Spartacus: Blood and Sand: Season 1

This show is powerful, sexy, bloody, coniving, violent... It really touches on all the things you know and love about Rome at it's height and the gladitorium is a glorious story to be told. It takes a view of a famous gladiator named Spartacus in the ring as his real name was never recovered by historians. YES... this is about a REAL gladiator that existed in Roman times. Now hollywood ofcourse takes liberty to make a more interesting story but this show excites it's viewers with each and every episode. My only gripe is that the blood is done through CGI and looks so disgustingly fake you can't help but laugh. That's it though... that's the only bad thing... everything else is FANTASTIC and keeps you engaged as the story gets more and more interesting. Be aware that the main actor of "Spartacus" died during production so after the first few seasons another actor took the role. (just like Dumbledore from harry potter) Great show just don't let your kids watch it... it's not game of thrones level but it's up there.

I love the tales of Spartans in the Greek and Roman era; even the pit fights they had with their slaves from battles or just their indentured servants. Season 1 of Spartacus starts off strong and tells a great tale of the legend of Spartacus, rather rebirth of Spartacus. Its like a combination of Frank Millers 300 and Game of Thrones. Brutal, deception, treason, love, etc. Worth watching

Great plot. Original Spartacus was excellent RIP.

If you are expecting this Starz original series to be similar to the1960 Academy Award-winning version with Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtisthen you've got another thing coming! (-: That was general audiencesmaterial there!---Made in more gentile and conservative times.This version is probably closer to actually how things might have beenback in ancient times....brutal savage fight scenes with lots ofblood and gore, the wildness, heathen decadence, and bloodlust of the ancientRoman fans gathered at the colosseum to witness the battle of the fittest andthe drama of life & death played out right in front of their eyes!If that wasn't enough, then what goes on behind the scenes in the household ofthe very pragmatic and manipulative "domino" and "domina", who rule over a largemenagerie of slaves of all types, but mainly those trained as gladiators for profitis something to rival the most tawdry of modern antics!There's plenty of drama, lies, backstabbing, lustfulness, full-on nudityand sexuality which spans the whole spectrum of human interaction!Oh yeah, and more blood, guts and gore added in to round it out! (-:But beneath all of this sensuality and sensationalism is a very well-filmed,well-acted, well-written, well-produced, well-casted, and well-marketedoriginal series for the Starz network which rivals anything you might seeon HBO or Showtime. I repeat, this isn't for everyone...so if you have objections to anything I named above, then you probablywon't like this series. After screening this, THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON,over the past weekend, I must say that I enjoyed it immensely, even thoughI don't subscribe to STARZ.If it reminds you a bit stylistically of the blockbuster film "300",then it's because their producers are one in the same.It's too bad that the star of the show who plays Spartacus,british actor Andy Whitfield, a beautiful male specimen among many inthe series, fell victim to non-hodgkins lymphoma while on hiatus afterthe first season was completed. He was treated with a series of chemo andradiation over a few months and was cleared to return to work for season two,but sadly the cancer has returned and he is unable to resume the roleas of the present time. Now the powers that be at Starz are trying tofigure out what their next move will be. I hope Mr. Whitfield will make a fullrecovery and this series can at least go for another two seasons beforeclosing itself out. I mean, we all know the story of Spartacus and how it ends.But I'd love to see how this crew would play it all out.**In Memoriam** I was so sad to hear that Andy Whitfield, the original Spartacus in this series,passed away last week after battling Non-Hodgkins lymphoma for 18 months. He was just beginning to be knownas an actor when Spartacus came along and catapulted his career...then the cancer reared it's ugly head.He was only 39 yrs old...so sad and such a waste, but who are we to question the divine order of the universe?R.I.P. To the late Andy Whitfield (1972-2011)

As the title of my review implies, Spartacus: Blood and Sand is one of the best original series that I have seen in years, something that for the first time in quite awhile I really got into and was captivated by. Before I get into the review, I will throw out a caution - if you're really turned off by lots of graphic violence, nudity and strong sexual content then this is NOT for you as there is quite a lot of that content. That being said, fortunately that is not all there is to the series and even that aspect is blended very artsitically into the series as a whole.The series follows a man who's true name we do not know but to whom his colleagues and commanders refer to as Spartacus after a Threcian king that apparently conquered a large amount of enemies with a small force. This name is bestowed upon him after his first showing in a Gladiator colliseum after he defeats a number of trained gladiators single handedly. The character Spartacus begins as a Threcian warrior who agrees to join forces with the main Roman army to fight back enemy forces near his territory. Unfortunately for him, his goals in protecting his family and kinsmen do not meet with the goals of the Roman commander and he comes to be an outlaw captured and sent to the gladiator arena to die. Obviously he does not die so easily or else there wouldn't be much of a series.Some might compare this beginning of the plot to the movie Gladiator and I will say that it is somewhat similar; but with enough dissimilarity to adaquetly distinguish itself from what I felt was a very sub-par movie. The trials and tribulations of Spartacus working his way up through the gladiator ranks is protrayed beautifully in this epic saga as Spartacus makes friends and enemies among his fellow gladiators. The roles of the gladiators and the ruler of the gladiator house that Spartacus is bound to, Batiatus, are masterfully played by the actors that were selected and Spartacus himself is a very likeable character that one can relate to well. All the time that he is in the gladiator house, he is searching for a way to reunite with his family, which was taken from him by the Romans. At the same time, he begins to lose himself in the glory of being a gladiator and has to decide what is more important to him, friendship and family, or glory, fame and honor. Overall, it is just a very gripping series and I truly hope that the actor Andy Whitfield will be able to return from his battle with cancer to make a 2nd season and beyond.Also on a side note, I once again have to commend Amazon on their incredibly quick shipping. I ordered this on a Monday with super saver shipping and received the blu-ray set on the following Thursday...3 days, amazing!If you haven't seen this and don't mind the violence and sexual content, please do yourself a favor and watch.