Phil, Ian McShane described Game of Thrones (which he had a small part in) as "tits and dragons."

By that standard, Spartacus is "tits and gladiators." Much gore, nudity, ahistorical action and considerable "politicking" by the lanistas.

All that said, I rather enjoyed it, in a "switch off your brain and just go along for the ride" sort of way.

 

Thanks, Mike.

When I get the chance to watch 'something historical'.......I like to believe (HAH !!) that I've actually learned something.....Though goodness knows if I ever really do..... That's compared to the  knowledge that most of the forum have compared to Mr Thicky, here.

For example....I used to think that I had a reasonable 'knowledge' regarding the second World War.....I know completely differently now.

I DO enjoy 'switch your brain off, and go with the flow' 'fiction' films.....But for me....that's just entertainment. 

Cheers - Phil

Which is exactly how it should be. I like nothing more than a historical romp for entertainment. It's when its purporting to educate and inform, but gets it wrong, that I find irritating, as often it is unnecessary with a little research and care.

I'm totally with you on that, Andy !

I feel that I have gleaned SOME knowledge from some of the historical 'progs'/series that I've watched over the past two or three years.....Which has basically shown me that some of the figures from the past haven't been quite as 'great' as I'd previously thought......They were just vile and/or very lucky.

Cheers - Phil

Quote from: Techno on 20 November 2017, 03:29:11 PM
The one that I haven't bothered to look at, so far, is the 'Spartacus' series.

The Spartacus series have obviously been made by someone who's seen Gladiator, Rome (the BBC series from a few years back) and 300 (this . . . is . . . SPARTA!) and thought "Hey, what happens if we combine all of these?".

It's comic-book fantasy at best. Brainless fun, with added nudity & CGI'd blood.

Cheers, M.

It is definitely irritating when they make mistakes that could be
rectified with a little more care.   Don't they usually employ
experts to advise on this ?   However, I expect the end result
is always a compromise between expert advice and budget
allowance / time.

For me, the bottom line is that I would always rather have the
chance to see an army in action (as this can be a source of
inspiration), even if there are issues which could/should be fixed.


Phil

Lindybeige did a mini-rant on the role of expert advisors in films based on his discussions with a few and apparently the compromise is almost entirely towards budget / time / artistic ...

So how come a simple pectoral plate and montefortino helmet is more expensive than lorica segmentata and gallic helmet? At least they got the oval shields right(ish).

'Cos there's lots of people re-enact or do programmes/films on the Empire, so there's loads of kit floating about and more being made relatively cheaply but no one actually does any for the Republic (or very few), so it's more expensive and you can't just "borrow" the IXth Legion Re-enactment Brigade for the crowd scenes?

I suspect the producers and money men also "know" what they expect a "proper" Roman soldier to look like, so we're having those thank you very much!

Except about five years ago the BBC did and I remember how refreshing it was to see Roman legionaries from the second century BC actually looking like they were from the second century BC. This was a great series but at the time I was unable to watch all the programmes or record them. This was docudrama as it should be done (in fact iirc each programme was a self-contained drama). I would love to get hold of this series on DVD or Bluray but cannot remember what it was called. Anybody able to help me out with this?

That wasn't "Rome" with the Beeb in conjunction with HBO, I guess? From memory that was all "tits and segmentata"

A (very) quick web search doesn't turn anything else up as likely from Auntie - no memory at all of actors, writers etc?

Edit -

Ah ha, would it be this - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome:_The_Rise_and_Fall_of_an_Empire ?

The few piccies of early episodes suggest they might have proper kit...

Many thanks for that - that's the one and only £7 on Amazon Prime, so have ordered one. 

Spot on, let us know if it's any good!

Quote from: toxicpixie on 22 November 2017, 12:23:51 PM
That wasn't "Rome" with the Beeb in conjunction with HBO, I guess? From memory that was all "tits and segmentata"

Actually, no it wasn't. Lots of 'tits and bits' but not a lorica segmentata in sight! And it was tremendous fun, with excellent performances from Ciaran Hinds as Julius Caesar, Kenneth Cranham as Pompey, James Purefoy as Mark Antony and Max Perkins as the young Octavian. Brilliant atmosphere, one of the few series of its type which made it clear that Rome was a strange and alien place, with weird and unfamiliar beliefs and practices, and not merely Surbiton in fancy dress.

And what is the highlight of our TV today?  "I'm a non-entity, Rescue my Career!"

Mollinary

Mollinary

 ..... plus Keven McKidd as Vorenus and Ray Stevenson as Pullo (who, in real life, was also a Centurion - Caesar's Gallic Wars).