Title: Barbarians:
“Vikings/Goths” & “Mongols/Huns”
Narrator: Clancy Brown
Writers: Damian Slattery, Nick
Jones, Kate Youngdahl, Steven Zorn, and Jonathan Grupper
Supervising Writers: Jonathan
Grupper and Steven Zorn
Series Producer/Episode
Director: Robert Gardner
Executive Producer: Carl H.
Lindhaul
Barbarians: “Vikings/Goths”
Running Time: 92 minutes without commercials
Barbarians: “Mongol/Huns”
Running Time: 92 minutes without commercials
Media: History Channel Special (NTSC
VHS Screeners)
Barbarians: “Vikings/Goths”
World Premiere: Monday, January 19, 2004, at 9pm (ET/PT)
Barbarians: “Mongols/Huns”
World Premiere: Tuesday, January 20, 2004, at 9pm (ET/PT)
Network: The History Channel
(Check your local cable/satellite listings for channel)
TV Rating: Not Available At Time
Of Review
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
The period of history between
the decline of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance known as the “Dark Ages”
are an era of superstition, war, and death. For nearly a thousand years the
rulers of various tribes across Europe and Asia arrive and decline as fast as a
passing storm, but mold the structure of nations to come. The upcoming History
Channel Original Special “Barbarians” focuses on four specific groups of
people who create brief, but influential empires that are still studied not only
by historians, but also by modern day politicians and military leaders today. In
night one we are introduced to the Vikings and the Goths. The Vikings begin
their conquests with technologically superior ships that can be built within a
month to six weeks and with small modifications can be used in shallow waters
and rivers as well as oceans while their contemporaries could barely travel
around the coastlines. The Vikings under Leif Eriksson are the first Europeans
to set foot on American soil centuries before Columbus and the Vikings also
greatly change the face of Europe with the conquest of England from their
Norsemen settlements in France to become known as the “Normans” in 1066AD.
The Goths are a people that were
betrayed and enslaved by the Romans that ultimately bring about the final end of
the Roman Empire and what is widely considered to be the birth of the “Dark
Ages” in 476 AD. Arriving in Rome at first as a means of protection against
other nomadic tribes, the Goths are used as a first line of defense by their
Roman leaders to spare Roman lives while Goth lives were simply used as fodder
and eventually the Goths turn their military training back upon the Romans and
finally sack the city of Rome itself. Interestingly Attila, the Hun and his
mighty army play a role in history as almost a precursor to the fall of Rome.
More than a conqueror, Attila tries to unite the various Hun tribes into a
unified and recognized empire. Shrouded in myth and legend as with all of the
historic figures discussed in “Barbarians,” Attila ultimately is ahead of
his time when it comes to taking Rome by force. Jealousy from competing tribes
that form alliances with the waning Roman Empire, which include armies of
Visigoths ultimately succeed in repelling the Huns. The Huns are successful in
creating great fear between the Western and Eastern Roman Empires and in
weakening their spirit, so it can be said that the Huns paved the way for the
Goths to finish the job of destroying the Roman Empire. However the Vatican
survives these dark years and use the carnage of the Barbarians as means of
gaining control over nations through influence and the fear of God wrath
manifested in some great army arising and wiping out those nations that do not
share allegiances and power with the Pope. Thus the Vatican is able to bestow a
kind of psychological hold unchallenged over much of Christian Europe for
approximately 600 years.
The Mongols under Genghis Khan
and his successors perhaps provide the most vivid accounts of carnage as their
empire stretches from the Pacific rim of China all the way into Germany. What is
interesting about all four of these groups explored in great detail in the
“Barbarians” is that they are all initially driven by desperation from their
bleak native surroundings and they all seem to succumb to a strange fate that
takes the lives of their strongest leaders and ultimately ends their empires in
almost sudden collapses where their people are absorbed into the countries they
have conquered and their memories fade into legend. In many cases viewers will
learn how various tactics used by the barbarian tribes explored in this program
ultimately have a profound effect on the ways wars were fought in the twentieth
century. Viewers will see the Mongol version of the “The Pony Express,” as
noted in American folklore and it is interesting to take into consideration that
during the rule of the Mongols, traders and merchants could travel from Europe
deep into Asia without fear of any violence and embargo from competing kingdoms.
After the end of the Mongol Dynasty, this guarantee would not occur again until
the twentieth century.
Mixing bloodless, but
historically accurate battle reenactments with interviews from various
historical scholars, “Barbarians” is entertaining, engrossing, and
educational television nearly the whole family can enjoy and is a refreshing
break from the “Reality TV” crap that is infected the broadcast waves for
the last few years. Actor Clancy Brown (Highlander) narrates the reenactment
sequences for the entire series. Though the program is being shown over two
nights in two-hour intervals from 9 to 11pm, “Barbarians” is actually four
programs combined to create a historical miniseries special of sorts. My only
caveat with the program is that it presents the Huns, Goths, Vikings, and
Mongols programs out of chronological order. So without a timeline in front of a
viewer, watching “Barbarians” as it will be broadcast could get confusing. I
am no historian, but ideally the programs should have begun with the Huns as I
have noted above and concluded with the Mongols. Yet I suppose viewers can
always record it and watch it again in any order they like.
Regardless, I highly recommend
anyone remotely interested in Eurasian History and or global history in general
to watch “Barbarians” when it makes its World Premiere on The History
Channel with “Vikings/Goths” on Monday, January 19, 2004, at 9pm (ET/PT) and
“Mongols/Huns” on Tuesday, January 20, 2004, at 9pm (ET/PT). You can
view more images from this special by clicking here.
© Copyright 2004 By Mark A.
Rivera
All Rights Reserved.