Rome or I, Claudius

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So, I got the complete series of Rome for my birthday and I’ve been getting reacquainted lately…

Rome is something of a guilty pleasure for me. The history is appallingly simplified and fictionalized, but the show looks great, has good acting and production values, and a certain charming truthiness about it.

It does try to depict the city more realistically—all garish and filthy—and sometimes you can see hideously painted/gilded statuary in the background—all those beautiful, white marble sculptures were painted-up to look like cheap store mannequins back in the day.

Also, they do attempt to portray certain aspects of Roman culture authentically. So much so, that I usually think of specific episodes in these terms… There’s the patron/client episode, the trepanning/medical episode, the buggering episode, and my favorite, the completely over the top gladiator episode (at least it was not set in the Coliseum ).


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj8yq_urL5c[/youtube]


Then there’s I, Claudius. It’s like the polar opposite of Rome. In major historical events, it closely follows the primary sources—Tacitus, Suetonius, Dio—and then weaves in a good semi-fictionalized drama around the facts. Like Rome, it has great acting with Derek Jacobi as the wiley-yet-ultimately-hapless Claudius, Sian Phillips as the ruthless Livia, John Hurt as crazy Caligula, Patrick Stewart as Sejanus, and John Rhys-Davies as Macro.

Unlike Rome, the production values are bad. The show looks like a videotaped stage play (essentially what it was). It spite of that, it is still one of the most compelling and engrossing stories ever seen on TV.

I’m pretty excited and a bit apprehensive about the new adaptation of Claudius that HBO/BBC is supposed to be working on with the producers of Rome. It’d love to see Robert Graves novels brought to life in a modern production. I just hope they stay faithful to the substance of the source.

I love both shows for very different reasons. I’m not sure which I like best.

Bit of Trivia:

There was an actual Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus.

Here's what Julius Caesar wrote about them in his account of the Gallic Wars:

That's a nice b'day present!

I thought "Rome" was pretty authentic physically. I thought the storyline was weak. I like your phrase "a certain charming truthiness about it". I really liked the series. It really stretched belief with Cleopatra but I did like the ending to the series.

It has been a really long time since I saw "I, Claudius" but I remember that I enjoyed it. I had a lot of trouble with the videotaped appearance. I kept feeling like I was watching an afternoon soap opera.

So, overall, I voted for "Rome".

I'd like to see a well-done HBO series or film about the emperor Tiberius from his point of view. I empathized with his failure to communicate effectively with people.

OOOH I can't wait to see a new Claudius!! ! When will it be out? Never seen Rome but it does look interesting. Have I Claudius on video. It is probably a lot like the sort of stuff the real Claudius wrote before he became Emperor when he hid away trying to survive that nightmare of a family he was born into...

^^^

I'm not sure when an HBO version of I, Claudius might show up on TV.

The last I read, the movie rights had lapsed (back in 2010) and HBO/BBC2 picked it up with plans for a TV series.

I know a new version would look great and entertain... I'm just afraid a new production team will try to dumb-down/simplify the plot and combine characters. The Julio-Claudian family tree is a nightmare (at least until Livia starts her work ).

Anyway, it might be a while before I, Claudius makes it to TV. HBO has some big series going already with Game of Thrones and the like. Plus, they're supposed to be producing a series based on American Gods (something else I'd love to see).

I'm betting I, Claudius won't be on TV before 2014.

In the meantime, I'm tempted to get the 35th anniversary DVD set of the original. That version is great--even with the cheap sets.

I've read the books I Claudius and Claudius The God. They are great companions to the BBC mini series. I don't have HBO so I hope I can obtain videos somehow.

We don't need a remake, old I Claudius is perfect! The HBO I Claudius would be like Rome, only hot young people, steamy sex and a lot of violence.

I vote for Rome! It has Titus Pullo making history come out the Right Way.

If it were not for Titus (played by Ray Stephenson, who is just fantastic) Rome would have been ruled by Pompeii Magnus instead of Julius Kaiser.

ruveyn

^^^

*cough* Messalina's orgy scenes *cough*



The BBC version had it's fair share of sex, nudity and violence.

I love love love I, Claudius and it's been a bit of a special interest of mine lately.

I cba with Rome. I saw the pilot and never watched it after that, it was so crap.

I truly don't mind what HBO do with GOT because the books are a bit like that, anyway (full of graphic sex and violence) and they don't lose the complexity of the storyline in the process.

I, Claudius is more complex than GOT (which isn't that complex, it's just long), if only because of the family tree, so I am not optimistic about them not messing up the story. I don't even think I will watch it when it comes out. I will probably end up watching it when my sister forces me to, or something. My sister forced me to watch the GOT series rather than just read it. I'm glad she did, but I don't think it will turn out as well for I Claudius.