Spartacus

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Name: Spartacus: Blood and Sand
Abbreviation(s):
Creator: Steven S. DeKnight, Robert Tapert, Sam Raimi, Joshua Donen, Sarah Lazarova
Date(s): 2010-2013
Medium: Television series
Country of Origin: United States
External Links: IMDB
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Spartacus is a TV show airing on STARZ which premiered on January 22, 2010. Each separate season has a different subtitle.

Season one - Blood and Sand

(Andy, background info)

Season two - Gods of the Arena

Gods of the Area was a prequel to the first season where the creators concentrated more on Batiatus and Lucretia's rise in power. The reason behind the production was the fact that Andy Whitfield was diagnosed with cancer and had to take a break from shooting to go through treatment.

While not planned, the season turned out to be a success and introduced one of the more popular characters of Gannicus

Season three - Vengeance

Season three was the first one after the show creators decided to recast the main role and gave the role of Spartacus to Liam McIntyre. While hesitant at first, fans embraced McIntyre quickly after the season's premiere.

Season three also introduced one of the most prominent Spartacus pairings Agron/Nasir.

Season four - War of the Damned

Last season of Spartacus, taing on the final chapter of the slave rebellion (placeholder for when the show airs)

Fandom Response

Within the first month, people had begun to speculate about the identity of the future woobie and about popular pairings.

As soon as the show aired, people began to speculate about the future form of its fandom. The AfterElton.com recaps, for example, have made a number of jokes about the slashiness of the series (as opposed to the homoeroticness or outright gayness, both of which, naturally, are also mentioned):

"Batty mans up and says he appreciates how Spartacus saved his life. He also says there will be no more of that pit business for any of them. Instead, Spartacus can take on some extra duties, like "fluffing" him for Lucy Lucretia. Or am I mixing up my slash fiction again?"[1]
"In the cafeteria, Blond Favreau teases Spartacus about how he and Crisco will make a fine couple. (I'm going to go ahead and give them their celebrity couple name now: Spartacrix.) Spartacus is a little tense, but realizes he'll get a lot of cash if he wins. And then— Hey, are you listening to me or you already writing slash for Spartacrix? Sigh..."[2]

Most Notable Pairings

In het pairings most popular include Crixus/Naevia, Spartacus/Mira, Batiatus/Lucretia, Glaber/Ilythia, Gannicus/Saxa and Crassus/Kore

In slash pairings the biggest OTP is Agron/Nasir.

Fanbase Appeal

Many of the people working on the series were previously on other shows with large fandoms, and a number of fans have been attracted to the series because of this.[3] Other fans were attracted to all the naked men fighting each other and were later suprised by the actual quality of the show[4]. Another draw is the large number of canonically queer characters and relationships, with the fairly accurate portrayal of how the ancient Romans assumed sexual fluidity as the default.

Fanworks

The first vid appeared in February, 2010. (needs reference, which vid was it?)

External Links

References

  1. ^ "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" 1.04 Recap: "The Thing in the Pit" by Tim OLeary. Dated February 13, 2010. Accessed February 26, 2010.
  2. ^ "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" 1.05 Recap: "Shadow Games" by Tim OLeary. Dated February 19, 2010. Accessed February 26, 2010.
  3. ^ Fandomlove post: "He Is Spartacus" - The post references getting into the show through an interest in cast and crew members from Dollhouse and Lord of the Rings in addition to an interest in other things set in ancient Rome
  4. ^ I am Spartacus! - Tumblr post after the series finale