Spartacus: Blood and Sand

It's so good I'm watching it all over again. 10 years later it still holds up. Amid all the glorious violence I had forgotten just how surprisingly emotional this series was.

If you have not seen it, watch it!

For fans of Gladiator, Xena, Hercules, and works by Sam Raimi. You need not have seen the original 1960 film Spartacus to enjoy the series as they are not related.

Warning - every episode contains nudity and explicit sex scenes. You have been warned.

And don't forget to watch the 6 episodes of Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, which aired between seasons one and two, but could be watched after this series. This was basically a holdover for the fans while it was hoped for and assumed by everyone involved that Andy Whitfield's return would be eminent.

Sadly, Andy Whitfield was taken from us a year and a half after the final episode aired. If you like Andy and enjoyed his performance make sure to check out the documentary Be Here Now. RIP Andy Whitfield.

This is not a series for everyone and many people will find a lot in it offensive. They will have good cause. If you are under 16 you should not watch it. Why am i so excited by it then: For the ones that want to see fights, blood, brutality, sex, men looking like gods, blood, erotica, excitement, blood, swearing, allot of skulls being bashed, sweat, savagery, arena fights, honor, friendships intrigues, assassinations, and lets not forget some more blood, this is a show for you.

It is brutal and it is one of the best shows out there. It is not a soup opera and if you are one of those people that got excited by a show like CAPRICA skip this one.

This show makes your hart race. The first episode is the weakest, but by episode 4 which i just saw i am swearing by all the Roman Gods that this is what i was born to watch. It is raw bloody entertainment!

This show is so unique, it is in a category with THE WIRE, thought they have noting in common and their uniqueness lies in completely different places, they are bot light years away of what is being made.

For a low budget with computer graphics, after the first weaker episode, the show becomes so realistic, by episode 4 it has griped me in its razor sharp clutches and the downward spiral of darkness is leaving bloody marks on my soul!

If you like it you will love it, if you don't like it you will hate it.

I watched the whole Spartacus series back when it first came up and now I'm revisiting it. Still, it does stand it's ground. I had no recollection of Jai Courteney being in the series and I don't like him as an actor but as Varro he is just great. All the acting is great, even when it's over the top, it all just fits together so nicely. Yeah, the GCI is a bit funny now and then but after just a few episodes, I really started to enjoy it. This show is sad, exciting and just pure fun to watch. To Andy: you made such an impression on younger me and you still do. You are a legend.

The complete series is an absolute masterpiece. As a former Australia producer I am so proud of the most sincere work not only from the cast but also the crew. Based in New Zealand it brings a complete smorgasbord of the great talents from director, producers, cinematography to a unique editing style and I must impress upon the casting just perfect. To all involved you do yourselves proud and you bring credit to our industry. Job well done!

I started watching this very belatedly in early 2019 while waiting for the final season of Game of Thrones. I figured some swords-and-sandals would fit the bill in the meantime.

For the first two episodes, that's exactly what I got. Nothing special; a lot of gory violence, graphic sex and nudity, and colourful baroque mock-Shakespearean dialogue so over-the-top that I couldn't tell whether the acting was good or not. However, I had seen John Hannah (Batiatus) and Lucy Lawless (Lucretia) in other things before, so I stuck with it.

And damn, did the show hook me quickly after that. Yes, the dialogue is absurd and nobody ever spoke like that, but the actors deliver it with such unrestrained gusto and are clearly having such a blast making the show that you can't help but get swept up in it. Also, the dialogue has the added virtue of being clever and well-written: for example, there's a scene in the final season (don't worry, no spoilers) in which Marcus Crassus is having a discussion with his son Tiberius and a young Julius Caesar. Crassus is speaking to both of them, and they are answering him -- but Crassus is completely oblivious to the fact that Tiberius and Caesar are simultaneously having their own verbal sparring match against each other, while still advancing their three-way discussion. I rewound that scene a few times just to watch it play out.

Gory violence and graphic sex can only sustain a show for so long; fortunately, the characters are beautifully written and developed, and their relationships with each other (romantic or otherwise) are allowed to evolve and progress. By the end of the show I had come to care greatly about the central characters -- and what else could possibly be the mark of well-written characters effectively portrayed?

It's the stuff of TV legend by this point that Andy Whitfield, who gave a virtuoso performance as Spartacus in season one, was diagnosed with cancer shortly after filming wrapped, and that it took his life. The switch to his successor Liam McIntyre took a little bit to get used to, but McIntyre stepped into the unenviable position of taking over from a well-liked and tragically departed predecessor in a central role, and made it his own. No small feat, that.

In closing, if you're not a fan of gory violence, graphic sex and nudity, and casual profanity, this show won't be for you. If you're a "fan" of those things, watch the show, and you'll be surprised by how quickly they take a back seat to the story and the characters. Enjoy!