The Stolen Eagle

Firstly, I have no interest in accents or historical accuracy.

The aspect of Rome that stood out the most were the sets. The art direction and attention to detail are magnificent.

While that is probably a bad thing; I have always respected television shows that feel they need to put money into sets and detail.

Judging by the pilot, the story that will run throughout the duration of the series will be the power struggle between Gaius Julius Caesar, and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus.

Rome is governed equally between these two men. Ceaser has been away at war in Gaul for eight years and has gained popularity due to his success. Pompeius is threatened and jealous and wishes to throw Ceaser out of government. The struggle begins.

My biggest problem with the pilot is the dialogue. I found it extremely amateur, many lines were dull or cringe worthy.

However the pilot kept my attention and I will give Rome a few more episodes to improve.

This is the episode and series that first brought HBO to my attention and won my admiration. 'Rome' is an absolute triumph of television.

If like me, you are a Roman history fanatic, you will find no other movie, TV or visual representation of any kind that even comes close to equaling the visual splendor, historical accuracy, and entertainment magnificence of HBO's 'Rome'. And this is my attempt to restrain my praise. I've watched and re-watched this entire series at least 5 times and intend to keep watching. I need my 'Rome' fix at least once per year.

But don't for a second think that the story holds less promise than the visual perfection. You cannot get a richer, more captivating true story than that of the life of Julius Caesar. The script writers went a step further and wove in the characters of Vorenus and Titus Pullo around whom the historical context revolves. And they are superb characters who, while fictionalized, are still based on real individuals mentioned in the writings of Caesar himself. The opening battle scene with Vorenus and Pullo on the front line mirrors quite closely what Caesar wrote about them in 'The Gallic War'.

It is sad that a seemingly very good mini-series, at least for the first 10 minutes, hits one in the face with vivid pornography like I used to find as a young teenager in a dark basement with a secret 8mm film. The show is supposed to show Rome how it was and as a historian of ancient near eastern history, it did seem rather accurate. The costuming is very vivid and often colorful. The hair styles are mostly accurate and not like some movies, especially those about Jesus, where men are pictured as wearing long hair. The men of that era actually wore short hair, per the statues that still exist today and the teachings of the New Testament which concur. All of this to say that the show is sexual 'in- your-face' filth after a few minutes and absolutely unnecessary. Sorry, but I could not continue to watch.

The sets look cheap akin to a back lot with minimal use of 'location' but the worst thing is the porn. Give 'Caligula' a run based on the first 20 minutes I viewed before I shut it down. The Brits usually give a good performance but when they imitate Romans they're epecially driven to jump from som,e stage to their moment on screen. It doesn't work and that's why they shove in the porn. The guy who played Caesar was especially 'sour' and I wouldn't think he could ride a horse if his life depended on it - Caesar did it's how he took down Vercingetorix.

If you love depravity then watch it - if you want to be engaged watch the original 'Spartacus'...this is a waste.

I watched this first episode just after I had watched four episodes of the BBC docu-fiction series about the Roman empire in general. I do not think it is easy to make a comparison since the BBC series tries to highlight certain important personalities and eras of the Western Roman world through out its history while Rome develops the personal history of a certain cast of characters during the final years of the Republic just before the emergence of the Principate. The opening titles of the series is impressive as well as character development which tries to have a "real" flavour.And one important detail Rome is much more sexually explicit than the BBC series which means that it will fare better commercially.