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Jul 11, 2014Prodigious_girl rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
I'm one of those people who have to read the book before viewing the television series or movie. I read Ken Follet's World Without End and liked it (not as much as Pillars of the Earth, granted, but it was still a very engaging book). When I started watching the TV adaptation I found myself pulling the DVD out halfway through episode one. Too many things were inconsistent with Follet's original plot that I had to stop. Usually I try to suffer though but I just couldn't because SOOO many things were wrong that it just wasn't Follet's original story anymore but a total re-write. To make things worse a lot of genuine and important parts were taken out or re-written. A lot of important things were also changed which will eventually change the goals of the characters - such as Ralph. His father Gerald was just supposed to be a knight (Roland was always the Earl, he was not granted this position by Queen Isabella) who was degraded because he could not pay rent. He also wasn't hanged but forced to live off of the Church's generosity. It is watching how his father is supposed to now live that drives Ralph to not only secure his father's status back to the family, but eventually surpass it. Most of the main characters (Caris, Gwen, Merthin (and Ralph in a lesser way) are also supposed to create a life bond with each other due to the events they witness as children (involving Thomas). They also made Edward out (as far as I watched anyway) to be just another guy who can easily find himself on the gallows which is far from his character. He was crippled from birth, not because of anything Roland did to him and remains the well respected chairperson of the town guild. These are only just a few examples (as there are many) of the ways this production failed. The only thing good about it was the cast - which only makes me sadder that this wasn't well written because the cast was made up of fantastic actors.