01-23-2003, 05:42 AM
Pictoria wrote:<br>
<br>
Quote:</em></strong><hr>As for the History Channel, we don't get it, but there's a couple of military shows on our free-to-air channels at the moment, one called something like 'Teutons, Goths and Vandals' and another 'Great Commanders of History' which this week is about Julius Caesar.<hr><br>
<br>
SBS and ABC perchance? You an Aussie too?<br>
<br>
<em>The Teutons, Goths, Vandals and Huns</em> is originally a German production and was screened in Europe under the title <em>Storm Over Europe</em>. It's pretty good, though I noticed a lot more errors and generalisations in this week's episode than I did in the first two. Some of them seem to be problems caused by the English translation of the German orginal. I gather the Germans who researched it knew their history, but I'm not so sure about the translators. And it does try a bit hard to make the story "relevant" (the Cimbri were "economic refugees", the Visigoths were "guest workers") and to overturn the 'wild barbarian' cliches. Given that the Germanics almost never get more than a passing reference, it's great to finally see them being featured in a series like this. If I see another documentary on the bloody Celts, on the other hand (complete with Enya-style music etc) I may well start hitting things!<br>
<br>
I was flicking between <em>The Teutons</em> and the Caesar one (on at the same time last Tuesday, but I was taping the Teutons show) which was okay, if a bit simple.<br>
<br>
Quote:</em></strong><hr>Last week we had a facinating show about Varus' lost legions. It seemed mostly pretty accurate (not sure about the costume).<hr><br>
<br>
The Channel 4 <em>The Lost Legions of Varus</em> was excellent (and featured some of the members of this forum as doomed Romans), though some of its generalisations were a bit dubious and it skipped some details of the battle itself. I'll be putting a review of it on my Varus site (see below) one of these days soon. The costumes/armour were about as good as you can reasonably expect (better than <em>The Teutons</em>, whicih had Fourth Century soldiers in segmentata with scuta!), though the helmets were generally much later than 9 AD.<br>
<br>
I've only seen a bit of the History Channel and I can see StrategyM's point. Some of the documentaries they screen are simplistic to the point of being childish and many others are arrant nonsense.<br>
Cheers, <p>Tim O'Neill / Thiudareiks Flavius<br>
<br>
Visit 'Clades Variana' - Home of the Varus Film Project<br>
<br>
Help create the film of Publius Quinctilius Varus' lost legions</p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=thiudareiksflavius>Thiudareiks Flavius</A> at: 1/23/03 6:50:04 am<br></i>
<br>
Quote:</em></strong><hr>As for the History Channel, we don't get it, but there's a couple of military shows on our free-to-air channels at the moment, one called something like 'Teutons, Goths and Vandals' and another 'Great Commanders of History' which this week is about Julius Caesar.<hr><br>
<br>
SBS and ABC perchance? You an Aussie too?<br>
<br>
<em>The Teutons, Goths, Vandals and Huns</em> is originally a German production and was screened in Europe under the title <em>Storm Over Europe</em>. It's pretty good, though I noticed a lot more errors and generalisations in this week's episode than I did in the first two. Some of them seem to be problems caused by the English translation of the German orginal. I gather the Germans who researched it knew their history, but I'm not so sure about the translators. And it does try a bit hard to make the story "relevant" (the Cimbri were "economic refugees", the Visigoths were "guest workers") and to overturn the 'wild barbarian' cliches. Given that the Germanics almost never get more than a passing reference, it's great to finally see them being featured in a series like this. If I see another documentary on the bloody Celts, on the other hand (complete with Enya-style music etc) I may well start hitting things!<br>
<br>
I was flicking between <em>The Teutons</em> and the Caesar one (on at the same time last Tuesday, but I was taping the Teutons show) which was okay, if a bit simple.<br>
<br>
Quote:</em></strong><hr>Last week we had a facinating show about Varus' lost legions. It seemed mostly pretty accurate (not sure about the costume).<hr><br>
<br>
The Channel 4 <em>The Lost Legions of Varus</em> was excellent (and featured some of the members of this forum as doomed Romans), though some of its generalisations were a bit dubious and it skipped some details of the battle itself. I'll be putting a review of it on my Varus site (see below) one of these days soon. The costumes/armour were about as good as you can reasonably expect (better than <em>The Teutons</em>, whicih had Fourth Century soldiers in segmentata with scuta!), though the helmets were generally much later than 9 AD.<br>
<br>
I've only seen a bit of the History Channel and I can see StrategyM's point. Some of the documentaries they screen are simplistic to the point of being childish and many others are arrant nonsense.<br>
Cheers, <p>Tim O'Neill / Thiudareiks Flavius<br>
<br>
Visit 'Clades Variana' - Home of the Varus Film Project<br>
<br>
Help create the film of Publius Quinctilius Varus' lost legions</p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=thiudareiksflavius>Thiudareiks Flavius</A> at: 1/23/03 6:50:04 am<br></i>
Tim ONeill / Thiudareiks Flavius /Thiudareiks Gunthigg
HISTORY FOR ATHEISTS - New Atheists Getting History Wrong
HISTORY FOR ATHEISTS - New Atheists Getting History Wrong
