Roots is one of those mini-series that will change your life. It was one of the most owerful instances of television where America literally changed their perception of a group of people because of a show that was so powerful and moving. Through Roots, the perception of African Americans as well as slavery was able to be changed. As a child, I do not recall seeing Roots, but it’s one of those things that you just know about whether you have seen it or not. Surprisingly, I think I am one of the few people on the planet that has never seen this mini-series.

This being said, I do plan to buy the first set so that I can watch it soon. When we received Roots: The Next Generations for review, Dominick scoffed when I said I had never seen Roots. He was shocked that I, the person who has seen a million movies and also has a history fetish, had not seen this historically wonderful mini-series. However, regardless of what I have and have not seen, we popped in the first disc of Roots: The Next Generations and settled in for a night of potentially life changing entertainment.

Release Info:
Roots: The Next Generations was based on the award-winning book written by Alex Haley. The book was a true story about his family and what he had learned about their history. The television mini-series includes Haley in the writing credits along with Sydney A. Glass. Haley was an on set consultant for the film to ensure that things were as realistic as possible to what happened in his book.

Roots: The Next Generations was released by Warner Bros Home Video on October 9, 2007. It is available in a two case, four disc box set. Included in the set are each part of the mini-series, which runs for over 650 minutes and some added special features. You can also buy it as a part of Roots: The Complete Collection, which offers Roots: The Next Generations with the original mini-series, Roots, in one large case (see photo for picture).

Roots: The Next Generations Plot:
Roots: The Next Generations aired two years after the original Roots aired on television. A follow up was never planned because the production staff was expecting the movie to bomb in the ratings department. However, when that did not happen they decided to give the world more of Alex Haley’s family. Roots only told the story of Kunta Kinte and his family up to about the fourth generation. This second telling allowed America to learn more about this dynamic family after the civil war had ended.

This mini-series picks up about twelve years after the original Roots mini-series left off. Roots: The Next Generations begins in Tennessee with the great grandson of Kunta Kinte, Tom Harvey (Georg Sanford Brown) and his family.

Tom is a hard working blacksmith with a considerable amount of respect in the black community where he lives. In the town of Henning, he is known for working towards equality as much as he can. Roots: The Next Generations deal with Harvey and his daughter Cynthia and her marriage to Will Palmer (Stan Shaw.) This marriage leads to the birth of a new generation of Kunta Kinte’s family with the birth of their daughter, Bertha (Irene Cara).

As time moves on, Bertha moves on to marry Simon Haley (Dorian Harewood). I bet you can guess who is next just by the last name. This leads to the birth of Roots author, Alex Haley who is played by the impressive James Earl Jones. There are seven episodes in Roots: The Next Generations and a lot of ground is covered. While some episodes are stronger and better put together than others, there is more good content than bad.

The first episode offers a strong start. There are moments where it is slow, but the content is good. Georg Sanford Brown does not disappoint as Tom. He fights hard to gain equality for blacks, but he is blinded by his hatred for whites. He is so blinded by skin color that he refuses to let his daughter marry a black man with light skin. This episode also introduces us to Col. Warner (Henry Fonda) and the rest of the Warner clan. Jim Warner (Richard Thomas) quickly becomes the black sheep of the family when he announces that he has fallen in love with a black teacher by the name of Carrie Barden (Fay Hauser).

As the series moves on, you begin to feel a disdain for the white families and begin to sympathize with and understand why the black families do not like them. However, as things continue there are some small technical problems that left me somewhat disappointed. They seemed to go through quite a bit of time developing Jim and Carrie Warner, but there comes a point when they just disappear. You never really find out what happened to them. It’s just that they are here one minute and then they are gone.

Bertha appears to be self-absorbed and Irene Cara seems to lack some of the experience necessary to play the part. While it is obvious that she is trying, her role really lacks something and it makes you wonder why she is there in the first place. Meanwhile, the big thinking idealistic Simon Haley meets and falls in love with Bertha. Soon, Simon is going to WWI and the series shows what happens to him during his time abroad. Simon is shown fighting in France. This is particularly interesting and important because it details how awful the black soldiers were treated by the Americans and how the opposite reaction was given to them by the French soldiers.

When Simon returns from the war, the Depression is in full steam and he is a college graduate who eventually gains a job as a college professor. Simon soon becomes an unlikable character because he seems blind to everyone and everything around him unless it correlates with his own needs. By episode six you are able to watch Alex become a man. He is first cast as Damon Evans, and while Evans is fine in some parts, this one did not seem to be a match for him.

Alex is shown dropping out of college and entering the Coast Guard. Alex meets and marries Nan (Debbie Allen), but that doesn’t work out because he doesn’t seem to have the motivation to sustain a marriage. Alex wants to be a professional writer and while he has the brooding self-pity thing down at this point, there is little else to go with it.

In the final episode, Alex is taken over by James Earl Jones and becomes a much more interesting character. Alex receives a break when he does a story on Malcolm X that leads to a co-authoring agreement for The Autobiography of Malcolm X. From there he handles another controversial interview and all of this lead to Haley realizing that he has a sense of history that so many lack. This leads him to travel the trail of his family lineage to learn the stories of his family that go as far back as an African family member being kidnapped to become an American slave. Jones gives an excellent performance and that really gives the ending episode a good strong close.

Roots: The Next Generations started off and ended well. There were some bumps along the way and a few miscasting issues, but for the most part this mini-series offers a host of solid performances and an amazing story that needed to be told.

Audio/Video:
Roots: The Next Generations is presented in a full frame format with a compression ratio of 2.55:1. There are some issues with consistency when it comes to the video. There are times when it is easily viewed and other moments where things come up rather flat. It’s never so bad that you cannot see, but there are some unappealing areas when it comes to the visual quality of this box set. The sound comes through on the low end and needs to be played at a higher volume then you may be used to, with newer DVDs. However, if you turn it up you should be able to hear things just fine.

Special Features:
Unfortunately and surprisingly, there are not many special features to go with this amazing mini-series. You would think there would be many, but instead there is only one. The lone special feature is a featurette entitled “Roots: The Next Generations: The Legacy Continues”. Other than that there are no special features available.

Bottom Line:
Roots was amazing from what I have heard. If you try not to compare this or look at the sequel slump that may be apparent then you will love this strong mini-series. While there are some down moments, the majority of the series is compelling, well acted, and will elicit numerous emotions thanks to the historically full content. If you have a chance I recommend the full collection of Roots, but if you already have the box set for the original Roots mini-series, you might want to add this one so that you have the complete story in your collection.

Rating:

Technorati Tags: Roots, The Next Generations, Alex Haley, Jim Warner, Richard Thomas, Irene Cara, Georg Sanford Brown, DVD Review, Mini Series, Box Set

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