(standing ovation) "If all the world's a stage and all the people merely players, who in bloody hell hired the director?" -- Charles L Grant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com From: keithbjohn...@comcast.net Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:09:14 +0000 Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Re: "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" - Any good? Absolutely, I just have an issue with lazy writing on that level unless it's intentional. In "Hercules" and "Xena", for example, the anachronistic language was intentional and sometimes funny. The god Apollo, for example, was portrayed as a magical surfer type, who even said "Dude". But "Spartacus", from what i can tell, is trying to be serious drama, so I just can't get past such gaffes. I've noticed more and more in recent years that problem in historical dramas. I see a lot of them where the characters are speaking idiomatically as if they're from modern American. Even if they use the time-appropriate words, the way those words are structured into phrases is just off. That always irritates me. For example, don't tell me you're giving me a well-written drama that takes place in, say, a Puritan village in the 1700s, then have a young person ask another "How's it going?" Lazy... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mr. Worf" <hellomahog...@gmail.com> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2010 7:01:06 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Re: "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" - Any good? Nope... they say that it was invented around the 1100s. But there had to be a similar word back then. On Sun, Jan 24, 2010 at 3:26 PM, Keith Johnson <keithbjohn...@comcast.net> wrote: Was the f-word even being used by the Britons during the time of Spartacus? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Martin Baxter" <truthseeker...@hotmail.com> To: "SciFiNoir2" <scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2010 3:17:28 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: RE: [scifinoir2] Re: "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" - Any good? Again with you all the way, Keith. THe curse words they're using are mostly Anglo-Saxon, something that folks who live in Greece (If I've got the geography right) aren't likely to speak. "If all the world's a stage and all the people merely players, who in bloody hell hired the director?" -- Charles L Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com From: keithbjohn...@comcast.net Date: Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:37:09 +0000 Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" - Any good? Looking at part of it again, the fight scenes really do border on kinda funny, the "300"-style imitation is so over the top it reminds me more of the hilariously bloody fight scene with the Black Knight in "Monty Python and The Holy Grail". I mean, seriously, the blood is spattering and splatering like red water from a burst balloon. One dude got knocked in the back of the head, and blood sprayed all over it was funny. The showrunners seem to have an almost perverse interest in showing closeups of flesh cut and spread, bodies impaled. Silly, gratuitous, unmoving. Quite a bit of nudity too, including of Lucy Lawless I believe. Bit of a shock that, seeing Xena topless, but much better than seeing the dudes' naked bottoms. :( Also there seems to be quite a bit of anachronistic language. At least, I'm not sure the term "Where the fu** are the Romans?" is accurate for the times. Two showings, and I haven't been able to sit through the whole thing yet without laughing or shaking my head at the whole thing. Anyone else? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Keith Johnson" <keithbjohn...@comcast.net> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 11:28:04 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" - Any good? Anyone watch the debut of this series? It's showing on both one of the Encore and Starz channels. I tried to watch the show, out of curiosity, and because Lucy Lawless is one of the stars. But I came in in the middle of a battle scene that frankly made me laugh and grown. Lawless in an interview I'd seen mentioned the show was modeled in part on "300". But what I saw was a bad imitation of "300": the same not-quite-real backgrounds, the now recognizable fast-slow-fast movements of the soldiers in battle, blue-grey backgrounds whose colors are splashed liberally with the blood flowing like wine in battle. Lots of close ups of decapitations, swords cleaving flesh to expose nasty cuts. it was all a bit too frenetic and artificial looking for me. And I gotta admit that title--"...Blood and Sand" already had me a bit leery. Granted, i didn't see anything but the battle. Maybe the actual acting is good and it's worth a look? Can anyone give a recommendation? *************************************************************************** http://www.starz.com/originals/spartacus Betrayed by the Romans. Forced into slavery. Reborn as a Gladiator. The classic tale of the Republic’s most infamous rebel comes alive in the graphic and visceral new series, Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Torn from his homeland and the woman he loves, Spartacus is condemned to the brutal world of the arena where blood and death are primetime entertainment. But not all battles are fought upon the sands. Treachery, corruption, and the allure of sensual pleasures will constantly test Spartacus. To survive, he must become more than a man. More than a gladiator. He must become a legend. Starring Australian actor, Andy Whitfield (McLeod's Daughters) as Spartacus, Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess) as Lucretia, John Hannah (The Mummy, Four Weddings and A Funeral) as Batiatus and Peter Mensah (300, The Incredible Hulk) as Doctore, this unique mix of live action, graphic novel effects and brutal battle sequences is set to make "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" an epic television event. Hotmail: Powerful Free email with security by Microsoft. Get it now. -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service. http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/196390708/direct/01/
