It premieries tonight in the US so hopefully it's on various torrent sites tomorrow morning. After watching the trailer and reading about it I'm pretty exited! HBO is almost a guarantee for quality so I have a hard time thinking this will be a let down.
― Lovelace (Lovelace), Sunday, 28 August 2005 21:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 28 August 2005 21:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Sunday, 28 August 2005 21:49 (eighteen years ago) link
― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 28 August 2005 21:51 (eighteen years ago) link
I've never seen a bad HBO show so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt before seeing this for myself.
― Lovelace (Lovelace), Sunday, 28 August 2005 21:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 28 August 2005 21:55 (eighteen years ago) link
― teeny (teeny), Sunday, 28 August 2005 22:07 (eighteen years ago) link
― The Popish Plot (dymaxia), Sunday, 28 August 2005 22:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 28 August 2005 22:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 28 August 2005 22:27 (eighteen years ago) link
― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Sunday, 28 August 2005 22:40 (eighteen years ago) link
― teeny (teeny), Sunday, 28 August 2005 22:44 (eighteen years ago) link
― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Sunday, 28 August 2005 22:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― Lovelace (Lovelace), Sunday, 28 August 2005 22:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― Aimless (Aimless), Sunday, 28 August 2005 22:49 (eighteen years ago) link
― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Sunday, 28 August 2005 22:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― Wiggy (Wiggy), Monday, 29 August 2005 00:25 (eighteen years ago) link
― The Popish Plot (dymaxia), Monday, 29 August 2005 00:57 (eighteen years ago) link
― teeny (teeny), Monday, 29 August 2005 01:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― JD from CDepot, Monday, 29 August 2005 04:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 29 August 2005 04:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Monday, 29 August 2005 04:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― JD from CDepot, Monday, 29 August 2005 04:37 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 29 August 2005 04:37 (eighteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Monday, 29 August 2005 04:45 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 29 August 2005 04:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― Wiggy (Wiggy), Monday, 29 August 2005 05:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 29 August 2005 05:09 (eighteen years ago) link
― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Monday, 29 August 2005 05:26 (eighteen years ago) link
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Monday, 29 August 2005 05:29 (eighteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Monday, 29 August 2005 05:40 (eighteen years ago) link
― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Monday, 29 August 2005 05:42 (eighteen years ago) link
it is a co-production between HBO and BBC!
― Lovelace (Lovelace), Monday, 29 August 2005 08:57 (eighteen years ago) link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/08/21/nrome21.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/08/21/ixhome.html
― Tom (Groke), Monday, 29 August 2005 09:18 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 29 August 2005 13:37 (eighteen years ago) link
― Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Monday, 29 August 2005 13:41 (eighteen years ago) link
― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Monday, 29 August 2005 13:58 (eighteen years ago) link
Most of the cast seem very British. Brutus seems almost American.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 29 August 2005 16:52 (eighteen years ago) link
Roddy McDowall's performance has scarred me for life on that front.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 29 August 2005 17:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― teeny (teeny), Monday, 29 August 2005 19:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 29 August 2005 20:47 (eighteen years ago) link
the show was flat.
― don weiner (don weiner), Monday, 29 August 2005 21:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― M. White (Miguelito), Monday, 29 August 2005 21:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 29 August 2005 21:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 29 August 2005 21:25 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 29 August 2005 21:30 (eighteen years ago) link
Mr teeny and I had a good discussion on the authenticity of the landing strips on the ladies--I pointed out that the roman men seemed to favor shaving their faces and so perhaps the ladies shaved as well, but he maintained that if that was the case, it would probably be all or nothing. I was frankly stunned that he did not know of some poem or whatnot that would settle the debate.
― teeny (teeny), Monday, 29 August 2005 21:30 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 29 August 2005 21:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― M. White (Miguelito), Monday, 29 August 2005 21:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― M. White (Miguelito), Monday, 29 August 2005 21:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 29 August 2005 21:59 (eighteen years ago) link
― Legroom at the Vista (Bent Over at the Arclight), Monday, 29 August 2005 22:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 00:56 (eighteen years ago) link
M.: Because nudity was more common in Rome than it is here. Public baths alone (which were not always unisex), I mean!
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 03:53 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 04:33 (eighteen years ago) link
blood and landing strips aside, what i liked, and what i'm hoping the hbo-nastiness allows more windows into, are moments where the historicity of the show can seem really alien, ie where the attitudes and motivations of ppl can be shown to be actually "classical" ie pre-enlightenment and pre-christian. there were a few flashes of this, the best one i wish i remembered better, but Octavian says something like "I'm going alone?" and Atia responds yes blah blah... a few lines later she mentions which slaves he's taking, threatens one to protect him with his life, and this was no dissonance at all: alone = your slave retinue. similarly, she was fucking the horseman with all of these people milling around her bed: there is no private self, and they didn't count anyway.
― geoff (gcannon), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 04:03 (eighteen years ago) link
I don't see how this will work as a series on HBO, cock and vadge aside. (I know it's nice that they can let it all hang out, but HBO needs to step off the naked train, it's a bit of a cliche.) Hopefully it gets better as they have time to flesh out individual plots and follow characters, rather than telling the I, Claudius story.
Wouldn't it have been better to see the story of the Pompey/Caesar/betrayal/Civil War through the eyes of a set of characters not in the history books? I guess it's a harder sell for $100mn, but that story through a minor aristocratic family with sons on both sides, following their slaves as real characters etc. sounds much more interesting than upper-echelon aristocratic decadence and politicking.
― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 04:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 05:01 (eighteen years ago) link
― leigh (leigh), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 11:09 (eighteen years ago) link
― JD from CDepot, Monday, 5 September 2005 01:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Monday, 5 September 2005 02:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 5 September 2005 04:18 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 5 September 2005 04:20 (eighteen years ago) link
but really, rome so far has been awesome, sex, violence, and enough history to keep a nerd like me happy
― JD from CDepot, Monday, 5 September 2005 04:29 (eighteen years ago) link
― geoff (gcannon), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 03:47 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 06:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 07:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Monday, 12 September 2005 03:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 12 September 2005 05:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 12 September 2005 05:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 00:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 00:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 04:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 04:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 04:40 (eighteen years ago) link
That opening theme still sucks though. Why they didn't go with a Mtn Goats song is beyond me. (There were a few moments where Marc Antony looked like J0hn in this last ep!)
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 04:45 (eighteen years ago) link
― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 04:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― JD from CDepot, Monday, 19 September 2005 18:18 (eighteen years ago) link
I want to know how they're going to get Lucius Vorenus back into the army. I thought maybe Pompey's boy would kill (hotttt) Niobe and that would get him back into the Legion, but no dice.
― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Monday, 19 September 2005 19:59 (eighteen years ago) link
Very true about Niobe. Very, very hott and she reminds me of a mosaic from Pompei too.
I'm becoming fond of the Pullo character, strangely, and some of the dialogue between Lucius and he is classic, such as when, after Pullo has advised Lucius to attend to the little button above his wife's c*nt, Lucius asks in horror and indignation how Pullo knows about it.
― M. White (Miguelito), Monday, 19 September 2005 20:20 (eighteen years ago) link
anyway this is going a bit slow and the atia stuff is still v lame.
i liked all the religion! the augurs, the shrines, candles everywhere, and everyone treating it like real actual stuff.
― geoff (gcannon), Monday, 19 September 2005 23:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 00:21 (eighteen years ago) link
That was pretty interesting! Mostly because you'd expect the bit about why people would join the army to come at the beginning, rather than in the middle.
How long is this series supposed to go?
― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 06:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 06:06 (eighteen years ago) link
What is/are Extras?
― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 16:27 (eighteen years ago) link
Or that B-52s song
― retort pouch (retort pouch), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 16:56 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 17:38 (eighteen years ago) link
Pullo and Young Augustus getting together was great, though.
― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 19:08 (eighteen years ago) link
"Or that B-52s song" Rock Lobster?
― JD from CDepot, Wednesday, 28 September 2005 19:20 (eighteen years ago) link
i've said upthread that i liked how the show places religion. it's all very pagan and nasty and corrupt but at the same time very serious and real (to vorenus especially) but how much of it will turn out to be actual? the entrail reader promised niobe her husband would be rich, and sevilia (sp?) cursed gaius and atia (scary scratching on lead sheets, very cool)...how much of this will the plot actualize? other than the 'e tu' obv.
much repsec to indira varma's stunt-boob, whoever she was.
― geoff (gcannon), Saturday, 1 October 2005 16:44 (eighteen years ago) link
― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Saturday, 1 October 2005 20:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― JD from CDepot, Monday, 3 October 2005 04:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― geoff (gcannon), Monday, 3 October 2005 04:15 (eighteen years ago) link
The last episode seemed week and poorly directed. With the omnipresence of sex in Rome, it hardly seems like Octavian would have been as afraid and ignorant of the act as they made him.
Still, someone gets to pad out his resume with "Appeared in HBO's Rome as 'Slave with Very Large (Onscreen) Penis'". That's worth something.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 15:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 15:23 (eighteen years ago) link
― geoff (gcannon), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 15:45 (eighteen years ago) link
― geoff (gcannon), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 15:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 20:10 (eighteen years ago) link
[special voice]he did actually go by the name Octavius for at least some of his life.[/special voice]
― DV (dirtyvicar), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:07 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:53 (eighteen years ago) link
And YES Niobe is bad!!! In a good way. She was bad in Kama Sutra and still is.
― Mr Godwell, Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:57 (eighteen years ago) link
and how badass is Marc Antony? having whores fight for his pleasure, what a monster. how cool.
― JD from CDepot, Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:59 (eighteen years ago) link
Atia and her family/soap opera (aside from Octavian) remains a weak point of the show, even more boring now that they're irrelevant to the episodes themselves. There's something wrong with Brutus's mouth, I think, or maybe he just talks funny.
I'm not too keen on where the show is headed based on next week's preview - seems like they're compressing the civil war/Caesar meets Cleopatra (getting Lucius Vorenus's sloppy seconds by the look of it) more than is necessary. I wonder if maybe they'll actually finish this season with Caesar's assassination and begin the next season with Octavian becoming Augustus?
― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Monday, 10 October 2005 04:05 (eighteen years ago) link
It was my thought also, that they'd end this season with Caesar being killed, what with how fast things are moving. I'm not sure how well Max Pirkis would fit the role of the older Octavian so soon though, if this is the case.
― Mingus Dew (Mingus Dew), Monday, 10 October 2005 04:42 (eighteen years ago) link
I guess what I'm saying here is I'm worried it peaked about two weeks ago and we're on a downward slide now.
― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Monday, 10 October 2005 12:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rotgutt (Rotgutt), Monday, 10 October 2005 14:31 (eighteen years ago) link
― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Monday, 10 October 2005 15:18 (eighteen years ago) link
I suspect what we're going to see next season is Pullo/Vorenus being split apart by loyalties. Vorenus swore fealty to Marc Antony in order to return to the XIII, Pullo has his in with the future Emperor.
― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Monday, 10 October 2005 17:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― geoff (gcannon), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 22:39 (eighteen years ago) link
― Stuck to a Seat in the New Beverly (Bent Over at the Arclight), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 00:12 (eighteen years ago) link
The torrent took forever, and I had to find another one. Still, despite the battle scene, despite the lameness of the new Octavia story, and despite the ridiculous effect at the end -- let us say, despite being directed by TIMOTHY VAN PATTEN! -- it was a good episode. Dude with the fake nose was great, at least historically/visually. Casting the shows creators as gods within the actual show, kinda hokey, but I suppose it explains a few things.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 08:23 (eighteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Monday, 17 October 2005 00:26 (eighteen years ago) link
i did think something was off about that conversation. the scene where pompey senses that he can play on vorenus' old school pieties to save himself i thought was well orchestrated, but then v's subsequent explanation to caesar didn't ring right; wouldn't he have expressed the same romey honor ("i could not enslave or kill such a man, sah" etc) which caesar would undoubtedly agree (he did kind of say this but eh). considering the historical record shows caesar weeping at the death of pompey and deposing ptolemy b/c of it (have not seen tonights ep yet, it's in the pipe) + his concern to bring cicero & brutus back into the fold... it seemed caes' anger was inserted just to have that gag answer it.
― geoff (gcannon), Monday, 17 October 2005 03:09 (eighteen years ago) link
― geoff (gcannon), Monday, 17 October 2005 03:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Monday, 17 October 2005 04:19 (eighteen years ago) link
god, i LOVE this show. im so sad i don't get a new one next week.
― JD from CDepot, Monday, 17 October 2005 04:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mingus Dew (Mingus Dew), Monday, 17 October 2005 05:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― JD from CDepot, Monday, 17 October 2005 05:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mingus Dew (Mingus Dew), Monday, 17 October 2005 05:16 (eighteen years ago) link
Hated the way they handled the siege and victory again - "blah blah blah IT'S BEEN A YEAR blah blah blah CAESAR IS VICTORIOUS." I know there are major budget constraints, but there's gotta be a better way to do that.
― Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Monday, 17 October 2005 05:19 (eighteen years ago) link
otherwise, exxxcellent ep!! wanton cleopatra ok by me, no use re-historicizing that, added junkie indie frisson just icing on the cake.
speaking of shakespeare, i was waiting to see the stoic brutus emerge, since they started him as a toff. reunion with mama very well done. it's a cold world!
― geoff (gcannon), Monday, 17 October 2005 06:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― geoff (gcannon), Monday, 17 October 2005 06:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― teeny (teeny), Monday, 17 October 2005 12:22 (eighteen years ago) link
There were gratuitous lesbian interpolations! Ah well.
There will be no episode next week? Why?
― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 07:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― geoff (gcannon), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 15:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 15:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 15:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― geoff (gcannon), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 03:44 (eighteen years ago) link
― rogermexico (rogermexico), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 04:11 (eighteen years ago) link
That was perhaps the best directed episode so far, though. Even Atia was pleasant enough.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 10:16 (eighteen years ago) link
― Stone Monkey (Stone Monkey), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 11:38 (eighteen years ago) link
What did you expect, the entire cast is British after all
― Oh No, It's Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 11:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― Matt (Matt), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 12:20 (eighteen years ago) link
― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 02:27 (eighteen years ago) link
― Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 02:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 02:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 03:20 (eighteen years ago) link
I'm actually surprised they don't do more co-productions in this vein.
― Stone Monkey (Stone Monkey), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 12:29 (eighteen years ago) link
― Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 18:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― RickyT (RickyT), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 22:23 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 22:26 (eighteen years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 22:46 (eighteen years ago) link
isnt he the best charachter on the show? I love when caesar asks for his opinion and he PLOTS.
― Lovelace (Lovelace), Thursday, 3 November 2005 01:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 3 November 2005 01:09 (eighteen years ago) link
vorenus for magistrate is pretty inspired even if the "inevitable seperation" of v. and pullo is kind of zzz. and all the stuff w octavian was terrific.
― geoff (gcannon), Thursday, 3 November 2005 01:57 (eighteen years ago) link
They got lazy on the passage of time again - "Oh, say, future Augustus YOU'VE BEEN GONE TWO YEARS. YES, TWO YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE THAT OTHER EPISODE. How goes it?"
― Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Thursday, 3 November 2005 06:41 (eighteen years ago) link
Anyway, in general yes but the incest was great! The way he behaves afterward is everything Atia tries and fails to be.
I'm not sure how you want them to mark the passage of time. I mean, it would be nice if the kid looked a few years older, but.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 3 November 2005 08:23 (eighteen years ago) link
― leigh (leigh), Thursday, 3 November 2005 10:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Thursday, 3 November 2005 11:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Thursday, 3 November 2005 11:51 (eighteen years ago) link
http://store.hbo.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2079010
― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Thursday, 3 November 2005 13:50 (eighteen years ago) link
If you're American you might be a little surpised about British terrestrial tv stations' attitudes to nudity/violence/swearing etc.; post-watershed (ie after 9pm in the evening) pretty much anything goes. I'm often surprised about how coy mainstream American tv is.
So lots of landing strips in evidence last night.
― Stone Monkey (Stone Monkey), Thursday, 3 November 2005 14:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Thursday, 3 November 2005 14:14 (eighteen years ago) link
― Oh No, It's Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 3 November 2005 17:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― chap who would dare to spy on his best mate's ex (chap), Thursday, 3 November 2005 17:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 3 November 2005 17:41 (eighteen years ago) link
The accents don't bother me at all - I'm used to 'classical' peeps speaking some form of BBC English. I can't imagine it done any other way.
― Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Thursday, 3 November 2005 18:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Thursday, 3 November 2005 20:50 (eighteen years ago) link
I'm not shitting you guys.
Why did I dream this and what does it say about me? Ugh.
― Lovelace (Lovelace), Monday, 7 November 2005 15:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― M. White (Miguelito), Monday, 7 November 2005 15:50 (eighteen years ago) link
first episode was okay!
― RJG (RJG), Monday, 7 November 2005 16:09 (eighteen years ago) link
― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Monday, 7 November 2005 17:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Monday, 14 November 2005 05:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 14 November 2005 10:07 (eighteen years ago) link
― leigh (leigh), Monday, 14 November 2005 13:11 (eighteen years ago) link
I'm glad Niobe is dead, in a way - the baby plot and the Servilia vs. Julie Cooper plot were, by far, the weakest elements of the series. If you want to portray Roman women, wonderful, but don't stick them with awful, catty side-plots.
― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Monday, 21 November 2005 04:04 (eighteen years ago) link
Since the Atia/Servilia relationship is treated as the cause of many major events, most notably the murder of Caesar (but it's also why Caesar leaves Rome to chase after Pompey, as I recall), it's hard to consider it a "side-plot". And, although I suppose I don't really want to go down this road, I'm not sure why Servilia's and Atia's sarcastic and subtle grabs for power are considered "catty", but Caesar's, Anthony's, and Cato's aren't -- oh, except for the penis thing.
I think the problem had more to do with Cooper's [is that her name? Atia's] uninspired take on the role, and the ridiculous lesbian bits.
Anyway, I'm pretty happy with that ending, and season 2 will be interesting. Octavian (who started out too old and will surely soon be too young) vs. Anthony vs. Brutus should be interesting. Don't know what they'll do with Vorenus or Pullo, though. But Cleopatra should come back, no?
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 21 November 2005 11:14 (eighteen years ago) link
― chap who would dare to tell uninteresting celeb spotting stories (chap), Monday, 21 November 2005 16:57 (eighteen years ago) link
Vorenus and Pullo have allegiances to Marc Anthony and Octavian - so they'll start out fighting alongside them against the conspirators, and then against each other when the two split.
― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Monday, 21 November 2005 23:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― M. White (Miguelito), Monday, 21 November 2005 23:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Monday, 21 November 2005 23:16 (eighteen years ago) link
― M. White (Miguelito), Monday, 21 November 2005 23:18 (eighteen years ago) link
One of the main points of the series was, it seemed, to show how male and female power worked in different ways (in Rome, or at least in their Rome). Servilia ends up being the most powerful person in Rome: She's the only one who gets exactly what she wants (and what she wanted was something audacious and difficult to procure). (I suppose Pullo does too, but he leaves Rome.)
Now, of course, Season 2 is going to have her power come apart, since after all Atia, Octavia, and Augustus do very well for themselves, and Brutus not so much.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 00:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 00:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― rogermexico (rogermexico), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 00:42 (eighteen years ago) link
The women should have been more than Days of Our Lives cutouts.
― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 01:48 (eighteen years ago) link
Anthony more than any other character came off as an American, and I really didn't like him for it.
Or, to put it another way: The men are ridiculous cutouts as well if they're not just presented as ciphers onto which historical events are mapped (Brutus, Caesar); realistic characters and character motivations are simply not what this show is about.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 02:09 (eighteen years ago) link
Caesar is conflicted - we see him from both sides, Machiavellian dictator and hero of the proles.
Pullo and Vorenus are brilliantly written - certainly not 'realistic' but entirely believable and enjoyable.
Anthony is an archetype, the nefarious playboy (but redeemed by his character's loyalty to comrades and the acting), and I don't think you're supposed to like him (he had gladiator whores, and all). He actually struck me as a swash-buckling British aristocrat/bad boy than American.
Even Timon the Jew was well-written and acted.
Brutus was the worst actor and probably had his character undermined by the inanity of Servilia's subplot. I get the concept behind what they did - look at how this traditionally female dramatic plot can tie into this traditionally male dramatic plot, look at how little things can bring down the biggest empires, etc. - that doesn't mean the writers succeeded. All of the male characters (Brutus) aside were well-written, believable, well-acted. Most of the women were (Niobe included - she struck the right note of a commoner entering into society).
Atia and Servilia, on the other hand, were consigned to soap opera conniving. And it was boring, and it was badly done. It was too bad that they occupied such a large (and unnecessary) part of the show. We didn't need Atia's social striving (we got the hint after the first episodes, and her kids were way better), and Servilia's a woman scorned role was insulting.
― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 02:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 02:37 (eighteen years ago) link
None of the characters were interesting, however, or well drawn, or anything like that. And that's a good thing! Vorenus's character isn't what's interesting about him, what interesting is what the show's creators got to talk about or show through him. He got to be a mouthpiece for ideas about Roman gods, or Roman duty, of this tradition which is alien to ours (and which might have been alien to actual Rome's, but which, it is being argued by the show, is what was claimed as "what a Roman thinks", or something along those lines).
I get the concept behind what they did - look at how this traditionally female dramatic plot can tie into this traditionally male dramatic plot, look at how little things can bring down the biggest empires, etc. - that doesn't mean the writers succeeded.
But I disagree with this. The entire series is the creators showing you what they're thinking -- there is no other grounds to "succeed" on. If you got the concept, then they succeeded. That is where the entertainment and interest comes from.
If the show had succeeded as, say, blount describes the Sopranos as succeeding, then I wouldn't have been interested, just like I have no interest in the Sopranos.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 03:55 (eighteen years ago) link
The entire series is the creators showing you what they're thinking -- there is no other grounds to "succeed" on.Of course there are. If that's all narrative TV/cinema was, we could get by with one-page summaries and be done. There's drama and there's acting and there's dialogue and everything else.
― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 04:01 (eighteen years ago) link
anyway yeah i love this show, one of the only shows ever that i've "followed" as it was on. but it's carnivale caliber, not soporanos or deadwood or 6 ft under caliber. the bits i've liked are the comments on either earlier caesars (brutus being a feeb, very unshakespearean) or the slightly clumsy riffs on current politix ("i've never actually tortured anyone...we have specialists").
i was daydreaming the other day about an "adventures of posca" spinoff, boo hoo.
― geoff (gcannon), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 04:30 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 04:31 (eighteen years ago) link
― lol xbox is hueg (Adrian Langston), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 07:29 (eighteen years ago) link
― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 14:51 (eighteen years ago) link
British made TV show in not being as good as American made TV show non-shockah!
― Oh No, It's Dadaismus (and His Endless Stupid Jokes) (Dada), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 14:57 (eighteen years ago) link
We may accuse Suetonius of sexism by the light of our times, but underneath the contempt he has for people like Livia, lies perhaps, the reality that intrigue was one of the only avenues of influence open to women in a virile culture like that of the Romans.
― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 15:17 (eighteen years ago) link
I'm not arguing that's the only way a tv show could work; I'm arguing that it's the only thing in Rome that really works, and that everything else only works enough to let the concepts shine, and doesn't work so well that it obscures the shiny concepts.
I never felt Vorenus and Pullo were believable characters having believable conversations, but I did generally feel like they were believable concepts bringing up interesting or fun concepts. The whole "Pullo tells Vorenus about the clitoris" scene comes off as unbelievable -- dude's been in Caesar's army for ten years, which is depicted as being filled with blunt men who talk about sex and the body constantly, surely it would have come up before -- but as far as a conversation between someone "proper" and someone "earthy", in a time before widespread sex ed, it's a pretty clever concept.
...
Roman custom doesn't dictate that Vorenus has to marry Niobe's sister now, does it?
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:02 (eighteen years ago) link
I'm going to miss Indira Varma.
― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:20 (eighteen years ago) link
I felt pretty bad when Niobe died, but I think they had to do it. Lucius Vorenus is going to be feeling really guilty in future episodes about his professional screwup in letting Caesar get killed, which would eventually grew tiresome, so they had to mirror that with the more resonant private screwup/loss.
I'm on the side of those who thought the catty intrigue ended up a little on the soap opera side- a few extra arched eyebrows and instead of Ancient Rome, we would have been in Viejo Mexico. Contrast that with Caesar's power plays, which I pretty much bought hook, line and sinker. Usually I have my radar up and think "haha, that actor thinks he can puff up his chest and glint his eye and pontificate and I'm going to believe he is a powerful man. I'm sorry, but life isn't like that, baby" but in this case the writers and especially the actor really pulled it off.
I thought Vorenus/Pullo were great characters, an excellent good cop/bad cop team of one thinking/controlling/repressed guy and one lusty/impulsive/acting out guy. The grumpy straight arrow that is Lucius Vorenus is a type that is near and dear to my heart.
― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:44 (eighteen years ago) link
― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:45 (eighteen years ago) link
No, that sort of thing I generally find sad and tedious (which means I've found it somewhat difficult to get excited about Rome the actual historical empire, which was after all all about that sort of shenanigans). If it's done in the service of a cleverly turned out plot (P.G. Wodehouse/"Scott Tenerman Must Die" style) then I'll put up with it.
In general hour-long tv shows haven't interested me.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 19:51 (eighteen years ago) link
anyway, pretty good, I was hoping ceaser would be around for longer though. bring on cleopatra I say.
― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 00:40 (eighteen years ago) link
― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 01:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 01:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― Gukbe (lokar), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 01:09 (eighteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 01:15 (eighteen years ago) link
― Gukbe (lokar), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 01:25 (eighteen years ago) link
― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 01:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― geoff (gcannon), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 01:36 (eighteen years ago) link
Comedy replies are OK as long as I get a serious one too. Thanks in advance.
― zebedee (zebedee), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 11:25 (eighteen years ago) link
http://www.hbo.com/rome/episode/season1/episode10.html
― mason storm (mason storm), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 11:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― milo z (mlp), Friday, 12 January 2007 01:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― Candy: tastes like chicken, if chicken was a candy. (Austin, Still), Monday, 29 January 2007 14:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― The Redd And The Blecch (Ken L), Monday, 29 January 2007 14:41 (seventeen years ago) link
― Candy: tastes like chicken, if chicken was a candy. (Austin, Still), Monday, 29 January 2007 17:21 (seventeen years ago) link
this series is really chugging along. i wish it had more seasons to come, as this series really should have ended with Phillipa, and the third would be all about the triumvirate falling apart, ending with the Cleopatra fiasco.
i don't want to see cicero killed.
― The Ultimate Conclusion (lokar), Monday, 29 January 2007 17:31 (seventeen years ago) link
― Candy: tastes like chicken, if chicken was a candy. (Austin, Still), Monday, 29 January 2007 17:39 (seventeen years ago) link
― Candy: tastes like chicken, if chicken was a candy. (Austin, Still), Sunday, 4 February 2007 06:06 (seventeen years ago) link
― milo z (mlp), Monday, 5 February 2007 07:04 (seventeen years ago) link
Phillipi is still two episodes off. Hope next week is more than just build up, though presumably a helluvalot has to happen.
Not so sure about Simon Woods. More Posca and Cicero, please.
― The Ultimate Conclusion (lokar), Monday, 5 February 2007 15:50 (seventeen years ago) link
Hell yeah more Posca and Cicero!
― Candy: tastes like chicken, if chicken was a candy. (Austin, Still), Monday, 5 February 2007 15:52 (seventeen years ago) link
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 22 February 2007 04:06 (seventeen years ago) link
― Bill Magill, Thursday, 22 February 2007 16:35 (seventeen years ago) link
― Michael White, Thursday, 22 February 2007 16:38 (seventeen years ago) link
― rrrobyn, Thursday, 22 February 2007 16:48 (seventeen years ago) link
― Michael White, Thursday, 22 February 2007 17:01 (seventeen years ago) link
― rrrobyn, Thursday, 22 February 2007 17:10 (seventeen years ago) link
― Gukbe, Thursday, 22 February 2007 18:38 (seventeen years ago) link
― David R., Friday, 23 February 2007 15:36 (seventeen years ago) link
― accentmonkey, Friday, 23 February 2007 15:50 (seventeen years ago) link
― rrrobyn, Friday, 23 February 2007 16:18 (seventeen years ago) link
― accentmonkey, Friday, 23 February 2007 16:19 (seventeen years ago) link
― aimurchie, Friday, 23 February 2007 16:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― Gukbe, Monday, 12 March 2007 14:39 (seventeen years ago) link
― David R., Monday, 12 March 2007 14:44 (seventeen years ago) link
― Michael White, Monday, 12 March 2007 14:45 (seventeen years ago) link
― David R., Monday, 12 March 2007 14:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― Gukbe, Monday, 12 March 2007 15:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Monday, 12 March 2007 18:27 (seventeen years ago) link
― accentmonkey, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 10:26 (seventeen years ago) link
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Sunday, 18 March 2007 23:28 (seventeen years ago) link
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Monday, 19 March 2007 03:04 (seventeen years ago) link
― milo z, Monday, 19 March 2007 03:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― marmotwolof, Monday, 19 March 2007 05:44 (seventeen years ago) link
― accentmonkey, Monday, 19 March 2007 14:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 20:39 (seventeen years ago) link
― rrrobyn, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 20:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― accentmonkey, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 23:58 (seventeen years ago) link
― ENBB, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 00:12 (seventeen years ago) link
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 00:53 (seventeen years ago) link
― s1ocki, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 00:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― rrrobyn, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 01:04 (seventeen years ago) link
― rrrobyn, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 01:05 (seventeen years ago) link
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 01:12 (seventeen years ago) link
― s1ocki, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 01:32 (seventeen years ago) link
― accentmonkey, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 08:08 (seventeen years ago) link
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 11:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Sunday, 25 March 2007 12:10 (seventeen years ago) link
― accentmonkey, Sunday, 25 March 2007 13:59 (seventeen years ago) link
― rrrobyn, Sunday, 25 March 2007 14:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Monday, 26 March 2007 02:38 (seventeen years ago) link
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Monday, 26 March 2007 02:55 (seventeen years ago) link
― milo z, Monday, 26 March 2007 05:46 (seventeen years ago) link
― marmotwolof, Monday, 26 March 2007 05:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― milo z, Monday, 26 March 2007 05:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― marmotwolof, Monday, 26 March 2007 06:12 (seventeen years ago) link
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Monday, 26 March 2007 14:27 (seventeen years ago) link
― Michael White, Monday, 26 March 2007 14:29 (seventeen years ago) link
― Gukbe, Monday, 26 March 2007 14:39 (seventeen years ago) link
― Michael White, Monday, 26 March 2007 14:45 (seventeen years ago) link
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Monday, 26 March 2007 18:08 (seventeen years ago) link
― rrrobyn, Monday, 26 March 2007 19:26 (seventeen years ago) link
― rrrobyn, Monday, 26 March 2007 19:34 (seventeen years ago) link
― aimurchie, Monday, 26 March 2007 20:04 (seventeen years ago) link
― rrrobyn, Monday, 26 March 2007 20:13 (seventeen years ago) link
― s1ocki, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 01:30 (seventeen years ago) link
― ENBB, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 01:34 (seventeen years ago) link
― rrrobyn, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 01:37 (seventeen years ago) link
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 01:42 (seventeen years ago) link
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 01:55 (seventeen years ago) link
― s1ocki, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 01:59 (seventeen years ago) link
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 02:10 (seventeen years ago) link
― s1ocki, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 02:15 (seventeen years ago) link
― s1ocki, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 02:17 (seventeen years ago) link
― s1ocki, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 02:21 (seventeen years ago) link
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 02:25 (seventeen years ago) link
― Gukbe, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 02:40 (seventeen years ago) link
Looks like Kevin McKidd is going to be in a time-travel cop show! Looks like this is starting next week.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 15:51 (sixteen years ago) link
Watching a few episodes of this every week with s friend in the US and somehow, even though I often think of it as my favourite show ever, I’d forgotten how good it is. Well, at least the first series remains perfect. I spent a lot of time just admiring the attention to detail in costumes and the set (and cursing that the latter burned down), the cast is perfection and it’s just incredibly entertaining at all points.Lots of people will say that it never really was as good after Caesar was killed off, but I personally love deranged s2 Vorenus and sadistic adult Augustus a lot. My actual series favourite is Mark Antony, not least because James Purefoy plays him with a sort of dissipated vibe and is a massive ride while doing so.Watching it in 2020, it’s difficult for me not to agree with the cast who thought that GOT got the funding and promo it should have had. Superb and over before its time.
― caută tu singur (gyac), Wednesday, 19 August 2020 10:41 (three years ago) link
OTM. All time. One of my favorite ever TV series.
― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Wednesday, 19 August 2020 12:17 (three years ago) link
Finished rewatching this yesterday, and had completely forgotten the ambiguity over Vorenus’s death. I mean, he survived injury and being pulled in a cart by Pullo for a month only to then die? Don’t buy it, he’s as dead as Caesarion. Unfortunately due to the set burning down we’ll never know. :(Also, degenerate Mark Antony in eyeliner with the snake tattoo around his nipple is extremely weirdly hot, still. S2 is a bit lacklustre in comparison to 1 but there’s still so much I loved this time round again. I was interested to read that Antony being considered to have taken up local customs when he was in Egypt was a scandal irl as well.
― scampo italiano (gyac), Monday, 21 September 2020 17:55 (three years ago) link
The eyeliner is not a huge stretch. Both men and women in the Egyptian ruling class wore kohl. Antonius would have seen this as part of his power moves to rule Rome by capturing control of Egypt.
The snake tattoo is just Hollywood razzle-dazzle. Tattoos appear to have arrived in Europe around 1500 CE. If the Romans knew about them at all, it would have been via Scythian slaves and the Roman senatorial class would have shunned them comprehensively as a disfiguring and barbaric blemish, more like a cattle brand than an adornment.
― the unappreciated charisma of cows (Aimless), Monday, 21 September 2020 18:16 (three years ago) link
aye the Romans used tattoos to brand prisoners of war and criminals so would have looked down on them, and it was pretty otm of them say I with no tats!
― calzino, Monday, 21 September 2020 18:43 (three years ago) link
well the Romans of that era I should have posted.
― calzino, Monday, 21 September 2020 18:45 (three years ago) link
something like nine centuries later the Holy Roman Empire starting using tats on soldiers i think.
― calzino, Monday, 21 September 2020 18:48 (three years ago) link
Lads I think ye misunderstood my point about Antony’s tattoo.
― scampo italiano (gyac), Monday, 21 September 2020 19:04 (three years ago) link
I was reading a Byzantine history book recently so I'm an egg spurt!
― calzino, Monday, 21 September 2020 19:06 (three years ago) link
I think ye misunderstood my point about Antony’s tattoo.
oh, I think not. HBO knew what they were aiming for and it wasn't historic accuracy, but something a bit more, um... differently located.
― the unappreciated charisma of cows (Aimless), Monday, 21 September 2020 19:13 (three years ago) link
That was my point though?
― scampo italiano (gyac), Monday, 21 September 2020 19:15 (three years ago) link
funny thing is, the eyeliner could have been true to life. at least when he was in Egypt.
― the unappreciated charisma of cows (Aimless), Monday, 21 September 2020 19:18 (three years ago) link
actually thinking his snake “tattoo” was maybe?just henna? Which would have made more sense at the time.https://www.frockflicks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/tumblr_m607rfgUaC1qeun5ho1_500.gif
― scampo italiano (gyac), Monday, 21 September 2020 19:23 (three years ago) link
I've been discovering an obsessive interest in Sumerian culture lately, and kohl (šembi, šimbi, šem-bi-zi-da) goes back 3000 years prior to Antony. Originally charred frankincense, by Antony's time powdered antimony or lead compounds, and neurotoxic. So a little crazy should be expected from those with heavy eyeliner/mascara.
― Disgraced, committing sudoku (Sanpaku), Monday, 21 September 2020 19:50 (three years ago) link
"... Tattoos appear to have arrived in Europe around 1500 CE...."
Didn't Ötzi the Austrian Iceman have some ink on his back?
― Andy the Grasshopper, Monday, 21 September 2020 19:53 (three years ago) link
Yes. He did have some tattoos. The practice of tattooing doesn't seem to have carried forward in any big way into more modern times. When European explorers encountered it in the 1500 CE time period they acted like they'd never seen or heard of such things.
― the unappreciated charisma of cows (Aimless), Monday, 21 September 2020 20:01 (three years ago) link
What does that have to do with James Purefoy being hot though?
― Notes on Scampo (tokyo rosemary), Monday, 21 September 2020 20:04 (three years ago) link
Quite right, tokyo rosemary. I felt sorry for anyone who couldn’t enjoy Antony’s decline both thematically and visually.
― scampo italiano (gyac), Monday, 21 September 2020 20:08 (three years ago) link
I have the DVDs so I’m going to have to do a rewatch soon.
― Notes on Scampo (tokyo rosemary), Monday, 21 September 2020 20:11 (three years ago) link
“Bruno [Heller] once did outline a story that he was going to start the whole series with,” Stevenson said. “An 88-year-old Pullo going down to the riverside by Vorenus’ tomb, or sarcophagus, pouring wine on it, taking a sword out while sitting there on the banks, looking at the glistening river, and committing suicide.
“And as he has his face hit the sand on the banks, a fish jumped out of the water, and the silver light on the fish caught the sword, which brought us right into that first battle with Lucius Vorenus and [Titus Pullo] where he breaks ranks.”
As according to Stevenson, the final scenes of the series would have eventually explained this fate as the relationship between Octavian, who is only a child when Rome starts, and Pullo becomes clear.
Says Stevenson, “The reason was that the only person on the planet who [knows] the Emperor Augustus to be human, who was Octavian, is Pullo. And Pullo’s the only one who has that memory of him or that life. And basically, [Augustus] asks him to. Nobody else could kill him. But at that stage, Octavian is obviously in his paranoid imperial sort of thing, and Pullo is the last tie to that time when he was a boy. It’s genius.”
― Donald Trump Also Sucks, Of Course (milo z), Monday, 21 September 2020 20:13 (three years ago) link
Finished my third (fourth?) rewatch and it hasn't lost any of its greatness. As for the question about Vorenus' fate: why would Pullo lie to Augustus? Maybe because LV was loyal to Antony and Pullo was just lookin' out for his homie? Hmm.
Would be nice if a surprise "20 Years Later" type film following up on our characters ever gets made. Not holding my breath. But I will make a little offering to Dis and see what happens.
― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Saturday, 20 August 2022 23:16 (one year ago) link
Thanks. Haven’t rewatched since the first time but have certainly thought about it.
― My Little Red Buchla (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 20 August 2022 23:44 (one year ago) link
I don't think I ever finished this- is there any gay stuff?
― Left, Sunday, 21 August 2022 11:24 (one year ago) link
ctrl+f gay suggests no :(
― Left, Sunday, 21 August 2022 11:25 (one year ago) link
THIRTEEN!!!
Ray Stevenson...the one Titus Pullo...Rest In Peace.
― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Monday, 22 May 2023 20:27 (ten months ago) link
Fuck this. Favourite show of all time, adored this guy.
― Everybody's gonna get what they got coming (gyac), Monday, 22 May 2023 20:43 (ten months ago) link
Hadn’t even realized. RIP :(
― Cathy Berberian Begins at Home (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 22 May 2023 20:44 (ten months ago) link
Been thinking about rewatching recently.
― Cathy Berberian Begins at Home (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 22 May 2023 20:45 (ten months ago) link
Just was recommending somebody watch that show as an alternative to reading Gibbon.
― Cathy Berberian Begins at Home (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 22 May 2023 20:47 (ten months ago) link
Finally watched Rome this year, what a treat. Stevenson elevated anything he was in, RIP
― Vinnie, Monday, 22 May 2023 23:30 (ten months ago) link
One of my favourite non-Thirteen Pullo moments is when Cleopatra is trying to get pregnant and first invites in Vorenus, who refuses. Then Pullo is invited into the tent as second choice, has no problem and they have wild sex with ululating etc. Cut to Vorenus lying outside, fuming, wide awake. Pullo comes out of the tent walking on air, tries to talk to Vorenus, who just shuts him down immediately. It’s an incredible scene with their dynamic and Stevenson’s comic timing is incredible. RIP.
― Everybody's gonna get what they got coming (gyac), Monday, 22 May 2023 23:45 (ten months ago) link
Hahah
― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Tuesday, 23 May 2023 06:17 (ten months ago) link
IIRC This was the First ever BBC drama (maybe HBO) to be filmed in HD, a good choice looking back on it,
first of the new, rather than last of the old.
R.I.P Ray, you were great in this.
rewatched series one a few years ago, maybe time to go into Season two.
The BluRay has an option which points out all the historical stuff going on in the background, really wish more dramas include that especially all the easter egg filled Marvel/Disney shows.
― my opinionation (Hamildan), Tuesday, 23 May 2023 09:16 (ten months ago) link
Forgot about Michael Apted’s involvement.
― The Original Human Beat Surrender (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 30 May 2023 00:26 (nine months ago) link
such a classi, great show. RIP Titus Pullo
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 30 May 2023 03:13 (nine months ago) link
The writers hate Cicero so much.
― what you say is true but by no means (lukas), Wednesday, 30 August 2023 04:12 (six months ago) link
Just saw a trailer with Indira Varma front and center!
― Make Me Smile (Come Around and See Me) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 22 March 2024 19:43 (six days ago) link
She lives round the corner from me and is
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 22 March 2024 20:57 (six days ago) link
…always quite striking even in “just got out of bed to grab coffee” mode
Also a surprisingly awesome audiobook reader for Terry Pratchett’s witches books
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 22 March 2024 20:59 (six days ago) link
Exactly as this thread was revived, I was watching Indira play Lady Macbeth in London's Docklands.
she was great, in case that needed stating....
― my opinionation (Hamildan), Sunday, 24 March 2024 20:55 (four days ago) link
That’s the trailer I saw!
― Make Me Smile (Come Around and See Me) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 24 March 2024 21:00 (four days ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57_IiR1ynw8
― Make Me Smile (Come Around and See Me) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 24 March 2024 22:23 (four days ago) link