Spartacus War of the Damned

Dirt wrote:

How does it compare to Rome?

It doesn't have as lush of sets, the budget just isn't there. The acting isn't terrible but the gore/blood is Raimi-esque (he is a producer) andn over the top. So not as realistic.

Dirt wrote:

How does it compare to Rome?

Very poorly. I regret the way I phrased that it "it did a good job imitating both" when referring to Rome and 300. Rome is really some of the finest television I have ever seen. This is courser fare. It isn't trying to achieve what Rome did, it is just using the same historical setting to serve up the same kind of sexual fare that was part of what Rome did.

I enjoy the show, but not nearly as much as I did Rome.

OG_slinger wrote:
Nosferatu wrote:

Stauf7,
He was a warrior, but it wasn't what his sole occupation was. Gladiators had nothing better to do than train in the art of combat. Spartacus may have been a good fighter, but it is all the gladiators did. Think a great beer league baseball player versus MLB players.

IDK about that reasoning. He was a warrior who repeatedly defended his town and served in the Roman legion for at least one campaign. The first episode showed him mowing through hordes of barbarians like a they were grass and then pretty much every other episode shows him barely capable of holding his own in single combat. If he sucked that much at combat then he would have been killed long before he was enslaved.

A valid counter!

I just watched the 6th episode on Netflix. The end was NOT as I expected at all. Usually when Im watching shows things are predictable, but not this. Im so pissed and depressed right now! The show will definitely be different now, with such a change in purpose for the main character. Omg.

disdainful wrote:

I just watched the 6th episode on Netflix. The end was NOT as I expected at all. Usually when Im watching shows things are predictable, but not this. Im so pissed and depressed right now! The show will definitely be different now, with such a change in purpose for the main character. Omg.

Netflix has the episodes ahead of their actual airing?

Vega wrote:
disdainful wrote:

I just watched the 6th episode on Netflix. The end was NOT as I expected at all. Usually when Im watching shows things are predictable, but not this. Im so pissed and depressed right now! The show will definitely be different now, with such a change in purpose for the main character. Omg.

Netflix has the episodes ahead of their actual airing?

Im not sure when they air, but Netflix has put up the new/next episode every Friday before lunchtime est so far. Today the 6th one was released. I saw it up at 11:15am. It was a very story filled episode. A lot of things happened. I dont want to ruin it for anyone. But there are main character deaths, back stabbings of the dirtiest kind, lies, treachery, a bit of nudity and racy/raunchy sex scenes, not any huge battles but a few smaller gory battle scenes, and a few twists.

RoughneckGeek wrote:
Vega wrote:

Netflix has the episodes ahead of their actual airing?

I don't have Starz, so don't know their airing schedule. I can confirm Netflix has 6 episodes available through watch instantly.

This episode doesn't air until 10pm tonight. I may have to look a bit closer at getting a NetFlix subscrip.

OG_slinger wrote:
Nosferatu wrote:

Stauf7,
He was a warrior, but it wasn't what his sole occupation was. Gladiators had nothing better to do than train in the art of combat. Spartacus may have been a good fighter, but it is all the gladiators did. Think a great beer league baseball player versus MLB players.

IDK about that reasoning. He was a warrior who repeatedly defended his town and served in the Roman legion for at least one campaign. The first episode showed him mowing through hordes of barbarians like a they were grass and then pretty much every other episode shows him barely capable of holding his own in single combat. If he sucked that much at combat then he would have been killed long before he was enslaved.

Well, a fighter on the battlefield and a fighter one-on-one are two different things entirely. The nice thing about it is that when you're one-on-one, tactically speaking, technique is very important, while in a large melee, often being creative and having a good sense of where others are at can more readily keep you alive. Also, anytime 2v1 occurs on the battlefield, only bad, bad things happen to the guy that's going against two. In truth, all one has to do to create a huge advantage is circle and flank. Creating chaos in the ranks of an enemy is very debilitating wihen fighting multiple opponents, but going mono-a-mono, there is really very little ability to do that. I can see Spartacus not being technically adept though having the natural skill of a warrior and being beat by someone who simply knows more about professional fighting than he.

I think they showed that nicely in the episode where he fought the champion of Capua and wore himself down while the gladiator simply toyed with him and deflected his blows until he was ready to strike back.

I know Marsman hasn't been around in awhile to confirm this, but I do fight regularly as well and can certainly attest to this.

This show is terrible but I can't seem to stop watching it... I guess that makes it awesome?

I've been watching this, it's some good mindless fun. I do think that the sex and violence is over the top and unnecessary, but it gives me something to watch.

So... disdainful's comments at least got me interested enough to catch up on the show and see where it went. I'd stopped after the third episode.

It was very predictable right up until the last minute of the sixth episode. I wasn't expecting it to work out, but I didn't quite expect that, though in retrospect I probably should have. They spend the previous two episodes showing you just what all these characters are capable of.

Yeah, I really liked the rack and will miss it.

Thin_J wrote:

So... disdainful's comments at least got me interested enough to catch up on the show and see where it went. I'd stopped after the third episode.

It was very predictable right up until the last minute of the sixth episode. I wasn't expecting it to work out, but I didn't quite expect that, though in retrospect I probably should have. They spend the previous two episodes showing you just what all these characters are capable of.

At least his wife should be proud of him.

Xena has great boobs.

I gotta say, the Dominus guy (I forget his actual name)... wait... I'll spoiler this just in case

Spoiler:

has become a super douche in EP 6. I was actually starting to like him in 3-now but they just really decided to go all the way with making him a super ass hat

Also, when does Netflix put up the new episodes?

FedoraMcQuaid wrote:

I gotta say, the Dominus guy (I forget his actual name)... wait... I'll spoiler this just in case

Spoiler:

has become a super douche in EP 6. I was actually starting to like him in 3-now but they just really decided to go all the way with making him a super ass hat

Also, when does Netflix put up the new episodes?

I watched it Friday afternoon.

Man do I love Netflix on PS3. Somehow my onboard lan vanished from my pc. It doesn't even show up in the bios. Lucky for me I could still get my spartacus fix from the ps3.

I thought this episode would end with the wrong woman being brought over. The Spartacus would have to keep fighting until they found the right woman.

I thought the wrong woman would be brought over too. Id rather that, then this. I was thinking about it and wtf. The poor woman gets stolen by the Romans and sold into slavery for what her husband did, prob got abused and you-know-what, and then she is finally about to be reunited and that happens to her? Like seriously, wtf.

The next episode is going to be interesting. I hope that Spartacus finds out about it. But I have a feeling he wont for a while, but when he does. Man oh man. He should kick Batiatus off that cliff edge, like King Leonidas in 300. No wait. Kick him in the bojangles THEN kick him off the edge.

Another thing is that, I wanted to like Lucretia, simply because she is played by Lucy Lawless. But Im kinda on the fence about her character. Theres times when she seems good and then when she is just as bad as Batiatus. I felt bad when she was crying because Crixus said no to her. But she was trying to cheat on her husband, but he cheats on her anyway. I dunno. I did start to like Doctore more after hearing his story and the interaction that he had with Spartacus. He seems like a hardass with a heart.

Oh and Asher. He needs a swift kick off the cliff too. That poor kid Pietros. I dont want to ruin it - the spoiler tags wont work for me (cant link or use tags). Barca wasnt innocent but he didnt deserve that either.

It seems like the theme of that episode was that a bad thing would happen to every character.

All I have to say is that in today's episode I was surprised by the final moment in the battle at the end of the episode... Didn't expect him to do that.

I didn't pick the twist at the end, but once it was revealed I assumed that Lucy Lawless was behind it, took me by suprise though.

I didn't think he would kill the guy at the end but wasn't really surprised by it either. Without his lady he has no reason to escape. Might as well embrace the warrior within.

Watched 1st episode (The Red Serpent) on Netflix Watch It Instantly yesterday. Unimpressed. Wholly derivative. Action scenes ape 300, except they all look the same.

What I find amusing is the fact that:

Spoiler:

His wife gets more screen time after being killed off then the entire time she was alive.

After the absolutely awful first episode, I've kept trucking along and I'm surprisingly pleased.

It's no Rome or even 300, but it's now a guilty pleasure. Episodes 3-6 were pretty good with 4 being delightfully gruesome and 6 having a trickier plot than I ever would've guessed. Haven't seen 7 yet but am now looking forward to it.

Spartacus was just diagnosed with Lymphoma but it sounds like it was caught early and is treatable.

Oh some actual LL "here have a good look at my breasts" in the latest episode, plus it must be sweeps week, there was naked women every time the scene changed practically.

Nosferatu wrote:

Oh some actual LL "here have a good look at my breasts" in the latest episode, plus it must be sweeps week, there was naked women every time the scene changed practically.

You make it sound like that's a bad thing...

As much as I hate the idea of the wimp from The Mummy having sexy time with Xena, I must say I look forward to this show every week. I think they do a good job making you understand Spartacus' constant rage, and those who complain about the bad green screen in this show have never seen the terrible, terrible Sanctuary.

Anyhow, IMHO, it still beats 90% of what's on television, even when it is terribly gratuitous.

Spoiler:

Crucified with no penis? Slave-rape by the guy from the Mummy? Really? Really?

Vulgar or Ridiculously Childish wrote:

As much as I hate the idea of the wimp from The Mummy having sexy time with Xena, I must say I look forward to this show every week. I think they do a good job making you understand Spartacus' constant rage, and those who complain about the bad green screen in this show have never seen the terrible, terrible Sanctuary.

Anyhow, IMHO, it still beats 90% of what's on television, even when it is terribly gratuitous.

Spoiler:

Crucified with no penis? Slave-rape by the guy from the Mummy? Really? Really?

Spoiler:

Crucfiction was implied to be the follow up to the ineffectiveness of the decocking. Like following up beating with a phone book by waterboarding. I'm not sure you would have been able to rape a slave, legally I'm fairly certain it would have been seen as at worst proprety damage

Boy I didn't see that head bashing coming. They ride you along to the obvious place and then send out something out of this world. Oh and Mira was damn fine.