History TV channal

[Artimi]

Has anyone watched any the Battles BC series on this channel?

 

http://www.history.com/video.do?name=Battl...tid=13969231001

 

 

I havent watched any 'graphic' type movies/documentaries before and I dont think I like them. There is to much romantization of battle sequences. The ones I saw seemed choreographed like the fight scenes from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon which were perfect in that movie. The blood spurts dramatically with every swipe of a blade. The hair flies behind each combatant, even Roman legionaires have flying long hair under their helmuts. (I didnt think legionairs had long hair)

 

This theatricality aside, I really liked the discussion or analysis by the 3 military historians.

 

It was like 2 different styles, spliced together.

 

I will never be ready for films of this kind.

 

One quote from the program -

It is one thing for a leader to say charge, it is another for a leader to say follow me.

 

As Caesar said in the final battle of the siege.

Edited January 2, 2010 by Artimi

[caesar novus]

It was like 2 different styles, spliced together.

 

I will never be ready for films of this kind.

Some of the same cartoon blood spilling was injected into the History Channel's "Ancients behaving badly". Must be aimed at the male teen demographic that loves violent computer games. I think there is a ruthless struggle for shrinking ad revenues; that is the reason Fox channel is tripling it's charges for CATV to carry them in a very public standoff. For advertisers head count doesn't matter; they only need the demographic that is a loose spender rather than the pennywise.

 

So I've become accustomed to watching manure to get access to some garden goodies so to speak. Some of the funniest comedies now have cruel cynicism that I learn to tune out. The NERO episode of "Ancients behaving badly" had stereotyped history and violence, but fantastic tours of sites. Must have been in March right after rains had cleared and fresh golden light flooded the marble and wildflowers. I've never seen Rome look so attractive, and they have a funny way of enhancing mood of the story by zooming in on Roman pedestrians in a similar mood (joy, anger, fear, whatever) instead of cheesy music.

 

I wonder what museums they showed with Roman sculpture - maybe Vatican, but again I have never seen it look so attractive. My recorder cuts off most credits at the end, but I did notice it was yet another Canadian taxpayer subsidized production - maybe this accounts for lookalike cartoon violence (and moody crowds?) showing up here and there. On Hi-def TV I think the fuzzy cartoonish sequences are less revolting than the hosts or experts they used to have. A microscopic view of rotten teeth or even small skin abscesses in greater-than-life-size must be the reason they have swung to more youthful experts, possibly lacking gravitas.

Edited January 3, 2010 by caesar novus

[Emperor Goblinus]

Has anyone watched any the Battles BC series on this channel?

 

http://www.history.com/video.do?name=Battl...tid=13969231001

 

 

I havent watched any 'graphic' type movies/documentaries before and I dont think I like them. There is to much romantization of battle sequences. The ones I saw seemed choreographed like the fight scenes from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon which were perfect in that movie. The blood spurts dramatically with every swipe of a blade. The hair flies behind each combatant, even Roman legionaires have flying long hair under their helmuts. (I didnt think legionairs had long hair)

 

This theatricality aside, I really liked the discussion or analysis by the 3 military historians.

 

It was like 2 different styles, spliced together.

 

I will never be ready for films of this kind.

 

One quote from the program -

It is one thing for a leader to say charge, it is another for a leader to say follow me.

 

As Caesar said in the final battle of the siege.

 

I was at a friend's house one time, and the Hannibal episode was on. Personally, I think shows like this are really cool. Literature and many shows about ancient warfare often treat the topic in an abstract way, and don't truly convey what it was like. We'll of course never truly know what it was like back then, but I think Battles BC does an excellent job of showing what wars were ultimately like at the time; massively muscular individuals killing each other in unspeakable ways and practically bathing in each others' blood. Historical accuracy is what's most important, but as long as that's maintained, I say bring on as much gore as possible.

 

As for the long-haired Roman soldiers, I don't think that it would be too surprising them on campaigns that lasted months and years.