Wow, an EB thread has ended in the backrom.
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Wow, an EB thread has ended in the backrom.
Not that the thread had much to do with EB to begin with.
I am currently watching this excellent series and enjoying it.
I missed it firsd time round. Im on episode 4 so I will catch 5 tonight.
It works nice in conjunction with the emperor books im reading at the moment.
Emperor books are great :2thumbsup:Quote:
Originally Posted by ShadesWolf
I bought the boxed set of Rome - well worth getting - the episodes are the longer and uncut 'american' versions. More T + A and background info.
Extras are great too.
Emperor sucks the big one. Poorly written, hastily thrown together and awful dialogue. Pacing is all over the place and the historical innacuracies are laughable. An uberninja Brutus and a fella with magical healing abilities? Dear god...
Rome on the other hand, is great, up there with Battlestar Galactica (the new version) as my favourite show.
In your opinion :book:Quote:
Originally Posted by Grey_Fox
If I wanted Historical accuracy I could read my A level/degree History text books.
You history fan boys are worse than Star Trek fans :wall:
Hah. I wouldn't mind the innacuracy if the series was actually any good - it is historical fiction after all - but Iggulden is just a crap author, nowhere near as good as Cornwell (who takes many liberties, but I don't mind since he is a great writer, even if he is becoming a bit too formulaic for my tastes).
Does the magical healing not bother you at all? Or the uberninja?
I like Rome very much.The atmosphere in the series is great and they havent tryed to write the characters to have the values of the people of today. Im looking forward to see the second season.:2thumbsup:
Aye to that, I throroughly enjoy it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kagemusha
I also loved the series of Hornblower and Sharpe.
HBO certain have a reputation for developing some really interesting series.
Blasphemous, I know, and very unhandsomely mainstream, but I used to like both Sex and The City and Entourage.
I also love Band of Brothers, one of the greatest World War II shows ever.
Rome is very well done. The sex was overblown early on (I don't mind sex myself, being an adolescent male and all -- but it's way too much early on: I was seeking to watching Rome, not Cinemax porn with a Roman theme) but otherwise the drama and the characterizations are most impressive. Atia annoys me -- I was trying to watch Rome, not a Time-Life Drama -- but I guess I can forgive the show for that simple flaw.
Haven't seen rome, but Deadwood and The Wire are really good. Only seen the first 2 seasons though.
Did someone say Sharpe?
Fetch me my Baker!
I kind of liked the little twist were Pullo is actually the father of the future Ceasarian. :laugh4: What happened to the very sultry and exotic Cleopatra though? She makes about three brief appearances and then we see her no more. Talk about the woman that outraged Ceasar's wife and the public of Rome!
I do think that the actor who portrayed Ceasar did an admirable job of making himself irrittating. If that is how Gauis Julius Ceasar really was, I can see why the Senate wanted to kill him-for his pompousity if nothing else.
All in all, an entertaining way to watch history.
I much prefer Cornwell too - have you read the new Sharpe ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Grey_Fox
Caesar was badly mis-cast, he shouldn't have been all joully and by the time he died he was bald, but still a dandy.
I've been hearing how Cornwell's latest books all seem samey and tiresome, but I haven't read any yet, so couldn't be a judge of that. I've enjoyed the first two Emperor books, and although they're far from historically accurate, as someone else said, there's history books if you need that. They're entertaining enough and there's plenty of political intrigue and battles for those that like both. And so what if Cabera has the healing abilities of Mr. Miyagi, it's seldom over done and can be taken with a pinch of salt. But the books are no where near as good as Wallace Breem's Eagle in the Snow though. That has to be the best historical fiction book I've read.
What's that Simon Scarrow books like? There's certainly enough of them.
Have you tried David Gemmel's Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow and Shield of Thunder.
They're semi-historical recountings of what might have happened in the Trojan War.
I would really recomend Cornwell's Warlord trilogy.
Bought it last week but am currently reading "The General's War" first, it's about the first Gulf War and is pretty good.Quote:
Originally Posted by monkian
One of my Proffesors lamented the inaccuracies of Rome, although I enjoyed the show for entertainment purposes.
the book might be innacurate, but i still enjoyed it, not as good as cornwell (although i'v only read his arthur series) but still good fun to read (but then again most books are good fun to read on the tube)Quote:
Originally Posted by Grey_Fox
I also like Cornwell, but I have found him after a while to become a bore.
I read the grail quest, first book was excellent, but it went down hill quickly then, the final book in the series, was dire - imho
I also have the current series, about Alfred, which so far i am enjoying. Only time will tell.
However, back to Caesar, I appreciate that this is pure fiction, but I must admit I am enjoying them, and to be honest, thats all that matters. Once I have completed them, I get get the correct historical stuff, Caesars own.........
Gemmell's books are pretty cut and paste in my opinion
Angry hero with two weapons - sure fire thign that his girl/mate will get raped/killed and said hero gets angrier and choppier.
Loved the first Grail quest book - agree they went downhill.
Really like the Arthur books too.
Just read Men of Bronze - very good.
I don' know about cut and paste but I admit he can be repetitive. I think he was, on one level or another, influenced by the epic saga's, read Beowolf in verse and you'll see what I'm talking about.Quote:
Originally Posted by monkian
Legend, The Swords of Night and Day, Waylander, Sword in the Storm, Midnight Falcon and Lord of the Silver Bow are all, imo, excellant.
Quest for Lost Heros, Winter Warriors and Stormrider were his weakest books, the rest are pretty good but some do have pacing problems.
I think the thing with Gemmel is Scale, I mean imagine attacking Dros Delnoch.
Slightly more on topic: The BBC Is running a factual series in six parts: Ancient Rome - The Rise and Fall of an Empire, I was looking at the pics in our TV book and the designs for the armour and weapons is way off, agian. They did this with their special on Gladiators, where they had the Romans wearing segmented bibs.
ROME had some uniform wierdness as well, though nowhere near as bad. Its almost as if they haven't moved on from the Seventies.
I found the Emperor books okay-ish. The first isn't good at all, but as the story enters the better documented parts of history at least Iggulden has a decent pacing to work with. But the series never rises to a level where I'd say it was good; definitely nowhere near Cornwall's level of either writing or believability.
Just have to say, I disagree. Of all the cast, I found the actor portraying Caesar perfectly laid down the complex character and made clear how he could inspire blind devotion among his men, yet make deadly enemies.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wigferth Ironwall
Caesar lacked the charm and extravagence. Pompey wasn't very charismatic either. Both men were ladikillers.
I'm sorry, I just didn't buy it.
Absolutely - I thought nearly all the acting was excellent, but Ciaran Hinds was the stand-out - portraying a lethal mix of high-minded nobility and low cunning. A lot of the credit must go to the way the part was written, but I thought the actor brought an excellent mix of gravitas and subtlety to the part. He was so good, he even holds his own when compared with the vividly acted Emperors in "I, Claudius".Quote:
Originally Posted by Geoffrey S
I wasn't convinced by the acting or casting at first, but by the end of the series, I thought it was perfectly done for the most part.
It's a very good high budget production, but it's a shame the budget didn't stretch to some proper battle scenes. Then again, if they turned out cheapy, perhaps not. Probably best they focus on what they can do well.
Cinematography really made band of brothers great. They used the same technique in the first opening 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan.
Well, that came out of nowhere...
Well at least someone mentioned Band of Brothers in this thread earlier.
Now had they said, 'I like balancing billiard balls on my nose' then that really would have come from nowhere. Or from the mind of a nutter. Something I'm not of course.