Spartacus: Blood and Sand

The Starz show is based on the legend of Spartacus, a Thracian who become a slave and then  later became a gladiator. Eventually he led a large number of slaves and started a rebellion against Rome.

The story begins when a Thracian home town was threatened by the Gatae. The tribe eventually agreed to cooperate to fight with the Romans as Auxilaries under the command of Legatus Cladius Glaber. The Legatus's wife, Llithyia, persuaded her husband to attack the Mithridates, leaving the Thracians to fight off the Gatae by themselves. The Thracians then started a mutiny and was either killed or caught by Glaber's men. Glaber condemned the Thracian's wife to Slavery while was he was meant to die in the Gladiator Arena.

Unfortunately for Glaber, Thracian survived. Later a lanista named Lentelus Batiatus bought Thracian and started training him in his Ludus. Batiatus then decided to name the Thracian Spartacus after a famous Thracian king. There he met Crixus, the current champion of Capua. He would later become one Spartacus generals during the Slave Rebellion.

The first season is mostly about Spartacus' training in Batiatus Ludus. There he met Crixus and the first group of slave that they defied the Romans during this rebellion. (based on history, Spartacus revolt was the third slave rebellion).

The first season or even the whole series is not for everyone. It's way too violent compared to normal TV series. The language in the series is not something you don't want your kid to learn and there are a lot of sex scenes and nudity. According to creators of the TV series  they just wanted to portray what Rome was back then.

I think it is an interesting retelling of the legend of Spartacus. Though I doubt everyone in the series were true. But overall I enjoyed watching the first season. The second is set to air not later to Jan 2012. The delay is due to Andy Whitfield's condition due to cancer. Everyone was relieved when he earlier announced that he is fit to start shooting of the second season. Unfortunately the cancer returned and Whitfield was forced to quit, Liam McIntyre would be filling in the shoes that Whitfield has left vacant. Due to the delay, a prequel was also created, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena

Liam Mcintyre as the new Spartacus