For some reason I seem to be unable to find on the imdb the number of episodes and even seasons! of Riget. Some talk about three seasons; in one version I get 5 episodes for the first season, in another version I only have 4. Can you please help me out, and excuse me for this lame question?
Thx!
Just pretend it's wine.
Going from my dvd of the first series, which is quite a number of years old, there are 5 episodes. There is a second series, which unfortunately I still don't own, but going from what I can remember when it was shown on BBC 2 years ago, I think there were another five. You can buy a boxset of the two together and I would definitely recommend it. Hope that is of some help.
"I've got a cracking hangover and an *beep* like a blow-lamp."
Let me add a little to the confusion.
For years I've had some import 2DVD box of the first series. It has five episodes. Also for years I've had 3 VHS tapes for the second series with (I believe) three episodes. Now I bought the 4DVD series I+II box and it has 4 episodes for each series. The older DVD box had a 3rd episode which I checked is part of the new box. It looks like the series have been 'cut again'...
-edited-
Here's something from the message board of Riget II:
"The whole series is 2x4 episodes. The ones you have listed from the 4 DVD box set are the original uncut episodes. The reason that some video producers and tv broadcasters have split them into more, are because each episode is longer than an hour. I believe most have cut them to approx. 50 minutes each.
There are only 8 of the von Triers commentaries, one for each uncut episode (at least, as far as I know)."
"I have seen Riget I and II on the french-german TV channel ARTE and it was in 11 episodes of 50 minutes with Lars' commentary for ALL the 11 episodes. "
"Hi, I'm Danish, and watched the original run of "Riget" on Danish TV. It's only 8 episodes, so I imagine that ARTE cut them to 50 minutes each, and then ran some of von Trier's commentaries twice to make it fit. I KNOW there's only 8 episodes, so there's no reason in arguing ;)"
SPOILERS
It's a good question. I just finished watching the fourth episode called "The Living Dead." I got it from Zip (the Canadian equivalent of Netflix) and that seems to be it. But at the very end some horrible man/monster is being born and it just ends. That's it!?!?!?!?? I would have expected one more episode to wrap everything up. So if someone could confirm that that is the finale of the first series, I'd appreciate it.
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"I'm running this monkey farm now, Frankenstein!!!"
Kingdom/Riget is 8 episodes long (2 series a 4 episodes). Every episodes is about one hour long.
The episode, you are talking about, is nr. 4 and final in the first series. And yes, nothing is wrap up. It is a very open ending.
Thanks for that information! Sort of disappointing. While I don't mind open endings and don't need everything wrapped up in a neat ribbon, the series just slams to an end the second it starts getting good.
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"I'm running this monkey farm now, Frankenstein!!!"
"I just finished watching the fourth episode called "The Living Dead." I got it from Zip (the Canadian equivalent of Netflix) and that seems to be it. But at the very end some horrible man/monster is being born and it just ends. That's it!?!?!?!?? I would have expected one more episode to wrap everything up. So if someone could confirm that that is the finale of the first series, I'd appreciate it."
Hi. Actually what you saw WAS the finale of the first season! The director deliberately left it on multiple cliff hangers. This was made for Danish TV and he wanted people to ask for more. They did and "The Kingdom II" came out 2 years later. It opens a few months after the ending of the first and continues the stories. That's on DVD but (like the first) it's over 4 hours long and STILL has no ending. There was going to be a third one to wrap everything up but the main character (I think his name is Helmut) died and the director said he couldn't finish the series without him. I do recommend the second one (it's as good as the first) but it leaves you hanging and will never be resolved. I hope this all makes sense:)
Thanks! That explains everything nicely. Sort of frustrating that no one will ever know how everything resolved itself. I'm curious about the second season, but I'm not sure if I'll watch it, given that there won't be a third.
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"I'm running this monkey farm now, Frankenstein!!!"
You're welcome:) I agree--no ending is frustrating...but in the second one you DO find out what happened after the end of part 1.
shareFrom what I've heard, the actor playing Sigrid Drusse also died, which made it even more difficult to continue the series. The guy playing Stig-Helmer, Ernst-Hugo Järegård was one of the most famous actors in sweden, and still is. He is a true legend here. It's just a shame that this series didn't finish, it's one of the best I think.
shareYeah--I found that out after I sent the last post. So with TWO main characters gone there's no way it could have had a proper finish. Ah well! I'd rather have just 2/3rds of the series than nothing at all...
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