A lot of people compare "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" to "Rome", however the 2 have nothing in common. "Spartacus" was never designed to even remotely resemble "Rome". While "Rome" is a drama about politics and conspiracies, "Spartacus" is one man's journey. The series is inspired by the story of the gladiator Spartacus, who led the gladiators rebellion and who died in their last stand in southern Italy. Although there are numerous facts about his deeds there is nothing about the man himself. Even the notion that he was from Thrace isn't a fact. The 2 inspiration points for the series are clearly "Gladiator", for the concept, a man fighting for something and using the crowd of the arena to achieve his goal, and "300" for the special effects. Although in the first 2 episodes it was more about fights and sex scenes, things changed in from the third becoming more focused on the character and toning down the violence and nudity. The show feels different from anything at the moment, and if it keeps improving it could easily become one of the best shows around.
Review of Spartacus
