Spartacus: Blood and Sand on Netflix

[Brigz]

For those of you who subscribe to Netflix, the first episode of "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" is available for Instant Viewing. I'm pretty sure this is just to entice people to subscribe to Starz but who knows, maybe Netflix will offer more episodes for Instant Viewing.

[Jeffrey H.]

Kewl...checking it out.

[leastonh1]

Saw the trailer. Drooled a bit. It's filmed in the same style as 300 (awesome, awesome movie!) and looks to contain lots of sex and violence, set in gladatorial Rome. Can't wait to watch it. [:)]

[Hanal]

Watched it last night on Starz...Nice flesh and blood scenes but as with many series, one needs to reserve judgement until the story develops....

[leastonh1]

ORIGINAL: J P Falcon
Watched it last night on Starz...Nice flesh and blood scenes but as with many series, one needs to reserve judgement until the story develops....

I watched it earlier this evening on Starz too. It's an interesting start and I agree with you. This one has lots of potential to be a great series and I only hope they follow through. The first episode was well worth a watch.

[Southernland]

trouble is it was filmed (partially at least) here in New Zealand and some of the actors are off our mainstay local (read: lowest common denominator) soap so it'll be a little hard to take seriously

[Brigz]

ORIGINAL: Southern_land

trouble is it was filmed (partially at least) here in New Zealand and some of the actors are off our mainstay local (read: lowest common denominator) soap so it'll be a little hard to take seriously

Just got though watching the first episode. I agree, the acting wasn't the best, but I enjoyed it. Definately mature escapism. Looking forward to seeing the rest.

[jackx]

Should've been labelled: Spartacus: Blood and TnA

That said, it has the same problem as 300, IMHO - way too much flash, and not visceral enough. It's basically not stylized violence, but stylized non-violence/dancing and twirling with random appearances of blood and gore, that magically appear after people swing their weapons to miss.
Surely if you spent the $$$ to drench your CGI scenery in CGI blood you could've spent the bit extra to use CGI weapons too, so that people could swing with intent without risking injury.

Hopefully it has a decent plot, because the above-mentioned "cool" action gets old very quickly.

[ilovestrategy]

I have a hard time watching anything with Spartacus or Hannibal. I'm such a Roman fan boy I hate seeing my homies get their posteriors handed to them! [:D]

Well, the Romans win out in the end with both malcontents(that's a really mild way of describing them! [X(] ) but you know what I mean!

[Brigz]

Watched the second episode. It is pretty much made for TV fare as far as the acting and story go. Doesn't hold a candle to "I, Claudius" or "Rome". The story line seems more fantasy than history. It's holding my interest though. I'm going to keep watching mainly to see how the revolt is handled. Hopefully that will be more historical. Not a great series but I'm a sucker for anything with an ancient theme.

[Brigz]

I just watched episode five of this. It's holding my interest. Anyone else still watching it?

[jackx]

Still watching, not too sure why. Somehow the predictable story has managed to hold my interest, and the action scenes have actually gotten better compared to the tedious twirling and waving about of swords of the first episode.
Clearly a fantasy series though, "vaguely inspired by media depictions of historical events"...
I guess it's my soft spot for Sword&Sorcery that's making me stick with this.

[Phatguy]

It has Lucy Lawless...me likey[/align]

[Hanal]

So, with the series more than half way over, I have to say that I have been enjoying it! The story is keeping my interest and I have liked that the characters have not always responded and changed in cliched hollywood fashion. On the good news bad news front, the good news is that if you like the show, it has been renewed for another season. The unfortunate bad news is that the actor playing Spartacus, Andy Whitfield has been diagnosed with cancer and will be undergoing treatment, so obviously filming of the second season has been postponed.

[Brigz]

I'm still watching and enjoying it. Just watched the eighth epidsode. Even though it is basically a "soap opera" base on the Spartacus saga, it is entertaining. They are developing the characters well, and plenty of plot lines to balance out the sex and violence. They even seem to be cutting back on the sex and violence a bit. It's getting more and more that I eagerly wait for the next chapter.

That is a bummer about the lead actor having cancer. They say it is early detetion. However, it's too bad the second season will be postponed while he undergoes treatment.

Watching this series and playing Slitherines's 'Field of Glory' game has gotten me interested in ancient fiction novels. I just read the first book in Conn Iggulden's historical/fiction "Emperor" series about Julius Caesar. It's got me hooked. Just started the second book.

[Southernland]

yeah I think it's improving as it goes.  i wasn't expecting (Spoiler)... the wife to die so early.  i thought she's be held onto as bait. Spoiler ends