Customer Reviews

In Search of History - The Knights Templar (History Channel)

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4 star:		(3)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

WARNING -- this entire documentary is included as a bonus on disk 2 of "Crusade: the Crescent and the Cross", also made by the History Channel. Not only that, but at the time I am writing this review, "Crescent and the Cross" is selling for less than $15, for 2 disks, with bonus material, while this DVD, "Knights Templar" is selling for about $22 and contains no bonus material at all.

"Knights Templar" is a good, not great, documentary. The story is very good, if brief, but the film footage is definitely NOT up to the History Channel's usual quality. They use a lot of Black and White footage from what looks like a very low budget film -- people swinging weapons like they don't know what to do with them. No actual actors performing for the camera, just background footage with voice-over.

My recommendation -- if you are interested in the history of the Knights of the Temple of King Solomon, buy this DVD, but as the bonus disk in "Crusade: The Crescent and the Cross". That, by the way, is a GREAT DVD!

The history channel usually does a good job at mixing the informative side of history with the Hollywood side of visual effects and this episode is no different. With clips of fighting, knights on horseback, actual geographical video and their new technology of 3D maps, they do an outstanding job of giving you a full understanding of the terrain mentioned and the layout of the events covered. The Knights of Templar are very much shrouded in mystery so the daunting challenge was handled well in not just covering what is known but logical explanations to a lot of the unanswered questions left behind. I don't want to go into any detail and give anything away for those who have not seen it, but, from conception to their demise, from logical motive of their creation to how they fared in battle it is all covered in an easy to follow and informative way. These knights played such a huge part in history and it is all covered; first standing army since Roman times, first real bankers, historians, what did they find in their tunneling under the Temple of Solomon? And as I said, what they don't have legit answers for they have experts with logical explanations and hypothesis. I thought I knew a lot about them, but really learned a great deal. Recommended highly.

This is a very well done documentary about the Knights Templar. If you are new to this subject and looking for a broad overview of the history of the Knights in a short period of time, this is an excellent video to watch. It contains all of the key information regarding the creation, growth and downfall of the order as well as some interesting theories about what it was that the templars found in the Temple of Solomon.
If you are a devoted student of the Knights Templar, you will find nothing new on this video. I have been studying the Templars for about a year and have already learned everything that was on this video. It is interesting to watch because I love the subject, but there was nothing new; no new theories, no new findings, no new scholars, no new stories, legends or myths.
So, if you are looking for a starting point for your exploration of the Knights Templar, this is the place to start. If you are looking to expand an already acquired knowledge of the Templars, you probably should look somewhere else.

A 3.5 but I'll bump it to 4 because of the repectful treatment of history.

THIS IS ESSENTIALLY THE SAME THING AS The Knights Templar (just a different cover box and title), SO DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME ON THAT IF YOU GET THIS.

The dramatizations were not very good in this one. They also didn't present as many facts as I had hoped. I saw a different knights templar documentary on the history channel and it was far far better than this one. This one is ok. Mildly entertaining, and some decent info.

I don't want to say typical, but more like a standard documentary on the Order of the Knights Templar. A recommended purchase for a school's history program, and a decent night's relaxation for those watching at home.

This is a decent rendition of the history of the Knights Templar. It's really more of an overview than anything else. If you've studied them or have read other overviews, it probably won't provide much new information although the visuals are nice. If you have a bit of an interest in it, this will at least start you off and if you want to know more, you can explore other sources.

I became interested in the Templars after reading Foucault's Pendulum be Umberto Eco.
I've since read or listened to it at least 10 times,always finding something new.
I bought this DVD in hopes of learning some new things not in the book. It's too bad,there was not much if anything i hadn't learned from Mr Eco.
And I must also say the staged battles were terrible. Almost comedic.
I can't recommend this DVD to anyone with any knowledge of the Templars.
Read Foucault's pendulm and learn a lot more than just about the Knights of Christ

I wanted to watch this documentary, I wanted to like this documentary, and to paraphrase, "I can't believe I watched the whole thing."

OK, I like documentaries in general, and I was intruiged by this one. I did like learning about the origins of the Knights Templar (Knights of King Solomon's Temple), and about their military and political influence, as well as their demise, but there are more things that put me off.

For one thing, the battle scenes they showed could have been pulled off by my kids...in fact I've seen more intense battles first-hand than the ones depicted in this show. For another thing, the historians they showed looked painfully like historians...all academics, no fun, and they seemed to be more interested in sharing what they thought than what they knew.

Of course, part of the attraction of a documentary like this is that there is so much suspected and so little actually known about the fate of the Knights Templar. This is painfully obvious from recent pop-culture, e.g., the movie National Treasure (Widescreen Edition), and who knows how many action-adventure novels tie in?

Anyway,I thought that there was WAY too much conjecture and arm-waving about what might have happened, and too little attention paid to showing what we KNOW happened.

So, all in all, I have to say that I didn't like this show, even though I really wanted to.

2 stars...sigh

DVD shows a lot the same images and there are no visits to remaining castles in the world or so. Its the whole time narrating with few asthonishing images.