Great prequel! If you have seen Spartacus you know what you are getting if not heed the R rating. Lucy Lawless is amazing as always & John Hanna steals every scene. The House of Batatius rules.

Spartacus, Gods of the Arena is a prequel to the Spartacus seasons one and two. Before Spartacus arrived at the House of Batiatus there was a power struggle between father and son. There was also plenty of bad blood among the gladiators that trained there. The six episodes chronicle the events that brought the House of Batiatus to greater glory in Capua. The series is full of blood and guts as well as graphic sex scenes.

This season is actually better than the first one. Maybe because I know not to expect a classic and just accept it for what it is. The series is basically a graphic novel. The violence, while bloody, is cartoonish. Lot's of nudity and sex. The plotline isn't that bad, which is the same as last seasons (Batatius wants the best gladiator to be the best lanista in Capua), but without the overshadowing dread of the upcoming revolt by Spartacus. One good thing about this series is the proction designer did a great job of creating a roman city as it really was and not how we imagine it: dangerous and very dirty. Even the rich seem to have a coat of grime on them. Not for everyone but some will enjoy it.

Too much sex, cursing and blood, too little good acting!

I liked it as much as Season One ,..which I loved ! And I only wish the six-episode series had been longer. ( However, history buffs should beware that this T.V. series is entertainment for OUR modern sensibilities. Many Roman men indentured themselves into this 'sport' as a free career choice. And 90 % of all the combats did NOT result in death, because that would have been too expensive. And sex was more commonly accepted, and not such a big voyeristic deal ! )

Like the second season, this is one of the most violent, bloody and sexually charged I have ever watched—and inaccurate. There is the way they portray blood spraying from wounds, when in reality it would come out in pulsating streams—due to that thing called “the heart,” that THROBS inside us! What about that public bathroom opened to the street? In fact they had doors! The bedrooms in the movie were also amusing; Roman cubiculae were generally quite small and most didn’t have windows. As for gladiators, they did not commonly fight to death. They were a commodity and as such, cared for and even paid. Yes, the new recruits might be kept in shackles, but that until they started fighting. Some gladiators, like our modern pop stars, were very popular and pampered. They had access to a medici (doctor) and their wounds very well tended. The doctor (trainer) was specialized and only trained one modality, so the movie, again, failed to correctly portray it. And, hey, what of Spartacus—after all, the series was named after him, right? This little known character in History, doesn’t even have his name mentioned! Lots and lots of profanity and all kinds of sexual activities: rape, anal sex, bacchanalia, threesome, oral sex—a little bit for every twisted sexual taste! Though, I realize, the makers missed bestiality… Maybe this is something they are keeping for the next season? Well, animal lovers will have to wait and see. There is so much violence, sex, profanity and blood that if these scenes were removed, the series would be reduced to, say, 30% of its total.

Very good and I would watch it again, but not as good as season one. Seemed to try to overcompensate for the loss of Spartacus with more gore and sex. Still top notch action and a decent enough plotline. The acting is pretty much on par with season one, but not as much a call for it. I did like the new character Gannicus, but this season just seemed to be lacking heart.

Great entertainment of blood, gore and decadence; However, a notch below Season 1 ... might be due to fatigue in blood, gore and ....

This handsomely produced TV series about the fortunes of the masters, slaves, and fighters at an ancient Roman training school for gladiators makes for rip-snorting good entertainment. Its attractions include a fine cast, witty script, just the right proportion of artistic liberty versus historical detail, and plenty of power struggles, intrigues, sex, and violence. This particular 2-disk set chronicles the history of the school prior to the arrival of its superchampion Spartacus, focusing instead on the exploits of his two equally hunky predecessors Grannicus and Crixus. Lucy Lawless (of “Zena: Warrior Princess” TV fame) is outstanding in the role of the school owner’s scheming, lustful wife. Sometimes the on-screen violence is too diluted with video-game-style special effects, but it also includes numerous original and exciting battle scenes. (In my favourite, one of the combatants is blindfolded.) The sexual scenes offer appetizing nudity and exceptionally varied, graphic combinations of enthusiastic heterosexual, homoerotic, and autoerotic acts—but be warned this series also contains several episodes of purposeful but (I think) extreme sexual sadism, in one case directed against a highschool-aged innocent. If (understandably) this uneasy prospect thoroughly revolts you, keep your hand on the converter to fast-forward through the unwatchable parts. http://calicojack3.blogspot.com/2011/10/spartacus-gods-of-arena-tv-series-2011.html