Spartacus: Blood & Sand: Series 1: 4dvd: Box Set

I watched this series with great reluctance, having been urged to do so by my 20 year old son. Episode 1 actually does it a disservice, being overly influenced by 300.Gratuitous, slo-mo violence and gore and a stunning palette of colours. I declined to watch it again.
However.
As luck would have it, I walked into the room when episode 5 was on weeks later. Mocked, sat for a few mintues intending to depart. And was hooked. By the incredible dialogue, brilliant acting and excellent casting. I have watched every episode since. Last night, I saw the finale- we were actually clutching each other and shouting at the tv at times.

I would URGE people to see 'Spartacus: Blood and Sand'. Take a deep breath as regards the violence and nudity. Because plot,dialogue and character-wise? This was redolent of the best of the Royal Shakespeare Company, or the National Theatre.

John Hannah- an actor I have never rated- was magnificent as Battiatus, the owner of the Ludus (gladiator camp).Cunning, ambitious,humourous, vicious. Villainous, yet at times getting the audience's sympathy.Lucy Lawless was a revelation as his wife, Lucretia. I loved her in Xena, but would have pegged her as a light comedy actress. But here? She showed a range and power that made me long for some theatre producer to grab both her and Hannah and get them to do 'MacBeth'.Yes, Lucy Lawless would make a phenomenal Lady Macbeth, based on her performance over this series.

Lawless and Hannah are playing complex,three dimensional characters. As are the rest of the cast. Ordinarily, in a show like this,you get a great lead character, then one or two good ones and the supporting characters are two dimensional. Not here. The writers-led by Stephen deKnight, fleshed out a good 15-20 characters. The casting directors then did an incredible job in finding the actors to portray them. Characters like Crixus, Barca, Varro, Ithylia, Doctore, Solonius, Naevia,Ashur, Mira, and of course Spartcus (Andy Whitfield) make this a powerful ensemble.

Experienced character actors who usually dont get to have the story focussed on them, took the opportunity and ran with it. The level of talent is on par with HBO's 'Rome', and at times exceeds it.I grew up on 'I,Claudius' and would have said there would never be a series about historical events in ancient Rome that could match it.

Wrong.
'Spartacus:Blood and Sand' is 'I,Claudius' on steroids. Its 'Rome' on crack. Watching it as a viewer became addictive.

If the main actors are not nominated for Emmys,it will be a travesty. If I hear an episode got a Peabody Award, I would not be surprised.

I can only await with impatience, whilst they make the prequel that is in the pipeline, pending the lead actor's treatment for Hodgkins lymphoma. (Wishing him all the best).Definately I'm ordering the DVD!

There's been precious little in the way of quality new TV recently. One reviewer mentions Tru Blood, but in my opinion, that promised a lot, yet didn't deliver. That's something this show could never be accused of. Because not since Battle Star Galactica has there been a show on TV this good. I am of course talking about the new series of Battle Star - but in actual fact - that last statement might be true even if I were talking about the original 70's series: Blood & Sand my friends, is that good!

I eyed Spartacus with anticipation long before it came on TV. I'd read about it in a 'lads mag' I picked up for a long distance train journey, and being a fan of films like this - of films like 300, Sword & Sorcery flicks, Viking Films, and the like - it looked right up my street. The screen shots looked amazing and the write up it got said it was packed with blood & guts, gore, graphic fight scenes and beautiful naked women... awesome! Of course magazines aren't always that accurate in reporting these things, and I don't really consider myself the 'lads mag' target audience, so I didn't get my hopes up too high.

Anyway, 6 or so months later, and after seeing it advertised on Bravo for weeks - the first episode arrived... by this time I'd told my flat mate all about it and we were both looking forward to it, got the beers in, and sat down in anticipation; hoping this new series would be as good as I'd read. And boy, was it... From the word go, from the very first episode, it was amazing.

It had it all. Just as promised. Sword fights, hot chicks, nudity, and to top it all off - a great look. The story set off at a fast pace and by the end of the first episode it was well underway. And what followed each week was an hourly delight that stuck to a stunningly simple - yet very effective - formula. Each episode fed you intrigue, suspense, beautiful women, sex, breasts and cliff-hangers - before rounding it all off with a good old bit of mindless violence. Delivered, of course, in a spectacularly over the top gladiatorial showdown. And I must say, it's a formula that works.

But that makes this series sound shallow. And that's far from the truth. You see (and here's why I drew parallels with, or at least mentioned, at the start of this review, the new Battle Star series), the main crux of this series, at least so far it seems (and in true Roman style), is politics. Politics within the gladiator school - both between the gladiators and within its higher echelons. Politics within the Senate. Politics between women and their lovers. Politics between - well - the politicians, and politics between senators and families, between slaves and so on and so forth. And it made for a great story line as people constantly plan, plot, scheme and generally double cross each other as they jostle for position. Or in some cases just to stay alive.

The whole series - visually - was a joy to watch too. The whole thing looked great; with both costumes and sets, convincing and beautiful. And as I briefly touched on before, the use - or rather over use - of CGI added to the whole stylised look of the show. To say it borrowed from 300 would be an understatement. And the CGI blood, guts and gore, well, the show revelled in it; with droplets of blood - nay - fountains of the stuff, splattering the camera lens after each beheading or disembowelment.

The gladiators were cool too. A hobby of mine is fighting - or rather martial arts- and I train 3 or 4 times a week in various systems. I can tell you the brawls were well rehearsed and convincing, with no one looking ill at ease when they threw down and let slip the dogs of war (listen to me! just writing about this stuff I'm slipping into Spartacus mode, as it brings it all back!!!), and the story and fights threw up more than one or two surprises, with main characters being killed off; falling in spectacular style in the arena and leaving you thinking: 'What the?... But he can't die!'.

As a working writer myself, the dialogue too I found a delight. I really enjoyed the language and phrasing with, much to my embarrassment, one of two of their exclamations finding their way into my everyday vernacular (Jupiter's co*k!!!). There were such gems as things like: "By the gods! The nerve of the man! He greets with one hand only to part cheek with the other, and thrust his... into my....", well, you get the idea. I shan't elaborate for fear of sending Amazons' review filters into melt-down.

After the first episode I read one or two reviews of it in papers - The Times and the Guardian I think - and they kind of sniffed at it a bit. But, reading between the lines, you could tell that the reviewers had enjoyed it just as much as anyone else, even if their superior stance wouldn't let them admit it; you could just tell. It's a shame they didn't dare give the show the praise it deserved then, but that might have changed now the show's progressed. And I hope so, because Blood & Sand honestly deserves it.

Spartacus himself makes a very likeable character. And the guy who plays him is very watchable and I'm going to miss my Tuesday-nights-in now; Tuesday, until this came along, seemed to be particularly void of anything to watch on TV - and the faster the next season arrives the better!!! Now all we have to do is pray it doesn't get pulled.

And also pray for the lead character - Andy Whitfield - who has fallen ill with cancer. So ill in fact, that the second season has been put on hold, and they've had to write a prequel to the series, which comes out in the new year. Fingers crossed guys. Fingers crossed.

I'll be buying this Blu Ray the moment it's out and it'll positively shine on the format. It's the type of series made for High-Def. The CGI and warm colours will look amazing, I just know it! And it'll be nice to get rid of the silly Bravo logo that got in the way of the flying droplets of blood and the odd nipple on TV.

Every episode of series 1 was amazing and the final episode was simply off the hook! I won't spoil it for you. Just buy Spartacus now and find out what happens for yourself. So if you're thinking about pre-ordering this, I say go for it! It's man TV at it's finest! Spartacus... Gladiators... I salute you.

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At first I was sceptical of having a television series based on the life of the infamous Spartacus - after all the film is such a classic!

However, it works!

With special effects akin to those of 300, high quality acting and a cliff hanger to every episode, you really get drawn into all the subplots of the other characters as well as the Spartacus ones.

Set mostly in the training camp, you see the 'behind the scenes' of a gladiator's life.

Although VERY gory and with lots of nudity, it is not a plotless spectacle. If you enjoyed the TV series Rome and films such as 300, you will love this.

It also shows another side to the infamous Lucy Lawless (Xena Warrior Princess), she is a very good actress!