Rome - New HBO show

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so does that mean that's Pullo's kid?

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

Yeah, I was thinking the discovery of it being Pullo's kid could be their tie in to why Caesar's son was killed by Octavian during his rise to power.

― Mingus Dew (Mingus Dew), Monday, 17 October 2005 05:06 (eighteen years ago) link

that, and what was cleopatra smoking? opium?

― JD from CDepot, Monday, 17 October 2005 05:12 (eighteen years ago) link

Opium, yep.

― Mingus Dew (Mingus Dew), Monday, 17 October 2005 05:16 (eighteen years ago) link

They don't really need a tie-in as to the death of Caesarion. He was a rival to the throne, the direct blood of Caesar (vs. Octavian being a nephew). It would actually be a better reason to spare him if news came out that Caesar was his daddy.

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

yeah the time advances are a bit clumsy. but what else, montage? i'll live with it. sort of wish the combats were done a little more care.

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

re: budgetary constraints; skipped battles i'm ok with, but in looking at some of these a couple times i realize the built environments are pretty measly. esp. in egypt, shit was big! having scenes in minor anterooms or whatever, fine, but there was no sense of ancient scary pagan scope. not even perfunctory cgi pyramids! or the lighthouse! don't tell me the boys wouldn't do a little tourism.

― geoff (gcannon), Monday, 17 October 2005 06:13 (eighteen years ago) link

the forum scenes are so gorgeous though that I'll forgive them for skimping on egypt.

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 17 October 2005 12:22 (eighteen years ago) link

There was no Atia in this week's episode! Victory!

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

no!

― geoff (gcannon), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 15:42 (eighteen years ago) link

They don't want to be competing with the world series.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 15:50 (eighteen years ago) link

good lord this cleopatra is sexy

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 15:54 (eighteen years ago) link

so is bittorrent fucking everyone else up or was there just nothing to say about ep 9?

― geoff (gcannon), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 03:44 (eighteen years ago) link

I will venture that it might have been the first good episode!

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 04:11 (eighteen years ago) link

That was perhaps the first episode in the series that really wasn't self-contained. We are in the middle of threads now.

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

The Beeb are going to start showing this tomorrow. How I love living in a country with a proper public service broadcast...

― Stone Monkey (Stone Monkey), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 11:38 (eighteen years ago) link

Its just really the British accents that are F'ing me up

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

They should all speak in comedy Italian accents

― Matt (Matt), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 12:20 (eighteen years ago) link

Now that they're all on directtv methinks I'll get caught up.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 02:27 (eighteen years ago) link

What do you mean they're on DirecTV? In the pay-per-view section, or does DirecTV have an HBO On Demand-like setup now?

― Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 02:33 (eighteen years ago) link

Um, sorry. Not Directv, On-demand. Time to leave work.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 02:51 (eighteen years ago) link

The Beeb hasn't been showing this? But they, like, they produced it and stuff!

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 03:20 (eighteen years ago) link

They're starting tonight. Beeb2, 9pm. No ad breaks. There are times when I think the BBC is priceless, and this is one of them.

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

What's their policy on full frontal nudity? Rome just isn't Rome without landing strips and massive slave cock.

― Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 18:50 (eighteen years ago) link

Landing strips in full effect tonight.

― RickyT (RickyT), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 22:23 (eighteen years ago) link

Enjoyable load of cobblers, good work BBC.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 22:26 (eighteen years ago) link

Cobblers indeed! I would guess that possibly as many as one of the people involved in the show might once have been in the same room as someone related to a person who once walked through a room when there was a TV documentary about ancient Rome playing.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 22:46 (eighteen years ago) link

is caesars sidekick a slave or an employee?

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

My impression was that he's a slave. And he's indeed one of the better characters.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 3 November 2005 01:09 (eighteen years ago) link

ok the last ep kind of bugged me actually. lots of loose ends. marc antony has been runnin tings while caes is gone, but where was he? no friction, no ppl thankful the guy is leashed up again? and as far as i know the "scandal" of caesar and cleopatra was only scandalous in rennaissance memory, but still, no mention of her, or the kid?

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

All the Atia-Servilia-Sappho-incest-intrigue brings down an otherwise brilliant series, doesn't it?

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

Now I feel like we're spoiling everything for the British folks.

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

I remembered Brutus from something else last night but couldn't place where. It's come to me this morning, he was Max's junkie son in Casualty.

― leigh (leigh), Thursday, 3 November 2005 10:04 (eighteen years ago) link

I only managed about 10 minutes of this before turning it off. As Tom and Martin say, utter cobblers but not in a way that engaged me at all.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Thursday, 3 November 2005 11:19 (eighteen years ago) link

I had a similar experience to Aldo Cowpat. To think I stayed up late for this!

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Thursday, 3 November 2005 11:51 (eighteen years ago) link

Be a part of fashion history:

http://store.hbo.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2079010

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Thursday, 3 November 2005 13:50 (eighteen years ago) link

What's their policy on full frontal nudity? Rome just isn't Rome without landing strips and massive slave cock.
-- Are You Nomar? (wooderso...), November 2nd, 2005. (later)

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

Mmmmmm massive slave cock.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Thursday, 3 November 2005 14:14 (eighteen years ago) link

A load of chariot dung. And I understand now the Merkins' irritation at the accents - EVERYONE SPEAKS PERFECT BBC ENGLISH, EVEN THE PLEBS+PROLES+SLAVES (I suppose under the assumption that the audience would have problems understanding any other kind of British accent).

― Oh No, It's Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 3 November 2005 17:08 (eighteen years ago) link

I watched the first episode last night and haven't made my mind up yet. I quite liked the weirdly bathetic dialogue (juxtaposing big portentous statements with stuff like "Brutus, me old cock"), and the atmosphere was well done, but the characters are all so deeply unpleasant that I'm not entirely sure what's meant to make you keep watching. However, I felt the same way about the first ep of the Sopranos, and now I dearly love all but a couple of the motherless fucks.

― chap who would dare to spy on his best mate's ex (chap), Thursday, 3 November 2005 17:12 (eighteen years ago) link

Keep in mind that all the Merkins seemed to agree that it got waaaaay better after that first ep.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 3 November 2005 17:41 (eighteen years ago) link

What does 'cobblers' mean?

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

I'd like to see a showl like this done with Chico Marx type fake italian accents.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Thursday, 3 November 2005 20:50 (eighteen years ago) link

I had a very disturbing dream last night, and it included two charachters from Rome! Virinius(sp?) found out the truth about Niobe's child(I've seen all episodes up to the 7th) and he went on to punish her by fucking her ass really hard to the point where she started to cry. Then he came on the bed and told her to eat it, and he tried some too.

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

That a lucrative future awaits you in porn screenwriting/direction?

― M. White (Miguelito), Monday, 7 November 2005 15:50 (eighteen years ago) link

might watch this

first episode was okay!

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 7 November 2005 16:09 (eighteen years ago) link

I watched the first episode this weekend. I will definitely keep watching this, although it's so serious and misses out on the wry machinations that made I, Claudius so fun to watch.
And interestingly enough, I am reading a book called Adam's Navel that discusses the body throughout history, and evidence from Pompeii captures the fact that Romans were fond of shaving the public hair in different shapes, with men seeming to prefer a half-moon shape.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Monday, 7 November 2005 17:02 (eighteen years ago) link

Titus Pullo - whoa. Just fuckin' whoa.

― Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Monday, 14 November 2005 05:19 (eighteen years ago) link

So there's only more ep? Two at most, surely. The show is both finally pretty good as a show and also I am ready for it to be done. Is young Octavian really going to be able to carry next season? Well, maybe.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 14 November 2005 10:07 (eighteen years ago) link

I take back what i said about Marc Anthony, it's Titus Pullo all the way for me.

― leigh (leigh), Monday, 14 November 2005 13:11 (eighteen years ago) link

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