“I am Spartacus” is the memorable scene from the 1960 Stanley Kubrick film. Spartacus is a Roman slave turned gladiator who escapes and leads a slave rebellion across Southern Italy for 2+ years. After the success of 300, based off the Frank Miller book of the same name, the interest in historical movies (especially ones that can show a lot of skin and violence) has increased. HBO had Rome, Clash of the Titansis being remade and Spartacus: Blood and Sand is the new Starz series.

Claudius Gaber is a Roman General who is looking to defeat the barbarians and gain glory for Rome (and himself). He recruits Thracian soldiers to help the Roman army in the fighting by promising that winning the war will protect their villages. As the Thracians help the Romans, Gaber is convinced by his wife to go after the Greeks for greater glory. When the Thracian learn of the Roman’s deceit, they attack the Romans (leaving Gaber alive for no reason other than the series needs him in future episodes). The main Thracian warrior returns home in time to protect his wife, but the village is lost.

Gaber leads a small force to capture and enslave the deserting Thracians. The enslaved Thracians are brought to the Coliseum where the lead Thracian is put up against four Gladiators. After remembering his wife’s prophecy, he rises up and slaughters all four to the cheers of the crowd (and hatred of Gaber). The Thracian is named Spartacus and bought to be trained as a Gladiator and episode 1 is over.

The real star of episode 1 is Zach Snyder (director of 300). The episode looks like someone was watching 300 while directing. There are slow motion action scenes, lots of skin (male and female) and buckets of blood everywhere. But the big question is: Is the series any good? The answer, at least for the first episode, is not really.

The biggest problem, besides the mediocre script, is the poor special effects. Blood is flying everywhere and yet none of it lands on any of the fighters. Spartacus stabs a Gladiator who is lying on the ground in front of him and is framed by a torrent of blood behind him. The effects are not well done and overdone at the same time. If they can tone down the blood and get a decent script, the series might be decent. I’m willing to give the series a couple episodes to find it’s feet, but I can’t really recommend it right now.