Netflix Original Series "Marco Polo"

[kingchris20]

This show was pretty amazing (bit much on the +18 scenes, but I guess that is to be expected in a show focused so heavily on the Khan of Khans ).

This show heavily applies to a Civ war of Mongolia v China in the late 1200s. Though its not Genghis, it is his grandson Kublai Khan attempting to calm his empire at home and take the Chinese walled city of Xiangyang with the help of a young Venetian merchant named Marco Polo. You will see battles, new technologies attained, and then applied to more battles. It is a show for any Civ fan (if you don't mind a few +18 scenes).

Has some awesome history, Kung-Fu, a guy named "Hundred Eyes" , true to time era, and really visualized how a series of battles and diplomacy would go down for those of us who command these type of armies every time we play a game of Civ!

ps. production on this is amazing, Netflix spent $90mil on it

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I plan to watch it. It remains to be seen how well it measures up to the 1982 TV miniseries, which was amazing. Even my cat liked it (she was mesmerized by all the horses galloping across the screen).

 

[gay_Aleks]

I'll try to resist yelling "Marco!" and then waiting for someone else to reply "Polo!" while watching this series.

 

[aelf]

Has some awesome history, Kung-Fu, a guy named "Hundred Eyes" , true to time era...

Whut?

From what I've seen, the show is about as accurate as Braveheart.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Whut?

From what I've seen, the show is about as accurate as Braveheart.

Well, it is named after a guy who may have made it all up.
I've only watched the first episode and it appears solid. Didn't exactly blow me away but could entertain.
It also has a lot of naked asian women without the annoying sounds of japanese porn.

 

[Kozmos]

It's great if you love boning and murdering in the ancient ways. Not much beyond that.

 

[Truronian]

Sidao, Kublai and Hundred Eyes were well acted and interesting characters, but the rest of the show underwhelmed.

 

[Kozmos]

I do have to say the show led me to discover mongolian folk rock and it sounds awesome.

 

[luiz]

I can't get past the kung fu nonsense. There's a blind monk capable of defeating dozens of soldiers by himself (and he always knows where every blow is coming from, even if it's an arrow), a concubine who can face an army on her own, and a chancellor who by mimicking a grasshopper can beat up professinal warriors three times his size.

Why can't we have a series set on the Far East without this garbage?

 

[MobBoss]

I can't get past the kung fu nonsense. There's a blind monk capable of defeating dozens of soldiers by himself (and he always knows where every blow is coming from, even if it's an arrow), a concubine who can face an army on her own, and a chancellor who by mimicking a grasshopper can beat up professinal warriors three times his size.

Why can't we have a series set on the Far East without this garbage?

Because that would be boring?

 

[luiz]

Because that would be boring?

It seems to work fine in series not set in the Far East. Are you saying all things Asian are inherently boring unless there is magical kung fu buffoonery?

 

[Tahuti]

It seems to work fine in series not set in the Far East. Are you saying all things Asian are inherently boring unless there is magical kung fu buffoonery?

I agree. It's like making television about Westerners who even in the 20th century solve personal disputes with Medieval style sword duels or movies about Russians who do so with Russian roulette.

 

[MobBoss]

It seems to work fine in series not set in the Far East. Are you saying all things Asian are inherently boring unless there is magical kung fu buffoonery?

I agree. It's like making television about Westerners who even in the 20th century solve personal disputes with Medieval style sword duels or movies about Russians who do so with Russian roulette.

And yet movies made in Asia or about Asia have been quite full of said 'kung fu buffoonery' since..well...since forever. Even more so by movies made by Asians themselves.

Maybe some level of that is to be expected?

 

[Kozmos]

Well kung-fu buffoonery gets most exposure, but a few Korean movies far surpass the best of Hollywood in my opinion.

 

[Perfection]

Because that would be boring?

Only for the intellectually challenged. Look, I like awesome fighting scenes as much as anyone, but for a historical drama, it's disappointing as it conveys either a lack of talent in conveying what was an extremely interesting historical event or a lack of respect for the viewer who actually wants to see that (probably both).

 

[aelf]

And yet movies made in Asia or about Asia have been quite full of said 'kung fu buffoonery' since..well...since forever. Even more so by movies made by Asians themselves.

Maybe some level of that is to be expected?

There are plenty of historical epics and other movies made in Asia without any kung fu. I doubt you watch many of them.

 

[Truronian]

I do have to say the show led me to discover mongolian folk rock and it sounds awesome.

Altan Urag? I discovered them back when one of their songs was used over the end credits of Mongol. Marco Polo then went and used the exact same song over the end credits of season 1. It worked better in Mongol, mainly because in that film it wasn't preceded by a massively dumb plot twist.

I can't get past the kung fu nonsense. There's a blind monk capable of defeating dozens of soldiers by himself (and he always knows where every blow is coming from, even if it's an arrow), a concubine who can face an army on her own, and a chancellor who by mimicking a grasshopper can beat up professinal warriors three times his size.

Why can't we have a series set on the Far East without this garbage?

Every historical drama I've seen has its clichés. Rome had their crazy non-Greek Egyptians, while Vikings has various historical (and mythical) Norsemen all related and living in a Scandinavia consisting entirely of fjords.

Marco Polo's kung-fu is clearly fantastical, but it's fun to watch so I really don't mind. Most of the historical Marco Polo related stuff has been made dreadfully dull: the prospect of a blind super-monk appearing and beating people up is the only thing that got me through some of the episodes!

 

[MobBoss]

There are plenty of historical epics and other movies made in Asia without any kung fu. I doubt you watch many of them.

Sure there are, but they are definitely in the minority. Besides, movies like this are just plain fun. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373074/

 

[Phrossack]

I do have to say the show led me to discover mongolian folk rock and it sounds awesome.

I discovered it maybe four or five years ago with Mongol. Mongolian folk and classical are also pretty good.

 

[sophie]

And yet movies made in Asia or about Asia have been quite full of said 'kung fu buffoonery' since..well...since forever. Even more so by movies made by Asians themselves.

Maybe some level of that is to be expected?