Am I the only fan of the TV series "Spartacus"?
I think it's the BEST television series EVER. At the end of every episode, I would do a fist-pump and yell, "GOD-fucking-DAMN, that is the best TV series EVER!" I have all four seasons on DVD and have watched the whole series five times through. Those Starz cable channels just finished re-broadcasting the whole series -- one episode at a time, every Saturday night. And yet, I know of only one person who was into the series as much as I was. A couple other people who watched it a little, but never really got into it as much as I did.
I think it's interesting the way the Romans in the series -- almost all of them -- were sneaks, cheats, connivers, con artists, murderers, liars, manipulators, not an ounce of honor among them -- but among the gladiators, there was some honor. That sounds odd when you watch the gladiators hacking away at each other in the arena, but the arena was a role that was forced on them by the Romans.
It's also interesting that in violent conflicts, the Romans almost always were no match for the gladiators. The gladiators would cut through them like the proverbial hot knife through butter, even in the face of much greater numbers. If the TV series is to be believed, the only reason the slave revolt was eventually put down was ultimately because of vastly superior numbers.
I think Crixus and Naevia were the two most interesting characters in the series. Crixus was the only character who was in all four seasons and played by the same actor through all four seasons. Naevia was in all four seasons, but she was played by two different actresses. I could actually argue that the central character of the whole series was not its title character, but Crixus.
The relationship between Batiatus and his wife Lucretia (Lucy Lawless) was also very interesting. I said earlier that there was no honor among the Romans, but one rare exception to that was the relationship between Batiatus and Lucretia. They really did love each other and were unquestionably devoted to each other, but in all their dealings with anybody else, they were the same kind of snakes and connivers and murderers that almost all the Romans were.
As I said, I have all four seasons on DVD, but if Starz shows the series again, I will watch it again.
There are differences between the TV series and the 1960 film, but despite the differences, I love that movie too, I think it should have won Best Picture.
-- Ron
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