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LTTP: Spartacus (The TV Series)

Fevaweva

Fevaweva

Member
Oct 30, 2017
6,487
So I marathoned the last 4 episodes of Spartacus yesterday.

Holy shit.

Holy fucking shit.

What an amazing show. Yes, it isn't particularly deep or complex when compared to say Breaking Bad or The Wire and loves a bit of soapy melodrama on the occasion but what it lacked in those regards it excelled in action, sex scenes and the characters. And what characters. The show starts out fairly rote "Romans BAD; Gladiators GOOD" but then gradually adds shades of grey to everyone, even Spartacus (especially in the final series) until they are fully fleshed out in their own distinct ways. Even irredeemable shitbags like Batiatus or Crassus had good parts about their characters, or at least they weren't just evil for the sake of being evil.

I could gush on and on about this show to be honest. I was expecting some campy brain-dead nonsense but was left an emotional wreck at the end as I watched everyone die because I cared so much about the characters.

Has anyone else watched this show?
 
Grunty

Grunty

Member
Oct 28, 2017
7,348
Gruntilda’s Lair
Yep. Watched it all a few years ago. The most memorable scenes are in the last episode of Season one imo. The conversation between Spartacus and Crixius "In another life, you and I would have been as brothers. But not this one."

And then when they're fighting and Spartacus finally convinces Crixius that he had been poisened, it happens... The shield tap and the chaos that ensues after. I will never forget that scene.
 
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OP
Fevaweva

Fevaweva

Member
Oct 30, 2017
6,487
BubbaMc said:
I've only seen the first season, and loved it.

How does the rest compare?
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It turns into something a bit different but still good. I was worried it might lose momentum (and does for a couple of episodes in the 2nd series) because of their being no Batiatus to ham it up. But it still remains a high quality show. Plus the prequel season introduces one of the best characters in the show, Gannicus.

Salty_Josh said:
JUPITER'S COCK
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The swearing is absolutely fantastic, second only to Deadwood's.
 
Orange Piccolo

Orange Piccolo

Member
Feb 1, 2018
4,914
Texas
It's honestly my favorite live action show. I'm not usually one to cry, but that show hit me right in the feels in the last episode. Andy's death devastated me immensely, but his replacement actor did such an amazing job.
 
TheRed

TheRed

Member
Oct 31, 2017
2,658
So good. I had the same reaction to at first thinking it was boring Romans Bad, Gladiators good stuff only with shallow characters. But I was so wrong the characters ended up being my favorite thing about this show. They're really good.
RIP to the Season 1 Spartacus actor. He was fantastic.
 
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OP
Fevaweva

Fevaweva

Member
Oct 30, 2017
6,487
TheRed said:
So good. I had the same reaction to at first thinking it was boring Romans Bad, Gladiators good stuff only with shallow characters. But I was so wrong the characters ended up being my favorite thing about this show. They're really good.
RIP to the Season 1 Spartacus actor. He was fantastic.
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I do think the OG Spartacus was way better than Liam Mcintyre, but I warmed up to him eventually. Liam just seemed a bit...soft you know? Whilst Andy had a chin you could chop wood with.
 
Joe Spangle

Joe Spangle

Member
Nov 1, 2017
1,845
BubbaMc said:
I've only seen the first season, and loved it.

How does the rest compare?
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Not nearly as good as the first. The mini prequel series is well watchable and pretty good but the sequels to the main show never managed to replace the main chap who died (IRL). They also miss the mark on why the first season was great and go for ridiculous over the top blood gratuity. I know the first season had a lot of blood but if felt like the subsequent seasons were always trying to out-do the first which in my view made them a bit shit.
 
Dominic Decoco

Dominic Decoco

Member
Oct 31, 2017
3,773
tenor.gif


Still miss the show to this day. What a ride. Liam's Spartacus is different, but he does a good job with the role.
 
HarryHengst

HarryHengst

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,050
TheRed said:
So good. I had the same reaction to at first thinking it was boring Romans Bad, Gladiators good stuff only with shallow characters. But I was so wrong the characters ended up being my favorite thing about this show. They're really good.
RIP to the Season 1 Spartacus actor. He was fantastic.
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He needed some time to grow in the role, but halfway through season 2 he started to make it his own and in season 3 he was great.
 

Deleted member 7156

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
783
Gareth said:
The prequel miniseries that followed season 1 is excellent (it's required viewing before season 2 BTW), season 2 dipped a bit but season 3 is great IMO and was a very satisfying end to the show.
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This is my assessment as well (I'd be less kind on Season 2 perhaps).

Season 2 struggled with a change of format as well as losing two main cast actors.

Fevaweva said:
I do think the OG Spartacus was way better than Liam Mcintyre, but I warmed up to him eventually. Liam just seemed a bit...soft you know? Whilst Andy had a chin you could chop wood with.
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HarryHengst said:
He needed some time to grow in the role, but halfway through season 2 he started to make it his own and in season 3 he was great.
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I felt the writing adapted to Liam more so than Liam adapted to the role. Spartacus became a much more heroic character during S3 which I felt played to Liam strengths.
Regardless, I think he did a great job during S3. He really nailed that last episode too.
 
Mathieran

Mathieran

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,861
I really enjoyed it a lot too, way better than I anticipated. The last couple scenes stuck with me for a long time.
 
Hong Kong Hermit

Hong Kong Hermit

Member
Nov 2, 2017
592
This show was such a goddamn ride. I remember The Netflix had finally launched in Hong Kong, but with a pitiful amount of content, so I chose this at random to watch. I spent all the first episode mocking it for being cheesy, low budget, with gratuitous sex and violence (I mean, THREE sex scenes in the first episode?). I wondered who on Earth wanted a B-grade mashup of Gladiator and 300. An online friend urged me to stick with it and I found the hook a couple more episodes in. By the end of the 4th season, I was actually crying at the ending and wishing there was more. One of the greatest shows ever made.

And now I rewatch that first episode and instead of seeing daft nonsense, I see greatness, because now I know where they are going with this.

I especially love that they managed to do a cheeky callback to the "I'm Spartacus" scene from the old movie, and then utterly subvert it in the very final scene of the show in a way that is heartbreakingly beautiful. John Hannah and Lucy Lawless fucking chewing up the scenery is magnificent too.

One of the top ten shows ever made, I'm fucking ride or die for this show, and it's top of my list of things to recommend to people as it's so easily overlooked. Always got to include the caveat that you need to give it a couple of episodes to get going, but then hold on tight because Spartacus goes places. It's also dark as hell, and at a time when people were gushing over Game of Thrones for being edgy, Spartacus just chuckles and says "hold my wine".

Fuck it, I'm rewatching this. Best show. Best. Show.
 

Superking

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,620
I periodically rewatch this. One of the most entertaining action series ever.

Ever since I finished it, I've been aching for something that's as testosterone laden crazy as this show. Unfortunately, nothing else before or after remotely compares.
 

Deleted member 17402

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,125
Unfortunately once the main actor passed away I just couldn't see myself watching the last two seasons. So I skipped to the last episode of season four.
 
Karu

Karu

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
2,001
Slowly realizing what they were doing and leading up to after the initially disappointing pilot, was incredible during season 1. Suddenly everybody was like "OMG KEEP WATCHING THIS! NOW!!" When the deaths and twists started to happen...my god. And than "Kill Them All" - so so good.
 
Hong Kong Hermit

Hong Kong Hermit

Member
Nov 2, 2017
592
BubbaMc said:
I've only seen the first season, and loved it.

How does the rest compare?
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I think I know why you might have stopped at season one. You were probably like me, and heard that Andy Whitfield had died and wondered if the quality would drop off. It scared me too. I was very cautious about loading up the second season, which is a prequel, thinking "well this'll probably suck balls". Turns out it was both great, and a great idea. At the time they made it, Andy Whitfield was off getting treatment and was expected to recover, so a prequel season was a way to buy time for him to return for the next season (which, sadly, he never got to make).

But that prequel season turned out to be brilliant in all sorts of ways. Loads more John Hannah being allowed to overact to perfection, introducing another of the main gladiator rebels who would appear in later seasons, and buying time to put between seasons 1 and 3 so the change in lead actor doesn't feel quite as abrupt as it would otherwise have. But the storytelling in that season, done from necessity rather than design, accidentally turned out to be something that really enhanced the entire run. It was spot on.

Seasons 3 and 4 with the new guy are good. It does take a little while at the start of season 3 to warm up to Liam, who isn't quite Andy levels of greatness, but somewhere along the way I pretty much forgot about a change of actor and they both became Spartacus. One was the husband, the captive, the gladiator... the other was the rebel, the general, the man who almost brought Rome to its knees. There's enough growth in the character, enough time elapsed between seasons 1 and 3 (helped by that prequel season as a buffer) that I think it works.

Another great thing about this show is that, unlike many others, it never outstayed its welcome. It could have easily been padded out to 7 seasons and spread the story too thin. But no, we got 4 seasons and a definitive ending and that was it. I wish more shows restricted their length to just the content they know they have, rather than looking for ways to try and stretch things out to make more money.
 
Excuse me

Excuse me

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,020
Awesome show, even the Gannicus spin-off was awesome. Was there any truth to the Caesar spin-off? Wouldn't mind more stuff like Spartacus.
 
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Fevaweva

Fevaweva

Member
Oct 30, 2017
6,487
Hong Kong Hermit said:
This show was such a goddamn ride. I remember The Netflix had finally launched in Hong Kong, but with a pitiful amount of content, so I chose this at random to watch. I spent all the first episode mocking it for being cheesy, low budget, with gratuitous sex and violence (I mean, THREE sex scenes in the first episode?). I wondered who on Earth wanted a B-grade mashup of Gladiator and 300. An online friend urged me to stick with it and I found the hook a couple more episodes in. By the end of the 4th season, I was actually crying at the ending and wishing there was more. One of the greatest shows ever made.

And now I rewatch that first episode and instead of seeing daft nonsense, I see greatness, because now I know where they are going with this.

I especially love that they managed to do a cheeky callback to the "I'm Spartacus" scene from the old movie, and then utterly subvert it in the very final scene of the show in a way that is heartbreakingly beautiful. John Hannah and Lucy Lawless fucking chewing up the scenery is magnificent too.

One of the top ten shows ever made, I'm fucking ride or die for this show, and it's top of my list of things to recommend to people as it's so easily overlooked. Always got to include the caveat that you need to give it a couple of episodes to get going, but then hold on tight because Spartacus goes places. It's also dark as hell, and at a time when people were gushing over Game of Thrones for being edgy, Spartacus just chuckles and says "hold my wine".

Fuck it, I'm rewatching this. Best show. Best. Show.
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I agree with this sentiment 100%. It might be in my top 10 as well, but it has been like 12 hours since I finished it so I am not being particularly objective. I do think that in just 4 seasons it out 'edges' Game of Thrones when it comes to gore, sex and swearing.
 
Piccoro

Piccoro

Member
Nov 20, 2017
7,095
I miss this show so much. I watched every episode the first day they came to Fox, once a week.

I wish they made some kind of sequel about Crassus/Caesar's life or something.
 
Hong Kong Hermit

Hong Kong Hermit

Member
Nov 2, 2017
592
Fevaweva said:
I agree with this sentiment 100%. It might be in my top 10 as well, but it has been like 12 hours since I finished it so I am not being particularly objective. I do think that in just 4 seasons it out 'edges' Game of Thrones when it comes to gore, sex and swearing.
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It's been 2 years for me, and I still feel like this.

One of the things I'd say to sell it to GoT fans who liked the grimdark aspect of that show, was to compare Joffrey's cutting out of a minstrel's tongue to show how serious and "bad" was, compared to a whole villa of partying Romans just casually taking turns to carve pieces off a captured gladiator between drinks and snacks. It's not just "here's a mean bastard" so much as "here's an entire brutal system of oppression that needs to be overthrown".

That ending though:

"Spartacus!" "That... is not... my name..."
I cried like a baby. Like a baby. 10/10 would bawl like a toddler again.
 
i hate cheaters

i hate cheaters

Member
Feb 16, 2018
2,685
i liked the way they structured the sentences for characters' lines

i'm not sure what that style is called

it's something i'd expect from a shakespeare play, not a tv show
 
Mikebison

Mikebison

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
11,036
It's got lots of nudity, blood and swearing. And John Hannah.

The second guy they have playing Spartacus is whack though, after the Welsh guy sadly died. Found it harder to enjoy the show after that. But either way, it's just good, dumb fun.
 
LunaticGunstar

LunaticGunstar

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
427
One of my all-time faves. I too was surprisingly emotional by the end of this, and not just cos of Andy's passing.
 
TheRed

TheRed

Member
Oct 31, 2017
2,658
Dominic Decoco said:
tenor.gif


Still miss the show to this day. What a ride. Liam's Spartacus is different, but he does a good job with the role.
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Ashur was so great and memorable. I've been watching The Expanse which is another surprisingly great show I'm LTTP on. Was really happy when I saw him in it.
Fevaweva said:
I do think the OG Spartacus was way better than Liam Mcintyre, but I warmed up to him eventually. Liam just seemed a bit...soft you know? Whilst Andy had a chin you could chop wood with.
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Yeah Andy was absolutely perfect but Liam did a fine job to replace someone so good. His different acting coincides well with how Spartacus' character changes that I really grew to like him in the final season.
 
Coxy

Coxy

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,187
Incredible series - all of them - but in particular the original. Such a shame life has robbed us of Andy - the only time I've had tears when a celebrity died. RIP Andy.
 

Deleted member 32250

Banned
Nov 9, 2017
482
Fantastic show - it knows exactly what it is and doesn't shy away from it. The pacing is fantastic, every episode feels like it progresses the story and it doesn't get bogged down in useless bloat because they didn't try and tack on extra episodes / seasons to milk it.
 
whytemyke

whytemyke

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
3,786
Fun fact: Stephen Amell (Green Arrow) almost was the person cast as Spartacus. He was eventually beaten out by Liam when they were looking to replace Andy.

Would have been an entirely different show if they went that route.
 
Binabik15

Binabik15

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,615
I stopped watching after Ashur had his send off. The whole season 2 felt like gore for gore's sake, the wolfpack was pretty ridiculous, as was Ashur's end. And the incest. Can't let that ASoIaF crowd untapped, eh?

The show several times shows how much the gladistor training improves natural born warriors and soldiers (e.g. Kerza kicking Spartacus's ass after the first instructions or SpartacusAshur messing up several ) and yet S2 had the Germans going toe to toe with gladistors and Ashur went out like a wimp. Euergh.

So I've watched S1 and S0.5 at least three times, S2 once and S3 never.

And you guys are telling me that S3 is better than 2 and I should watch it??
 
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