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[the_antichris]

You guys, I am not at all sure what I think about this. Sure, Rome was great, when they weren't fridging half the female cast, but I have a lot of FEELINGS about Derek Jacobi and Patrick Stewart With Hair and Jovially Creepy Augustus. Especially Derek Jacobi. :(

Also, having seen Game of Thrones, I don't want to know what HBO are going to do with

Comments

[_unhurt_]

I have a lot of FEELINGS about Derek Jacobi and Patrick Stewart With Hair and Jovially Creepy Augustus

i approve this decription. and now i want to have time to reread it. (also, second link! - things i never knew, but apparently really really needed to.)

p.s. in return please have a man talking about mushrooms. i rather enjoyed it.

[the_antichris]

The last time I read it was right after we finished watching it in high school. I'm a little bit afraid to reread. But the Suck Fairy can't get anywhere near ROBERT GRAVES, can she? Or, more to the point, Suetonius.

Can the mushroom man please arrange for there to be more delicious mushrooms here instead of stupid buttons?

[the_antichris]

FUNGI EAT RADIATION???!!!

[_unhurt_]

heeeeeeee. i THOUGHT you might like that link. (and quite clearly fungi are his UNIVERSE.)

[mab_browne]

I love the old mini-series, which was was just brilliant, 'quiet' special effects and cheap sets notwithstanding. I'm not sure that I'd bother with a remake - but for a new audience, who knows?

[the_antichris]

It'd be fun to see what they do with a proper set budget, but I don't remember being bothered by or even really noticing the cheap sets of the original.

A dramatisation of Claudius the God could be worthwhile, but it sounds like it's going to cover both books, and there's no replacing the original miniseries in my heart.

[mishloran]

I can understand why they're doing it - it's basically written for them (but I have a feeling there will be less talk more FORCED ACTION for today's perceived-as-stupid audiences) - and it has a track record as being Amazing. Unfortunately, I do know that 'old' puts a lot of potential viewers off, and there's no denying that I, Claudius certainly looks a little clunky now. And the younger viewers probably don't even play the game of Who Is Famous Now when watching ;)

But at the same time, yes to apprehension. There's so many other amazing and brilliant stories which could be told in episodic format - how about Germanicus' life, or concentrating on the life of Nero (yes yes, we have Quo Vadis? for that, I suppose, but it could be done with a less YEY CHRISTIANS message, perhaps, and there's enough depravity for HBO surely

[the_antichris]

Quo Vadis! That's due for a remake, because the original is actualfax terrible. Germanicus would be good, too, though I have cynical thoughts about the difficulty of finding writers who know anything about him. Or a ~gritty war drama~ about Varus' legions, with one guy surviving to provide the requisite not-entirely-hopeless ending.

Younger viewers probably haven't ever encountered the original I, C if they didn't do classics at school, so maybe it is due for a reboot. None of my dubiousness means I'm not going to watch it like a shot.

[mishloran]

That's the thing, I'm pretty sure it's only oldies (well, late-to-middle-aged-ies) who remember I, Claudius fondly (and who aren't Classicists!), so it's good there'll be a reboot in that respect!

Quo Vadis was sooo loooooong!

Who do you think is best on Germanicus?

I guess re: Varus, they think they've covered that with The Eagle?

I had high hopes that Troy would bring about an Aeneid but nuthin' so far. It is my opinion that this story needs to be told to kidlets; everyone knows of The Odyssey and the Trojan War (read: 'Iliad') but not of Aeneas' adventures! Maybe it is because, Dido and Book 6 aside, it is much the same... but still!

[the_antichris]

That's why Quo Vadis would make a good miniseries! Spread the longness out over a few nights.

IDK about Germanicus. I guess anyone reasonable could swot up on Tacitus.

Book 12 would be hard to do - turning up, starting a war and killing the princess's boyfriend isn't the sort of thing people like in their heroes. The best bet might be one of the Books In Which Stuff Happens - 2, 4 (romance! Except all the non-classicists would be so confused about why Aeneas leaves) or 6.

[mishloran]

PS: 'Claudius The Gourd' made me laugh a lot. And I immediately knew what you were talking about. AWESOME.

[tabouli]

Rome was great, when they weren't fridging half the female cast

"Fridging"? (blinks and sifts memories of Rome for possible interpretations of this verb) I seem to be missing something obvious here. How do you mean? Locking away in the cold?

[the_antichris]

It's a term from comics fandom: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Refrigerators. Basically, women get killed or hurt a lot in order to provide character development for the male leads.