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TARBICvS/Jim Bowers
A A A DESEDO DESEDO!
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Quote: http://www.accessfloorsystems.com/nws-c ... es/itp.jpg
Yes, that is the exact color of purple that the Romans used for all their vinyl flooring needs. :wink:
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Glad someone else hates that eagle on the tunics! I just mentally blanked them out! they looked like they were designed and printed on an early eighties computer!
Hello Edge, is that where the term bird-dog colonel comes from?
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
Titus Flavius Germanus
Batavian Coh I
Byron Angel
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Quote:Hello Edge, is that where the term bird-dog colonel comes from?
Do you mean "full-bird" colonel? :?
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Greetings!
Just finished watching this week's episode, and I'm not certain what I saw... :?
*** Spoiler Alert For Those Who Care About Such Things ***
There were, no doubt, many historical discrepancies, but a couple bear mentioning, the most glaring of which is that Cassius and Brutus do not commit suicide. :?
Why change this bit of history? Yes, their deaths as shown are more "dramatic" and perhaps more "heroic" (depending upon ones point of view) but why distort history in this way?
I do realize that the entire series has compressed time, combined some characters and eliminated others, (Attia seems to be channeling Fulvia, and Attia's second husband is gone completely.) but changing these deaths from suicide to death in battle seems to serve no purpose.
Perhaps I'm over analyzing this, after all, this is "just" a TV show. Then again, Triumph Of The Will was "just" a movie. This morning there are people all over America absolutely convinced that Cassius and Brutus did not commit suicide, Shakespeare and various historians not withstanding.
As for the rest of the show...
No pilum volley at the start of the battle
Archers look like standard legionaries (perhaps that is correct)
Legion Eagle still being carried on horseback
On the plus side...
Cicero dies with more courage and resolve than he lived his life with
The gods continue to smile on Vorenus & Pullo -- they always seem to be in the right place at just the right time.
Overall the battle was disappointing at best, but I am probably being too critical.
Perhaps next week's episode will be better... :? wink:
Narukami
David Reinke
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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
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Quote: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...)
I was also shocked, when I saw that they didn’t throw the pilum, I turned to my wife and said, “what happened to throwing the pilums, that wasn’t the order of battleâ€
Steve
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Quote:bigdummy:3t5debyt Wrote: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...)
I was also shocked, when I saw that they didn’t throw the pilum, I turned to my wife and said, “what happened to throwing the pilums, that wasn’t the order of battleâ€
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Quote:Steve Sarak:10fmgf7g Wrote:bigdummy:10fmgf7g Wrote: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...)
I was also shocked, when I saw that they didn’t throw the pilum, I turned to my wife and said, “what happened to throwing the pilums, that wasn’t the order of battleâ€
Steve
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Quote:bigdummy:1gxtd693 Wrote:Steve Sarak:1gxtd693 Wrote:bigdummy:1gxtd693 Wrote:I was complaining to my girlfriend too and she was rolling her eyes saying I'm a history geek and a buzz kill. I hate to be like that but I really honestly believe the historical would have actually looked better.
BD
I can’t help but commenting on tactical blunders, or obvious distorting of factual data in movies, that’s when my wife usually turns to me and says “try to enjoy it anyway.â€
David Reinke
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Yeah, I too found the battle leaving something to be desired. No pila, metal shields, and arrows piercing through scuta to pierce the fellow behind. Okay, maybe the last one isn't so bad, but I really didn't expect that their TV-series metal scuta would be that bad. :roll:
Did anyone else notice that the first of Octavian/Antony's units to advance was Legio VI? I'm not sure what the rest said, but I'm fairly certain it was not "Victrix". It sure would be nice for my legion--Ferrata--to get air time. :roll:
Equipment-wise, there were some interesting things out on that battlefield. Random oval scuta, no segmentatae in battle (despite being featured in the previous few episodes), Brutus/Cassius' legionaries with the same helmet only with the added cross-braces rather like the real-world Italic models, and inconsistent scuta. You'll note that at points we see scuta which (other than being metal) resemble real scuta and then they all suddenly have rivets all along the edging to make them look even more apparently metallic.
Maybe I'm just a keen (or annoying) observer. 8)
![[Image: RAT_signature2.png]](http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r36/SOCL3/RAT_signature2.png)
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Also, did anyone else notice we have to wait TWO weeks until the next episode?  hock: :x
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Quote:Also, did anyone else notice we have to wait TWO weeks until the next episode? hock: :x
Academy Awards next Sunday. :? wink:
Narukami
David Reinke
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Quote:SOCL:2u34ivuw Wrote:Also, did anyone else notice we have to wait TWO weeks until the next episode? hock: :x
Academy Awards next Sunday. :? wink:
Narukami Oh. :oops: Shows how current I stay, eh? :roll: :lol:
Will be interesting to see where they go. They can't possibly plan to go from here to Actium in just the four episodes that remain...can they? hock: Would seem like something of a disaster if they tried to do it that way, in my opinion.
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I wouldn't be surprised if they make it to Actium from here. It seems that they pass time rather quickly from episode to episode...
Probably the only pleasant surprise from the battle (besides actually seeing a battle in this series) was when the 1st rank switched backward with the second as the centurion blew the whistle after their 8 minutes fighting. They pulled that off pretty convincingly before the scene devolved into a huge confused and disorganized melee.
Is this the last season? I believe T. Flavius Crispus said it was. I've actually enjoyed this series quite thoroughly despite the liberties taken with the history and armor.
Terrence S
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