This was a big TV miniseries that ran on NBC in the 1980s. All star cast, budget over $30 million ($70 million in today’s money), made by the same people that did critically acclaimed Jesus of Nazareth.
A.D. follows the important events that took place between Rome and Judea in the middle of the first century. Jewish, Christian, and Roman stories are all explored. It was a very good miniseries, if sometimes stilted and structured compared to what is normal today. I do recommend it.
The problem with this miniseries though is that…like Star Wars…it was altered from its original release and not made available in a high quality modern format. A religious group bought the rights and turned the miniseries into an instructional DVD for Bible schools. The Christian content was kept but mixed into lessons; meanwhile, nearly all of the Roman and most of the Jewish storylines were simply eliminated.
If you are looking for the original version of this miniseries, IMDB only lists the “Special” edition DVDs. Likewise, online vendors only sell the altered DVDs. There are a few collector’s edition VHS tapes of the original cut, but as best as I can tell, they’re only available for rent at a few Christian universities across the country.
Anyway, that brings everyone up to speed, and I have started working on this project. I have acquired the original version of A.D. Anno Domini, complete with all of the Roman and Jewish scenes as well, via multiple .VOB files. I was just editing them for my own collection, but then I thought why not post here and maybe work with some other people to restore this fine miniseries, so other people can watch it in the future?
The quality is good but not good. What I mean is that there is some damage and it’s obviously not HD, but with minor cropping and restoration work, I think it’s still easy to watch. The textures are good, and the people’s faces aren’t made of digital wax. On the other hand, there is a lot of noise and color damage. All-in-all, it’s not in bad shape though, all things considered.
I’ll keep posting updates in this thread, and since I have very little technical expertise, if anyone wants to help enhance the video or audio quality, or convert to .MKV files and upload them, etc. Please feel free to offer in this thread or send me a PM.
In case you’re interested, here is a trailer of the series I found on Youtube. Thankfully, my audio and video quality is already much better than this!