Rome - new HBO series

[dr.strangelove]

It is currently called a mini-series, but I suspect they will run another "season" if the numbers justify the very high costs for this program. I enjoyed the first show last night. I am having some trouble with the character names at this point, though my recollection of ancient history studies in high school will no doubt improve with this show and help me out a bit with the names. The fight scenes were impressive, and the CGI of the city of Rome is very good. They got me hooked for another few episodes with the first chapter. It moved slow, as they were forced to introduce significant background and many characters up front. Overall, I liked it.

[truebrit71]

1. I agree....there was alot of "backstory" going on...

...but there was sufficient full-frontal nudity to keep me paying close attention...

The one thing I hope this doesn't turn out to be as a sort of remake of "I, Claudius" with hotter actresses....

The politics and the scheming is all very well, but I would like to see more of the day-to-day stuff about Roman life.

Well that, and more full-frontal nudity.

;-)

[dr.strangelove]

2. Full Frontal

My wife and I got a kick out of the sex scene where the slaves were waving giant fans at the couple having sex. Ah, the life of a noble.

Full frontal should help HBO get the subscriber ratings they want.

[lazarus]

3. Yes, it was excellent

I do think this will be a full series. It's set in 52 CE, I believe, so there's some time before the ol' "Et tu, Brute?" stuff happens.

[liberalnurse]

4. I didn't watch since I'm still

sore about the cancellation of Carnivale'.

[dr.strangelove]

6. Hello Nurse

I know what you mean. With the new TV season starting up, I am reminded that I won't see anyone "shaking some dust" come spring.

Hope all is well with you. My "little COL" appears to be doing well. We find out the sex in three weeks. Due date is February 2, but my wife is thinking about a C-section, so she can pick the date. No matter what it will be an aquarian, which I think is pretty good.

Hope you plan to watch Survivor. Wouldn't be the same if we could not chat about it this season.

[liberalnurse]

15. Did you know there is a Carnivale' gathering

in LA next April? Most of the cast are attending. I already have my reservations and will be at the private dinner.

http://www.mooncross.net/carnivale/

CarnyCon LIVE - A Carnivàle Fan Convention
April 21 - 23, 2006
Los Angeles, California

snip>

What will CarnyCon LIVE entail?

CarnyCon LIVE will begin Friday evening with a casual meet & greet party for the fans. Carnivale treats, such as popcorn, soda, hot dogs, etc. will be offered for purchase, and the fans will have the opportunity to mingle and get to know one another in a friendly and fun-filled atmosphere. Saturday will be filled with Question and Answer periods with members from the Carnivale cast and crew, as well as an autograph session. There will be a Saturday Lunch Buffet served, and a Dinner Buffet/Party on Saturday night -- and BOTH meals are included in the price of registration. Sunday will also be filled with various Carnivale guest speakers and panels through mid-afternoon.

It is too early to confirm celebrity guests, but Dan Knauf, Amanda Aday, Adrienne Barbeau, Patrick Bauchau, Clancy Brown, Debra Christofferson, Tim DeKay, Cynthia Ettinger, Carla Gallo, Diane Salinger, and Brian Turk have ALL expressed interest in joining the fans at CarnyCon! (All celebrity appearances are contingent upon professional availability, of course.) We will be able to better confirm our guest list as we get closer to the actual dates of the convention.

[dr.strangelove]

16. I am usually in LA for work during April.

I hope it is the same time. Thanks for the information. I have some planning to do.

[Mabus]

11. Sept. 10th Carnivale reruns return

I've written, I've called, I've e-mailed and I watched each episode "On Demand" at least four times. I read and re-read each e-mail on the Yahoo Carnivale list because I miss it so much. I'm encouraging everyone I know to watch Carnivale and write, call, e-mail, etc. I want it back on too. I can't give up hope on Carnivale. It has to come back some time.

[dr.strangelove]

12. Thanks for the info

I will spread the word. I hope and hope, but I'm a cynic at heart and don;t think it will do any good. It will be back one day, but I think it will be in paperbacks with various authors taking the story further. I would love to see a film or a miniseries wrapping up the story.

[Mabus]

13. You and me both

I got hooked right away. It wa so different than anything else on television. I miss it. I want to know if Justin is really dead. What's next for Sophie, Ben, Ruthie, Lodz and the rest of the gang.

[dr.strangelove]

14. Here is the story

Knauf gave a few interviews after HBO announced it would not pick up the renewal. Knauf said that neither Justin nor Ben is dead and Jonsey will recover from teh gunshot. As for whats next, I, like you, am waiting to find out.

[dr.strangelove]

5. The only problem is the cost

This season went over budget. An entertainment magazine I read put the cost at $100 million. If they do another season, I imagine the sets and such will not need to be rebuilt, which would save some cash, but the real expensive stuff is the CGI, which was incredible. I'm going to hold back endorsing another season until I see a few more episodes, but I like what I see so far.

[dr.strangelove]

7. I loved episode 2

They are moving quickly, with weeks ticking by like seconds. I knew that was Niobe's child. I am going to hate her character, I can feel it already. I am sure her and Titus will get together during a drunken night for Titus. Lucius seems to be the self depricating good guy, who always gets screwed in the end. This is a great show and I would encourage everyone to watch it.

[lazarus]

8. OTOH

She had been told he was dead, over a year earlier. And payroll's never wrong.

I absolutely love everything about this show.

[dr.strangelove]

9. Payroll is never wrong -LMAO

That reminds me of that scene from Office Space with Milton; "Mr. Lumbergh told me to talk to payroll and payroll told me to talk to Mr. Lumbergh and I still have not received my paycheck."

Rome has shown some great things in the first two episodes. It is typical HBO GREAT writing. The acting has been stellar so far. I'm giving it very high grades. Of course it won't replace Carnivale in my heart, but it gives me something to look forward to Sunday night.

[Mabus]

10. I love it!

I've watched both episodes several times. I usually watch with the closed captions on, it helps me with the names.

My husband's knowledge of Roman history is much better than mine. I am better with the pantheon of gods and goddesses.

It is interesting to watch the fight within the Republic beginning, the man of the people vs. the man of the noblesse because of whatis going on in the world/US now.

Julia is like a female Al Swearingen who will whore out anyone she can to improve her political capital.

I'm hooked.

[gulfcoastliberal]

17. Episode 8 rawked!

Cleopatra - knew she was fertile and fucked Pullo after Vorenus somehow managed to refuse her order to "enter her" and so he sent in Pullo (who previously said she was "wet as October" after he killed her nubian executioner in front of her). "Bloody good orders" Pullo commented to Vorenus said after their wild fuck session. :rofl:

Fuck an a, this is a great miniseries. I do have a history degree and a few things are wrong, but overall the show does its job - immersing the viewer in a civilization and its culture that's long gone, and started at that crucial moment when Caesar & his legion crossed the Rubicon effectively starting a civil war ending the Republic. Even though Sulla had done this once before, the Republic managed to come back after his reign of terror.

Hope they prolong Caesars death as long as possible and then continue the episodes until Marc Antony kills Cicero, holds the public funeral for Caesar that causes the riots that allowed him to install Octavian as as Emperor. Then show the funeral games with the comet that the Romans considered "caesars star".

[MsTryska]

19. episode 8 is definitely a classic.

I absolutely adore pullo - and now he's cleopatra's baby-daddy. I'm no expert on Roman History but did Ceasar and Cleopatra have a kid?


and if so, how the hell does Marc Anthony end up in the picture?


I love this show.

[gulfcoastliberal]

20. Marc Antony joined with Caear when Cesaer went to Gaul

Antony was a charismatic person, which made him a favorite of Caesar even though Antony didn't have the smarts of some of his other officers. I think they met up at the Cisalpine outpost - the last Roman garrison before Gaul. Antony rose through the ranks after taking part in some earlier Egyptian campaigns and was a good cavalry commander.

After Caesars asasination, his son with Cleopatra (Caesaron) was only 3 years old and wasn't accepted by the Senate as Emperor, so Rome was divided between Octavian and Marc Antony. Antony got Egypt & Cleopatra; after partying hard and enjoying the Egyptian way of life they decided to take on Octavian for total control of the Empire and lose a major Naval battle(Actium) - Cleopatra flees during the battle and Marc Antony pursues her, I think this is regarded as a major reason their side failed - thus the famous Shakespearean episode of Marc Antony killing himself in Alexandria by falling on his sword and the suicide of Cleopatra by snakebite.

More to it than that, I'm sure but it's the quick and dirty summary of events as best I recall from my multiple Roman history classes. (BS in internation & ancient history).

[MsTryska]

21. ahh...so Ceasar died....

i thought perhaps there was some fall-out or some sort of Arthur vs Lancelot thing involved.

[gulfcoastliberal]

22. Brutus, Cicero, and the others that Ceasar pardoned after defeating

Pompey did him in. He should have killed them but didn't want to be seen as a tyrant like Sulla who posted public proscriptions of perceived enemies to be killed for rewards. In fact, early on in his dictatorship Sulla wanted Ceasars wife and Ceasar and family barely escaped being killed by Sulla.

Edit: If you're interested in the history of Ceasar, this website is excellent: http://heraklia.fws1.com/

[MsTryska]

23. thanks for the link....

now here's a question - is it just me - or does "Rome"s Brutus seem like he might be Ceasar's son by Servilia?


Like a hint of resemblance?

[gulfcoastliberal]

24. Brutus was Servilia's son - Caesar wasn't his father, but he slept w/her

and seemed to really love her...

From wikipedia:

Servilia was brought up in the house of Marcus Livius Drusus, a maternal uncle, after her parents' scandalous divorce. She married Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus, a relative nobody in the political scene. From this marriage, Servilia had only one child: Marcus Junius Brutus, one of Caesar's assassins.

But the most important contribution of Servilia to history, besides her son, was the fact that she became Julius Caesar's mistress. Unlike other Roman women, she had not the character to sit still and wait for him to call. This boldness would be the disclosure of the affair. One day, when Caesar was attending the senate, Servilia sent him a love letter. Caesar tried to read the message discreetly but Cato the Younger, his greatest enemy, caught him and accused him of conspiracy. Caesar said that was from his mistress but Cato, not believing, defied him to prove it and snapped the message from him. The contents are unknown but Cato was disgusted and dropped the subject. Servilia's marriage ended shortly afterwards.

Caesar was very fond of her and, years later, when he returned to a deserted Rome after the Gallic Wars, he offered her a priceless black pearl.

edit, link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servilia

[MsTryska]

25. so Brutus could possibly have been

Ceasar's biological son...(considering the affair had started while she was still married)


if Niobe and Cleopatra could get away with it, why couldn't servilia? (in the drama, i mean)

[Ravenseye]

18. Great Series - Hope it goes for awhile

It's not totally historically accurate, but far more so than pretty much anything else I've ever seen. I love it. One of my favorite series on television today.

So far it's covered about 2 years of Roman History. It started pretty much in January of 49 B.C with Caesar defeating Vercingetorix (actually late in 50 B.C. so really that's the start of the series) and now we're up to about January of 47 B.C.

So according to actual history here's what's coming up next.

And I guess...Spoiler Alert for those who don't want to know Roman History....

Pharnaces II of Pontius son of Mithridates the Great starts waving his sword around and Caesar marches off to fight him. Going through Judea and Syria, building up his war chest. Then defeats King Pharnaces at the Battle of Zela where he uttered those famous words Veni Vidi Vici.

Then back to africa to deal with Cato and his supporters, where Cato eventually commiits suicide after his forces are defeated.

Then to Hispania where Pompey's sons are stirring up trouble (I think Octavian joins him by this point leading the 10th legion and helping to win the battle of Munda)

Then a few months in Hispania generally being mean to people, then back to Italy in late 45 B.C. and names Octavian his heir (pretty much Octavian's good job at Munda made Caesar start calling him Son, etc)

Then we get into lots of politics for years...but still That's at least another season right there...and it could keep going for a nother few befure Caesar is even assasinated in 44 BC

Anyway...love the show.