02-19-2007, 06:06 PM
Don't get me wrong, I love the show, but there were some major problems with the big fight in the last episode. It was still entertaining but it could have been so much better. My first big disappointment with this series.
Beefs:
1) No pilum. NO PILUM!!! No missiles of any kind in fact other than arrows at one point, strangely enough (did the Roman army even really have archers at that point? I don't know...)
2) the usual bit about Armor not working. Why wear that mail at all if you can push a gladius through it like a hot knife through butter? I mean ok maybe they could have pierced the mail in some cases, but I saw very slow thrusts repeatedly depicted as pushing right through mail armor with nary any resistence. I really don't understand what lay people think the purpose of Armor was....
3) Where was the cavalry?
4) The armies marched into battle nicely enough, but immediately disintegrated into a disorganized rabble within seconds of meeting in combat. I wanted to see cohorts (maniples?) charging out of the line and retreating back into it in good order (throwing pilum too!) I wanted to see flanking manuevers and penetrations of enemy formations. If this was the best they could do maybe they should have kept the whole fight off-screen. I think that would have been a good choice. In fact they could have borrowed a session of Rome Total War and just cleaned it up or filtered it through smoke or something that would have been way better.
5) All the officers wearing leather body armor, and even what looked like leather helmets. Is there any evidence that the Romans wore leather body armor? I hope Matthew Amt can chime in here...
At least they did the Testuodo but that seems to be a concept Hollywood has grasped, it was done in "Gladiator"
I do commend them for NOT having any scenes where tens of thousands of Roman catapults hurl bathubs full of napalm accross the night sky....
I liked that they used Italian extras to make up the Roman legions who looked like Romans instead of Englishmen.
J
Beefs:
1) No pilum. NO PILUM!!! No missiles of any kind in fact other than arrows at one point, strangely enough (did the Roman army even really have archers at that point? I don't know...)
2) the usual bit about Armor not working. Why wear that mail at all if you can push a gladius through it like a hot knife through butter? I mean ok maybe they could have pierced the mail in some cases, but I saw very slow thrusts repeatedly depicted as pushing right through mail armor with nary any resistence. I really don't understand what lay people think the purpose of Armor was....
3) Where was the cavalry?
4) The armies marched into battle nicely enough, but immediately disintegrated into a disorganized rabble within seconds of meeting in combat. I wanted to see cohorts (maniples?) charging out of the line and retreating back into it in good order (throwing pilum too!) I wanted to see flanking manuevers and penetrations of enemy formations. If this was the best they could do maybe they should have kept the whole fight off-screen. I think that would have been a good choice. In fact they could have borrowed a session of Rome Total War and just cleaned it up or filtered it through smoke or something that would have been way better.
5) All the officers wearing leather body armor, and even what looked like leather helmets. Is there any evidence that the Romans wore leather body armor? I hope Matthew Amt can chime in here...
At least they did the Testuodo but that seems to be a concept Hollywood has grasped, it was done in "Gladiator"
I do commend them for NOT having any scenes where tens of thousands of Roman catapults hurl bathubs full of napalm accross the night sky....
I liked that they used Italian extras to make up the Roman legions who looked like Romans instead of Englishmen.
J
