Spartacus: Starz's four season Extravaganza!

[trek737]

My wife and I finished this series a few weeks ago and loved it. Based on a true story of a Thracian warrior in 77 BC who was enslaved by the Romans and fought in the arena as a gladiator.

The story captured here by Steven S DeKnight is based on facts, but he fully admits to taking some liberties with the details.

If you are turned off by a lot of sex and violence and have a weak stomach for such matter, then this may not be your cup of tea.

But this is one well written script, and the story line is fascinating. The words the actors delivered were creatively composed by the writers and to the point captivating.

Stacie and I could not get enough of this show. We were disappointed when we finally finished season 4 and that there was no more Spartacus to watch.

I highly recommend this series as it is not only entertaining, but gives us a rare glimpse of what it was like to live in Roman times...



[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHxn8mTpAJU[/ame]

[trek737]

Facts on the true story of Spartacus:

Spoil Alert: The movie does follow the below summary of the true story listed below...


"Spartacus (died 71 B.C.) was a Thracian gladiator who led a slave war in Italy against the Romans. He plundered most of Italy before being defeated and killed in a pitched battle.

It is not known how Spartacus became a gladiator. He is said to have fought either with or against the Romans. Eventually he found himself in the gladiator school of Gnaeus Lentulus Batiatus at Capua. From there in 73 B.C. some 70 gladiators escaped and fled to Mt. Vesuvius, where they were joined by slaves and farm workers from the countryside. Spartacus with the help of two Celts, Crixus and Oenomaos, led them, forging the motley group into a first-class fighting force.

Roman response to the uprising was at first slow and inadequate. Spartacus defeated local levies led by a propraetor and a praetor in three sharp engagements. The slaves then broke out of Campania and raided all of southern Italy, eventually establishing winter quarters at Thurii and Metapontum in Lucania. There their forces grew to 70,000 men.

In 72 the Senate assigned both consuls and four legions to the war against the slaves. After a minor engagement at Mt. Garganos in which Crixus was killed, Spartacus defeated the two consuls in separate battles in central Italy. At this point he attempted to lead the slaves north to freedom beyond the Alps. But after they defeated the governor of Cisalpine Gaul at Mutina (Modena), they elected to turn back to Italy to plunder and enrich themselves. Spartacus not only threatened Rome itself but again defeated both consuls in a major battle in Picenum. The Romans no longer dared face him in the field. He then returned to southern Italy and again made Thurii his headquarters.

In the autumn of 72 the Senate transferred the command against the slaves to Marcus Licinius Crassus, who held no public office at the time. He recruited six additional legions and took up a protective position in south-central Italy. After an initial defeat Crassus won a victory over a contingent of the slaves. That winter he built a wall and ditch across the toe of Italy to contain Spartacus, whose attempts to escape to Sicily with his army failed.

Early in the spring of 71 Spartacus broke through Crassus' lines but suffered two defeats at his hands in Lucania. He then retired again to Bruttium (Calabria), where he defeated two of Crassus' lieutenants who were following him. Encouraged, Spartacus's men persuaded him to risk a major battle with Crassus. In it Spartacus and 60,000 of his men fell. Spartacus's body was never found. Stragglers from the massacre were caught in Etruria by Pompey, summoned by the people from Spain to help end the war. In a final act of cruelty Crassus crucified 6,000 prisoners along the Via Appia from Capua to Rome.

Although Spartacus has been justly lauded as a bold leader, the slave war was not a revolt of the lower classes against the bourgeois leadership of Rome. Spartacus got almost no support from the Italian population, which remained loyal to Rome. Nonetheless, Spartacus has been idolized by revolutionaries since the 18th century. From 1916 to 1919 the German Socialists styled themselves "Spartacists" when they tried to foment a proletarian revolution after World War I. Spartacus's stout resistance against the Romans has been a popular theme among poets and novelists, for example, Arthur Koestler in The Gladiators (1939) and Howard Fast in Spartacus (1951)."

[trek737]

Spartacus TV series summary:


"Spartacus is an American historical epic series created by Steven S. DeKnight, who served as an executive producer alongside Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert. The series tells the story of a Thracian warrior who leads a rebellion against the Roman Republic. Initially the warrior, whose name is not given, agrees to fight alongside the Roman army to help defeat barbarians from a rival tribe, but he returns home to defend his village when a Roman general decides to abandon the warrior's village and ignore the barbarians to pursue glory elsewhere. Captured by the Romans as a deserter, his wife forced into slavery, the warrior is taken to Capua to be put to death by gladiators before the public. Here the warrior proves his worth as a fighter and is sent to the House of Batiatus to be trained as a gladiator, earning the name Spartacus (Batiatus names him after a 'legendary Thracian king').The series premiered on the Starz Network on January 22, 2010 and aired its final episode on April 12. 2013.

For the first season, the role of Spartacus was played by Andy Whitfield, who was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma at the completion of the first season. Although in June 2010 Whitfield was reported to be healthy and cancer free, in September his cancer returned and he died on 11 September 2011. Australian actor Liam McIntyre took over the role of Spartacus from Season 2.

A total of 33 episodes of Spartacus were broadcast over three seasons. A six-part prequel miniseries entitled Spartacus: Gods of the Arena was also broadcast between Seasons 1 and 2."

On a personal note Andy Whitfield did an amazing job playing Spartacus and will be sorely missed by many...

The producers did a great job in finding Liam McIntyre to fill in as Spartacus in Season 2 and 3.


Series overview:

Season 1: Blood and Sand (2010)
Prequel Season: Gods of the Arena (2011)
Season 2: Vengeance (2012)
Season 3: War of the Damned (2013)

[Diapason]

My wife and I absolutely loved this when it was on, and could barely wait the week between episodes. My wife still considers it her favourite TV series ever, ranking it even above Breaking Bad. It should be said, though, that the first 3 or so episodes are DIRE! If you're watching it thinking "those guys are crazy", just give it time...

[trek737]

Originally Posted by Diapason

My wife and I absolutely loved this when it was on, and could barely wait the week between episodes. My wife still considers it her favourite TV series ever, ranking it even above Breaking Bad. It should be said, though, that the first 3 or so episodes are DIRE! If you're watching it thinking "those guys are crazy", just give it time...

Well glad to hear someone here has seen it and liked it as much as we did!