MovieChat Forums > I, Claudius (1977) Discussion > I,Claudius 40th Anniversary: Zeus, By Jo...

I,Claudius 40th Anniversary: Zeus, By Jove!


A Madman Reigns!

Episode 9: Zeus, By Jove!
Broadcast Date: UK: November 8, 1976 US: January 1, 1978
Studio BBC/London Film Productions Ltd.
Producer Martin Lisemore
Director Herbert Wise
Writer Jack Pulman (Based on the novel by Robert Graves)
Starring Derek Jacobi, John Hurt, George Baker, Margaret Tyzack, John Rhys Davies, James Faulkner
Introducing Anna Drysen as Brisies
Guest starring Beth Morris as Drusilla, Douglas Melbourne as Gemellus, John Lauriemore as Lentelus, Anna Drysen as Brisies

37 AD Tiberius dies twice (by stroke and suffocation under a pillow) Caligula has now become Emperor. But an illness removes his remaining sanity, rendering him delusion of Godhood. All Rome swallows this nonsense, a tolerance that will bring dark consequences to the remaining members of the family.

Death(s) in this episode: Tiberius: smothered; Lentelus: suicide; Gemellus: beheaded; Antonia: suicide; Drusilla: disembowled.

Memorable quotes:
"I was never really ill. I was undergoing a metamorphosis." -Caligula
"Oh... was it painful?" -Claudius
"It was like a birth... in which the mother delivers herself." -Caligula
"Oh. It must have been painful. May I inquire on the character of this…glorious change which has come over you?" -Claudius
“Isn’t it obvious?” –Caligula
“Y-you have become a god! Oh my god! Let me worship you! How can I be so blind?” –Claudius
“Well, I am still in mortal disguise. That wouldn’t help you.” –Caligula

“I always knew this would happen. I always knew I was divine. Think of it: when I was two I put down a mutiny in my father’s army and so saved Rome. Now that was prodigious.” –Caligula
“It’s like the stories they tell of Hercules as a child. Hercules, who strangled snakes in his cradle.” -Claudius
“Exactly, but where Mercury stole a few oxen, whereas at age ten I already killed my father. Oh, you didn’t know that, did you?” -Caligula
“N-no, Divinity.” -Claudius
“Even Jove didn’t do that. He merely banished the old man.” -Caligula
“Why, if you don’t mind my asking, did you do that?” -Claudius “Well he stood in my way. Me a young God! He tried to discipline me. So I frightened him to death in Antioch.” -Caligula
“So it was you who did all that! That’s incredible!” -Claudius
“Oh no. Not for a god. Very simple. And not only did I kill my natural father, I also killed my adopted father Tiberius. And Jove didn’t do that!” -Caligula
“No. I’ve never read he was able to do that.” -Claudius
“You see, you’re a very well-read man. And where Jove only slept with only one of his sisters, I’ve slept with all three of them. All three have admitted a god into their beds.” -Caligula

"He [Caligula] wants to see you [Drusilla]. He's become a god. Oh, you're a god, too. We're not [Herod and himself]." -Claudius

"The Emperor is coming. Now there is something you ought to know before he arrives, so that you won't be taken totally by surprise... We are privileged to be living at the time of a most astonishing event. The Emperor has undergone a transformation, a meta-mor-phosis. He has become a god. Now that is unusual to say the least. But that's the nature of miracles, to be unusual. And if it's the nature of some people not to believe in them, well the more fool them... However, the Emperor doesn't want to make too much of it. He doesn't want any fuss, or public announcements. He wants us all to behave normally. Although he is now a god, he is still the same loveable young man we have always known, I can attest to that. And to enable his relationships with all of us to continue exactly as they were, he has decided, for convenience, to retain his mortal form... Oh, and by the way, his sister Drusilla's become a goddess. Any questions?" -Macro

“Your recovery is a miracle.” –Lentelus
“But you prayed for it, Lentelus.” -Caligula
“Night and day, but our prayers are not always heard.” –Lentelus
“Yes, but yours is very special as I understand. You offered your life to the gods in place of mine. It was extremely noble.” -Caligula
“It’s true. I did.” -Lentelus
"And what are you going to do about it?” –Caligula
“Do about it? What do you mean?” -Lentelus
"Well, I'm still here and so are you. But we ought not both be here. Should we not give the gods we promised them or be in danger of the crime of perjury, Lentelus? Think about it. But not too long. The gods won’t wait, I can ensure you. I know them too well.” –Caligula

"Well, you know what they say about the tree of the Claudians. It bears two kinds of fruit. Sweet and bad." -Herod
"Well, we’ve had a terrifying crop this season." –Claudius

“What is it?” -Caligula
“Whose [head] is it?” –Claudius
“Gemellus. I’ve cured his cough.” -Caligula

“You going away somewhere?” –Claudius
“Yes. At long last I’m going to join your father.” –Antonia
“What do you mean?” –Claudius
“I’m going to kill myself. Now don’t start any nonsense.” –Antonia
“But you can’t.” –Claudius
“Oh yes I can. My life’s my own. It’ll be a welcome release. I have no wish to go living in this place.” –Antonia

“But he can’t last forever.” –Claudius
“No, and I dare say you’ll survive him. You survive the great flood, I know that now. But I have no wish to. I;ve stayed too long, and I always thought it the height of good manners to know when to leave.” -Antonia

"There will be no pain I promise you!" –Caligula
“Pain? Why? What do you want to do, my Angel? You know I can resist you nothing! What’re you doing? What do you want to do? Please tell the Queen of Heaven what my lord and master wants?” -Drusilla
“I must draw the child from the Queen of Heaven’s womb and swallow it whole. So that a new child can grow from the head of Zeus.” -Caligula
“Yes…draw it out...Let Zeus take the child out…and let’s go to bed…the Queen’s very sleepy… What’s that? [knife]. What’re you gonna do?” –Drusilla
“There’ll be no pain I know it!” –Caligula
“Pain? Now why should it…Caligula?” -Drusilla
"We are immortal gods!" -Caligula

Trivia
-The Mutiny Caligula ‘stopped’ happened in Lower Germany in 14 AD. Evidently, the soldiers became remorseful over seizing the child that they put down their arms.
-Caligula mentions three sisters. Drusilla, Agrippinilla (Agrippina the Younger) and Livilla (Lesbia). The last one is absent from this series.
-Graves never mentions the cause of Drusilla's death, though he implies it to be by Caligula's hand. Jack Pulman's original script had the episode end with a shot of Drusilla's butchered corpse. The finished product, despite being less extreme, was severely edited by WGBH during the show's original US broadcast on Masterpiece Theatre.

reply

R.I.P John Hurt aka Caligula

reply

Would Sejanus have handled things differently from Macro-as in forcibly removing the nut?

reply