Tusen og ett liv

Day 28 - Given a choice, would you rather be a gladiator or a body slave? Neither! Guess it would have to be body slave, though - since my chances of surviving very long as a gladiator would be slim. .

Day 27 - What do you think the life of a gladiator was like? Uhh - what an extremely silly question!! For further answers - look to historypages like SPQRonline ore something. It is enough known about this that I don't have sit and speculate..

Day 26 - Which season is your favorite? The seasons are all good, but in very different ways. Gods of the Arena was a very good explanation of many of the things going on in the later seasons. Venegance was just great, but I must say I thought the first five episodes were much stronger than the last five. My favourite is Blood and Sand. It really stands on its own in many ways. The character development and each character's journey is really well thought out. The attention to detail was overwhelming. Each story and detail quickly made me see that this show was so much more than the sex and violence that follows along with it as well. 

 Day 25 - Compare Andy and Liam I really don't like that people compare them. This wasn't an actor being replaced because of creative differences . The show was affected by a tragedy, and no one wanted this. I don't want to compare Liam to Andy. I it just really diminishes and disrespects both actors. Andy's illness and subsequent death was incredibly tragic. Liam has stepped into an impossible situation. He has constantly been compared and sometimes been disrespected - not because of his actual work, but because many fans of the show feel that liking Liam would betray the memory of Andy . But the fact is Andy wanted the show to continue. He wanted his colleagues to have the jobs they were counting on. I can only imagine how painful it must be for those who actually knew him in real life. Liam is brilliant. He brings his very best effort to this role. I have no complaints about him playing the role.

Day 24 - Team Romans or team Rebels? There is no question here really! The rebels have done awful things and that is of course not to be ignored. But the Romans institutionalize maltreatment of other human beings. Dionna, Sura, all of the gladiators killing each other for sport or in training, the phenomena of the pits, the way every other sexual encounter the Romans engage in is rape, the way they don't understand that non-Romans are also people - not animals, the crucifixions, killing and backstabbing each other, government subsidized torture, and killing each others' children. Team Rebels all the way!!

Day 23-Which cast memeber would you want to meet? Hm.. They all seem like nice people. I'm not the kind of person who craves to meet styars of a show. Any one would do, I think..

Day 22- What is your favourite episode? Oh - I've been waiting to answer this question. It is a bit hard, though, because all the episodes make up a whole even though many of them stand quite well on their own as well. From Blood & Sand it really was "Party Favours". It really broke my heart, and that was what was so fantastic about it. I don't consider myself a sentimental person, and film / TV-series seldom make me teary-eyed. Seeing the build-up of this episode culminate in Varro's death still makes me fell really bad, though. The scene with Spartacus being broken up about it and thrashing his cell is also incredibly impactful. From Gods of the Arena it was simply "The Bitter End". I loved the end to that prequel. Having theorized that Gannicus would surely die at the end, it was such an amazing surprise that he was set free.  A good way for Gannicus to start afresh as well - since Melitta is gone and he doesn't seem able to face Oenom...

Day 21 - Which character (if any) might work in a crossover? Extremely unlikely, this. Think maybe the only other series I could think of where they would fit in is Doctor Who. It would be fun to see the Doctor in Roman times. Maybe centurion Rory could make an appearance?

Day 20 - Do you find Spartacus to be a courageous character? Spartacus the character is the very definition of courageous to me. He fights for what he believes him even though the odds are stacked against him, and his risk of loss is incredibly high! He is not necessarily fearless, but he acts regardless of that fear.

Day 19 - Who would you pair up of two characters who have NOT been together in canon? Not really a big fan of pairing up characters. Don't really see the point, sorry. Shipping is just not my thing!

Day18-Was there any part on the show that made you laugh? There are plenty of parts that have comical elements. Even though the show is very much a tragedy, they have managed to keep a light tone in parts where that is appropriate.  Quintus Batiatus's preposterous language is something that made me laugh many times. I do miss him a great deal in Venegance. He really helped keep the tone light at times. I also liked the banter between Spartacus and Varro. Varro had a good and sometimes quite fun way of reminding Spartacus of the reality of their situation. Venegance is the part of the series that has the least comical moments. But I enjoyed an evil laugh in episode 5 when Spartacus hit Cossutius with that spear he threw! Then there is always Agron and Gannicus that have some pretty funny one-liners :-)

Day 17 - Best twist In terms of surprise there was the death of Varro. No questions asked, really. Didn't see that coming. Then again it was really sad, so I can hardly call it best twist.. The twist I probably liked the most was Gannicus gaining his freedom. I was quite sure he would die at the end of the prequel or if not die then get sold off. I was therefore quite pleased with the turn of events and how Gods of the Arena ended.

Day 16 - Do you like the fighting-scenes? This might be a simple one-word answer: YES :-) The thing about the fighting-scenes is that they are a necessary part of the show. They depict the brutality, but are at the same time incredibly well-choreographed. Okay - so they do overdo it a bit with the slo-mo sometimes and the blood-spray as well. In my view that is just the over-the-top-factor they need for me to not have to turn away etc.

Day 15- What's your favorite quote on the show ever? Here's another occasion to cheat I think  - so one qoute from each series, then ;-) Blood and Sand: Varro: "There is no choice.." Spartacus: "There's always a choice!" Gods of the Arena: Gannicus: "There is only one way to become champion; never fucking lose!" Venegance: Oenomaeus: "A man is never too weak or too wounded to fight, as long as the cause is greater than his own life"

Day 14- What was the most romantic character part on the show? There's really no contest here. Crixus is by far the most romantic character. In Blood and Sand he goes to lengths establishing a relationship with Naevia, and then in Venegance he does everything within his power to save her. That's romance for you!

Day 13- What character would you bring back if you could? Now I'm no fan of bringing characters back from the dead. Also I think they have all died in a very suitable way. There are however characters that I miss very much. As I spoke of in the last post, I would have been interested to see how things would play out if Varro hadn't been killed. Seeing as he was a Roman it might have been interesting to see how he would define himself after an escape. There might have been a potential there to make him an enemy of the rebellion. I do miss Quintus Batiatus a lot though. If I could have him be not dead somehow I imagine he would be a welcome addition to the show. He brought with him lots of humour and also the underdog's perspective in Roman society. He was just the sort of character it would always be nice to see more of.

Day 12 - Which character death made you cry? There is no dispute about this one. I never cry when watching TV. The exceptions to this are very few. Varro's death however brought tears to my eyes, and still does. Actually I do think it was one of the saddest deaths I have seen on TV for a very long time. It was sudden and brought about by the scheming of people who did not even care - and at the hands of Spartacus nonetheless. Maybe I should have started hating Illythia before, but this was when I discovered how much I loathed her. What made it even worse was how broken up Spartacus was about it. His reaction was almost equally sad and also brought tears to my eyes when we see it in the next episode. Also it might have been interesting to see how the story might have turned out had Varro not died. He was a Roman after all. Would he have joined the rebellion at all? Or if his 2 years had been up before the rebellion and he had been freed - would he be an enemy now? Oh well -...

Day11-Who is the most handsome or beautiful person on the show?  This show has a ridiculously handsome/beautiful cast. Saying who is the most good-looking is like picking between the contestants of a beauty-contest. Choosing one is near impossible, but I might just narrow it down a bit. When it comes to guys I guess Dustin and Dan are best-looking. Of the women Viva and Lesley-Ann are extraordinarily beautiful.

Day 10 - What do you not like about the show? It sounds ridiculous when you watch a show like Spartacus to say you think there is to much violence. Even so I'm going to say just that. I'm not squeamish myself, but I do actually look away from time to time. There is also a fair share of gratuitous sex that I might have done without. Now I don't really mind that much. As you can see - I'm a fan of the show. It just makes it harder to get people to watch. I also fear many people don't really see the great plotting and detail that goes into an episode of Spartacus because they are busy watching the tits or slow-mo or blood or whatever..

Day 9- What character needs to get killed off the show? Can't really call this a show that lets it's characters linger for too long! After having finished watching all episodes there aren't many characters left to kill. In fact I'd go as far as to suggest not to kill off any characters for a couple of episodes!