Saturday, July 23, 2011

Old Spartacus vs New Spartacus – death match, gladiator style

Hi all! Cassandra Dean here, with an in-depth, vastly scientific look at one of my very favourite shows –  Spartacus.

Airing on the Starz network, Spartacus made quite the splash when it first arrived on our screens. Unfortunately, due to the illness of lead actor Andy Whitfield, the second season was delayed and a prequel took its place. Even more unfortunately, Andy relapsed. While expected to make a full recovery, his relapse necessitated his role being recast. Liam McIntyre was chosen and, in the interest of scientific like pursuits, I felt I should really compare the two lead actors on their, ahem, merits.

Contenders


Andy Whitfield

Photo source: I'm not sure – somewhere on the internet!




Liam McIntyre

Photo source:
http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/07/14/liam-mcintyre-spartacus-photo/








Venue
 Spartacus: Blood and Sand (season 1)




Plot
A Thracian warrior, foolishly defiant to a Roman officer, is captured and enslaved. Forced to become a gladiator to that Lanista Batiaus, he seeks reunion with his wife and his freedom. The lure of the arena is great, however. Will the warrior, now called Spartacus, win his freedom and his love?



*** SPOILERS – (Please highlight text from here to read) Spartacus and friends, now free of the House of Batiatus, 
seek to bring their rebellion to Rome. Fun times and frivolity ensure along the way. ***


Degree of awesomeness
On a scale of 1 to super cool, Spartacus: Blood and
Sand is fricking phenomenal.


No idea, as it hasn’t aired yet! However, based on Spartacus:
Blood and Sand , it cannot be anything but super awesome.


Review, CassandraStyle
I have not the words for how much I heart this series. SO MUCH. It has blood and guts and half-naked–sometimes even full-naked–men. It has amazing visuals and, more than anything, it has a truly awesome story. It’s almost Shakespearean in its language, creating a rhythm wholly contained within the structures of story, although it did throw me at first to hear all these Aussie accents floating about in Ancient Rome.


As the second season hasn’t yet begun, I shall review Liam McIntyre, as above.
Mm. Super pretty.


Comparing the contenders:
Hot. So very smoking hot: :)
More than this, Andy Whitfield brought an emotional depth to the character that had me rooting for him from the get go. He had a physicality as well as emotional resonance and when he uttered “We kill them all” I got shivers. And he is so very smoking hot.



Very pretty. Am definitely looking forward to the naked scenes :)
I’m very interested to see if Liam can bring the emotional intensity,
sympathy and depth to the role Andy Whitfield did. I’m confident the
casting directors know what they’re doing – going by the visual,
they are amazing!


Inspired Cassandra to…
Write a whole story!




Enslaved popped into my head while watching this awesome series and the rest is history. Almost literally.



Write this post! And, hopefully, another story?



Conclusion – everybody wins!
Seriously, both Andy Whitfield and Liam McIntyre are super hot, in a show that is not afraid to show off A LOT of male flesh, is awesome with the plot and fun times, and the actors can actually ACT. It’s like the triple trifecta right there!

I have serious love for this show and am super pumped for its existence. Without it, who knows if Enslaved would even exist, and that would be a travesty. A TRAVESTY. :)
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Cassandra spends a lot of time playing with her website, Twitter and Facebook. Please visit her!
Enslaved is on sale now from Decadent Publishing.

2 comments:

Aurian said...

Fun post, have never seen Spartacus but I do believe it has been aired here in Holland as well.

Anonymous said...

Hi Aurian,
I must say, your name is lovely :) Spartacus is super awesome and I'm really looking forward to season two. If you get a chance and are so inclined, definitely check it out!
Cassandra Dean

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