How many times have you watched Rome?

[tk421]

I've watched it a couple of times now. It is fun to watch. Octavian gains the upper hand in the show. That appealed to me very early on when watching the show. The first episode that I watched for more than 5 minutes was episode 2 from season 2 where Marc Antony beats up Octavian. Octavian did well considering Antony's strength.

[Marius Romilius]

I have even turned HBO's Rome into a drinking game: my friends and I drink every time we see, or hear reference to, gratuitous nudity or violence. Fun times...

 

 

How about a double shot every time someone says: "Juno's Cunt!"

 

 

LOL, Ursus! I also had to stop myself from using the word Cunny in everyday life.

 

I have watched both seasons of Rome 3 times. I love the "All Roads Lead to Rome" feature on the DVD's. Very informative and I felt like I was watching "Pop Up Videos" again.

 

My feeling is the fictionalizations with Pullo, Vorenus, Timon were a bit overdone by midpoint of Season 2, but they were still ok with me overall.

 

The more you watch Rome, the better it gets for me. I never get tired of watching Atia ( Oh, Polly.....sigh) and Antony get it on.

 

Marius

[GhostOfClayton]

I have watched both seasons of Rome 3 times. I love the "All Roads Lead to Rome" feature on the DVD's. Very informative and I felt like I was watching "Pop Up Videos" again.

 

My feeling is the fictionalizations with Pullo, Vorenus, Timon were a bit overdone by midpoint of Season 2, but they were still ok with me overall.

 

The more you watch Rome, the better it gets for me. I never get tired of watching Atia ( Oh, Polly.....sigh) and Antony get it on.

 

Marius

 

Funny you should mention the "All Roads lead to Rome" feature.

 

I missed the first couple of episodes of Series 1 when it was first broadcast on the BEEB, so I deliberately didn't watch the rest, thinking I'd catch it when it was repeated. As the months and years rolled by, I gradually realised that Auntie doesn't repeat that sort of thing any more, as it would affect the DVD sales. So last week, I bought it. I burned quite a few litres of midnight oil watching it and enjoying it thouroughly. I briefly turned on the "All Roads Lead to Rome" feature, but found it distracting to my enjoyment of the drama itself, so turned it off. Now I'm looking forward to re-watching with the feature switched on (more midnight oil, I fear!)

 

And yes, I have ordered Series 2.

 

I was interested to find that Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo are based (albeit very loosely) on real characters. Apparently they were mentioned both by Julius Ceasar in Commentarii de Bello Gallico, and also on Wikipedia (so it must be true!)

 

A good scene-setter for Rome is Imperium by Robert Harris. Augusta, you liked the Cicero portrayal in Rome. Have you read Imperium? I'd be interested to know how well you thought the two characterisations jelled with one-another. I thought he came across as a tad too perfect in Imperium, whereas Rome showed him 'warts & all'.

[Yordie]

It wasn't until 2012 when I watched HBO's "Rome" for the first time. I saw it a second time then bought the DVD set. I have watched the full series five times, and season 1 six times. The past couple times I've paid particular attention to the details of the settings. I've read Mary Beard's SPQR and other modern books on Rome and found the HBO series' attention to detail in the costumes, sets, everyday life and locations to be fascinating.

I believe HBO's "Rome" is the best reproduction of that era I've seen on film. It stands in stark contrast to the early film imagery of a premature Imperial era presented in films like 'Cleopatra' (still fascinating, regardless). This series is important because no matter how great a writer describes an era, the film representation reveals a great deal about the era.

The composite characters threw me at times, but I recognize that when too many characters are active it makes a story overwhelming. I liked Ciarán Hinds as Caesar, but I wish he could had resembled the images we have of Caesar; also, I wasn't left with the impression that I'd seen the 'real' Caesar portrayed. Today, Hinds could have been physically altered with CGI if he'd permit it. Regardless, it was a great portrayal, but every actor who has played Caesar comes up with something different.

James Purefoy did an incredible job as Anthony and looked near perfect for the part, although I suspect the real Anthony would wish to look as good a Purefoy. One other thing, I found both young Octavian and older Octavian far too likeable. Don't get me wrong, I actually like Caesar Augustus, but I tend to see him more like Roddy McDowell in 'Cleopatra'. And perhaps, Cicero was a just a tad too squirrelly (heh). Nonetheless, virtually every actor delivered outstanding performances.

When I got the DVD set, I discovered the hundreds of footnotes and other materials; a really nice feature.

Top notch production in my book. Five stars.