Roar was a short-lived FOX network show from 1997, the brain-child of Hardy Boys alum Shaun Cassidy.Conor (Heath Ledger), a young Irish warrior, is trying to unite 4th century Ireland against the invading Romans. Longinus, leading the Romans, is secretly the cursed-to-be-immortal centurion who stabbed Christ at Calvary. The show freely mixed Christian tradition, Celtic Mythology, Druidism, and, barely, smatterings of history. And then there's the Roar. What heck is the 'Roar'? Did anybody ever figure it out?Roar was not very well received and lasted less than one season, with only 8 of the 13 ordered episodes aired. The complete series is now available on DVD.
Provides examples of:
Action Girl: Catlin and Molly, as well as many other guest-stars. In fact, it was more unusual if a woman wasn't an Action Girl.
Best Her to Bed Her: Minus the "bedding" part, it would seem Vorgeen was this, as Tully tells Conor mid-fight that she won't agree to unite the tribes unless he beats her in combat.
Beware the Nice Ones: Conor and Catlin are both friendly, easy-going people—but when they get mad ...
Decoy Damsel: Catlin and Tully lose their horses to one of Longinus's followers in this manner.
Despair Event Horizon: When Longinus loses the Spear of Destiny to Conor and realizes that he's doomed to live forever.
Did Not Do the Research: Longinus is a villain here, but according to Christian tradition, he was a convert to Christianity shortly after the crucifixion of Jesus. He's also venerated as a saint by some denominations—this was at least lampshaded in "Red Boot", in which Longinus tells Diana: "They haven't made a saint of me...yet."
Not only did Rome never conquer Ireland, it never even tried. And for that matter Rome was pretty much caput by the 4th c. Far from being victims of oppression the Irish of the period were merrily raiding Great Britain for slaves and loot. One of their victims was St. Patrick who flourished in this time period and doesn't get so much as a mention.
Disposable Woman: Clare. Played by a young Keri Russell, the writers soon realized their mistake and kept trying to find ways of bringing her back.
Dreaming of Things to Come: Longinus, though he's wide awake when he has his prophetic visions. Also notable is the sheer span of his visions—when experimenting with rudimentary dynamite, he has flashes of nuclear weapons.
Also Shannon and her family, though they only have visions of impending death.
Establishing Character Moment: A doozy of one for Diana. Her lover enters her chambers to find her writhing about in a mud-bath. Knowing he's leaving on a dangerous mission, she deigns only to blow him a kiss. As soon as he's gone, another man emerges from the mud, gasping for breath. She tells him: "you missed a spot" and pushes him back under again. Need we say more?
Religion is Magic: Most particularly in the episode with the scroll.
Rescue Romance: Conor meets Catlin after rescuing her from the Romans. Somewhat subverted in that at the time, he's in love with someone else.
Parental Incest: Done briefly, when Fergus is initially quite attracted to Molly before he realizes that she's his daughter. It's hinted that the attraction only stemmed from her resemblance to his wife. Later he leers at her naked body behind a veil before realizing that it's Molly.
Suck Out the Poison: Shannon does this for Conor after he's been hit by a poisoned arrow.
Taking the Bullet: Clare jumps in front of a sword strike meant for Conor.
Ted Baxter: Diana, at least until the second to last episode, in which she pulls off a magnificent plan.
Title Drop: At the end of the first episode, Conor stands at the edge of a cliff and roars. In subsequent episodes, this clip is used in the intro when the title is shown.
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