as featured on BBC2 last night, it so brilliant! :)
I was put off the start of the first series where it tried too hard to shock, picked it up towards the end of the series on a recommendation, its good telly indeed, the swearing seems to be dropped in to show that someone (Brutus?) is a crude lumpen which is lazy writing IMHO.
A good HBO production, recommended.
sieze-her Huff
Yeah,it was great last night,good to see it back.
I think the swearing is quite natural myself-and last night provided a good exclamation by Octavian's mother; "Juno's cum!"
M.
I think it was Mark Antony not Brutus who was the sweary chap. (That's the guy who wouldn't get out of bed until a woman had, er, serviced him.)
Brutus is one of the leaders of the senitors who killed Caesar. He has a reputation for politeness and honor hence that famous surprised "Et tu Brute?" line by Caesar when he was killed. So he's not likely to swear much.
Overall I kind of like this show, although I think it overdid it in the pilot of the first series with all the explicit bonking that went on. I'm not saying that to be all prudish, it's just it was so over the top in places it was as if it wanted to titillate just for the sake of it.
I noticed they toned the sex right down in most of the other episodes, i.e. it happened but mostly off screen, with the exception of that extremely raunchy scene in a tent between Cleopatra and a Roman soldier of course (I forget his name, but it's the big guy who married the girl with the mud ceremony in series 2 yesterday.) He was literally staggering around the tent with her strapped to his waist bumping up and down! It had a certain comedy appeal though. ;)
I loved that bit in the final episode of Series 1 where one of the main guys is sent chained, armourless and weaponless into an arena against a couple of dozen hulking gladiators in what's clearly meant to be a 'certain death' type style of execution - and he and his mate then proceed to take out every single one of the huge gladiators in a sort of balletic slaughter.
that is Pullo, the best character of Rome!
"I loved that bit in the final episode of Series 1 where one of the main guys is sent chained, armourless and weaponless into an arena against a couple of dozen hulking gladiators in what's clearly meant to be a 'certain death' type style of execution - and he and his mate then proceed to take out every single one of the huge gladiators in a sort of balletic slaughter."
I think you means this one... my fave!!!
Link: Pullo in Arena
I enjoyed almost everything about Series 1 (Polly Walker especially!), apart from the Watchmen "riff" of Pullo and Veranus being "borne to freedom on the backs of dead men", to be mini-spoilerific about it. Great stuff, and not that bad on the history front. Pompey Magnus in particular was terrific.
Still not a patch on I Clavdivs, tho' - until you have John Hurt dribbling fetus parts down his blond beardy chin, you haven't made the ultimate Roman epic!
I have a recurrent fantasy where it's possible to do an edit of I Claudius where the stunning performances are set against a proper backdrop of external sets... but I know it'd just end up looking like the SW Special Editions, and I shudder. Clau-Clau Binks, and so forth.
I've watched I Clavdivs an obscene amount of times. It's good the way it is. It reminds me of theater this way. if the writing and performances are gold the cheap sets don't matter. Look at Sandbaggers.
++it was Mark Antony not Brutus who was the sweary chap.++
correct, I was getting sprogs of to bed so wasn't 100% atuned.
now have you done your teeth? Huff
I quite liked the little in-joke in this episode with everyone referring to Mark Anthony's speech at the funeral but no-one saying what it was he actually said, because Shakespeare-did-it-dead-well-and-we-can't-match-that.
Well, I laughed.