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I bought this DVD series at Best Buy, and it has rapidly become one of my prized possessions. I've watched it three times now and am still not tired of it. The History Channel did a great job on this docu-drama mini-series. What I really like about the series is that not only does it cover the 'usual suspects' (Spartacus and Caesar), but the 13 episodes cover everything from Marius to Romulus Augustulus. I especially like the episodes on the Teutoberger Wald, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, Decius, the Crisis of the Third Century, Stilicho, and Ricimer. I know some of you purists out there will probably quibble about the details in the equipment, uniforms, and battle reenactments, but I really think the History Channel did a fantastic job on what was probably a modest budget. Also, the actors they got to portray people like Caesar, Arminius, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, Zenobia, Constantine, Stilicho, Theodosius, and Majorian to name a few were pretty close to how I imagine them. I would also mention that the many talking heads they have interjecting commentary throughout the series were often poignant, and sometimes evidenced a rather dry sense of humor: "I think it's safe to say that concerning Theodosius' sons Arcadius and Honorious, father would have been greatly disappointed." "The Roman losses at the Teutoberger Wald would be analogous to the US losing 60,000 troops; I think it would have made the evening news." My only complaint about the series is that they didn't have an episode covering Atilla and the Battle of Chalons, though they did sort of backtrack to Atilla in the final episode. Anyway, you Roman fans out there who've not seen this series owe it to yourselves to check it out.

http://www.history.co.uk/shows/rome-rise-and-fall-of-an-empire/season-1/episode-guide.html#bottomOfHeader

The crafty and scheming Queen Cartimandua of the Brigantes found Roman gold too much to pass up.

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Emperor Decius persecutes Christians, then shortly after falls in battle against the Goths. 'The Wrath of the Gods'???

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The unfortunate general Varus.

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i recomend this series:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0864944/

imho a lot better, historically more accurate, better costumes...

Cool! I'll check out both of them.

PANGI wrote:i recomend this series:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0864944/

imho a lot better, historically more accurate, better costumes...

Isn't this the BBC series with Michael Sheen (The Queen) and Lucy Gaskill (Doctor Who: Blink)? Yes, I would really like to see it, but alas, I checked on Amazon, and it is not available in the DVD format that is viewable in the US.

Concerning your mild criticism of the History Channel series, it isn't perfect (what show is?), but it definitely does some things very well and has some truly great moments. Also, how often do you see Sillicho or Zenobia in a movie or television show?

Most DVD players can be hacked to play any format I think? Mine was certainly easy to fix - I just typed in a 4 digit code easily found on the web.

Cheers,
Chris

So there's a hack where I can change my DVD player from region one to region two? Cool. I will have to look it up. If I feel at all confident about successfully doing it, then I will probably order the series from Amazon. I've been wanting to see the old BBC scifi series Blake's 7 as well, but same problem.

BTW, I'm sorry to say that the Zenobia book isn't very good. It's just not engaging me, and as a result it's taking me a long time to finish. I can't understand why a better writer (the caliber of a Robert Graves or Colleen Mccullough) hasn't tried to take up her story. Sighs.

FYI, I saw the 48FPS version of the Hoibbit, and it was great! I'll never go to a movie at the theater in the old format again.

Merry Christmas, BTW.