Both of these HBO series reminded me so much of I. Claudius, and to me at least at the time "I, Claudius" came out on top.
I took it out to look at it tonight, the DVDs, and the production values are so old and makeshift ... it is literally done as a play ... which is great, but it did not quite hold up as well as I would have expected. Still a wonderful series, one of the best.
Actually, there was an I,C vs. Rome thread, and when GoT first premiered, there was a thread commenting I,C as an inspiration, but IMDb deleted a lot of threads to make some room in the site (note the lack of pre-2012 threads).
GAME OF THRONES, ROME, THE SOPRANOS...it all goes back to I, CLAUDIUS.
There are posts that go back, at least to 2009 .... the date field on the threads just shows the latest post.
I'm sorry to see if IMDB is deleting old posts, a lot of them are very good, in fact some of them are the best
threads, before the trolls and idiots jumped online and got so good and being annoying! ;-)
I'm watching the DVDs of "I, Claudius" now. Ended up renting them because I watched and adored "Rome". Somewhere I read that if you liked Rome you'd love I, Claudius as it is a chronological continuation. (I'm not a big history buff, I just like entertaining media).
Whoever posted that tip was absolutely right. I'm enjoying the "older" versions of some of my favorite Rome characters along with all the intrigue.
Sad to hear all those old board discussions were deleted.
When I watched Rome I'm pretty sure I mentioned ... "I, Clavdivs" ! ;-)
I don't think posts were deleted, if you look at different threads the starting posts are often pretty old. I think it's very interesting almost as an archeological study how posts will change over time. Can you imagine in 100 years looking back and seeing how people were talking and reacting to movies that might be either old classics by that time or completely forgotten?
Also deleted was my 13-thread episode discussion done for the 35th Anniversary.
Glad that you are enjoying it, JinkyO. That said, if you're basing your experience on ROME, some facts that 'earlier' show avoided that 'I,C' is following:
Octavia's 1st marriage was never canceled (though the husband did die...of natural causes) and resulted in Marcellus.
Octavian/Augustus had a first marriage before Livia. This 1st marriage begat Julia, his only child.
Livia's 1st marriage had Tiberius and Drusus.
Antonia is Mark Antony's child. Octavia never had an affair with Agrippa. Agrippa had a 1st marriage of his own (a 2nd marriage was to Octavia's daughter/Marcellus' sister Marcella!), and this union produced Vispania, the woman Tiberius married and was forced to divorce for Julia.
Atia was long dead (she actually died shortly after Caesar's assassination), and its certain that much of her (fictionous) characterization in ROME was based on I,C's characterization of Livia.
I think it was very stupid to delete older posts on this board. Most of them were interesting and fun to read.
I'm currently watching LILLIE; I like it - very fascinating view on Victorian society and hypocrisy in 1870s/1880s. In my opinion, Denis Lill is more convincing than Timothy West as pleasure looking prince-playboy. I liked Timothy West in EDWARD THE SEVENTH but he is portrayed as too much sympathetic figure ( Victoria permanently screams about his irresponsibility and scandals but we haven't seen him do anything really bad) which is writers fault.
And once again thanks for recommendation for THE SHADOW OF THE TOWER. I watched that earlier this year ( together with THE FIRST CHURCHILLS) and it was excellent.
As for PRINCE REGENT on YouTube only music is available http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csDOd2BkYp8
It was never realised on DVD ( on IMDb this has 8.2), whatever reason was. If you have any information where to watch this, it would be much appreciated.
THE DEVIL'S CROWN ( also never on DVD )is luckily on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG1tsQBrDDU . Excellent performances by Brian Cox, Jane Lapotaire, Michael Byrne and John Duttine. What is your opinion about this series and comparison with THE LION IN WINTER and BECKET?
Any recommendations are welcome !
"The trick, William Potter,is not minding that it hurts."
If you enjoyed tose older UK programs, may I recommend a few others for you?
The Fall of the Eagles (uploaded on yt)
By the Sword Divided (series one is on yt)
Portrait of a Marriage (also on yt)
Flambards (1st episode on yt)
The Jewel in the Crown
Middlemarch (also on yt)
The Duchess of Duke Street (also on yt)
Upstairs, Downstairs (also on yt)
Testament of Youth (also on yt)
Edward and Mrs. Simpson (also on yt)
To Serve Them All My Days (also on yt)
The House of Eliott (sadly, not streaming anywhere online)
The Pallisers (also on yt)
Love for Lydia
I Remember Nelson (also on yt)
Rome was ok but was inaccurate in at least one point. Caesarion was 17 when Cleopatra and Antony died not a child and was hoped to take over from Caeser by his mother despite not being officially called his son. He was believed to have been strangled but he did die.
shareRome was ok but was inaccurate in at least one point. Caesarion was 17 when Cleopatra and Antony died not a child and was hoped to take over from Caeser by his mother despite not being officially called his son. He was believed to have been strangled but he did die.
shareI like to watch Rome and then watch I Claudius. It isn't a perfect match as a prequel, but it is the best available.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?