Weapon X Posted September 26, 2005 Share Posted September 26, 2005 http://www.hbo.com/rome/about/ The year is 52 B.C. Four hundred years after the founding of the Republic, Rome is the wealthiest city in the world, a cosmopolitan metropolis of one million people, epicenter of a sprawling empire. The Republic was founded on principles of shared power and fierce personal competition, never allowing one man to seize absolute control. But now, those foundations are crumbling, eaten away by corruption and excess. The ruling class has become extravagantly wealthy, with a precipitous decline in the old values of Spartan discipline and social unity. There is now a great chasm between the classes. Legal and political systems have weakened, and power has increasingly shifted to the military. After eight years of war, Gaius Julius Caesar has completed his masterful conquest of Gaul, and is returning to Rome. He brings with him legions of battle-hardened, loyal men, unimaginable riches in slaves, gold and plunder, and a populist agenda for radical social change. The aristocracy is terrified, and threatens to prosecute him for war crimes if he enters Rome. The delicate balance of power lies in the Senate with Caesar's old friend, partner and mentor, Pompey Magnus. Such is the situation when two soldiers of Caesar's 13th Legion, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, are ordered into the wilds of Gaul to retrieve their legion's stolen standard, the unifying symbol of Caesar's legion, setting off a chain of circumstances that will entwine them in pivotal events of ancient Rome. An intimate drama of love and betrayal, masters and slaves, and husbands and wives, ROME chronicles epic times that saw the fall of a Republic and the creation of an empire when it debuts SUNDAY, AUG. 28 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO. A co-production between HBO and the BBC, ROME is one of the largest co-production deals ever by the BBC for an American series, and marks the first series co-production of the two networks. HBO and the BBC previously partnered on the 2001 miniseries "Band of Brothers," which won six Emmy® Awards, including Outstanding Miniseries. "You rarely see onscreen the complexity and color that was ancient Rome," says co-creator, executive producer and writer Bruno Heller. "It has more in common with places like Mexico City and Calcutta than quiet white marble. Rome was brightly colored, a place of vibrant cruelty, full of energy, dynamism and chaotic filth. It was a merciless existence, dog-eat-dog, with a very small elite, and masses of poverty. We see the same problems today - crime, unemployment, disease, and pressure to preserve your place in a precarious society. There's the potential for social mobility, if you're smart. "Human nature never changes," continues Heller, "and the great thing about the Romans, from a dramatic perspective, is that they're a people with the fetters taken completely off. They had no prosaic God telling them right from wrong and how to behave. It was a strictly personal morality, and whether or not an action is wrong would depend on whether people more powerful than you would approve. You were allowed to murder your neighbor or covet his wife if it didn't piss off the wrong person. Mercy was a weakness, cruelty a virtue, and all that mattered was personal honor, loyalty to yourself and your family." ROME was shot throughout Italy, with Michael Apted ("Coal Miner's Daughter," "The World Is Not Enough") directing the first three episodes. Additional directors include Allen Coulter (HBO's "The Sopranos"), Julian Farino (HBO's "Entourage"), Jeremy Podeswa (HBO's "Carnivale"), Alan Poul (HBO's "Six Feet Under"), Mikael Salomon (HBO's "Band of Brothers"), Steve Shill (HBO's "The Wire"), Alan Taylor (HBO's "Deadwood") and Timothy Van Patten (HBO's "Sex and the City"). Among the actors starring in the first season are Kevin McKidd ("Kingdom of Heaven") as Lucius Vorenus, Ray Stevenson ("King Arthur") as Titus Pullo, Ciaran Hinds ("Road to Perdition") as Gaius Julius Caesar, Kenneth Cranham ("Gangster No. 1") as Pompey Magnus, Polly Walker ("Patriot Games") as Atia of the Julii, James Purefoy ("Vanity Fair") as Mark Antony, Tobias Menzies ("Foyle's War") as Marcus Junius Brutus, Lindsay Duncan ("Under the Tuscan Sun") as Servilia of the Junii, Indira Varma ("Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love") as Niobe, Max Pirkis ("Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World") as Gaius Octavian and Kerry Condon ("Angela's Ashes") as Octavia of the Julii. Rome was Created by John Milius and William Macdonald and Bruno Heller. Written by Bruno Heller, John Milius, David Frankel, William J. Macdonald, Alexandra Cunningham and Adrian Hodges. ---------------------- Honestly, those of you who don't have HBO should snatch up DVDs of this as soon as it comes out. It's got all the elements. Humour, violence, sex, and politics. CHECK IT OUT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveAustin Posted September 26, 2005 Share Posted September 26, 2005 the promos I've seen have looked interesting enough to make me slightly annoyed that I don't have HBO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MANIK DEK Posted September 26, 2005 Share Posted September 26, 2005 yes i this is my favorite show besides rescue me and starved....oh yea and family guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dead sentiment Posted September 26, 2005 Share Posted September 26, 2005 i saw it yesterday... nothing to write home about. i guess i'm just not that into tv, or rome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weapon X Posted September 26, 2005 Author Share Posted September 26, 2005 You'd like it much better if you watched it from the beginning, dead sentiment. Or, yeah, you're not that into tv, or rome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeking Posted September 26, 2005 Share Posted September 26, 2005 yeah, this show rocks. i just watched the 5th episode today. best show next to the wire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JUDONO? Posted September 26, 2005 Share Posted September 26, 2005 i was gonna download this but i wasnt sure guess im gonna hit up thepiratebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fermentor666 Posted September 26, 2005 Share Posted September 26, 2005 I watched the first two episodes, pretty good, lots of sex and violence. They got all the episodes as they air up on tvtorrents.com. Accounts are free but necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shameless self promotion Posted September 27, 2005 Share Posted September 27, 2005 My girl has hbo and hbo on demand. Sunday nights its simpsons-family guy-american dad and then to hbo on demand for Rome. Last week they had episodes 3 and 4 on demand so I saw it a week before everyone else did. Woot. This week it wasnt on demand so we had to hit up the 2am showing, thats how much we like the show.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gat Bush Posted September 27, 2005 Share Posted September 27, 2005 it seemed wierd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deterrent Posted September 27, 2005 Share Posted September 27, 2005 never heard of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloner Posted September 27, 2005 Share Posted September 27, 2005 i didnt really like the show. i only watched it once though, maybe ill give it another chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnomeToys Posted September 27, 2005 Share Posted September 27, 2005 I've caught some episodes of a couple of different HBO series and they're amazingly formulaic. Slow pacing and never wrapping things up in an episode, predictable plots twists. Sure, Sopranos and shows like that are cool but I can't be bothered to have my schedule dictated by the television and I don't really want to watch 142 episodes to figure out what the fuck is going on. Does this one actually have a one-plot-per-show type format or is it more of the protracted soap opera crap? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imported_grim540 Posted September 27, 2005 Share Posted September 27, 2005 Originally posted by Biggus Dickus@Sep 27 2005, 02:12 PM I've caught some episodes of a couple of different HBO series and they're amazingly formulaic. Slow pacing and never wrapping things up in an episode, predictable plots twists. Sure, Sopranos and shows like that are cool but I can't be bothered to have my schedule dictated by the television and I don't really want to watch 142 episodes to figure out what the fuck is going on. Does this one actually have a one-plot-per-show type format or is it more of the protracted soap opera crap? Quoted post It is a protracted storyline, but they manage to get things done quickly, ie some story element is solved every episode. I think the series is also going to span at least twenty to thirty years of history. I think that the timeline they have started from is also a great starting point from the series. They started the series with Julius Ceasar returning from Gaul to take control of Roman Republic, I think they plan to carry the series all trough the Roman civil wars, and end it with Octavian (Augustus Ceasar) taking control of the Roman empire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnomeToys Posted September 27, 2005 Share Posted September 27, 2005 Maybe I'll check one or two out. I'm bitter after watching the entire first season of Carnivale and having almost nothing happen, then starting to watch the second season and finding out it was getting cancelled and the entire thing was a waste of time because the story was only 2% told. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeking Posted September 27, 2005 Share Posted September 27, 2005 whatever, there's a ton of sex and violence. just watch it, it's sweet. it's similar to all the other HBO series, but since it's based on true stories, they can't just linger in the same dumb shit for years (ie: OZ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fermentor666 Posted September 27, 2005 Share Posted September 27, 2005 Beecher vs. Schillinger never got old, seeking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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