Rome

an capall

an capall

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I looked forward to this drama and enjoyed the first episode but wasn't blown away by it. What did you all think?

(For the anoraks among you I notice it was produced by John Milius. JM was one of the key drivers of the late 60's/early 70's auteur movement in West Coast cinema - he was the original creator of Apocalypse now about 6 years before Coppola made it. Probably fair to say he helped pave the way for Coppola, Scorsese, Hopper, Bogdanovitch etc.)
 
I think the history got overtaken by the constant goriness, and Mark Anthony appears to be Phillus Mitchellus in a Roman uniform. I know everyone strives for the dreaded 'accessibility' to all now, but would a top general really stride into the battle tent with a jolly cry of "Vale, phallus anciente!" or whatever "Wotcher, me old cock!" was?

Continuity seemed a bit wonky: one minute, Kenneth Cranham is being presented with someone else's young, beautiful wife as his bride. They begin taking off their clothes for a bit of rumpus-pumpus, and then he's next seen marching out of his palace declaiming "This is my new bride" with a thin-faced, older woman beside him. I know some evenings of carnal agility can be taxing, but surely not enough to age a woman twenty years?
 
Good points. But I always forgive the first edition of a drama as they are obviously intrducing characters and setting up plots. I'll wtach two more episodes before I close my mind.
 
Wasnt overly impressed a bit too much sex (can you have too much sex) and violence. I'm no prude but seemed to be the pulling factor for the programme rather than the story. Will watch next week and give it a chance.
 
I enjoyed it, I thought it was good. To be fair, in order to make it authentic it would have to contain a fair bit of sex & violence - that was what Rome of the time was all about!

Kri - the bit about the new bride for Pompey wasn't a lack of continuity! It was part of the storyline. The point of that is that Caesar offered Pompey his great niece Octavia (after leaving the selection of the bride to Atia, his niece) as Pompey's previous wife Julia (Caesar's much loved daughter out of his beloved wife Cornelia, who died in chidlbirth) had died in child birth. Caesar had offered Julia to Pompey in the first place in order to guarantee Pompey's support & backing of him. Caesar needed Pompey's political clout & loyalty at the time & formed an alliance, the triumvirate, comprising himself, Pompey & Marcus Crassus - Julia was the way that Caesar got Pompey to agree to it; it is believed that Pompey had fallen in love with Julia. When Julia died, the first thing Caesar did was look for another family member to marry to Pompey in order to retain that support & loyalty & keep the alliance intact, particularly as Crassus had been killed in battle. Octavia was the young girl disrobing for Pompey in the initial scene - the programme then moved to another story, leaving the viewer thinking that Pompey was intending to marry Octavia. At the end, the bride was unveiled as being Cornelia Metella, daughter of Metellus Scipio - thus showing that Pompey was effectively ending the triumvirate & allying himself with another political faction with which Metellus Scipio was involved - this faction being enemies of Caesar & allied to Cato. Hence, this was a lynch pin of the story.

Incidentally, Marcus Antonius was pretty well known for being bit of a thug at times; he wasn't the most intelligent in a period well known for intelligent people but he was a very good fighter & soldier, hence he was known to throw his weight around every now & then.

I agree about the language though - a few of the phrases I raised my eyebrow at too. Then again, I guess we have to allow them that - I don't suppose that the majority of the audience would know the difference anyway!
 
I don't mind the colloqiullisms, especially if it persuades the great unwashed to turn off reality TV for an hour or two. I mean - Shadow is your archtypical Essex girl and look how it's already improved her.
 
You wha??? How on earth can you compare Berkshire to Essex?? It's like comparing Brum to Paris!!!!

Strictly speaking, I guess I'm actually from Surrey as I was born there. I have been raised in Berkshire though!
 
(For the anoraks among you I notice it was produced by John Milius. JM was one of the key drivers of the late 60's/early 70's auteur movement in West Coast cinema - he was the original creator of Apocalypse now about 6 years before Coppola made it. Probably fair to say he helped pave the way for Coppola, Scorsese, Hopper, Bogdanovitch etc.)
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And a bit of a right-wing nut. Big Wednesday was a long time ago...
 
Shadow - I just KNOW you didn't lift your erudite posting from the film - come on, you're sitting right next to a copy of Gibbons, aren't you?
 
I can't help it if I'm boring, Kri!! I've read many books about Rome, particularly about Caesar. He was a great, great man & exceptionally politically astute, not to mention highly intelligent.
 
I know she is in Gibraltar, Krizon, but I believe that would means she is sitting next to macaques, not Gibbons.
 
Originally posted by Shadow Leader@Nov 6 2005, 12:55 PM
He was a great, great man & exceptionally politically astute, not to mention highly intelligent.
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He was also a member of The E. Dead Group
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Actually, AC, they're not technically apes! :P They're Macaques, often incorrectly referred to as apes, even though they are also known as Barbary Apes.
 
Did anyone catch the finale last night? I thought it was very good. I can't wait to get hold of the DVD, HBO haven't named a release date yet though (after an initial release of August 2005 in the US was put back) and I missed a couple of episodes over Christmas/the New Year.

In all, I thought it was a very good series and the characters were cast very, very well - James Purefoy is an excellent Mark Anthony, Ciarán Hinds is a very good Caesar, Karl Johson was a brilliantly weaselly Cato and the two scheming female characters were excellently and very cleverly cast - Lindsay Duncan as Servilia of the Junii and Polly Walker as Atia of the Julii.

I see they have a second series planned - I wonder if they will do it as a prequel to this series? I say that as in an entire series of 12 episodes they have covered an extensive period of time - from Caesar's consulship in Further Gaul to his death. There isn't a whole lot that happened afterwards that would constitute as much material as that period in time, surely?

On looking on the American Amazon site to see if the DVD was available over there, I came across a bunch of the best quotes from the series. A pick of the best (IMO) are

Lucius Vorenus: Do you think of *nothing* but women?
Titus Pullo: What else is there?
[he thinks]
Titus Pullo: Food, I s'pose.
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[concerning Servilia's invitation] Atia of the Julii: Why would she want to see me? She hates me!
Mark Antony[her lover]: So do I; that's no bar to friendship.
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[Titus is giving Lucius marital advice]
Titus Pullo: When you couple with her, there's a spot just above her cunny, it's like a little button. Now... attend to that button, and she will open up, like a flower.
[aghast] Lucius Vorenus: How do you know this about her?
Titus Pullo: *All* women have them! Ask anyone!
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Mark Antony: A courier came from Alexandria. Caesar has lifted the siege and massacred the armies of Ptolemy. He is safe and sound, and master of all of Egypt.
[laughing]
Mark Antony: The man is a damn prodigy!
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Originally posted by Shadow Leader@Jan 5 2006, 03:09 PM
There isn't a whole lot that happened afterwards that would constitute as much material as that period in time, surely?

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What???!!! "I Claudius" doesn't even start until after Julius Caesar's death!
 
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