History Series / TheCleopatras

''The Cleopatras'' is an eight-part historical miniseries produced by Creator/TheBBC in 1983 and written by Philip Mackie (whose previous historical mini-series writing credits included ''Series/TheCaesars'' for Creator/{{Granada}} in 1968). The series opens up with UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII (the one most familiar to us--the one who later fell in love with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony) being told the stories of all of the other Cleopatras in her family (her mother, aunts, grandmothers and great-grandmothers) via a history lesson. After the histories of all of the past Cleopatras have been explored, the story continues to detail the life of the last of the Cleopatras, who committed suicide via asp bite after losing the Battle of Actium.

The series was lavishly mounted and there were high hopes that it would become the ''Series/IClaudius'' of the 1980s. Critical reception however, was quite mixed. This might have been due to the wry "horror-comic" tone of the series, when another approach might have suited the material better. Or it might have had something to do with the surreal production design and effects, which made copious use of the "video toaster". Or it might have had something to do with the rather anachronistic progressive rock-esque soundtrack. Whatever the reason, the series vanished into the annals of television and to this day still hasn't had a proper DVD release, although it has been uploaded to Website/YouTube. You can catch the first episode [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfHucSYFoTg here]].

* InfantImmortality: Averted. This was Truth in Television, sadly.

* AffablyEvil: Fluter just wants to be a nice guy, be a good ruler and play his flute. Of course, he'll cold-bloodedly off any family members who cross him, but that's pretty par for the course for an Egyptian ruler.

''The Cleopatras'' is an eight-part historical miniseries produced by Creator/TheBBC in 1983 and written by Philip Mackie (whose previous historical mini-series writing credits included ''Series/TheCaesars'' for Creator/{{Granada}} in 1968). The series opens up with one of UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII (the one most familiar to us--the one who later fell in love with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony) being told the stories of all of the other Cleopatras in her family (her mother, aunts, grandmothers and great-grandmothers) via a history lesson. After the histories of all of the past Cleopatras have been explored, the story continues to detail the life of the last of the Cleopatras, who committed suicide via asp bite after losing the Battle of Actium.

''The Cleopatras'' is an eight-part historical miniseries produced by Creator/TheBBC in 1983 and written by Philip Mackie (whose previous historical mini-series writing credits included ''Series/TheCaesars'' for Creator/{{Granada}} in 1968). The series opens up with one of the Cleopatras (the one most familiar to us--the one who later fell in love with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony) being told the stories of all of the other Cleopatras in her family (her mother, aunts, grandmothers and great-grandmothers) via a history lesson. After the histories of all of the past Cleopatras have been explored, the story continues to detail the life of the last of the Cleopatras, who committed suicide via asp bite after losing the Battle of Actium.

* YouLookFamiliar: Right at the beginning of the first episode, a young Cleopatra asks her tutor which of her female ancestors she resembles the most, and he quips that she looks a lot like her great-grandmother. Cue the flashback to the very young version of that great-grandmother Cleopatra... [[IdenticalGrandson played by the very same actress]].

* TheDitz: Young Chickpea is not shown to be as bad as the other Ptolemies. Instead he is a clueless and weak heir in a pack of degenerate and compulsive plotters, grossly manipulated by his father Potbelly, his mother Cleopatra III, and both his sisters for their own ends. His brother Ptolemy Alexander comments that he does not himself hate Chickpea as he is "not good, but not bad either", and that he does not get what Chickpea could have down to his mother that made her hate him so much to the point of wanting to kill him. Her answer is [[ChildByRape his birth was reason enough]].

* TheUnfavourite: Cleopatra III wanted to have only marvelous sons, but becoming Queen came at a steep cost: Her rape by Potbelly made her pregnant of Chickpea, who was definitely ''not'' marvelous to say the least to her ever-lasting resentment. But it's the circumstances around her pregnancy that made her ''hate'' him so much, to the point of humiliating him constantly as her co-ruler, then attempting to murder him as soon as it became convenient.

* YouLookFamiliar: Right at the beginning of the first episode, a young Cleopatra asks her tutor which of her female ancestors she ressembles the most, and he quips that she looks a lot like her great-grandmother. Cue the flashback to the very young version of that great-grandmother Cleopatra... [[IdenticalGrandson played by the very same actress]].

* TheDitz: Young Chickpea is not shown to be as bad as the other Ptolemies. Instead he is a clueless and weak heir in a pack of degenerate and compulsive plotters, grossly manipulated by his father Potbelly, his mother Cleopatra III, and both his sisters for their own ends. His brother Ptolemy Alexander comments that he does not himself hate Chickpea as he is "not good, but not bad either", and that he does not get what Chickpea could have down to his mother that made her hate him so much to the point of wanting to kill him. Her answer is [[ChildByRape his birth was reason enough]].
* TheUnfavourite: Cleopatra III wanted to have only marvelous sons, but becoming Queen came at a steep cost: Her rape by Potbelly made her pregnant of Chickpea, who was definitely ''not'' marvelous to say the least to her ever-lasting resentment. But it's the circumstances around her pregnancy that made her ''hate'' him so much, to the point of humiliating him constantly as her co-ruler, then attempting to murder him as soon as it became convenient.

''The Cleopatras'' is an eight-part historical miniseries produced by Creator/TheBBC in 1983 and written by Philip Mackie (whose previous historical mini-series writing credits included ''Series/TheCaesars'' for Creator/{{Granada}} in 1968). The series opens up with one of the Cleopatras (the one most familiar to us--the one who later fell in love with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony) being told the stories of all of the other Cleopatras in her family (her mothers, aunts, grandmothers and great-grandmothers) via a history lesson. After the histories of all of the past Cleopatras have been explored, the story continues to detail the life of the last of the Cleopatras, who committed suicide via asp bite after losing the Battle of Actium.

* TheUnfavourite: Cleopatra III wanted to have only marvelous sons but becoming Queen came at a steep cost: Having to let herself be raped by Potbelly she gave birth to Chickpea who was definitely ''not'' marvelous to say the least, to her ever-lasting resentment. However, it's the circumstances around her pregnancy that made her ''hate'' his eldest son that much.

* TheDitz: Young Chickpea is not shown to be as bad as the other Ptolemies. Instead he is a clueless and weak heir in a pack of degenerate and compulsive plotters, grossly manipulated by his father Potbelly, his mother Cleopatra III, and both his sister-wives for their own ends. His brother Ptolemy Alexander comments that he does not himself hate Chickpea, and he does not get what the latter could have down to his mother that she hates him so much to the point of wanting to kill him. Her answer is [[ChildByRape his birth was reason enough]].

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Chickpea is definitely not the same naive idiot two decades later when he comes back on the throne, which is understandable given [[TraumaCongaLine both his sisters-wives betrayed him, separately, and his mother Cleopatra III attempted to have him murdered in a mob riot]]. While still an idiot his naivety is gone, his demeanor now rougher, more impatient, and unforgiving of any slight. His daughter and his mistress both share the same utter lack of respect his mother and his sisters had for him... but contrarily to them, they do not despise him enough to flaunt it to his face.

* TheDitz: Young Chickpea is not shown to be as bad as the other Ptolemies. Instead he is a clueless and weak heir in a pack of degenerate and compulsive plotters, grossly manipulated by his father Potbelly, his mother Cleopatra III, and both his sister-wives for their own ends. His brother Ptolemy Alexander comments that he does not himself hate Chickpea, and he does not get what the latter could have down to his mother that she hates him so much to the point of wanting to kill him. Her answer is that javing to give birth to him was enough.

* TheDitz: Young Chickpea is not shown to as bad as the other Ptolemies. He is instead a clueless and weak member of a family of degenerate and compulsive plotters, grossly manipulated by his father Potbelly, his mother Cleopatra III, and both his sister-wives for their own ends. His brother Ptolemy Alexander comments that he does not himself hate Chickpea, and he does not get what the latter could have down to his mother that she hates him so much to the point of wanting to kill him. The answer is, just being born.

* TheDitz: Young Cheekpea is not shown to be a bad person at first, but a clueless and weak heir inside a family of degenerate and compulsive plotters, grossly manipulated by both his father, his mother and both his sister-wives. His own younger brother and rival Ptolemy Alexander comments that he does not hate Chickpea, and does not get why their mother hates the latter so much to the point of wanting to kill him.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Chickpea is definitely not the same naive idiot when he comes back on the throne two decades later, which is a tad understandable given [[TraumaCongaLine both his sisters-wives betrayed him, separately, and his his mother Cleopatra III attempted to have him murdered in a mob riot]]. While still an idiot his naivety is gone, his demeanor now rougher, more impatient, and unforgiving of any slight. His daughter and his mistress both share the same utter lack of respect his mother and his sisters had for him but contrarily to them, they do not despise him enough to flaunt it to his face.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Chickpea is definitely not the same naive idiot when he comes back from Cyprus two decades after being forced to exile due to [[TraumaCongaLine his mother Cleopatra III wanting to kill him and each of his sisters-wives betraying him, separately]]. While still an idiot his naivety is gone, his demeanor being rougher and more impatient and unforgiving. His daughter and his mistress both share the same utter lack of respect his mother and his sisters had for him but contrarily to them, they do not despise him enough to flaunt it to his face.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Chickpea is definitely not the same naive idiot when coming back from Cyprus, after two decades of forced exile caused by [[TraumaCongaLine the betrayls by his mother Cleopatra III and each of his sisters, separately]]. Whole still an idiot, the naive part is now gone so his demeanor is noticeably less patient, trusting, and forgiving. His daughter and his mistress both share the same utter lack of respect his mother and his sister had for him but contrarily to them, they keep it behind this back because they do not despise him enough and are clever enough not to show it to his face.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Chickpea is definitely not the same naive idiot when coming back from Cyprus two decades after [[TraumaCongaLine being betrayed by his mother Cleopatra III and each of his sisters, separately, and fled for his life]]: the idiot part remains, but the naive is gone so his demeanor is noticeably less patient, trusting, and forgiving this time. His daughter and his mistress both share the same lack of respect his mother and his sister had for him but contrarily to them, they keep it between them. They do not despise him enough and both know better than to show it to his face.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Chickpea is definitely not the same naive idiot when he returns from Cyprus two decades after [[TraumaCongaLine being betrayed by his mother and each of his sisters, separately, to the point of being forced to flee for his life]]; the idiot part has remained but the naive is now gone. His demeanor is now noticeably less patient and forgiving this time. Both his daughter and his mistress all share the same lack of respect that his mother and his sister had for him but contrarily to them, they keep it between them, since they do not despise him enough and both know better than to show it to his face.