claus

I love Stephen King books and hate most of the movies except shawshank redemtion, Dead Zone (Christopher Walken), shining (Nicholsen).
I really didn't like the TV-ones.

The story of Kingdom Hospital sounds good, so is the trailer.
The original ghosts was boring.

So should I get it! 24.99 Pounds for UK Region 2.

Gerry P.

No. If you're going to make a blind buy, stick with the original miniseries created by Lars von Trier.

MasterofDVD

I've never seen the original Lars Von Trier version so I can't really compare it to the SK version. Some time ago I was on a huge King kick and bought up stuff like It, Storm of the Century and Kingdom Hospital. While KH is pretty interesting it seems to be a simple story drawn out far far too long. (If the original version is different someone please let me know.) It just seemed to go on and on and then end as quickly as a car hitting a wall. Certainly wasn't what I needed to satisfy my cravings at the time.

smackattack

KH started good, and had some promise, but was bombing and got canceled. What i think happened is that they were planning on the story arc going on a bit longer when they got canceled. They already had a couple of throwaway fluff episodes in the can (didnt advance the story arc much) so they aired then and then wrapped up the arc in 2 episodes or so.

So what happens is you hit this lull then wham bam, they end it, and its not all together satisfying. Id blind buy it if you like king, and can get it cheap. I dont know if i would blind buy on a whim and pay close to full pop. Wait a year or 2 and pick it up cheap, its not going anywhere.

MovieExchange

I've never seen it, but everyone I talk to that has tells me how bad it was.

rfduncan

I have to agree. The American KH was good in the beginning but every episode seemed to be fluffed up to fill an hour and almost NOTHING happened to move the story forward. You'd probably watch it once, but I doubt you'd ever watch it again.

joliom

I started watching it and quit after the first episode. It bored me to tears. I definitely would not advise a blind buy. Netflix it or something first.

brainee

Considering that you don't like/hate other King tv projects and most movies, I'd say this is an easy call for "No". I stopped watching about the third episode (and I'm more tolerant of King-on-TV than you). Get the Von Triers version. It's so much better. Even people that I know can't stand foreign movies (let alone a 9-hour Danish miniseries) love this.

Jason Reynolds

I tried to watch it when it aired and only made it thru a few episodes (slow and boring as most everyone has pointed out.)

Then I bought the DVD thinking I've give it another chance. Still slow and boring (though I watched the entire thing this time.)

Don't bother.

-Jason

MrE

No. It's a mess...almost enough of a train wreck so that you want to see how bad it will get...until you realize that you don't care.

wendersfan

So let me get this straight - not only was there an American remake of von Trier's Riget, but STEPHEN KING was involved?!?

lemmy999

I am a huge King fan and have liked most of his books and have enjoyed many of the movies (TV and big screen) at least on some level. I missed the first couple of episodes and tried to watch maybe episodes 3 & 4 and I really hated it. Nothing seemed to ever happen.

Gord Lacey

I'm 99% sure that this was a limited series (longer than a mini-series, but something with an end) that played out until entirely. In commentaries or interviews on the DVDs they mentioned how they shot the series; all the scenes in one area were filmed at once. That's not how they normally shoot a series, and would be impossible to do if they didn't have an end in sight.

I hated the first episode when I saw it on TV, but I allowed myself to get into it on DVD. Is it a good blind buy? I think you can probably find something better. A good blind rental may be better.

Gord

critterdvd

The Pilot movie was interesting, but the show got incresingly worse as the series went on. I am a huge collector of Tv-on-DVD, but I won't be spending money on this unless I find it in the Dump Bin at Walmart

Josh Z

Blind Buy threads belong in the "DVD Reviews" forum.

And no, this is not a good blind buy.

You're absolutely correct. The entire series was scripted from beginning to end before it went into production, which is highly irregular for a television series. Kingdom Hospital was conceived and planned as a "limited series", which is like a miniseries with a definitive beginning, middle, and end, but runs for more episodes.

The show is exactly what Stephen King wanted it to be. If it ends badly, that's because... well, it's Stephen King and everything he writes has a lousy ending.

critterdvd

I remember an interview with King that said, the it was conceived as a limited series, but how he left "backdoors" to bring the show back for a second season... basically like "The 4400"

Geofferson

I am in was in the same boat as the OP and after reading this thread, have decided against making a blind buy for this. Too bad it wasn't good - it sounded as if it had lots of potential.

Richard Malloy

Potential? A Stephen King miniseries overseen by King himself? A recipe for disaster!

On the other hand, the original version of "The Kingdom" (von Trier's "Riget") is brilliant.

jmj713

Seen as a Stephen King "TV novel", as it was intended, it's very good. I greatly enjoyed it, and it was a blind buy for me.