Serial M: The Romans

The impetus behind the idea of a comedy serial came from Verity Lambert - as was so often the case with the innovations during the early days of the show. She had noticed how funny Dennis Spooner could be, and thought there was no reason he couldn't be allowed to run with it. While this was not an experiment that was welcomed by the public at the time, it started a tradition that faded during the classic run, was revived in 2005, and survives to this day (with one of the 2012 episodes having a similar mix of outright comedy and darker themes).

For me, it's the script that really makes this (though it wouldn't have worked without some fine comic acting). The plot is very intricate, put together like the proverbial Swiss watch. And yet there's something inconsequential about the whole thing, a feeling that it should be something more than the romp that it is obviously designed to be. This is grossly unfair - it's just a bit of fun designed to provide 25 minutes entertainment each Saturday night for a month - but for whatever reason I wanted more.

The DVD has some good extras, some of which I've already mentioned. The profile of Spooner is touching, and the Blue Peter section nostalgic; but the best extras for me were the "making of" and commentary, both of which enhanced my reviewing.

I'm not going to say much more because we have a longer than usual Isaac's Corner, since The Romans - unsurprisingly - features one of his current main interests: Romans!

Isaac's Corner
As you might guess from my ranting about the cover of Byzantium!, I have been looking closely at the Roman soldier costumes. I think they were very good costumes for the time considering they had not enough money to have some re-enactors come in to play the soldiers.

Gladiators take lots of time and money to train, so Ian and his friend were lucky to be properly armed - often in fights between criminals there'd be one person with a knife and one without any weapons at all, although sometimes they would give them the armour and weapons of a gladiator but without the training. I found the fight with the soldiers historically inaccurate; think about it! Two untrained (though fit) gladiators vs. ten fit, very well trained and armed veterans in the elite Emperor's praetorian guard in one of the most efficient armies of the ancient world!!!

Anyway, swiftly moving on, I really liked the slave trader subplot, with Iananbarbara being captured by them. I thought Ian's slave companion was well-written but they could have got a better actor for the job. The sets were good but, as pointed out by Blue Peter in the extras, the feasting hall was supposed to have long couches to relax on, and it would have been bigger; but I understand their limitations of money and set size. I wish it was in colour because the sets would look VERY elaborate.

I also thought that the comedy was very good, and added a lot. I thought Nero was acted very well, and my overall rating is 7.5 out of 10. The reason it's not 8 or 8.5 is that I've decided I should leave some more leeway space for really really good ones.

Rating:
Mine: 6.5/10.
DWM Mighty 200: 70.73%, 97th.
2012 Gallifrey Base Non-Dynamic Rankings: 7.96, 55th out of 234.

Next Time:
The Eleventh Tiger.