Spartacus
I totally blame kadymae and hradzka for the fact that I am now all caught up on Spartacus: Blood and Sand. It is every bit as gloriously bad as they said, the dialogue so cheesetastically awesome, the drama and import of the fight scenes so hammered home by the shooting style...
I love the fact that everyone, man and woman, on this show ends up naked. Repeatedly.
I love the warning at the beginning for the intense sensuality and violence, which is supposed to make the show seem more like a realistic rendition of life in Roman times. And then they shoot every fight scene like it was straight out of 300, complete with arty splashes of blood and super slo-mo moves as something of Tremendous Import happens, so you can't help feeling like you're watching a comic book come to life...
...and yet, isn't the television audience reduced to the same level of sophistication as the Roman crowds, entertained by the day-to-day life of the gladiators and their overseers? Television: the modern Arena.
Mostly what I like is that this show is fun and exciting to watch. Batiatus and Lucretia pretty much make the show for me, but I also enjoy watching Spartacus try to be the good guy. He reminds me a lot of Clark in early Smallville, with the same sense of self-righteous naivete. Crixus adds a nice foil, because he has his own moral code, and it's not one that Spartacus adheres to. Crixus comes across as both more sophisticated and more savage than Spartacus, all at the same time. You can kind of see how, down the line, they'll end up working together in the slave rebellion, but the foreshadowing of the rebellion's failure is already there, on the screen. Spartacus fights to be free; Crixus fights because he is a warrior.
One final observation: In eight episodes, the characters of Spartacus: Blood and Sand have won me over as a viewer. SGU has had ten episodes to achieve the same, and I am still trying to get a feel for the characters, find things about them that make me sympathize with them. Both shows have racy moments and characters that do some pretty awful things. I cannot figure out why one of these shows works for me while the other leaves me ambivalent...
I love the fact that everyone, man and woman, on this show ends up naked. Repeatedly.
I love the warning at the beginning for the intense sensuality and violence, which is supposed to make the show seem more like a realistic rendition of life in Roman times. And then they shoot every fight scene like it was straight out of 300, complete with arty splashes of blood and super slo-mo moves as something of Tremendous Import happens, so you can't help feeling like you're watching a comic book come to life...
...and yet, isn't the television audience reduced to the same level of sophistication as the Roman crowds, entertained by the day-to-day life of the gladiators and their overseers? Television: the modern Arena.
Mostly what I like is that this show is fun and exciting to watch. Batiatus and Lucretia pretty much make the show for me, but I also enjoy watching Spartacus try to be the good guy. He reminds me a lot of Clark in early Smallville, with the same sense of self-righteous naivete. Crixus adds a nice foil, because he has his own moral code, and it's not one that Spartacus adheres to. Crixus comes across as both more sophisticated and more savage than Spartacus, all at the same time. You can kind of see how, down the line, they'll end up working together in the slave rebellion, but the foreshadowing of the rebellion's failure is already there, on the screen. Spartacus fights to be free; Crixus fights because he is a warrior.
One final observation: In eight episodes, the characters of Spartacus: Blood and Sand have won me over as a viewer. SGU has had ten episodes to achieve the same, and I am still trying to get a feel for the characters, find things about them that make me sympathize with them. Both shows have racy moments and characters that do some pretty awful things. I cannot figure out why one of these shows works for me while the other leaves me ambivalent...