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Title:
ROME: The Complete First Season
Region:
One
Genre:
Serialized Historical Drama Quasi Soap Opera
Disc
One: “The Stolen Eagle”, “How Titus Pullo Brought Down The Republic”
Disc
Two: “An Owl In A Thornbush”, “Stealing From Saturn”, “The Ram Has
Touched The Wall”
Disc
Three: “Egeria”, “Pharsalus”, “Caesarion”
Disc
Four: “Utica”, “Triumph”
Disc
Five: “The Spoils”, “Kalends Of February”
Stars: Kevin McKidd, Ray Stevenson, Polly Walker, Kenneth Cranham, Lindsay Duncan, Tobias Menzies, Kerry Condon, Karl Johnson, Indira Varma, David Bamber, Max Pirkis, Lee Boardman, Nicolas Woodeson, Suzanne Bertish, Paul Jesson, James Purefoy, Ciaran Hinds
Writers
Bruno Heller, John Milius, David Frankel, William J. Macdonald, Alexandra
Cunningham, and Adrian Hodges:
Created
Bt: John Milius, William J. Macdonald, and Bruno Heller
Directors:
Michael Apted, Tim Van Patten, Steve Shill, Jeremy Podeswa, Julian Farino, Allen
Coulter, Alan Poul, Alan Taylor, and Mikael Salomon
Executive
Producers: William J. Macdonald, John Milius, Frank Doelger, Anne Thomopoulos,
and Bruno Heller
Feature
length: 720 minutes
Extras:
Audio Commentaries, All Roads Lead To ROME Interactive Onscreen Text
Commentary, Shot x Shot: Gladiator Featurette, Shot x Shot: Caesar’s
Triumph Featurette, Friends Romans, Countrymen – Character
Introduction Featurette, The
Rise Of ROME Featurette, When
In ROME Featurette, Photo Gallery, TV Spots, ROME Character Guide
Insert
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and French and Spanish Language Dubbed
Dolby Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Closed Captions and English, French, and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Six-Disc Digipack Gatefold Within A Deluxe Hard Cardboard Case
Chapter
Stops: 6 Per Episode
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Television Broadcast: 2005/DVD Release: 2006
Home
Video Distributor: HBO Home Video
TV
Rating: TV-MA
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
ROME is arguably the best drama/soap opera set against the historical backdrop of antiquity since the BBC/PBS presentation of Robert Graves’ I, Claudius in the 1970s. In some ways this series might be looked upon as unofficially a prequel to that classic program though ROME focuses on more than the upper ruling classes and their associates and actually illustrates the historical events surrounding the transition from when Rome was a Republic to when it became an Empire through multiple points of view and class. The odd couple of sorts in the series are soldiers Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) and Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson). After eight years of war in Gaul, King Vercingetorix has surrendered to Julius Caesar (Ciaran Hinds), who has the devotion of his soldiers and increasing popularity among the common folk within Rome and the provinces. However Caesar’s success has also garnered fear and jealousy from those that believe he may attempt to usurp power for himself and those who once were held with high regard by the people have since have become the subject of private ridicule. Pompey Magnus (Kenneth Cranham) shared power equally with Caesar and the Senate and to solidify their allegiance, he was married to Caesar’s sister, but after his wife dies during child birth, there is no longer any family bond to unite the two leaders. Pompey is not loved by the citizens who are starving in the streets because of the poor economy due in part because the wealthy Roman families use slave labor that have taken away jobs for the common people. Julius Caesar is therefore seen as a man of the people because of his legendary victories and his second in command Marc Antony (James Purefoy), who fought alongside his troops and despite being crude, was known to be a vivacious man that could be both charming and threatening when need be.
It is clear now that there can only be one cult of personality to rule over Rome and despite the best intentions, it seems a civil war that will determine the future of the Republic is inevitable and now to great Roman families are locked in their own battle for control too. There is Atia of the Julii (Polly Walker), whose son Octavian (Max Perkis) is destined to become Rome’s first Emperor by the time the whole bloody transition is complete and then there is Servilia of the Junii (Lindsay Duncan), whose son Marcus Junius Brutus (Tobias Menzies) is also destined to make history, but in a different way.
As the rivalry that exists between Pompey and Caesar ignites into war, so does the rivalry between Atia and Servilia ignite into multiple double-crosses and murderous attempts to discredit and destroy each other’s family. These relationships are then further contrasted between the developing relationship between soldiers Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, who unwittingly become intertwined in these historical events. They also give us a view of Rome from a more commoner’s perspective that transcends the various classes. Vorenus is a by the book descendent of one of the founding families of the Republic, but not royalty. He has a wife (Indira Varma) with a life altering secret of her own and two daughters while Pullo appears to have been a descendent of slaves though I don’t think it has ever been stated directly. As far as he knows, his family is dead and he was raised in the Roman legion. He has a zest for life, but can be impetuous and in many ways he is the complete opposite personality wise of Vorenus. Pullo has a knack for getting himself into trouble especially when he is not on duty as a soldier within the 13th Legion, which for Pullo is the closest thing he has to a family. However the events that transpire around them change both men who grow closer despite the odds to become true friends and are essentially the folk heroes and protagonists of the series just as much if not more than the other leading actors who play the larger than life historical figures.
It really is difficult to encapsulate ROME as a serialized television program into just a few paragraphs because the series is so much more. Even now as I look back upon the first season as well as the second season, which is already more than half over on HBO, I feel I’ve left out so much and only hope that anyone who reads this review will give this show a try because there is nothing else like it on American television and it is truly a rare case where entertainment is educational. As different as the people of Rome were, they are not at all unlike us now with the exception that this series begins before the birth of Christianity and the Judeo-Christian ethic that has had a huge impact upon society for over two thousand years. One can’t begin to put this aspect into perspective until after watching the series. The values of the characters are different, but while they may be more barbaric, they are also far less suppressed or inhibited. By twenty-first century standards we might say they are sociopaths, but while there are characters and historical figures that commit actions that one could say is an act of madness, especially in the times that follow as chronicled in I, Claudius, the reality is they are behaving according to their own culture and would probably find some of our values to be just as alien as we find theirs’. Yet when you walk around a place like New York City for example, it is hard not too see the impact Rome has had on the building of the city just by the architecture of the buildings. The older the buildings, the easier the influences are to see. In Brooklyn there are apartment building with a main entrance leads into a four story complex with an atrium in the middle and various Greek or Roman inspired statues integrated into the buildings so it looks as though faces are gazing down upon you. This is similar to the structure of the tenement Lucius Vorenus and his family resides in during the first season of ROME. The building I live in was built during the great depression and one can immediately see the influences immigrant artisans from Europe placed all about the interior and exterior of the building even for mundane places like the style and design of the tiling on the floors of each hallway between the apartments.
I wish I had been able to get in touch with HBO Home Video when this DVD set first came out this past autumn because it is easily one of the best if not the best TV on DVD set I have had the pleasure to review from 2006. Each episode is presented in a 16 by 9 enhanced widescreen (1.78:1) aspect ratio and while the DVDs look better than the standard definition digital cable broadcasts from 2005, when upconverted to 1080i, they look almost comparable to the high definition broadcasts I’ve seen on HBO HD. All twelve first season episodes include a well rounded English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack as well as French and Spanish Language Dubbed Dolby Surround Soundtracks and English Closed Captions for the hearing impaired and English, French, and Spanish Language Subtitles encoded onto all six discs as options. All 12 episodes also feature an optional interactive text commentary called All Roads Lead To ROME that gives scene specific historical anecdotes and background information from the series Historical Consultant Jonathan Stamp, which makes watching each episode, an even richer experience. There are also eight episode length audio commentaries that feature Series Writer and Executive Producer along with Historical Consultant Jonathan Stamp on the episodes “The Stolen Eagle”, “How Titus Pullo Brought Down The Republic”, “Pharsalus”, and the first season finale “Kalends Of February.” These are the best of the audio commentaries within the six-disc set because they not only delve into both the production and historical background of the series, but they illustrate what the goal of the production was from the beginning, which was to show how Rome really was during that era in history and to remove the glamour that Hollywood films and television programs had created over the past decades. Series Directors Steve Shill Jeremy Podewsa provide episode length audio commentary tracks for “Caesarion” and “Utica” respectively while series Stars Ray Stevenson and Kevin McKidd provide individual audio commentary tracks for “The Ram Has Touched The Wall” and “The Spoils” respectively.
There are also a number of featurettes spread across the six discs that include Friends, Romans, Countrymen – Introduction To The Characters Of ROME (11:01), Shot x Shot: Gladiator – A Closer Look At The Thrilling Episode 11 Fight Sequence (23:00), Shot x Shot: Caesar’s Triumph – Detailing The Production Of The Epic Episode 10 Triumph Scene (22:50), The Rise Of Rome (23:45), which details the set construction, costume design, and Actor’s boot camp to bring the era back to life, and When In Rome (22:40), which gives cast and crew reflections on the ancient culture of Rome. A gallery of approximately 52 still photos, “Previous On” and “Next On” ROME TV spots, and an HBO Original Series TV spot wraps up the bonus features included within this six-disc box set. A character guide booklet is included within the six-disc Digipack gatefold and that comes housed in a durable hard cardboard box that almost seems as if it were made from wood.
A must own for fans of the series and well worth a look for anyone else, ROME: The Complete First Season is available on DVD-Video now at retailers on and offline courtesy of HBO Home Video and at the time of this writing, episodes of the second season of ROME are premiering on HBO and it is easy to catch up to second season episodes you might have missed by checking out the original series section at HBO On Demand for digital cable subscribers.
© Copyright 2007 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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