Troy : Fall of a city.

[swiftnick]

Getting a wee bit boring now. Not enough sex and violence. That spy is pretty obvious.

[charla51]

An everyday tale of dysfunctional Bronze Age folk.

[charla51]

Hector's death scene was quite visceral, and probably the best scene in the series so far. But the Amazons some how reminded me of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys.

[Sir_Theo]

Yeah wasn't sure about the depiction of the Amazon's. Hectors death was pretty good I thought. I'm still enjoying this. It drags in places but the main bits of the story all seem to be there.

[charla51]

Well ... I'm glad that's over.

[commissarmoody]

Started watching it state side on Netflix. So far its not to bad, and the Girlfriend likes it too. So that's a win for me.

[Coenus Scaldingus]

For those (few?) who watched it until the end, how would you rate the chances of an Odyssey/Aeneid sequel? Although the succes (or lack thereof) of this series is probably a bigger determinant, the final episode probably gives some hints as to any plans they may have (had). The actors for either of the main characters were supposedly among the better ones on the show - different writers and directors and the potential sequels might not be terrible.

[wds0855]

I  just started watching this on Netflix. I was really excited that we finally get a well done version of the "Fall of Troy" if you will. Of course I was expecting too much. I made it to episode 3. But overall it is a snooze fest. Nothing exciting about the characters, dialogue, storyline. etc. I thought, ok wait until Achilles shows up, then it will take off. He shows up and NOTHING.
It's like they said "Oh wait a sec, we need an Achilles character. Quick insert him here. Ok, now back to the rest of the boring storyline".

I will finish the series in the hopes of an occasional glimmer of acting and story telling appears at some point. Would I recommend this series to anyone? Uh, no.

[The Dozing Dragon]

Have to admit I gave up during the first episode.

[Coenus Scaldingus]

I  just started watching this on Netflix. I was really excited that we finally get a well done version of the "Fall of Troy" if you will. Of course I was expecting too much. I made it to episode 3. But overall it is a snooze fest. Nothing exciting about the characters, dialogue, storyline. etc. I thought, ok wait until Achilles shows up, then it will take off. He shows up and NOTHING.
It's like they said "Oh wait a sec, we need an Achilles character. Quick insert him here. Ok, now back to the rest of the boring storyline".

I will finish the series in the hopes of an occasional glimmer of acting and story telling appears at some point. Would I recommend this series to anyone? Uh, no.

The last episode is apparently the best. Whether it's any good in absolute terms I cannot say (as I too gave up after the first episode). Probably not.

Online reviews (of individuals or average scores) may be influenced by personal preferences, but if it has 3/10 on IMDb, I'd say you're quite safe in avoiding it.

[Sir_Theo]

For those (few?) who watched it until the end, how would you rate the chances of an Odyssey/Aeneid sequel? Although the succes (or lack thereof) of this series is probably a bigger determinant, the final episode probably gives some hints as to any plans they may have (had). The actors for either of the main characters were supposedly among the better ones on the show - different writers and directors and the potential sequels might not be terrible.

I think the chances are slim. I'd like to see an Odyssey and an Aeneid. You are right the actors for both were among the better ones on show and there seemed an effort to flesh out their characters.

The Last few episodes were much stronger imo. Whilst not amazing I did quite enjoy the show in the main. Each to their own though!

[Captain Blood]

Well I'm going to be controversial - I enjoyed it.
They made a very reasonable fist of the walls and gates of Troy and a passable attempt at arms and armour of the Mycenaean era - well, for the Trojans anyway; the Greeks were a bit all over the place. Certainly I though the overall production design, wardrobe, properties were all a great deal better than other recent 'historical' offerings from the BBC (like the execrable 'The Last Kingdom' and the even worse 'The White Queen'). They even had a decent amount of extras in this one, making the battle scenes look vaguely plausible.

I thought some of the acting was really first rate - Joseph Mawle as Odysseus in particular, but also Chloe Pirrie, David Gyasi, David Avery and several others.
The one epic fail for me was Bella Dayne as Helen. Bloody awful. Whether it's because English is not her native language and she was struggling with the intonation, I don't know, but she had zero spark or connection at all with her Paris. She was impossible to empathise with. And she has such a peculiar rubbery face and black beady eyes, that she reminded me all the way through of Dominic Monaghan as Merry in the LOTR movies - only rather less animated than him. This was not the face that launched a thousand ships. This was the facial expression that looked like she had indigestion throughout.
I was also deeply underwhelmed by Agamemnon, who reminded me of a slightly grumpy bricklayer. They should have got someone proper for that.
But apart from those two rather major roles - and a bit of a hammy turn by David Threlfall as Priam - I thought the casting and acting was remarkably good across the board.

There were of course a few stupid missteps. I thought having the Amazons looking like a bunch of supermodels in burlesque gear hit a completely bum note amongst the general attempt for things to look believable across the rest of the show.
And the 'unerringly-accurate-flaming-arrows-fired-unaimed-over-a-wall-yet-almost-every-one-managing-to-hit-a-running-target' is another cringe-worthy staple cliché of any and all bow-and-arrow-era set movies and TV series. But apart from those - not too bad.
It was a bit slow at times, but it didn't stint on the brutality and consequences of war. I'd give it 7/10.

[Emir of Askaristan]

I enjoyed it too and also felt it got better in the last few episodes. I felt the sets were good and the costumes not bad overall (except the amazons!). As for the actors and the interpretation of the characters I think there were both hits and misses. It had its flaws, but in my opinion was better than any of the recent so called historical dramas. I'd give it 3.5 out of 5 - it wasn't as epic as it should have been, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been either. 

Had it been great I'd have been rushing out to get some figures.......

[Orchomeno]

The one epic fail for me was Bella Dayne as Helen... This was not the face that launched a thousand ships.

I'm trying to decide whether to push past the first episode, but I did find this casting choice bizarre, to the point of breaking my already limited suspension of disbelief. 

[Munindk]

This was not the face that launched a thousand ships. This was the facial expression that looked like she had indigestion throughout.

So you're saying it was the face that launched a thousand shits?

It popped up on Netflix the other day so I might have a look see.