What are the best and/or most realistic historical fiction television shows out there, /his/?
I would ask /tv/, but it's a shit board and I'm interested in the level of historical accuracy of the shows as well as their overall quality of entertainment.
Is there anything else out there in the historical fiction arena that is better than Rome? Or at least other shows that history fans should watch or would likely enjoy?
Really, anything that is good and at least tries to be historically accurate (with some license) is good... but the more accurate the better.
I, Claudius
I thought this was pretty good. If miniseries count.
And I've heard the Hornnlower TV (fictional character, but accurate setting) movie series is good. But I would need someone else to confirm that as I've not seen it.
Of all the "historical" shows I watch, Halt and Catch Fire is the one that seems 100% convincing, since it's not very difficult to create totally authentic 1980s set dressing today (since that stuff is still around if you look for it). Never caught anything on that show that seemed anachronistic to me.
Not sure how far back in time the setting has to be for it to count as historical, but I thought Boardwalk Empire was a pretty good. High production values, great casting and the historical characters seem pretty accurate for the most part.
>>371130
No, no, NO NO! I can't stand that theatrical bullshit. Portraying Augustus as such a buffoon and Livia being a literally Hitler-tier villain. Terrible. The only good thing about it is John Hurt.
>>371121
Rome is pretty good, especially as far as storytelling and character development go, but the historicity is helter skelter.
I recommend The Caesars, a very accurate production that really tries to show it as it was, from the end of Augustus's reign to the very beginning of Claudius's.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7HHrkoac0o&feature=youtu.be
>>371133
This was great. Stannis Jefferson was the best part
>>371197
>Battle of Philippi
>Cassius dies from arrows
>Brutus wades into a bunch of soldiers
How bad on the realism scale are shows like Spartacus, Vikings and Black Sails? Like, fictional characters aside, just the accuracy of setting and general realism.
How about entertainment value?
>>371245
Can't speak for Black Sails, but Spartacus and Vikings are pretty fucking awful from a historical perspective, the armor and weapons especially. All three shows are pretty enjoyable IMO.
>>371121
It's basically a propaganda film, but The Message movie from the 70s had the most accurate costumes I've ever seen out of Hollywood. Literally noone else has gotten period accurate Byzantine costumes as good as they did.
>>371256
Spartacus isn't as bad as vikings in the clothes, weapon and armor, but the rest (specially the afro-caribean circassians or than half the slaves seem to be black for some reason) are pretty kek worhty moments Fucking Onomeus the Gaul being a kekolded nubian for example.
>>371245
>Spartacus
300: the series
>Vikings
Absolute trash, inaccurate as fuck
>Black Sails
Never seen
>>371347
>slaves seem to be black for some reason
I blame Americans with their anachronistic faggotry.
>>371245
Haven't seen BS, but Spartacus and Vikings throw ANY AND ALL historical accuracy out of the window.
The entertainment values for both of them are off the roof though. Spartacus is my favorite tv show after Rome
>>371352
Pretty funny, I tough than the makers of Spartacus were Australians tough.
Also Cilicians, not Circassians I derped there.
>>371245
>Vikings
>Viking raiders are pretty much unbeatable
>Viking society organized like a top down structure with a ruler deciding everything instead of historically accurate Ting assembly
>Denmark which is one of the flattest countries in Europe is full of gigantic mountains
>costumes completely fucked up and the main character looks like a 21st century Starbucks hipster
>Vikings have supposedly no idea that Britain exists despite them raiding the place for 100 years at that point
It's horseshit.
>>371483
TBF your last point's wrong. The first raid on Britain was the monastic house, which was their first episode. Plus Athelstan.
>>371245
Just finished Black sails, about 20 minutes ago.
I'd say it's fairly accurate, there's far too much boarding combat but thats much more interesting to watch i guess, and they are pirates so it's their goal. Weaponry is portrayed quite realistically and theres a lot of naval lingo used.
The main annoying thing is that basically if you want to capture another persons ship just get your whole crew to swim up to it at night and climb up and slaughter everyone in their sleep. That happens like 4 times.
>>371483
And yet
>Plot is focused on historical world events (though sometimes condensed) rather than character drama
>heavy emphasis on religion and religious issues with paganism and Christianity
>quite accurate to Norse pagan beliefs
>overall good fun
>>371133
Hornblower is pretty fucking based.
>YFW Wedge Antilles is in it.
>>371343
>Meriadoc Bonden
>lanky Maturin
Some weird casting choices aside, Master & Commander is fucking spectacular.
>>371672
Actually, the first raid on Britain was several years before the raid on Lindisfarne. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mentions the northmen for the first time in 787 AD
>"And in his days came first three ships of the Northmen from the land of robbers. The reeve then rode thereto, and would drive them to the king's town; for he knew not what they were; and there was he slain. These were the first ships of the Danish men that sought the land of the English nation."
>>371233
That's what I said, terrible historicity. But even though Cassius was portrayed as a fag, not as he was and should have been, the other character development outweighs it.
I recently discovered Isabel, a Spanish tv series that chronicles the unification of the country, and it's great, entertainment-wise, but I really know nothing about the period or the personages to gauge historical accuracy. Any Spainfags could shed light on this?
This show is pretty sweet. It's got a nice mix of myth and cold blooded reality.
>>372532
Yeah like blind chinese martial arts experts and 100% tits
>>372537
>that naked fighting scene
>>371121
>>372532
I hate how people are like
THIS SHOW IS RACIST WHY THE WHITE GUY BECOME A TRUSTED CONFIDANT
When for most of the show, he's treated with distrust, as a novelty pet, and only trusted exactly when only an outsider can be trusted.
>>372574
The Borgia, at first glance, seemed like it was about to be somewhat serious, then it went down the fucking drain, with the most irrelevant story arcs made up for drama purpose, with some drug abuse, incest, and literally rewriting history.
Seriously, Charles VIII portrayed as a fucking retard with the shakes?
>>371121
>>372497
It's fucking shit, historically speaking. But again, certain rumours insinuated that the government funded it to make people forget about how shit the country is by reminding us about our glorious Reconquista past, so there's that.
It has a sequel about Charles V. It's called "Carlos, Rey Emperador", if you're interested.
>>372290
I was just stating my discontent with the show, not with your judgement of it.
Every time I say Rome is a great show, I still remember what they did. It haunts me.
>>372497
>Isabel
Is this uploaded on any youtube type site? With eng subs
>>372625
That does interest me, thanks family
>>371133
The last episode made me super depressed. Shit got a bit too real.
>>372532
>>372576
Marco Polo isn't very accurate (the timeline of events is super-fucked and even the scale of certain events [like Ariq's rebellion] are changed), but it's way, way WAY better than people give it credit for.
I thought it would just be another show about a pretty white boy Mary Sue, but Marco is pretty average-tier throughout (the only super-bullshit moment he gets all season is 'teaching Mongols how to make siege weapons'), and all the other characters are given way more plot and way better dialogue. Kublai Khan might be my favorite character on TV right now.
>>372681
Hey, I went to college with that girl.
>>371245
Spartacus: 0/10 realism, 10/10 entertainment
>>372742
I really disliked how the trebuchet was Marco Polo's idea. Didn't care much for the martial arts either, but I understand why they threw it in there.
Kublai is awesome though, yeah.
>>371197
>I, Claudius
>bad
Fuck you, son. Even if it's not representative of reality, it's still a brilliant work of historical fiction.
>theatrical bullshit
I bet you love to trash Shakespeare, you little hipster.
Reilly, ace of spies
Fall of eagles
ANZACS
Hornblower
Sharpe (realistic in looks at least, if not in most of its content)
>>372809
I never said it was bad, just that I can't stand it :^)))) Tying in with your first statement and the second, I would view it a lot more favorably if people knew that it was just bullshit historical fiction meant to entertain, and not treat it like the Bible of four emperors' reigns, as some people do.
I'm fine with Shakespeare, because even people back in his day knew that everything "historical" was completely stripped of accuracy with regards to costume and design (at the very least) for the sake of familiarity to the Elizabethan theatergoer.
>>371121
>those romans speaking latin
>those god tier costumes and sets
Isabel
>>372831
I loved apocalypto too, the mayans were so fucking weird, and the tribals shenaningans were pretty fun.
But then I enjoy braveheart even when isn't very historical accurate.
>>371121
The Japanese TV series "Clouds over the Hill" has an obvious Japanese bias (and rosy picture of the Meiji era), but it's fairly accurate and probably the only historical series in the past 10-15 years that covers the Russo-Japanese War.
Also, they get the Japanese uniforms right.
![01a A Touch of Murder (unedited).mp4_snapshot_49.01_[2015.06.01_23.18.08].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/NSdDcbC.jpg "01a A Touch of Murder (unedited).mp4_snapshot_49.01_[2015.06.01_23.18.08].jpg")
>>372829
I see. Do you think that people understand that as well when it comes to Rome?
Thanks for the Caesars rec, by the way.
>>372831
I've never seen that, so tell me: Do the Romans pronounce the C as a hard K sound or an S? Because if it's the latter (anachronistic) case, I don't think I'll be able to handle it.
This is pretty much a reenactment with next to no real "story"stuff. No scenes of the wife or love interest or whatever. Literally every scene is directly about the Battle of Britain
>>372865
I reckon that people understand that a lot of liberty was taken with the characters, their traits, and their relationships in Rome, for the drama.
What I don't think people understand is the inaccuracies about the general political situation at the time, and how much time actually encompassed those events in real life, as well as some missing characters that were essential to the situation, and even would have made the show better.
No problem about the recommendation, it should be known far and wide.
>>372594
Which production? The one with Jeremy Irons of the other one?
>>372879
athelstan goes native and starts to be come a pagan. He and ragnar juxtapose with curiosity about each others religion. Ragnars warriorwife gets jelly of the goddess-wife goes away w/bjorn for a time, then comes back.
Ragnar basically keeps both of them as Wives at the same time, bjorn is grown, and he goes on raids w/him and they have awesome father son adventures. Floki schemes and hates the "christ-god", Rollo rapes, and they Take paris after an elaborate war story arc, where Ragnar increases his Odinic-powers through a near death experience during the invasion of Paris.
Overall season 3 is the most enjoyable and moves the story closer to the epic conclusion of the SONS OF RAGNAR's REVENGE>
>>372960
>a Christian at that time and place in history being drawn to paganism
>vikings take Paris
How do people who actually like history watch this trash?
>>372876
It's the hard K Latin so it's generally accurate.
Speaking of the technical Latin, God, why do all the consonants have to be harsher? Kick-ay-rho is just awkward. A sibilant flows better.
>>371133
Since HBO made this..
>Ctrl+F
>No Band of Brothers
>No The Pacific
>>372864
I'd like to see a movie that covers that war along with the peace talks afterward. Not very often you get to see Teddy Roosevelt as the diplomat.
>>371245
You won't get many people to spot what's wrong with Black sails but it has quite a few things wrong, most likely intentional.
The ships are probably the worst offender, Pirates with big ass ships or even a fucking galleon. The Design is a weird mixture of 17th century Galleons and late 18th century Napleonic era main decks (complete lack of forecastle).
Typically pirates in the caribs would opt for quite a few smaller ships, like smaller than sixth rate frigates. Then they'd flush the deck to make it a good fighting and boarding platform, take a crew of a couple of hundred and stow them on a ship designed for half that, board the enemy and win by fear and superior numbers.
>>371133
Hornblower is beyond god-tier. If every historical drama could be as accurate as that, people might actually pass history classes.
>>371245
Black sails is fairly accurate from a technical standpoint, even though most every major characters fictional. The main historical characters such as Calico Jack tend to do their stuff offscreen.
Fairly accurate portrayal of Nassau back in the rumrunner days though.
>>371352
>If they were slaves, they were black
I hate my nation's schools. I really, really do. Any serious historical learning has to be done on your own.
>>372987
PS, the main ship from the first season has a fucking spar deck which is something you want to avoid too.
Pic related would be something you'd call a regular pirate ship.
>>373024
Of course this isn't half as heroic as two ships of the line duking it out with cannons.
>>373024
Werent brigs more common too?
Like if you needed to steal one it would be easier than stealing a goddamned line ship.
>>372979
Ach, I think that's just because you're used to the S sound. I pronounced Caecilius as Say-SIL-i-us in my head for the longest time, but now it'd repulsive to me.
>>371197
Reeee?
>>373032
That too, only a rare few pirates had a chance to commission a ship so it's mostly just stealing what you can and hoping for the best.
The few exceptions are some privateers turned pirate and a couple of pirate lords who amassed entire fleets which included warships.
Pic sorta relevant, the small ship is the privateer.
>>372742
>the only super-bullshit moment he gets all season is 'teaching Mongols how to make siege weapons'
This was accurate in the sense that the actual battle was the first recorded instance of a trebuchet being used in China, but odds are the Mongols learned of trebuchet's from the Persians and not Europeans.
>>373045
This was a custom designed ship by a privateer and quite suited for her task.
Note however that this is nearly a century after Black Sails takes place.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_corvette_Revenant
>>373034
I always had it as CHAY or SHAY-SIL-i-us, but then again any learning I have I've done through reading, so I'm most likely wrong on pronunciation.
>>372742
>>372781
Well, first and foremost Marco Polo is a kung fu series. Its basically a toned down Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon set during the Yuan dynasty.
They epicly fucked up the way the Mongols fought, especially that last battle where all their most important generals just blindly charge into the breach on foot.
>>371291
That was only like 2 minutes of the movie, but you're right about the accuracy of the costumes.
>>373060
Hair looks like something Justinian would wear.
Whats the name of the movie?
>>373068
The Message. Its about the beginning of Islam, so it it might not be everyone's cup of tea.
Heraclius and Khorau only appear in a few minutes a piece at the beginning, but their characters are shown relatively accurate to what we know from historical sources.
>>373084
I think I might have seen it on IMDB, is it a good historical flick otherwise? I am actually just now Watching Andrei Rublev
>>373045
>pirate lords
What was living under a pirate lord like?
>>373045
Its like the clown car of the ocean.
>>372950
The one from Europe, not the american version.
>>373098
Its pretty good, but they never show Muhammed or Ali, which is little of annoying but expected. Khalid Bin Walid's cavalry charge is pretty awesome too.
I've never really watched historical movies from the Soviet era (apart from Nevsky). Do you have a rec list or something like that?
Black Sails has a fucking Pirate Galleon reducing Charleston harbour to rubble. Its an amazing show actual and that episode was great but that shit never fucking happened. Blackbeard scared the shit out of the city once for shits but he didn't siege it or anything.
>>373132
Why are you expecting Treasure Island to line up with historical events?
>>373145
Im not, but someone else claimed it was an authentic show.
>>373128
The euro version is infinitely better than the american one. Still had a ton of eye rollingly bad moments (and those fucking accents on Alexander and Lucrezia) but still better than the uber-melodrama from the showtime one.
>>372583
Whatever you say about Vikings, it's 10/10 for waifus
>>372864
I've been trying to find this with subs. I love naval stuff and it looks really cool.
Aside from some obvious WWII Japan bias, I thought the historic dogfighting and flying scenes were pretty good. Much better than pretty much any other movie about combat aviators that has come out in like two decades.
>>373469
>subtitles
http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic_108365.htm
>>372532
>tits everywhere
>Asians worshipping a white dude just because he's white before white privilege existed
>interracial everywhere in an otherwise socially conservative era
>a Mongol noblemane being played by A FUCKING MAORI
>>372831
Funny how Mel Gibson fucks up Apocalypto and Braveheart but manages to get a semi-fictional religious film historically accurate
>>371121
>>371133
>>371193
Love these
Throwing my hat in for Peaky Blinder
Set in post-WWI Britain with a focus on Irish Traveller gangsters in Birmingham
Basically a British Boardwalk Empire in terms of quality in production, costumes, music, and sets
Better imo in story and writing
Not sure on the historical accuracy since it's more of a crime/family drama, but it does depict Churchill, the effects of the situation in Ireland, and some social issues (i.e. postwar PTSD)
Cillian Murphy is based and Tom Hardy's character is best Jew
>>371121
Reign, on CW. 10/10
>>372583
Oh fuck, I have been wondering this for days, and I finally got it. I realized where I've seen this one guy at work's haircut.
So he is doing a Ragnar, huh.
>>372969
We're not autistic OCD-driven hipsters you faggot.
Pic related, the best historical film of all time. Inaccurate as hell, but who fucking cares?
>>374301
Muh nigga
>>372969
Because you're too autistic to enjoy things.
>>372969
You realize the writer of the series is actually a historian, right? I'd bet he's not actually fucking up the historicity due to ignorance, but because it's a fucking tv show not a documentary, you retarded bitch-ass pleb.
Pic related, it's everyone's waifu.
>>371804
I want more Hornblower and Sharpe damnit.
Some of the Sharpe stuff is shit tho. Like Sharpe's Gold where he goes after Aztec death worshippers
Rome had a really shitty costume compartment with Roman stuff that looked like it was from Asterix and Obelix. Grinded my gears seeing Egypt full of black people and Kleopatra guarded by Nubians instead of her historical Celtic ones. Then they portrayed Herod as a steriotypical Jew instead of the Greekboo he was.
>>371343
Superb movie, even better books
Anyone here read the saxon stories and watched the show? How is the last kingdom?
I loved the books but Uthrd is a pretty boy in the show so i avoided watching it.
>>373154
oh yes, the pope with a Texan accent is "infinitely" better. Honestly, it's beyond me that it wasn't cancelled after the first episode for being shit
>gore because gore
>buttseks because buttseks
and so on
>>378561
>How is the last kingdom?
Story is pretty great, acting is good, costumes are utter shit.
They basically use a mix of High Middle Ages and fantasy for the costumes. Vikings does a better job for the Saxon costumes, but their Dane costumes are equally shit. It really took me out of an otherwise good show.
