Rome Seasons 1-2 11 Discs Model:867000024

Airs Next:HBO at Sunday 9:00 PM (60 min.)
Status:Ended
Premiered:August 28, 2005
Last Aired:March 25, 2007
Show Categories:Drama, Action/Adventure

The series begins in 52 BC, as Gaius Julius Caesar completes his conquest of Gaul after eight years of war, and prepares to return with his army to Rome. While Caesar's self-interested niece Atia and long-lost paramour Servilia anxiously await the general's return, ruling patricians despair that Caesar's homecoming will disrupt the status quo, and threaten the extravagant prosperity they've enjoyed at the expense of the lower class. In the Senate, old-guard leaders plot to undermine Caesar's influence by convincing his old friend, Pompey Magnus, that the general is a threat. Back at the front, two ¡­..
=*=*=Family dysfunction. Treachery. Betrayal. Coarse profanity. Brutal violence. Graphic (and sometimes brutal) sex. No, it's not The Sopranos, it's Rome, HBO's madly ambitious series that bloodily splatters the glory of Rome just as savagely as Monty Python and the Holy Grail soiled the good name of Camelot (but with far fewer laughs; very few funny things happen on the way to this forum). Set in 52 B.C. (Before Cable), Rome charts the dramatic shifts in the balance of power between former friends Pompey Magnus (Kenneth Cranham), leader of the Senate, and Julius Caesar (Ciaran Hinds), whose imminent return after eight years to Rome after conquering the Gauls, has the ruling class up in arms. At the heart of Rome is the odd couple friendship between two soldiers who fortuitously become heroes of the people. Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) is married, honorable, and steadfast. Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson) is an amoral rogue whose philosophy is best summed up, "I kill my enemies, take their gold, and enjoy their women." Among Rome's most compelling subplots is Lucius's strained relationship with his wife, Niobe (Indira Varma), who is surprised to see her husband alive (but not as surprised as he is to find her upon his homecoming with a newborn baby in her arms!) Any viewer befuddlement over Rome's intrigues and machinations, and determining who is hero and who is foe, disappears the minute Golden Globe-nominee Polly Walker appears as Atia, Caesar's formidable niece and a villainess for the ages. In the first hour alone, she offers her already married daughter as a bride to the recently widowed Pompey. One eagerly awaits to see what (or who) she'll do next as much as we anticipate her comeuppance in the final episode.

Format: All Region Code, Play on any DVD players

Number of Discs : 11 DVD

Brand New sealed in factory box

Language : English

menu: English

Subtitles : English/French/Chinese/Korean (on/off)

=*=*=Unlike another certain celebrated HBO series, Rome's end will satisfy those swept up in its lavishly mounted spectacle and invested in the human dramas of the historical figures and fictional characters. Season 2 begins in the wake of Julius Caesar's assassination, and charts the power struggle to fill his sandals between "vulgar beast" Mark Antony (James Purefoy) and "clever boy" Octavian (Simon Woods), who is surprisingly named Caesar's sole heir. The series' most compelling relationship is between fellow soldiers and unlikely friends, the honorable Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) and Titus "Violence is the only trade I know" Pullo (Ray Stevenson), who somewhat reverse roles when Vorenus is overcome with grief in the wake of his wife's suicide. Season 2 considerably ups the ante in the rivalry between Atia (an Emmy-worthy Polly Walker), who is Antony's mistress, and Servilia (Lindsay Duncan) with attempted poisonings and sickening torture. Another gripping subplot is Vorenus's estrangement from his children, who, at the climax of the season opener are presumed slaughtered, but whose true fate may be even more devastating to the father who cursed them.

Format: All Region Code, Play on any DVD players

Number of Discs : 11 DVD

Brand New sealed in factory box

Language : English

menu: English

Subtitles : English/French/Chinese/Korean (on/off)