Battles B.C.: The Complete Season One
by David Padrusch
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DVD details
Actor: Ted MarcouxDirector: David Padrusch
Brand: A and E Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 376 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-08-25
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: A&E HOME VIDEO
Product features:
- Prepare for a riveting portrayal of some ofthe most exciting battles of ancient history--as well as the tales ofbetrayal, lust, conquest and brutality that often accompanied them.BATTLES BC: THE COMPLETE SEASON ONE, the exciting series from HISTORY,uses computer graphics and live-action stunts to bring to life thebattle strategies, tactics, and weapons of past military leaders, fromHannibal and th
DVD Reviews of Battles B.C.: The Complete Season One
DVD Review: "300"izing History
Summary: 1 Stars
No. No. HELL no.
The "History" Channel botches again, not in terms of style, for many people DO like "300", but "300" had the benefit of being an entertainment motion picture, purely fictional, based on real life events.
The "History" Channel basically takes the style of "300", and bastardizes history in these "documentaries" that are a huge phasing down of historical authenticity and magnificence compared to earlier series', and a huge phasing up of "BUY THIS! IT LOOKS LIKE A MOVIE YOU LIKE!"
Perhaps trying to upsell it's GORE! it's worth mentioning that its level of gore comes nowhere close even to that of "300". Splatters of blood appear on screen in a blatantly phony way, as though it was splashed ONTO the screen outside of the program itself. The battles are also nowhere near the level of appeal or excitement of "300".
History is horribly bastardized, perhaps no worse than in the episode on "Cannae":
- To start with, Hannibal Barca becomes BALD and BEARDLESS and with TWO EYES (which if you've seen ANY depiction of Hannibal EVER, as well as ancient busts, he was bearded, had hair, and lost one of his eyes BEFORE the Battle of Cannae). He actually looks to be intentionally ripping off Dhalsim (or as some people called him, "Xerxes") in Street Fighter II--- I mean, "300", with his being hairless all over except for his thick eyebrows, with a vaguely middle-eastern/Indian look to him, rather than the Semitic North African Hannibal truly was.
Worst of all is how Hannibal goes into battle: wearing only shorts and a brown cape, with his mouth as wide open as possible, as if saying "THROW A SPEAR IN HERE!"
In fact, battle scenes involving Hannibal could never be distinguished as anything specific---it could be Greeks fighting Barbarians, it could be late-Roman Barbarians fighting Huns, it could be Persians fighting Egyptians, it could be Knights Templar fighting the British Redcoats. Roman arms is in no way representative of Roman armor at any point in history except maybe the Roman Kingdom---all the Romans wear IDENTICAL breastplates, crest-less helmets, and generic round shields. For all intents and purposes, they look like Greek Hoplites. And Hannibal is bald and half-naked, a mishy-moo of "300"'s Spartans and Xerxes.
Worse still, the history is horribly battered in powerfully awful mispronounciation, distortion of events that seem less intentional and more "we didn't do the research/just didn't care").
Examples from Cannae include: Someone pronounces Cannae (accepted as "Can-Eye") as "Cay-nay". The announcer seriously says "Calvary". CALVARY IS THE PLACE JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED! "CAVALRY" IS HORSE-MOUNTED SOLDIERS!
As well, the depiction of the Battle of Cannae says that the Roman formations were so tight, soldiers could not raise their arms up to fight. What does the video show us? BIG. OPEN. SPACES. BIIIIIG. OPEEEEN. SPACEEEEES! Sure, it eventually starts to close in, but not only is it NOT from the sheer amount of Romans rushing forward, but from the Carthaginians rushing in, but there was STILL enough space for them to fight just fine!
Someone in the program also stupidly states that the Romans BANNED the word "Peace" after the battle of Cannae. I think that's largely a case of "speed-read through Wikipedia" type research, or just completely made up. I've studied this battle very intensely. I have heard of mothers using Hannibal Barca as a boogeyman to scare their children. I have heard of Romans fearing for their lives after Cannae, thinking he would sack the city, despite its garrison. I have heard of a great many things occurring after the battle. I have NEVER heard of them BANNING A GENERIC WORD. It would probably make sense if they said "Banned any mention of making peace with Carthage in public", but banning THE WORD ITSELF is something that sounds simply too ridiculous to be true.
And here's a big question I have for one of the speakers in the video: Exactly WHAT Roman army are you referring to when you say a Roman army could only move forward and back, and could not turn to its sides?
Because considering they even took the time to say Hannibal's AFRICAN PHALANX attacked them from their sides, I think they mixed up their Wikipedia printouts in thinking that the Roman Maniple was stiff and unwieldy (it wasn't) and the Phalanx was loose and flexible (it wasn't)---it's the MANIPLE that is flexible, and the PHALANX that is stiff!
Virtually any and every Roman army in the Republic/Empire can and was capable of turning on command in ANY direction, ESPECIALLY in cases of emergency! The Romans DID turn to their sides at Cannae, to fight in all directions! If they didn't, then Hannibal wouldn't have even needed to commit his cavalry in the rear: his forces from the flanks would simply seal shut the back end of the Roman army!
This isn't just a huge slap in the face of history and documentaries---there are plenty of other things that do that---this is something that is bad and wrong, and hate-inspiring, for two reasons: one subjective, one objective:
Subjective: It "300"izes history, ignoring a great many historical facts for the sake of who knows what, because the changes contribute nothing special to the storyline (as in, why did we need to see a Hannibal Barca who looks like Arnold Vooslo in "The Mummy"?), and only serve to make historians bang their heads on a wall in frustration, and make its target audience mock the program for ripping off "300"
Which segues into the Objective reason: It's a cheap ripoff of "300". Fans and haters alike will know it right away. It shamelessly rips off "300", like it did with "Last Stand of the 300", and it wouldn't even be the sort of ripoff that fans of "300" would enjoy! It's bogged down by loads of "boring documentary information stuff", and with a very strong lack of gore or coherent battle scenes. No one fights in any sort of formation, or even in a shooting style that the viewer can follow.
Description of Battles B.C.: The Complete Season One
BATTLES BC:COMPLETE SEASON ONE - DVD MovieThe episode titles offer a clue as to how Battles B.C.: The Complete Season One, a two-disc, eight-part offering from the History Channel, approaches its subject matter. "Hannibal: The Annihilator," "Joshua: Epic Slaughter," "Caesar: Super Siege": this is definitely not the Classics Illustrated version of the exploits of these and other ancient warriors and biblical figures. In fact, the series is loud and kinetic, flashy and unsubtle, bloody and violent, with macho voiceover narration making liberal use of words like "slaughter," "brutal," "butcher," and "exterminate" while hordes of swarthy, bearded men run each other through with swords and arrows, pillage towns and fortresses, and generally wreak havoc. This testosterone-fueled tone permeates most of the episodes. In "David: Giant Slayer," King David of Israel is portrayed as "a bloodthirsty opportunist" and compared to a Mafia don, whose tale is one of "relentless ambition, violent murder, conquests on the battlefield? and in the bedroom" (the duel with Goliath, which took place about 1015 B.C., is depicted only briefly at the beginning). In the risibly-titled "Moses: Death Chase," the Old Testament prophet revered by Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike is viewed as a great general, a master tactician, and one baaad man; the exodus from Egypt to Canaan is referred to as a "campaign" and explained in practical military terms (the parting of the Red Sea was apparently not quite the miracle described in the Good Book).
Battles B.C. also provides a good amount of history (some of which has been disparaged as inaccurate by various viewers) and information about ancient weaponry and strategy; for instance, in his campaign against the Gauls and their leader Vercingetorix, Julius Caesar pioneered a technique called ?vallation,? erecting a wall around an entire Gallic town. Re-enactments combine real actors with computer-enhanced animation, but since the events in question took place thousands of years ago, the filmmakers largely eschew the use of flashy computer data screens and graphics seen in History Channel shows like Battle 360 and The Universe; the re-enactments are given a stylized, painterly treatment somewhat akin to that of the feature film 300, with on-camera experts weighing in frequently to set the scene. There are no bonus features. --Sam Graham
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