For the love of God, avoid the dubbed version of this series!
The show is alright, and it's very cool to hear classical Latin. I wish they'd also research the proto-germanic language that they spoke at the time too, but I guess you can't help execs who will ruin all movies just to protect "revenue," even though the series could have become so much more with that extra linguistic touch. No, doing that would require balls, and I don't know any execs who have that...
So why take that chance? Well, for one, this topic isn't just interesting to Germans. For instance I'm Norwegian myself, and judging by how many English speakers go on and on about Roman history on places like YouTube and the History Channel, I think I'd even call this a sure thing. As such that is a huge lost opportunity.
I might be caught up in details, but what really irks me about this series, is the extremely poor use of sound effects. Every time someone draws a sword, a hammer(!) or even a puny sheath knife, you hear a really loud animé-like "ka-ching." Instead of hearing the soft rip of leather and the gargle of blood when someone's throat is cut, you hear ... "ka-ching." This is so badly done that it totally ruines the rest of the experience for me. At some points I had to stop the movie and laugh out loud. It's truly that jarring! Whoever's in charge of the sound effects on this series; yeah, please fire him! :) Listen, I know you have to exaggerate a few things for TV, but this is just ridiculous.
In film theory this is what we call a "verfremdungseffekt." It's an effect that takes you out of the drama, and makes you notice that you're watching a film, such as breaking the fourth wall. When done right, you get Pulp Fiction. When done wrong, you get "ka-ching" in a historical drama...
While not totally ruining things, the theme of the prodigal son is a bit over the top. Also it's factually wrong (stirrups anyone?), but all series seem to rewrite history these days anyway. I guess they have to keep the sheep engaged somehow, though cheap, and so this time-tested topic is very easy to reach for.
In my humble opinion they would have gotten a lot more out of this drama by more solid character development, like that showed in the 10/10 HBO series Rome. On top of that, there is of course the usual feminist narratives spouted out of all current popular shows, which is especially jarring considering how completely different society was in those ancient times. A rewrite to really show how life was back then would have made this series a lot better, but I guess it's hard to rid yourself of the zeitgeist of the current, when you also have to cater to all those politically correct yet historyless snowflakes out there.
All in all I think this series is a huge missed opportunity. I'd give it a 5 out of 10, but it still somehow manages to be somewhat entertaining despite its flaws, so 6 out of 10 it is, though I'm a sucker for things like these. I guess what I'm trying to say is that while this series has some truly jarring flaws, it's not all bad and it ends up quite entertaining in the end if you just take it for what it is: a melodramatic soap opera, and not really a historical show in any respect.
The show is alright, and it's very cool to hear classical Latin. I wish they'd also research the proto-germanic language that they spoke at the time too, but I guess you can't help execs who will ruin all movies just to protect "revenue," even though the series could have become so much more with that extra linguistic touch. No, doing that would require balls, and I don't know any execs who have that...
So why take that chance? Well, for one, this topic isn't just interesting to Germans. For instance I'm Norwegian myself, and judging by how many English speakers go on and on about Roman history on places like YouTube and the History Channel, I think I'd even call this a sure thing. As such that is a huge lost opportunity.
I might be caught up in details, but what really irks me about this series, is the extremely poor use of sound effects. Every time someone draws a sword, a hammer(!) or even a puny sheath knife, you hear a really loud animé-like "ka-ching." Instead of hearing the soft rip of leather and the gargle of blood when someone's throat is cut, you hear ... "ka-ching." This is so badly done that it totally ruines the rest of the experience for me. At some points I had to stop the movie and laugh out loud. It's truly that jarring! Whoever's in charge of the sound effects on this series; yeah, please fire him! :) Listen, I know you have to exaggerate a few things for TV, but this is just ridiculous.
In film theory this is what we call a "verfremdungseffekt." It's an effect that takes you out of the drama, and makes you notice that you're watching a film, such as breaking the fourth wall. When done right, you get Pulp Fiction. When done wrong, you get "ka-ching" in a historical drama...
While not totally ruining things, the theme of the prodigal son is a bit over the top. Also it's factually wrong (stirrups anyone?), but all series seem to rewrite history these days anyway. I guess they have to keep the sheep engaged somehow, though cheap, and so this time-tested topic is very easy to reach for.
In my humble opinion they would have gotten a lot more out of this drama by more solid character development, like that showed in the 10/10 HBO series Rome. On top of that, there is of course the usual feminist narratives spouted out of all current popular shows, which is especially jarring considering how completely different society was in those ancient times. A rewrite to really show how life was back then would have made this series a lot better, but I guess it's hard to rid yourself of the zeitgeist of the current, when you also have to cater to all those politically correct yet historyless snowflakes out there.
All in all I think this series is a huge missed opportunity. I'd give it a 5 out of 10, but it still somehow manages to be somewhat entertaining despite its flaws, so 6 out of 10 it is, though I'm a sucker for things like these. I guess what I'm trying to say is that while this series has some truly jarring flaws, it's not all bad and it ends up quite entertaining in the end if you just take it for what it is: a melodramatic soap opera, and not really a historical show in any respect.