User Reviews

Roar is a fictional Irish tale of a young prince who sets on a journey to fulfill his late father's dreams to make an alliance with all the tribes of the Celtic Island to stand against Roman Empires and to avenge his family and beloved death. It is comprised of 13 episodes and each episode contains the layers of myth, magic, and love. The show got canceled due to unknown reasons but It introduced Heath Ledger to the cinematic world.

You must be thinking that, why would I recommend a canceled show to you, or to everyone reading my words, and it is a kind of felony to waste your time, but trust me, It won't kill your time. This series has its strengths and weaknesses, the strength of this show is the transformation of Connor (Heath Ledger) from a young lover to a benevolent leader. He has lessons to teach you. To me, the character has a soul of young Heath Ledger, and it carries the destiny to its end.

All these 13 episodes are continuity of a single tale, yet unfolded 13 different stories and each story has something different to offer. If the first episode has love, family, and betrayal, the last episode has a sense of fascination.

Creator of the Roar coined brilliantly with the elements of myth, valor, love, betrayal, and fantasy.

Roar has some unfamiliar faces, Heath was young, and he played Connor with innocence and bravery, it turns out to be a good adventure for him as he played similar two similar roles (A Knight Tale & The Patriot) in his later part of the career, his dialogues lack the warmth of the words but he did great especially being an 18 year old. Vera Farmiga was another familiar face, she has a limited role and justified to it. Sebastian Roche as Longinus is the standout performer of this series. He's vicious and devious, and although great performance. Music is great, and so are the costumes and cinematography.

Roar is a feast for old school cinematic lovers and especially those who love ancient times without any gore or violence, a must watch to relive the legacy of legendry Heath Ledger.

geoffw (see below) is quite right about what happened to this show: poor network marketing support (complicated by network interference with the concept). The Christian Right had nothing to do with its cancellation, and the individual who suggested that is out of touch with the facts.

The fact is that this was another wonderfully original and well-developed concept from Shawn Cassidy (who also created 'American Gothic', among others) that was mis-marketed by FOX. Apparently FOX wanted to grab some of the riches generated by camp sword and sorcery shows like 'Hercules: The Legendary Journeys' and 'Xena: Warrior Princess'. They gave Roar very little marketing support (I remember vague promos showing people in leather armor that gave no idea what the show was about), and what little support they did give it implied it was a Hercules/Xena clone. It wasn't. When the wrong audience tuned in and rejected it, FOX started moving it all over the schedule, again without proper marketing support. They also applied pressure to the producers to dumb it down and make it more like Hercules/Xena. Watch a marathon on Sci-Fi sometime, and you will notice the following network-inspired trends:

1) The importance of Conor's struggle to unite the Irish clans diminishes. By the middle of the series, his efforts in this regard are only described in throwaway dialog and aren't seen on screen. These efforts should have provided the meat of the series. What table scraps we do get imply that the mission was effortless, which it certainly would not have been (clan rivalries historically prevented the Irish from uniting for the common good, which is how the English got a foothold centuries later). We frequently see Conor and Fergus travelling aimlessly about doing good deeds (instead of raising a resistance against the Romans) ala Hercules and Iolaus.

2) The importance of Conor's war band withers over the course of the series, until finally they don't even appear -- even though they are still credited as regular characters. By midway through the show's run, we usually see Conor and Fergus travelling alone, despite the fact that Conor is an important king who should be regarded as a deadly enemy by the Romans.

2) Vera Farmiga's costume becomes smaller and smaller, until the introduction of Melissa George as Molly, after which the character of Caitlin is rarely seen at all. Obviously a misguided attempt to "sex it up", and when the writers couldn't distort the Conor-Caitlin relationship enough to permit romance, they introduced a new love interest.

3) Originally intensely dramatic, with tragic loves, murky intrigues, murders and double-crosses, by mid-run it had become a campy adventure comedy.

4) The character of Longinus was a well-crafted and mysterious villain with tons of potential. Unfortunately, with the tone of the show shifting, he simply wasn't silly enough, so they unsuitably disposed of the character (it violated the integrity of the character to have him fall victim to such a plot) and made the ridiculously camp Diana the sole villain.

This could have been a great show, and it didn't hurt that the cast is actually quite competent. But I suspect that -- after the failure of 'American Gothic' -- Cassidy was willing to do anything to keep his new masters happy. Unfortunately it diminished his vision, and killed the show.

Ultimately, Roar became indistinguishable from the ilk of Hercules/Zena, but because the characters weren't designed to be camp it couldn't compete with that class of show. Had FOX left well enough alone and helped it to find the RIGHT audience, we would at the very least have a great short-lived series to collect on home video. Now, we don't even have that.

The Roar was one of my favorites, when I was a teen. I watched Hercules and Xena and saw the commercial for this show while watching one or the other. My interest was piqued, I assumed it was similar to Hercules and Xena however I was presently surprised that it wasn't. The Roar was its own show, I was very disappointed the show was canceled.

Good luck finding someone as good as Ledger. But it will be a more interesting competition to a GOT or Vikings. I think characters like the father, Connor and Caitlyn can be bring back to life again with more technology and making more emphasis on the plot from the beginning. Leaving alone the theme of the end of the season.

It's really sad when you think of how much potentially great television has been canceled by Fox TV.

It's easy to just think of Roar as some Dungeons and Dragons clone, but it was really so much more. Regardless of the genre of any television show, it's the characters that make or break a show, and Roar had some great characters. My two favorites where John Saint Ryan's Fergus and Sebastian Roche's Longinus. These are two really good actors who just don't get enough real work.

Had Roar been able to stay true to its epic story roots, with Conor trying to reunite Ireland, then this could have been a great show.

I saw this show when it first came on and I applauded the original line they were taking. I loved the depiction of the struggle against the encroachment of the Roman troupes.

By the end, with the serious dumbing down they committed I only lamented the end of the original promise. I'd love to find a DVD copy of what little there was. FOX blew this one seriously with the tacky shift in focus and the lack of support. I've never completely understood why they couldn't expand on the relationship between Kat and Connor. There was a deep feeling of respect between them and during that time in history, pagan and Christian, if they came to an understanding between them intermarried easily enough. Especially in the early days of Christian introduction to the Celtic tribes. Molly was a distraction, an interesting character but a distraction from the relationship of Kat and Connor. Disappointing in the lack of development of either relationship.

I'd like to thank SciFi for giving me a chance to see it once in a while again.

Also incredibly stupid, badly acted and written and directed (in one episode we spend an eternity watching someone stare at a spear), and in general a piece of crap not worthy of one viewing. I watched 5 episodes of this. BIG MISTAKE!!! Don't bother with this junk. The only thing worth seeing is Heath Ledger with his shirt off. I can see why this was canceled so quickly. This might have been a good premise on the page, but it was ruined very quickly. The so-called 'Christian' moral majority didn't destroy this, the bad writers did. I guess Shaun had the hots for Heath and figured this might be a good way to get into bed with him. Otherwise I can't see any point to this. So unless you too have the hots for Mr. Ledger, don't bother wasting your time.

I accidently taped Roar one day and having nothing else to watch, decided to give it a go. It was one of the best TV shows I have EVER seen. It was funny and so well written, and the fact that Ledger is so good just added to it's perfection. And then - GONE!!! When I saw Ledger a few months later in "10 Things I hate about you" I knew then and there that (a) Ledger would not be doing his Conor thing again and (b) without Ledger as Conor, there was no Roar. So, again we were given the taste of near-perfect entertainment to only have it ripped away from us.

I first saw this show about a year ago. They aired the whole season over here, because as it was set in Ireland, it saved our networks lots of time and money,and made them look good.

It mixed a good amount of historical detail with myth, and plenty of swords and sorcery. It also was completely devoid of stereotypical irish stuff like leprechauns and dodgy accents (because half of the cast were from NewZealand). This made it appeal to everyone here as well. It was also full of kick ass battles and warrior babes, with some classy characters, and a great villain in the form of Sébastian roche (the peacemaker, merlin) as the Roman Centurion who tortured christ on the cross, and was cursed with immortality. It really was a good story, and should be brought back as soon as possible!

Before he became a household name and invaded the dreams of almost every teenaged girl in North America, Heath Ledger starred in a little known action adventure series called "Roar."

I remember singing "Roar"'s praises when Fox first premiered it as a summer fill-in six years ago. It was a daring show--an action adventure series which took place in Celtic Ireland in the 5th century CE (1200 years before Shakespeare) starring a cast of unknowns. The story lines were great: a reluctant hero fulfill his destiny by uniting clans against the Romans. It lasted maybe eight or ten episodes, but it was a smart, imaginative, entertaining drama.

(I watched an episode on Sci-Fi last night, trying to figure out where I know Sebastian Roche (Longinus, the immortal) from. He played heavy metal star C-Square in an episode of "Law & Order.")

When the series ran during the summer of 1997, I watched every single episode. Each episode was full of history, excitement, good writing and most importantly, drama. These things are sorely missing from poorly done series like Hercules or Xena, whose only appeal is the size of Sorbo's muscles or Lawless' chest, respectively. Unfortunately, T.V. producers would rather make idiotic shows like "Worlds Most Dangerous/Funniest/Stupidest/home videos" or maybe just another ripoff of Melrose Place (Thank God that's gone!) Roar must be brought back !!

Completely agree with other comment here about this great series, Roar. When it first showed I was absolutely blown away by the then fairly unknown Heath Ledger, aside from being easy on the eye he was a fabulous young actor and every week I wanted more Roar. This show had it all, brilliant acting, wonderful cinematography and directing, great cast, exciting story lines, passion, intrigue, fighting and magic - what more could they possibly want? At a time when Zena and Hercules were getting huge ratings Roar should definitely have been a winner. When it suddenly disappeared from the screen "disappointed" did not cover it - years later I spotted it's name slotted at midnight in the TV guide for two weeks running - so I taped it - only to get late night shopping instead! It never showed that I could see. Obviously Heath Ledger is too big a name now if the series continued but there are plenty of other great young actors who might attempt to fill his shoes as "Conor" - or simply rerunning the series would be big ratings now he is who he is. Maybe I just miss his Irish accent?

Could this show just BE anymore kickin'? I loved it!!! It was sooo cool. I cried when I found out that it was cancelled. EVIL FOX! Why did I like it?

Well, first I've always been drawn to Celtic mythology and this surpassed my expectations in using it. The acting was great, the music kicked, and the writing was so great I can't believe it. Why do shows like this ALWAYS get cancelled???

If one sits to watch 5 straight hours of anything, it might get boring. But taken an hour at a time, this was a tremendous series. The scenery and music are great, the story lines are interesting, and 7 years later it is fun to see what these actors looked like back in the day.

I am glad that Sci Fi is re-showing the series. I will record (TiVo) it when it airs, but watch an hour at a time during the winter rerun season.

And I think I will create my own set of DVDs of the series -- too bad FOX Network. I would have paid you a lot of money for DVDs of this series.

In the wake of Braveheart, and with Hercules becoming the juggernaut of New Zealand B-rated show entertainment, Roar came out with some hype and fanfare, appealing to fantasy/history buffs out there. Roar featured warriors, Romans, druids, and early Christians. Some supernatural stuff is featured, but it is small and only figures in some of the plots.

The majority of the show focuses on young Connor, forced to become the leader of a tribe, fighting against Roman encroachment and the problems of being a leader. Heath Ledger, young and fresh, fills these big shoes quite well. The acting all around is superb, many of the characters unique (for their day) and stand outs. As you watch the show, Lisa Zane and Sebastian Roche become some of the most fascinating characters and you almost want to see more of their tortured, bizarre lives.

The show has some faults. How a black man ends up in Ireland can throw some people off, but he is quickly and succintly explained away, and his race never figures into any of the episode plots. Gun powder is mentioned in one episode (one too many). A few episodes are a little cheesy, but can be tolerated.

Overall, a great show, great episodes, great use of a shoe-string budget to keep the episodes going. When you compare this show to others like "Lost World" and "Beastmaster," you wonder why those continued on and this show didn't. The show pretty much started out with a story arc, which could have hurt it; other shows of this genre usually have episodic plots, or maybe they sold the show to the wrong people.

This show was fabulous. I am an Irish Studies MA degree holder and while some things they did I know were not 'period' or authentic it really held my interest. I too was sooo disappointed when this show disappeared. I only know one other person that actually watched it and that was my ex and he watched it with me! He too, Irish Studies Major.

Heath Ledger was amazing and the writing was great. I would go on to see Xena and Hecules and mistakes Raimi for being involved in Roar. Perhaps other directors went on to work for him, I don't know. But it was great.

I have always kept an ear to the ground hoping that it would run somewhere in re-runs and never heard anything. It would be nice to hear something but probably syndication might be expensive with Ledger now? Who knows.

I was facinated by this series. I found the premise well-thought out and for the life of me I can't understand why public response wasn't stronger. I think now that Heath Ledger has done some major motion pictures in the Us they should run Roar again and see if it catches on; even if they never make any more episodes I really think all the people who worked on this show deserve a second chance. Perhaps the timeing wasn't right the first time but re-running it is an idea with serious merit.

I'm not for sure how many episodes there were since I used to tape the shows and watch them again and again. If there was a way to see the Roar again I would do it.

Watching Heath Ledger's latest movies has given me a craving to watch the young Australian in his best role yet as Conor. I was hooked to this show before the pilot even aired (yes, the commercials were that great)!! I watched this show religiously every week and was very upset that Fox pulled it. I have always believed that the people over at Fox were a bunch of dudheads and cancelling Roar is real proof that they are!!!

The only way I was able to see this series. (Well, 8 episodes, anyway, I'm still looking for someone who's selling a tape with all 13 on it) As was, I sat in my room all day and watched the series all the way through.. *WOW*. I haven't loved a show this much since Quantum Leap. And of course, both aren't being made anymore. :-P The plot line was original and highly entertaining, I loved the dialogue, and the people who acted in this show brought the characters to life superbly. I *really* wish more episodes had been made.

Conor, a Celtic prince trying to unite the tribes. Every character in this show was unique and well-acted. This was the first time, I believe, American audiences saw Heath Ledger. He was an unknown at the time and had this unbelievably cool character. Honestly, though, Fergus and little Goloss were my favorites. Sci-Fi plays the episodes here and there (all of them--not all were shown in its original run), but a DVD would be great. Also, Kerri Russell is in the very first episode as Claire, before she became known as Felicity and cut off her hair. The premise was great, Ledger looks hot in his Celtic garb. It's worth watching, if you can stand the idea that there will never be more than 13 episodes to watch. Loved this show so much and was so crestfallen when it was canceled. FOX sucks!

roar was a show that made me run to the television. you could not pry me away from the set until that hour was over. i am grateful for the few tapes i made of roar before it was cancelled.

i will never understand why genius is sometimes stifled.

This is not the worst show I have ever seen. The dialog wasn't terrible, there are no fight scenes to screw up, the plot is never complicated enough to go wrong. The thing is that the show is so unambitious its hard to figure out why they made it at all. The subject matter we have all seen before. It shows up all the time even though I'm not sure there is much historical evidence for it. Irish-Good. Roman-bad. If you took Braveheart and pretended the English were Romans, and stretched it out to several months you would probably have the exact same thing.

The cast is reasonably attractive, and the actors are obviously talented as we find out later when they use their abilities in later and better work. Other then that..well, you have to be somewhat dramatic to to act out drama.

I was content with Xena before I saw Roar. It was amazing to see the amount of research they put into reconstructing the Celtic past. The makers of Roar must be congratulated for the integrity they maintained in not showing too much cleavage, and in hiring actors who can act and who do not rely on the size of their chest to get a role. The stories were good and the action was not lame. I've written to Universal studios to bring it back. Maybe we need more people to put pressure on its makers.