CADDYSHACK AND ROME. I once heard on a sports talk show a debate on what sequel represented the greatest falling off from the original. The consensus on the show was CADDYSHACK 2, which I haven’t seen. Based on my experience, the winner would be MEN IN BLACK 2. I now think that the second season of ROME might be the winner. I don’t intend to investigate the question further. One historical comment: last night’s episode featured a slave trying to poison his mistress. The Romans protected against the risk of murder by a household slave by providing that if there was an unexplained killing of a master, every slave in the household would be put to death. The slave on the television show seemed to have no Plan B to deal with this contingency.
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I have been suggesting to Mr. Familias that we stop tivoing and stop watching “Rome: Season II.” I was an addict to Season I, not only because I’ve always been fascinated by Ancient Rome but also because I thought the program was of such a high quality. But Season II, now three episodes in, has turned into a cliche fest from which I leave feeling both cheated and defiled. It’s as if the old writers have gone on vacation and, fearing to be replaced, have chosen as substitutes awful hacks, in order to emphasize the excellence of the first batch and the sensationalism of the second. Could it be a real conspiracy?
Oh dear, how disappointing. I’ve yet to get an opportunity to finish watching Season 1 (mostly due to waiting for my friends to be available to watch it with me – watching it alone doesn’t quite provide me the validation with how awesome it is), but I was looking forward to seeing the years push into Augustus’ rule.
Maybe give it one more episode?
Just our luck to get a DVR just in time to record the bad season. It’s a shame that its last season would be anything but excellence. There was a thread discussing season 2 on one of the forums I visit and there was much sadness about the drop in quality. I’m glad Band of Brothers ended on such an incredibly high note.
This is something that worries me about Sir Gawain: so-called laypeople are so well educated these days, I just know that any historical inaccuracies in my drawings are going to be caught and scrutinized. Worse, how much will those inaccuracies mar my audience’s experience with the book? The inaccuracy regarding Roman slaves seems to have bothered you (rightfully so, I think).
Of course, it’s a wonderful thing that people know so much. It just makes it even more important for writers and artists (the ones who care, anyway) to be as close to entirely accurate as possible.
I don’t know that the demographics of Children’s Books are quite as rigorous and demanding as historical fiction on HBO with a full research team.
Besides, it seems to me like the embellishments you made in terms of illustration were pefectly plausible. Otherwise you stuck completely to the story.