Rome the TV series - anyone recommend it?

The first season is going cheap at present in Xtravision (if johnfas would just post that onto my address and i throw in the same then ...) and I wonder should I pick it up? I'd like to know if it's any good. On the package it says something like that it charts the Death of a Republic and the Growth of an Empire - nice and sweeping with plenty of maps and charts of advancements into Germania and Britannia and to the east and battles and political intrigue and drama and plenty of historical accuracy and liberal where creatively necessary and so on.

I've a feeling it might be more like Sex in the Colosseum though...

Pretty good in my estimation, a bit over the top in parts, but you really get a sense of what the place was like. IIRC it was a UK/Italian coproduction and all the better for it. Go for it...

A lot of toga-ripping, I thought. "Hollyoaks" in the Old City. Strangely, I still find that the film "Gladiator" is the film that gives me some feeling of being in the head of someone a couple of thousand years ago.

Well, of course, but much depends on your view of toga-ripping

Er... why did I write that?

Yes, Gladiator was very warts and all, despite the high gloss sheen. But even so Rome for a reasonable price is worth it...

I watched all the series on BBC when it first came out. I've seen it's on Discovery every Wednesday(?) at 9 so you can catch up. It's sex, violence and a dollop of the best history in the world. What's not to like?

Ciarán Hinds performs a tour de force as Julius Caesar and Octavian is a suitably imperious scion of Rome's most patrician family. Atia is a scream while Marc Antony is also quite good.

A definite must-see.

cactus flower wrote:

A lot of toga-ripping, I thought. "Hollyoaks" in the Old City. Strangely, I still find that the film "Gladiator" is the film that gives me some feeling of being in the head of someone a couple of thousand years ago.

I'll disagree slightly. I think that film was too interested in giving us a likeable protagonist that it sanitised much of the attitudes of individuals of that time. Rome does no such thing. Life is cheap, honour is paramount, and power is the only morality. Even the good have a dark side as is seen from Lucius Vorrenus's attitude towards his defiled daughter and his children in general.

riadach wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

A lot of toga-ripping, I thought. "Hollyoaks" in the Old City. Strangely, I still find that the film "Gladiator" is the film that gives me some feeling of being in the head of someone a couple of thousand years ago.

I'll disagree slightly. I think that film was too interested to give us a likeable protagonist that it sanitised much of the attitudes of individuals of that time. Rome does no such thing. Life is cheap, honour is paramount, and power is the only morality. If the good have a dark side as is seen from Lucius Vorrenus's attitude towards his defiled daughter and his children in general.

Must admit, did not get hooked into Rome and missed that bit.