Britannia - Sky1 and Amazon Co-Production on the Roman conquest of Britain

[TheDarkKnight]

So, not sure how this one managed to escape my television news but later this year we are getting a series on the conquest of Britain by the Romans. Has some decent people attached to it too.

I wonder if this will kind of be like how Netflix help produces The Last Kingdom when it comes to the relationship between Sky1 and Amazon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia_(TV_series)

[Roma_Victrix]

Seems like it may be rather non-historical. It depicts the British resistance as being led by two queens (Kerra and Antedia), when it was in fact two sons of the late king Cunobeline of the Catuvellauni named Togodumnus and Caratacus. I'm not sure if there were any noble or royal women named Kerra and Antedia involved in the British resistance against the Romans. It seems like a cheap ploy to attract female viewers to me, if not a strange stand-in or representation of the later Queen Boudica of the Iceni who led a revolt against the Romans two decades later in 60-61 AD. Either way it's already on the wrong footing. Hopefully it is saved by a good narrative, cinematography, production quality, and well-choreographed fighting.

[Kyriakos]

Does it have non-white actors? That is the only thing needed.

[Knight of Heaven]

Edris Elba is playing one of the Queens. True Story!

He has the acting chops im sure.

[Marcus Aemilius Lepidus]

Apparently there is of course a black legionary who will play a prominent role. I am not sure but i think i don't like the guy who plays Aulus Plautius. He seems to play the same kind of character as in The Walking Dead and i just never saw Aulus Plautius as some madman he is in the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBiH7Ypz6PU

[Roma_Victrix]

Apparently there is of course a black legionary who will play a prominent role. I am not sure but i think i don't like the guy who plays Aulus Plautius. He seems to play the same kind of character as in The Walking Dead and i just never saw Aulus Plautius as some madman he is in the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBiH7Ypz6PU

Wow. That looks terrible. The acting, the environments, pseudo-woad face paint, and bizarre clothing/armor all look horribly cheesy to me. LOL. Almost nothing about that struck me as being authentic to the time period. Their depiction of the Druids is amusing to say the least. The single black legionary could be explained away as some Ethiopian in the Roman army (since there is evidence that some of them served in it). As I mentioned above, the main problem here is the depiction of prominent noble women running and organizing the initial resistance to the Roman invasion, which I've dispelled in my previous post. There weren't a dozen women named Boudica running around in Britannia at the time. There was only one Boudica, and she was only relevant some 20 years after the period in which the show is set.

[Påsan]

Caratacus was the real leader of the resistance no? Seem to remember he was a real thorn in the Romans side for an absurd amount of time.

In any case this looks genuinely bad. I dont understand when you got the money and the intention, why not do things right? Ask historians for advice, portray the characters faithfully, get beliveable costumes. Roman britain have been researched extensively, the knowledge is out there.

Oh and +1 for the close combat testudo. Classic.

[HannibalExMachina]

the black guy gets sacrificed first or what, how very 80s

this looks pretty meh.

[Niles Crane]

Well, that just looks like a pseudo-historical Game of Thrones knockoff. Definitely be giving it a miss.

[Telamon]

This stuff is annoying because once this inevitable fails due to its stylistic and narrative choices the blame will somehow fall on audiences not digging Romans or some such. Rome and the stories of Rome are cool, it's the crappy execution that turns people away. Not that I think it would've been particularly interesting in the first place considering its focus on Britain, which aside from Boudica has probably the least interesting Roman history.

[Roma_Victrix]

This stuff is annoying because once this inevitable fails due to its stylistic and narrative choices the blame will somehow fall on audiences not digging Romans or some such. Rome and the stories of Rome are cool, it's the crappy execution that turns people away. Not that I think it would've been particularly interesting in the first place considering its focus on Britain, which aside from Boudica has probably the least interesting Roman history.

Not sure about having the least interesting history, considering the importance of Britannia in several Roman rebellions and civil wars, let alone the launching point for the political and military career of Constantine the Great. In fact, he was declared emperor while still stationed in Eboracum (modern-day York).

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

Why is that actor walking around with his mouth open? He has the most bewildered look on his face and seems completely lost. Did he accidentally walk on set?

[Mayer]

Is there even any show nowadays that isn't a feminist power fantasy?

[Halie Satanus]

Oh.

[Copperknickers II]

This stuff is annoying because once this inevitable fails due to its stylistic and narrative choices the blame will somehow fall on audiences not digging Romans or some such. Rome and the stories of Rome are cool, it's the crappy execution that turns people away. Not that I think it would've been particularly interesting in the first place considering its focus on Britain, which aside from Boudica has probably the least interesting Roman history.

Not interesting to non-Brits perhaps but it's pretty interesting for Brits, since we never get to see our Roman history on screen. There was a series about Boudica in the 70s, but the last film with Boudica in it was released in 1927, not including an awful British/Romanian TV film from 15 years ago. I'll definitely watch this, it looks OK, no worse than the Last Kingdom anyway.

[Roma_Victrix]

Not interesting to non-Brits perhaps but it's pretty interesting for Brits, since we never get to see our Roman history on screen. There was a series about Boudica in the 70s, but the last film with Boudica in it was released in 1927, not including an awful British/Romanian TV film from 15 years ago. I'll definitely watch this, it looks OK, no worse than the Last Kingdom anyway.

Seriously, dude? There have been like three movies about Roman Britain in the past 10 years: The Last Legion (2007), Centurion (2010), and The Eagle (2011), all of these movies having rather big-name actors. You missed them all somehow?

Going back a bit further, there was also King Arthur in 2004, perhaps the most popular of the bunch, albeit obviously more mythological than the other ones.

[Halie Satanus]

The Last Legion (2007)

Possibly the worst pre-fight speech ever....



So bad....

Centurion and The Eagle were both decent movies, though not by TWC standards of scrutiny...

Oddest thing in the Eagle has to be Mark Strong (who's British) playing a Roman who's settled in Briton having an American accent....



What the ...

[Darios]

I have always found it fascinating that there are way more books/films/documentaries out there about Roman Britain than say....Roman Italy xD

[Roma_Victrix]

I have always found it fascinating that there are way more books/films/documentaries out there about Roman Britain than say....Roman Italy xD

I wouldn't go that far, but there is certainly an inordinate number compared to say Roman Belgium or Roman Croatia. It's obviously because the Anglican-speaking world has bigger production budgets for films and TV than these two countries I just cherry-picked, for instance.

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

Is there anything about Roman Gaul? As far as I can think of some Julius Caesar films have the conquest of Gaul, there is also the film Druids which also has Julius Caesar in it, so no coincidence. Julius Caesar was probably the best thing to happen to Gaul I guess.