Spartacus, Camelot, Game of Thrones... what next?
- Thread starter AntonyF
- Start date
So, I'm actually watching Spartacus for the first time.
By the gods, what a trashy series.It's a new high in low.
Jupiter's cock! What did you expect?
I gave up after 4 episodes. I heard that it gets much better towards the end, but it's not something I care to check out ...
J
Jetfire
Guest
Jesus and his 12. 
Dear God no! How you can put Spartacus and Game of Thrones in the same realm of a TV show with farting aliens... gack.
But thank you.
Ooh that sounds pretty good! And Deadwood is probably something I should try.
Yeah, I think I should, now I'm more accepting of that sort of show.
Given my good friend Kristine worked on it, I definitely should! I downloaded the pilot to give it a go - promised her I'd buy the DVDs if I liked it as she was working on it.
My interest in it is growing I'd say.. I guess as part of this awakening of tastes, I did watch True Grit at the cinema for something different and really liked it. Plus this makes me like Old West:
http://entertainmentalley.com/wp/wp...04/Supernatural-Frontierland-JensenAckles.jpg
I did watch a few of them, didn't mind them... never finished them though! Should probably pick that up.
Thanks all. I think Deadwood may be the one I try first. Or Rome. One or other.
But plenty of thoughts.The farting aliens haven't shown up in any major capacity since the first season. Seriously though, I Claudius is pretty decent, if low budget. Despite being written and filmed decades earlier history-wise it follows Rome (Although no Titus Pullo or Vorenus). It also features a lot of actors you might recognize from genre shows, such as Patrick Stewart, John Rhys-Davies, John Hurt, Derek Jacobi etc.
How about Sharpe? Available on Blu-ray, mostly rescanned from the original 16mm film, except for some 5% as scaled up SD, so the image quality is not perfect.
Pillars of the Earth fits your criteria 100%. Historical fantasy.
Not quite the same time period in history, but I thought the John Adams HBO miniseries was fantastic.
Also, although this is like alternate earth modern fantasy, the one season of "Kings" was also fantastic.
Not quite the same time period in history, but I thought the John Adams HBO miniseries was fantastic.
Also, although this is like alternate earth modern fantasy, the one season of "Kings" was also fantastic.
John Adams was awesome, loved it! 
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
Having worked on the show, I wholeheartedly agree with everything Caliburn24 says and now wish to subscribe to his newsletter.
Also, the aforementioned John Adams miniseries is superb.
I recommend the Fall of Eagles miniseries from 1974 with Patrick Stewart as Lenin, Barry Foster as Kaiser Bill, Curt Jürgens as Bismarck, John Rhys-Davis as Zinoviev, and many others too numerous to mention.
I saw the first episode of Spartacus. I'm impressed with the way they get around not having a Rome-level budget by making the sets (especially outdoors) be very stylized and theater-set-like. And Andy Whitfield definitely carried off the lead role wonderfully.
However, I'm not sure I'm interested in seeing gladitorial combat every episode. It's not the gore, it's just that you seen one fight, you seen em all.
I'll watch the three other eps on the disc to see how it goes.
However, I'm not sure I'm interested in seeing gladitorial combat every episode. It's not the gore, it's just that you seen one fight, you seen em all.
I'll watch the three other eps on the disc to see how it goes.
I'm impressed you seemed even remotely entertained by the pilot. I found it to be wretched almost from top to bottom.
And yet, I trudged on solely because I read in a preview that Lucy Lawless got naked in episode 2. I'm a single guy, who's been waiting to see Xena naked for far too long, sue me
Thankfully the second episode was significantly better and had a fairly strong final 10 minutes. And from there on in I was hooked.
There is no doubt, there are perhaps one or two too many fights in the course of the series, but they are well staged, begin to fold into the political arc, and the violence gets more and more creative as the show goes on. But thankfully, the politics deepen and as do almost all of the characters (even the Arnie clone). By the end of the season I was cheering it on, and by the end of the mini-prequel-series it had jumped right to the top of my "FUN-TV" chart.
It is pure, unadulerated trash. Softcore, Skinemax sex scenes, highly stylised violence, political backstabbing akin to Dallas or Dynasty and almost every actor attempting to out-chew their fellow castmembers. And yet, once they find their voice, the writers have actually created quite a poetic language style which is fun to listen to and clearly John Hannah adores spouting. It's not Deadwood, which is poetry at times, but it has a lyrical quality which adds a wonderful venir to the show.
It's daft, it's base, it's crude, it's WHOLLY pornographic in almost every fashion (from the high contrast, colour rich cinematography and art direction, to the excessive gore and finally to the ever ridiculous and amusing sex scenes) and yet it works so very, very well.
Season one (from about episode 4) thunders towards an epic and fitting climax, which the prequel season capitalises on fantastically enriching all that came before and proving that the show works even without Spartacus himself!
it is regularly thought of as a bastard sibling to Rome, which is unfair given both have wholly different aims (even if they are both as historically inaccurate as each other).
Spartacus isn't Rome, but it does one thing better by far: in its entirety it encapsulates the opulence, the extravegance, the richness and the decadence of the "Roman Empire" like were were all half-taught at school. It fetishizes it in fact and every frame is almost a charicature of that vague false history we have been schooled to believe in by film and media. Rome, never quite got there. It's budget was bigger, but for all its worth it felt confined. Spartacus' design is one of excess which fits nicely into the themes of the era we have been brought up to believe.
And Rome may have had Marc Anthony, but Spartacus has Lentulus Batiatus - the most conniving mutherfucker to grace the screen in a toga!
I adore Rome, but i enjoy Spartacus more!
Hugo - "And I expect his cock in you, or you will find a sword in its place"
Andy Whitfield definitely had something as an actor. Too bad he's deceased, he would have had a solid career ahead of him.
I didn't go in expecting much except a brainless gore-fest plus occasional porn. So seeing a bit of artistry in the production values and a good lead actor was a nice suprirse.
That guy who played Marc Anthony was hot! Even Andy Whitfield isn't in his league.
