Rome/Spartacus

[crystalswolf]

So, thinking about the commercial for the American version of "Being Human" reminded me of Rome thanks to Mitchell's doctor girlfriend. I absolutely loved when Lyndsey Marshal played Cleopatra and thought her character on the show was a great addition.

As for Rome, it pushed the envelop in sex and violence but then Spartacus pushed further. Not to mention the latter was filled with fine, very attractive, muscled, glistening, often naked specimens of masculinity...

Didn't see the big deal about Crixus, but after seeing the actor for the prequel, I changed my mind.

[Jedikatie]

I only got to watch the first episode of Spartacus myself, but I will be correcting that shortly, since I managed to snag the first season on DVD in one of those lightning deals on Amazon last Friday for a pretty good price, and it should be in my mailbox today...

It's kind of sad that they have to replace the star of that series, though, due to his health problems. I really hope that Andy manages to beat his cancer.

I loved Rome. A very enjoyable show. But then, I'm a sucker for just about anything set back in those times pretty much (that's why I have a Classics degree, LOL). If I might recommend a series of books here, if you loved the series Rome, you probably would enjoy Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series, which starts in 110 B.C. with the rise of Gaius Marius to power, in The First Man in Rome, and goes to Augustus winning over Antony and Cleopatra at Actium in 31 B.C., and then becoming the sole ruler of the Roman world after their suicides... The first 5 books are the best, which basically ends shortly before Caesar's assassination, the sixth one is okay (though written in a different style from the earlier novels, and the last one is just meh as far as I was concerned, but I blame my love of I, Claudius for the difficulty I have with the picture she paints of Livia Drusilla in her novel).

[crystalswolf]

I think both shows were hard to get into for the first one or two episodes. Rome had to use the first episode to set the scene but it came off kind of flat. Hubs and I stopped watching after the first episode but towards the end of the first season we heard so many positive things about it, we decided to give it another chance. Glad we did! I love Titus Pullo!

The first episode of Spartacus they tried so hard to recreate the magic of 300, but it came off as trying too hard. After that, though, the show seemed to become its own flavor of awesomeness.

Everyone I've talked to about it agrees. Because of change in the show's style, the sex scene with Spartacus and Ilithyia was much hotter than the scene with him and his wife. The scene with Ilithyia made me want to cover my eyes.

Andy Whitfield's health problems have been such a sad story. My heart goes out to him and I hope the very best for him. I did think it was great that the show tried to work around it until he could come back, but...

[Jedikatie]

Well, it wasn't that I didn't want to continue watching Spartacus, it was more a case of me not having the premium channel it was on, and being too lazy to use other means to watch it...

And the two main characters in Rome, Titus and Vorenus, were based on the only two "common" soldiers named by Julius Caesar in his Gallic War commentaries. Granted, we didn't know anything more about them other than what was in that brief passage, but it's kind of neat that the show's creators went to the trouble of making their characters based on actual people who served in Caesar's legions, even if they undoubtedly were nothing like the real Titus and Vorenus.

[crystalswolf]

There were a lot of complaints about accuracy, and I believe the stories of Pullo and Vorenus were lumped in. Personally, though, I'm glad they added those stories.

Sorry, I didn't mean you didn't want to watch it anymore. Was just stating my experience.

[Honeybee]

I really loved Rome as a series, and yes, Lyndsey Marshall is probably the only actress ever cast as Cleopatra that actually resembles Cleopatra - and I think she really did capture the spirit of the woman, whether or not some of the details (like the drugs and sex) were accurate. And the doomed, dysfunctional and kind of evil Antony and Cleopatra ship was all kinds of awesome.

I read an interview with with Mark Purefoy that said during some of the montages toward the end - when A/C knew it was over - he and Lyndsey were listening to things like The Sex Pistols's "Pretty Vacant" on their ipods during the scenes.

And Titus and Lucius were great additions - accuracy be damned. Also, apparently, Octavia and Octavius's mother could rise from the grave and sue for slander, if that were possible, she was nothing like portrayed. And Servillia, in RL, outlived everyone and lived well into Augustus's rule.

But, I think Rome did capture the spirit of a culture that simply did not see the world the way we do - this is a pre-Christian, pagan worldview and the characters operate as such. You can almost feel the need for some kind of social revolution, that we all know is coming a century later.

[Jedikatie]

Oh yes, they totally screwed the pooch when it came to accuracy, that's for sure. For example, one of the two things that was known about Pullo's life was that he was at the Battle of Pharsalus, and ended up on Pompey's side, yet he entirely missed the battle in the show.

True enough about Atia as well. I can sort of understand why they did what they did with Servilia, though--she wasn't an important figure (so to speak) once both Caesar and Brutus were dead, so there was no reason to have her hanging around the show.

And no problem, crystalwolf--like you, I was just saying why I didn't watch the rest of the first season.