Underrated Historical Topic For a Movie/TV Series

[RINO Tom]

What historical topic do you think is usually underrated and would make for a good movie or TV series?  If a movie has already been made about the topic and you simply think a remake would be cool, mention that one!

For me, I think a series on the Wars of the Diadochi, perhaps made with an atmosphere that is kind of a mix between Netflix's Barbarians and early Game of Thrones, would be awesome.  After rewatching this series of videos by the YouTube channel, Kings and Generals (Wars of the Diadochi Playlist), it really struck me how good a TV series adaptation could be.  It's an understudied enough era that a lot of people wouldn't know exactly what was going to happen, there are the makings of a huge and interesting cast and there is SO much material for shocking twists and backstabbing.

What are some other good ideas?

[Cassius]

Yeah, I’ve occasionally considered writing a series of Bad Novels^TM about the Wars of the Diadochi, but I expect someone has gotten there before me and done a better job than I could ever do.

Sticking with the antiquity theme, both the Peloponnesian Wars and the Roman Empire of the fifth century AD would be a good setting for a HBO drama akin to Rome or something.

I’m actually surprised that no-one has attempted to do a big budget adaptation of I Claudius, as the version with Derek Jacobi, whilst most likely unsurpassable, is starting to show its age somewhat.

[Orser67]

Idk if they're underrated, but here are a few ideas I'd love to watch:

• The Crown, but for U.S. presidents
• A television movie on the U.S. constitutional convention
• A miniseries on Lenin (with a heavy focus on 1917-1924)
• A miniseries on the French Revolution
• Napoleon biopic (a modern, big budget, English-language film)
• Hannibal biopic (the Carthaginian general, not the cannibal)

[Snazzrazz Mazzlejazz]

The Paris Commune could be a rather interesting thing for a film.

[Don Vito Corleone]

I'm frankly surprised there hasn't been some sort of epic TV series about Napoleon.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

Kingdom-era Italian politics. I don't think any biopic about even Giovanni Giolitti has ever been made, which is disappointing to me [although probably not surprising].

[The Mikado]

Epic multigenerational series about the Thirty Years War. Spanish, Dutch, Austrian, French, Swedish, and minor German state perspectives.

[Lumine]

I'm frankly surprised there hasn't been some sort of epic TV series about Napoleon.

This. There is such a wealth of material that a film can't possibly hope to cover enough ground (though the 2002 ministeries and the unfilmed Kubrick script didn't do a bad job despite the necessary limitations), and you could easily get several seasons worth of effective drama as Napoleon changes and the world evolves around him.

Oddly enough, I also think the fall of the Weimar Republic (from the 1932 Presidential Election to the death of Hindenburg) should be given the mini-series treatment, at least so we get something better and more accurate than "The Rise of Evil" and because, in spite of such a depressing ending, the intrigues surrounding between Papen, Schleicher, Hitler and others make for an engaging setting.

On more strictly underrated terms:

• A miniseries about Magellan's life and expedition around the globe
• Something regarding the Frederick the Great/Maria Theresa (ideally set on the War of the Austrian Succession
• A biopic of Alcibiades and his constant changing sides during the Peloponnesian War
• A series of movies about Genghis Khan's life
• A movie about the fall of Robespierre, with Fouché as the protagonist (based on Zweig's biography of the latter)

[Big Abraham]

The Paris Commune could be a rather interesting thing for a film.

I absolutely agree, on the condition that it is not produced by Hollywood, which would no doubt attempt to portray the crushing of the Communards by the forces of MacMahon in a positive light.

[Beet]

I think a movie about GamerGate would be pretty interesting.

[Sumner 1868]

The Haitian Revolution. Pretty clear the only reason this hasn't occurred is fear of outraging the usual suspects.

[1978 New Wave skinny trousers]

The Glorious Revolution is one of the most world-changing events in human history, so there really ought to be a movie about it.

[KaiserDave]

I'm frankly surprised there hasn't been some sort of epic TV series about Napoleon.

There has

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjc_DrGpkew

It's alright

[(no subject)]

The Maid of Norway

[If my soul was made of stone]

The Oklahoma Panhandle/Neutral Strip/No Man's Land

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

The Oklahoma Panhandle/Neutral Strip/No Man's Land

I am not sure that's a 'historical' topic exactly.

[If my soul was made of stone]

The Oklahoma Panhandle/Neutral Strip/No Man's Land

I am not sure that's a 'historical' topic exactly.

The history of that weird little region is much deeper than you'd expect, and very "Wild West" in a sense:
https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=NO001

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

The Oklahoma Panhandle/Neutral Strip/No Man's Land

I am not sure that's a 'historical' topic exactly.

The history of that weird little region is much deeper than you'd expect, and very "Wild West" in a sense:
https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=NO001

That's intriguing. To show the uniqueness of that region with a very Atlas™ proof, this is the map of the 2006 Oklahoma gubernatorial election:

[RINO Tom]

^ If I were a RINO Tom mirror of BRTD, I’d absolutely be planning my pilgrimage to the OK Panhandle!

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

- fringe theatre production/indie film about Justinian from the perspective of Procopius, telling both the official histories and the crazy history where the emperor removes his own head and Theodora has caligula style orgies.

- shaggy dog story about Julian the Apostate growing from shy book obsessed runt, thrown into battlefields and overcoming treachery from his Machiavellian uncle, taking on the religious institutions for some reason that nobody can fathom, and then throwing everything away on a stupid war with Persia where he forgets to put a breastplate on.

- rather grim, but a serious look at the horrors of Unit 731 before it completely passes into historical oblivion.

- the rise and fall of the Kingdom of Hawaii - could be a good prestige TV in line with other dynastic dramas.

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

1) Alexiad the series. Think Rome or GoT without the BS
2) I've been staning a John Brown biopic for a long time, but IIRC that's actually being done
3) John Snow, the guy's life already reads like it's 'based on an inspirational true story' and I think we can all use a guy inventing a whole new discipline of research to kick a pandemic in the balls.
4) July Crisis, either as a made for TV movie or miniseries. Focus on the diplomats, particularly the Austrian and Russian ones desperately trying to stop their leadership from inevitably driving them over a cliff

[Benjamin Frank]

I'd like to see a movie on the JFK assassination.  The movie JFK was a lot of exposition using a courtroom trial and the preparation of arguments to explain the alleged conspiracies.  I'd like to see an attempt of a film that actually shows the story of who was allegedly behind it, how they coordinated the assassination and pulled it off.

[Samof94]

The Cuban revolution seems like an obvious choice. Imagine the show showing the rapid social change unthinkable as late as 1957. Also, I’d like it to be in Spanish.