soundtrack from every other vampire movie in recent history to 'enjoy' it.
Rating:
Summary: Gothic Hit
Review: When the TV pilot came out, I tuned in not expecting much considering the small screen format and budget. The pilot did not let me down, it was slow and mediocre in vampire content, or so I thought! The second episode hooked me, although the series ended abruptly with the untimely death of Mark Frankel (Julian Luna), it is a must see for vampire and gothic fans.
Rating:
Summary: DVD Doesn't Match VHS
Review: Being a fan of "Kindred: the Embraced" I purchased the VHS set when it was released. This past Christmas, my family gave me the DVD set. But after watching "Prince of the City" I am disturbed: the wrong version is on the DVD. In the broadcast version, there is a scene at Octavius' wake (in the winery) where Brigid Walsh is introduced. That scene *is* in the VHS version, however it is nowhere to be found on the DVD version. Worse, The ending of the broadcast version shows Julian cazing over the city. This is the same in the VHS version. But the DVD version shows the body of Alexandria, in the San Francisco Bay, COMING BACK TO LIFE. What I can only surmise is that the VHS version is what was actually broadcast, while the DVD version is the pilot as originally pitched to Fox Network. The remaining episodes appear to be the broacast versions, but I am deeply disappointed in the DVD release. Being a winemaker, the winery scene was one of my favorites. And now my curisity is intrigued: was Alexandria supposed to come back to life and be a recurring character? So the bottom line: if you want the broadcast version, buy the VHS release.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent series
Review: I remember watching this when it came on tv. I was rather impressed. I think maybe I was the only one though, since it went off of the air off the air after 6 episodes. This is a fantastic tv series that should have went on for years. Instead we got stuck with seventh heaven and other assorted trash...
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