Spartacus: Blood and Sand [** SPOILERS **]

doccy

Well in Rome, it was Jupiter's C*ck lol

Kiith

Hmm, i'm not sure about this so far. Granted, i've only seen the 1st episode, but it just seems like an over the top, badly acted (in places), Rome. I'm willing to give it a few more episodes though, if only for the sweet women in it.

Richard Dower

It gets better Kilth, ep. 1 was to attract a season pickup...ergo all flash and 300 clone. It gets more story focused from ep. 2 onwards.....but as ws pointed out, does slow down.

The Don

Good episode. A lot of nice action. A few things are developing that will come into play later like Lucretia (Lucy Lawless) becoming pregnant with Crixus's child. Crixus and the slave Naevia getting more intimate. Finding out who sent the slaves to kill Batiatus.

I think that season 1 will focus on Spartacus becoming a really good gladiator. Possible with a rematch with Crixus in the finalle where he wins. He'll find out that Batiatus was lying to him about searching for his wife and stat the slave revolt. The second season will then be the slave revolt and Spartacus searching for his wife.

T-b0n3

Just finished watching the fourth there. Really like it. Looking forward to number 5 at the weekend.

djkeogh

Just watched episode 2 last night and will hopefully catch up with 3 and 4 by the weekend. I have to say this show is ticking my boxes. The language does at times strike me as being a bit off but some of the lines are so great you gotta overlook. It does seem like it will be slow in terms of story progression throughout the series but so far it's one of my favourites.

Richard Dower

By Juipiter's c*ck!....utterly outstanding!, best episode thus far!
that fight sequence was one of the most exciting, as good as ANY big budget movie!
When yer man got up again, wow!....this show just rocks!, it really is quality viewing, it totally deserves a second season!

MikeC101

It's grown on me in the last few episodes.

I still think the excessive slow motion and fake looking blood effects detracts from it a bit - I keep thinking of Mrs Garrison in the South Park 300 parody when it happens, making coffee in ridiculously stylised slow motion. But I'll admit to being impressed with a lot of it. That one of the toughest gladiators is presented as gay (I'm assuming he would have had the option of having a woman if he wanted, as he was fairly high up the food chain) so matter of factly has marked out that it's not just going for the 300 fanboy market. Would like to see the plot moved along a bit faster though.

J-blk

Very cool episode - they were building up to that fight all episode long and it surely delivered in the end. It still moves a bit slowly overall, but I definitely enjoyed this one a lot more than last week's. Though that Theocles guy totally looked like a wraith out of Stargate Atlantis - which was a bit weird...

Vokes

Excellent end to the episode. I actually really like the slow-motion - especially in a fight sequence like this where its 2v1 - it more preferable to shooting it a quick edit / cut -style.

Looks like Spartacus has started the beginnings of his hero-legend now. What with the rain comin and all - very convenient.

Hoping Crixus isn't dead! He's an excellent character.

doccy

I doubt Crixus is dead. Shamed by defeat but not dead. This series gets better each episode.

calex71

doccy wrote: »

I doubt Crixus is dead. Shamed by defeat but not dead. This series gets better each episode.

Agreed, It's the best thing on for me right now. More than one angle to have interest in after ep 5 like the crippled guy not looking happy after losing a packet on his book I'd say. Crixus unlikely dead but pushing his guts back in not good got him.

Richard Dower

It's doing very well in ratings, i think it'll reach 1 million soon!

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/02/22/sparatcus-blood-and-sand-ratings-rebound/42675

The Don

Great episode. Doubt Crixus is dead either. Really liking all the side stories.

J-blk

Episode 6, "Delicate Things" dropped today and wow, just wow - I did not see that ending coming at all, really unexpected and moved things along so much. That kinda deals with all my complaints about the story moving on. Even though this episode had the usual sex & violence, it did so much in terms of story too.

What happened with Barca was pretty heart breaking too and very well done. The show finally has more going for it story wise now. I'm looking forward to seeing where things go from here.

Leucifer

J-blk wrote: »

Episode 6, "Delicate Things" dropped today and wow, just wow - I did not see that ending coming at all, really unexpected and moved things along so much. That kinda deals with all my complaints about the story moving on. Even though this episode had the usual sex & violence, it did so much in terms of story too.

What happened with Barca was pretty heart breaking too and very well done. The show finally has more going for it story wise now. I'm looking forward to seeing where things go from here.

I found the ending heartbreaking, the music added some effect as he opened the back of the cart. Have to say it's the first scene in a long time from any show/movie I've watched that genuinely got me depressed

I hope Batiatus gets whats coming to him :mad:

tvnutz

I havn't had time to rewatch the episode,but did Dominus have Spartacus' wife killed,and that was him reuniting them as he promised,but he never said alive.

Basq

Must give this a watch over the weekend.. sounds promising, although I downright hated '300'!

Leucifer

tvnutz wrote: »

I havn't had time to rewatch the episode,but did Dominus have Spartacus' wife killed,and that was him reuniting them as he promised,but he never said alive.

Yep, he did. Notice how he smirks at his wife when he says "My word is kept, they are re-united" then her reaction.

J-blk

basquille wrote: »

Must give this a watch over the weekend.. sounds promising, although I downright hated '300'!

You should probably watch up to episode 6 though... Up to that point, things don't progress too much story-wise though things do slowly work up to where we are now. I was thinking it was going to be a really generic story up to the end of the season at least, but the latest episode surprised me.

doccy

basquille wrote: »

Must give this a watch over the weekend.. sounds promising, although I downright hated '300'!

When I started watching this show, I kind of had it on in the background especially the first episode. By the third show I was suprised, by the sixth I'm hooked. This is a great show as shown in the ratings.
I loved Rome and Spartacus sure ain't Rome but in fairness, it's growing episode by episode into something unique. Visually it resembles 300 but the comparison ends there. I suspect a lot of people are suprised by the quality of the storyline and acting.

JohnK

If I'd to wait a week between all episodes so far to be honest I probably wouldnt have stuck with it but after watching it all in one sitting it grew on me so I'll keep watching. As said by others its no Rome but this does have its moments.

doccy

In fairness Rome and Spartacus are like chalk and cheese. I will always be grateful that a strange insanity overtook a cable network to spend so much money on a classy show like Rome.
For the record though, I'm not elitist- Spartacus and Rome share a similar ahem.. historical accuracy

MikeC101

doccy wrote: »

In fairness Rome and Spartacus are like chalk and cheese. I will always be grateful that a strange insanity overtook a cable network to spend so much money on a classy show like Rome.
For the record though, I'm not elitist- Spartacus and Rome share a similar ahem.. historical accuracy

I think Rome was pretty good on historical accuracy, insofar as any film or tv series could be. It felt, for the most part, well researched, and when it did deviate from history, it was usually done to retain plot coherence rather than because they didn't bother with research.

Some of it (mostly related to Cleopatra and the Alexandria set parts - budgetary constraints? Might have run to $100 million otherwise!) wasn't up to the level of the rest certainly, but the build up to, and politics of, the civil war was excellent. Couple of things looked off about the soldiers armour, but still costuming was very good.

In regards to totally altering many of the characters (Atia for example), or their relationships, in fairness that's probably hard to avoid when trying to make a TV series that people will watch. Still, you'd be hard pressed to find a tv series or movie about Rome that was more accurate (I, Claudius perhaps? I've only seen one episode), it'd be easier to find one that was less though.

As the makers said, they went for an authentic feel rather than complete accuracy.

Richard Dower

Told you it would break a million!: http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/03/02/spartacus-blood-and-sand-ratings-update-final-tally-of-26-over-previous-record-1-08m-viewers-at-10pm-2-4m-for-the-weekend/43623

Massive success for Starz.

The Don

Great episode. Lots of Roman maneuvering and backstabbing. Was not expecting Sura to be dead at the end. It was a shame about Barca too. The cripple Ashur has proven himself to be a ruthless snake and hopefully will get whats coming to him.

Doctore wil have something to say to Spartacus in the next episode. He knows that Spartacus was trying something.

doccy

MikeC101 wrote: »

I think Rome was pretty good on historical accuracy, insofar as any film or tv series could be. It felt, for the most part, well researched, and when it did deviate from history, it was usually done to retain plot coherence rather than because they didn't bother with research.

Some of it (mostly related to Cleopatra and the Alexandria set parts - budgetary constraints? Might have run to $100 million otherwise!) wasn't up to the level of the rest certainly, but the build up to, and politics of, the civil war was excellent. Couple of things looked off about the soldiers armour, but still costuming was very good.

In regards to totally altering many of the characters (Atia for example), or their relationships, in fairness that's probably hard to avoid when trying to make a TV series that people will watch. Still, you'd be hard pressed to find a tv series or movie about Rome that was more accurate (I, Claudius perhaps? I've only seen one episode), it'd be easier to find one that was less though.

As the makers said, they went for an authentic feel rather than complete accuracy.

You are right of course, television is a medium and I certainly wasn't criticising Rome. The sheer cast of characters of the time couldn't be coherently captured nor could the true depths of the politics or the reasons why Caesar was such a threat to republican Rome.
Similary with Spartacus historical accuracy is difficult. For example it would be hard to explain a Thracians understanding of the tactics of the Roman war machine. Then again I better not waffle and give away storylines- Spartacus is back for a second series

Richard Dower

BREAKING NEWS!! --> ep. 8 and 9 are out!....DVD screener!

:-)

(ep. 7 was broadcast Friday by Starz)

J-blk

Hmmm, must resist urge to watch... I'd like to wait for the HD "proper" episodes instead... Plus, watching these would mean it'd be three weeks until I get to watch another new episode...

Enjoyed the latest episode too, not as awesome as the last one of course, but there are already seeds for the impending sh*t storm there...

Doctore and Crixus are almost certainly going to find out the truth about Barca soon. I imagine Spartacus will also find out and that will lead him to become suspicious of Batiatus as well... The coach driver was left alive too and that could come back to bite Batiatus down the line.

JohnK

A bit off topic, but I wonder if the success of Spartacus could help make the Rome movie a reality? It'd be great to see it back http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2010/03/04/hbo-rome-movie/