Spartacus: The Complete Series

The Starz original series "Spartacus" reimagined the story of one of history's most famous figures, a man who led a slave revolt against the Roman Empire. Little is known about the historical Spartacus, which means there's plenty of latitude for dramatic license, and the show's creators availed themselves of that license to the hilt.

Every episode of the three seasons and the six-part miniseries are contained in the neatly packaged Blu-ray edition of "Spartacus: The Complete Series," which means that every thrilling gladiatorial contest, every wild plot twist, and every massive battle is here for fanboy delectation. The show's look is pure "300" -- its creators describe the show as a "moving graphic novel" -- and the gore is sometimes cartoonishly over the top (and cartoonish in appearance, unfortunately, but even CGI has its limits on a TV budget). But each season is pure testosterone camp, and everything in one box plus special features is enough to trigger palpitations of joy and excitement.

The show's production entailed some behind the scenes drama that affected how the series unfolded. After Season One (sub-titled "Blood and Sand"), original star Andy Whitfield became ill with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, delaying production of Season Two. The six-episode mini-series was produced, and written as a prequel focusing on the gladiatorial school run by Batiatus (John Hannah) and the city of Capua prior to Batiatus acquiring Spartacus, a Roman auxiliary legionnaire who was betrayed and then sold into slavery by Roman officer Gaius Claudius Glaber (Craig Parker). When Whitfield died, the role was re-cast with Liam McIntyre for the second and third seasons.

All of the extras from the original season releases are here, along with some Blu-ray exclusives, which include audio commentaries, extended episodes, the featurette 3D Ring of Fire Battle Sequence, and an informative text feature called "Spartacus Historicus: Pop-Up History." The extras include gag reels, battle scene montages, a featurette focusing on the show's "boot camp" to get the actors into fighting shape, Lucy Lawless (who played Lucretia, Batiatus' deliciously wicked wife), and extensive peeks at the show's visual style and overall production (which took place on huge indoor sets with green screens: Those fantastical landscapes and backdrops are all computer generated).

A new bonus disc is an additional extra, loaded with more goodies:

SPARTACUS Fan Favorites - A rundown of the top ten viewer selected episodes, hosted by Liam McIntyre (who looks as good in a suit as in leather and loincloth).

Scoring A Hit: Composer Joseph LoDuca - The show's composer talks about the mix of styles and instruments used in the music score.

An Eye Full: Roger Murray (prosthetics supervisor) - Body casts and bloody balloons! Here are some secrets to the show's legendary gore.

Spartacus: Paul Grinder (2nd Unit director) - You didn't think all those wild, frenetic combat scenes could be handled by just one episode director?

The Last Word: John Hannah - The Season One star character didn't live to see Season Two, but Hannah appears here for some frank and friendly commentary.

The real last word, of course, is this comprehensive hi-def full series package, which is both a guilty pleasure and a must for fans of historical drama, swords and sandals, and action fare.

"Spartacus: The Complete Series"
Blu-ray
$119.98
http://www.anchorbayentertainment.com/detail.aspx?ProjectId=3e78d3fa-7caf-e311-a4a4-d4ae527c3b65