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I think I enjoyed this episode the best so far. Perhaps Robert and Aitor et al are getting me more interested in the later empire.
(Robert, as a freedom loving Christian Dutchman your favorite speech by Churchill should be the one he gave on 18th June 1940 to the House of Commons. I think he had redeemed himself by then.)
Matthew wrote:
Quote:No Pila in earlier battle scenes either, if I recall correctly. Safety and insurance issues I would imagine!
There were plenty of arrows flying around hitting faces, perhaps that is easier to do with cgi, someone even lost their head!
It is possible to see in the 300 Spartans a Persian immortal extra being hit in the face by a spear, he didn't look to pleased!
I think I agree with everyone else it would have been nice to see some cataphracts!
I wonder what RAT's very own Galla Placidia will think of next weeks imposter?
Graham.
"Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream" Edgar Allan Poe.
"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.
"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
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No hastae, no cataphracts and only one plumbata in evidence too! 
It was a good attempt at accuracy re the 'costumes' at least they tried to portray clavi and orbiculi. I didn't get the tie-up necklines though.
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Adrian wrote:
Quote:It was a good attempt at accuracy re the 'costumes' at least they tried to portray clavi and orbiculi. I didn't get the tie-up necklines though.
At least the main actors looked better in their costumes than in previous episodes. They were a better fit, perhaps because no stock costumes from the period were available and may have even been made to measure rather than trying to fit someone into something that was already made.
Graham.
"Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream" Edgar Allan Poe.
"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.
"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
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Quote:I think I enjoyed this episode the best so far. Perhaps Robert and Aitor et al are getting me more interested in the later empire.
GOOD!!! 
I agree about most comments so far. I just remembered another goofup though - the assassins kill a guard with a knife - straight through his hamata!! :evil:
Quote:(Robert, as a freedom loving Christian Dutchman your favorite speech by Churchill should be the one he gave on 18th June 1940 to the House of Commons. I think he had redeemed himself by then.)
Well, I'm not against Churchill, but I like this quote so much because it (spoken by a war herto) nontheless reflects so well on modern politics in Britain. But no more of that.
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Unfortunately, I haven't been able to see the series 
I am not suscribed to Satellite TV channels... :roll:
Aitor
It\'s all an accident, an accident of hands. Mine, others, all without mind, from one extreme to another, but neither works nor will ever.
Rolf Steiner
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Nil desperandum, Aitor, Amazons have captured Rome, not the Goths, and you can join in the pillaging!!
:wink:
ps - flipping 'eck! have just realised, that's a very good price! Sorry the link's only to UK Amazon.
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The battle scenes did not look very disciplined for a Roman army.
I am still wondering about the oval shields. Were the rectangular scuta not in use at this period?
Surely the brass stirrups were out of place too?
Interesting that they left out the building of churches in Jerusalem and the founding of the tourist trade in the Holy Land as one of Constantines accomplishments.
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Quote:I wonder what RAT's very own Galla Placidia will think of next weeks imposter?
Graham.
 hock: hock: hock:
I start being accustomed and imposters and usurpers... :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
But, sorry, I don't have seen that serie......
Carme
[url:utwukq64]http://www.primagermanica.com[/url]
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I liked it. As I've said before, I am used to absolute rubbish offered up as Roman or Greek history on TV or in the movies. Any move in the right direction is a good move, and I think that Constantine's episode scores highly on several counts. Mainly - this era has never (to my knowledge) been filmed before. So that's a first. 30 years ago, we would have seen Constantine's soldiers wearing segmentatat and carrying gladii and rectangular shields. Not in this TV show: dished oval shields, Intercisa-style helmets, long hamatas (a few with doubling though..), spatha, dracos, long sleeved tunics with orbiculli and clavii (often in strange places, but there nonetheless).
So - a million miles better than anything that has gone before. Having a plumbata in there was beyond my expectation! I was certainly expecting LIcinius to come in with cataphracts, and see Constantine's men beat them down with hammers and clubs, but it was not to be.
I don't know much about the history/politics of that exact period, unfortunately. But I think I imagined Constantine as a bald-headed bruiser, a deep-voiced, swaggering arse-kicker of a man, a REAL man who had sworn by the sun god. But changed his views because the situation dictated it. Pragmatic, political, militaristic, ruthless.
The BBC actor did not come across that way to me. More effete and flighty.
But, for the masses - a great step forward!!!!!!!!!!!
EDIT: Also, did you notice the way the emperors were referred to as 'majesty' Another period touch.
~ Paul Elliott
The Last Legionary
This book details the lives of Late Roman legionaries garrisoned in Britain in 400AD. It covers everything from battle to rations, camp duties to clothing.
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I've co-incidently just bought Averil Cameron's The Later Roman Empire. I like the Introduction, I'm looking forward to reading it this half-term holiday!
Quote:Basically, that was a bit simplistic, which certainly wasn't what Averil Cameron, today's historical consultant, taught me when I was an undergrad! (And she was a damned good teacher)
~ Paul Elliott
The Last Legionary
This book details the lives of Late Roman legionaries garrisoned in Britain in 400AD. It covers everything from battle to rations, camp duties to clothing.
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Well, after that installment I'm glad I ain't a late Roman. :wink: Their ancestors must have been spinning in their graves.
TARBICvS/Jim Bowers
A A A DESEDO DESEDO!
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Ok, I'm going to be very brief in my final reivew of this series.
God, that was boring!!! I experienced similar feelings to watching the movie Titanic when I sat desperately hoping for the iceberg to hurry up - just get on with it and sack the damned city!
Surely late Roman history could be presented in a slightly more interesting way?
The end.
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It was really odd. I came away with a vague feeling that we were supposed to regard Alaric as a quite noble, vaguely heroic type, but he came across as a thoroughly nasty piece of work. Maybe it's my pro-Roman sympathies showing. How rude! :oops:
Anyway, I couldn't really concentrate once I'd realised that Alaric's brother was Archie from 'Monarch of the Glen'. The juxtaposition of a character from a cosy Sunday evening drama with hairy barbarians was too bizarre for me to cope with.
Carus Andiae - David Woodall
"The greatest military machine in the history of the universe..."
"What is - the Daleks?"
"No... the Romans!" - Doctor Who: The Pandorica Opens
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Many thanks Kate!
In fact, I use to buy at Amazon UK.
Anyway, after your review I'm rather doubtful about whether it is worth the 13 pounds... :?
Aitor
It\'s all an accident, an accident of hands. Mine, others, all without mind, from one extreme to another, but neither works nor will ever.
Rolf Steiner
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Overall, I'd say the Nero, Caesar & Vespasian ones were good and worth watching, the Tiberius Gracchus and Constantine ones ok but with some problematic interpretation. And I wouldn't bother to watch the Alaric one again.
I get to buy it with departmental funds but at the reduced Amazon price I'd definitely buy it for myself if I couldn't get it through work, if only because it'll be useful to rip stills off for lectures (and film clips if I can find out how to do it!).
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