I have watched 'The Thorn Birds' several times and it is a well made show and deserves all the praise it has received. However I can't help wondering if there should be a remake like there was with 'Roots' made in Australia with Australian actors and with Australian accents. Just an idea. Well Australian actors are everywhere at the moment so a dramatization of one of their most popular novels wouldn't be that big. Look no disrespect to the original but I think an Aussie version of an Aussie novel which 'The Thorn Birds' happens to be. I think that Colleen McCullough never liked the mini series. Would she have liked it if it had been made in Australia with Australian actors. Who Knows?

Never been a fan of love stories, but this one I enjoyed a lot, on repeated viewings. The story is dripping with passion and repressed desires, Oedipal complexes, love, hate, anger, guilt, sacrifice… And of course, there's the eternal struggle between body and spirit, the search for truth and meaning, and its disastrous personal consequences. The series is well written, and the acting is very good, especially from the supporting cast. Unfortunately, Rachel Ward is obviously the weak link. In fact, one of her very first lines, a simple exclamation like "Oh, no!" sounds unbelievably false. In addition, she seems to have a speech impediment, a lisp, which is very grating. She sounds like Daffy Duck. Casting Ward for this role was one gigantic, inexcusable mistake.Nevertheless, the story is poignant, endlessly entertaining and "feels" real on many levels, no matter how outrageous it gets. The movie resorts to shameless manipulations, but it's the subtleties of fine acting and clever direction that elevate the melodrama and make it compelling. Art direction and editing are splendid! The story's twists and turns are plausible, and the characters' reactions are always reasonable - they remain believable to the very last minute, even if sometimes the dialogue gets overly dramatic (as in "exquisitely over- the-top"). Strong character development is one of the film's great achievements. Christopher Plummer is simply unforgettable in a key supporting role, as well as Jean Simmons and Barbara Stanwyck, who often steal the show from Chamberlain himself. The chemistry between all actors is palpable, and it's a rare delight to see all those energies cross-fire. Take for instance Ralph and Mary or Frank and his mother- their encounters are sizzling! "Star Trek" fans will be delighted to discover John "Q" De Lancie in a cameo.I was also very surprised to see that the "aging make-up" was excellent, in fact much better that what we see in movies today. The best part of "The Thorn Birds" is arguably the first episode, which includes, among other highlights, the legendary party scene. The last episode was a bit "overdone" in my opinion, more specifically the last 4 scenes or so contain too much unnecessary, explanatory dialogue, that undermines the power of those scenes. Less words would have been preferable. "The Thorn Birds" never gets old, it's a classic for a reason. Die-hard romantics will cherish it, while cynics will enjoy it too for its heavy theatrics and great old-school entertainment value. It's a spectacular three-hankie like no other.A WARNING for those who watch the DVD: there's a completely unnecessary "preview" at the beginning of each episode, where they show the outline of the entire film. It contains many spoilers and will ruin the whole experience for you. Movie trailers were lame back then, but these ones are galactically stupid. So make sure to skip that extra-footage!

Oh, this is one huge mini-series. But it was one huge novel, too. I first read Colleen McCullogh's novel when I was 13 or so, and loved it. So romantic and they lived on a sheep station in NSW, Australia...as I live on a farm in NSW I connected with it. I still like the novel a lot, of course it's melodrama but it's very well told melodrama and packs a real punch. Oh, yeah and the crux of the story is a young girl, Meggie, and a handsome, ambitious Catholic priest, Ralph de Bricassart, falling passionately in love. But he loves God more. I've always loved the story, with Ralph's ambition and his actual love of the Catholic church, and his position within, robbing him of the one thing that could make him truly divine. And Meggie, much like Rhett Butler, eternally waits and hopes. It's actually considered the Australian GWTW.If you've read the novel, the mini-series changes A LOT of the story around, but I didn't mind so much. The main stuff is there. As it was made for American TV, American actors and some Irish/British were cast, with the one Aussie sticking out a mile (Bryan Brown, whom I like a lot from Aussie TV and films). Rachel Ward is a bit "green" as Meggie (she overdoes many of the early emotional scenes), but she's absolutely gorgeous, vulnerable in the early scenes, and memorably hardened in the later. Richard Chamberlain was phenomenal as Ralph de Bricassart. He was everything I pictured the character to be, and really understood the character. Classics fans will love seeing Jean Simmons and Barbara Stanwyck square off as Fee Clearly and Mary Carson, respectively. It was shot in America, so the great Aussie plains (it's set near the fictional Gillanbone in northern NSW, which I have always thought is a substitute for Bourke or Walgett)are "faked", but I can forgive it. Even though the sheep are all wrong (the Cleary's had Merinos, not bloody Suffolks and some things that look Dorpers! I am from a sheep farm so I take special notice), and the fire mysteriously burns everything green. But they got the shearing method right, so that's okay. I laughed, I cried, it was great viewing8/10

One of the best (and first) mini-series ever! I remember watching it faithfully every night while new, going so far as to have to go to my grandmother's house with a friend one night to watch that evening's episode.Richard Chamberlain was the hottest thing then! Rachel Ward, as Meggie, was a little limp then, but I thought that Mare Winningham was incredible as Justine, even though young and around my age at the time. The series stayed faithful to the book, and I have followed Mare Winningham throughout the years and think that she is a great actress and singer also. A super series, and the groundwork for whatever followed.