Spartacus: Blood and Sand

Joshua Stubbles · Jan 2010

Saw a preview for this today on Starz, figure I'll watch the 1st eps on Friday to see if it's any good.

Can't help but complain about the blatant "borrowing" of 300's art style, though. The camera work, postFX coloration and slow mo are all a bit too similar for my tastes. Where's the creativity these days? Starz is no HBO, that's for sure.

http://www.starz.com/originals/spartacus/SpartacusBloodAndSand_101

PixelMasher · Jan 2010

I watched part of the 1st episode online. I thought it was gonna be awesome but it seems like a really low budget 300. every 10 seconds there is a random slow mo shot which pisses me off, just because its such a blatant 300 ripoff.

Ill watch the 2nd episode and hopefully it was just a low budget pilot and the rest are good. its already been renewed for a second season eh.

oXYnary · Jan 2010

300?

Dude. That was greek. This is Roman gladiators. If anything when I saw the preview, I was thinking Gladiator rehash.

Worse, taking a classic like Spartacus with Kirk Douglass and shitting out a TV series.

And here you go. The original Spartacus.. on Hulu. Accept no substitutions.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/104106/spartacus

Josh_Singh · Jan 2010

yeah but the costumes look really badass.

Target_Renegade · Jan 2010

Spartacus was from Thrace, was near/part of Greece, he was a slave. Not sure what the series is intending though. Looks ok, might be worth a watch. It looks like the movie Gladiator but in a series.

Joshua Stubbles · Jan 2010

oXYnary wrote: »

300? Dude. That was greek

Vassago wrote: »

300's art style

Wasn't saying it was Greek, just saying they completely ripped the visual style of 300. The original Spartacus movie is a classic, just like Clash of the Titans. nothing can really replace them

@Pixel - that's disappointing. I didn't know the 1st eps was online though, I'll have to check that out. Hopefully they'll ease up on the obligatory slo-mo shots.

eld · Jan 2010

I see they pulled a borderlands on this one

Steve Schulze · Jan 2010

Worse, taking a classic like Spartacus with Kirk Douglass and shitting out a TV series.

I liked the cartoon from the 80s better. I bet this one doesn't have space ships.

Grimm_Wrecking · Jan 2010

I liked the cartoon from the 80s better. I bet this one doesn't have space ships.

Doubt there's spaceships but apparently there's enough nudity and sexual encounters in the season to have some people label it as soft core porn...

Thegodzero · Jan 2010

I like! Rome has been over for a few years. I was wondering when they were going to do the next Rome like show! There better be just as much tits and blood.

Joshua Stubbles · Jan 2010

Dude, Rome was badass! I loved it, but was sad they only did 2 seasons

There was a lot of interesting shit that took place even after Augustus' rule.

roosterMAP · Jan 2010

there's like 4 sex scenes per episode. WTF? Im watching it for gladiators. not soft core porn! I mean, one scene is entertaining, but 4? that too much. Still, some parts remind me of "300."

vcool · Jan 2010

roosterMAP wrote: »

there's like 4 sex scenes per episode. WTF? Im watching it for gladiators. not soft core porn! I mean, one scene is entertaining, but 4? that too much. Still, some parts remind me of "300."

Probably in those times, without internet and all, sex is what you do when bored.

LoTekK · Jan 2010

Caught the trailer for this just now, and I've gotta echo the 300 (with a dash of Gladiator) sentiments. Pretty shameless, too. That said, it looks like it could be fun; I'll probably give it a shot.

ebagg · Jan 2010

Personally I view the obvious 300 art style nod as a GOOD THING. Hopefully it kicks all kinds of ass!

LoTekK · Jan 2010

ebagg wrote: »

Personally I view the obvious 300 art style nod as a GOOD THING. Hopefully it kicks all kinds of ass!

Well to be fair, it's less a nod, and more of a wink-at-Gladiator-while-humping-300's-leg. :P

[edit]
Just finished the first ep, and it's kinna fun, if not incredibly juvenile. It's like the director basically said "ok, I want 300, mixed with a bit of Gladiator, but we need more EDGY! Everyone's gotta say FUCK and CUNT all the time, and we need more blood, and MOAR TITS!"

Thegodzero · Jan 2010

^
"Just finished the first ep, and it's kinna fun, if not incredibly juvenile. It's like the director basically said "ok, I want 300, mixed with a bit of Gladiator, and a whole lot of Rome! Because everyone loves blood, and MOAR TITS!"

FIXED!

ebagg · Jan 2010

BTW dunno if anyone mentioned this but since it's a Starz show and Starz is partnered with Netflix, looks like the show will be on instant play! SOWEET!

Malus · Jan 2010

Just watched it...soo bad it's good lol.

- 300 'inspired' <cough> art direction
- Reminds me a lot of Rome as well
- boobies and va jay jay everywhere!!! weeeeeee......
- Xena!!!

LoTekK · Jan 2010

Malus, don't forget the deluge of period-inaccurate swearing (fuck? cunt? really?

)

Josh_Singh · Jan 2010

Like many of you have said, it was pretty bad but it was entertaining. I LOVED Rome. This is pretty damn cheesy, almost if Hercules and Xena where to be remade it would have these production values. Did anyone catch that Sam Raimi is an Exec Producer? Kind of explains the tone for me.

LoTekK · Feb 2010

Anyone still watching this? It's such an oddly-mixed bag of stuff. On the one hand, it looks like they have at least a plan for the plot and characters. On the other, the dialogue is sooo bad. I mean, some of the dialogue makes Uwe Bolle look like a genius.

skylebones · Feb 2010

yeah it's terrible. But I can't stop watching it. Something about it lures me in, and it's not the boobs or hoohahs!

ok, maybe a little.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand

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