Andy Whitfield and Jai Courtney behind-the-scenes

Jesus, I forgot just how incredibly hot the men of Spartacus: Blood and Sand really are. The bodies! The loincloths! The frequent full-frontal male nudity!

The fact that the whole series was so gay-inclusive is pretty cool too (even if, like many of the show's characters, the gay folks didn't always come to the best end).

But this isn't a review of the show itself (which I consider to be the single best new show of the year). It's a review of the DVD of show's first season, now out on DVD (and Blu-ray) in Spartacus: Blood and Sand: The Complete First Season.

It's pretty clear that Starz was hoping that the show would become the break-out hit that it did, in fact, become. The DVD includes plenty of behind-the-scenes footage, in eight different (short) featurettes, and the cameras were there from the very beginning. We learn, for example, why Manu Bennett was frontally naked in that extraordinary "bathhouse" sequence in the show's second episode: Bennett himself suggested it.

More interesting still, we learn that the producers quickly agreed because Starz had requested that the show also feature a "quota" of male nudity.

(Elsewhere, executive producer Robert Tapert, the creator of Xena: Warrior Princess and Lucy Lawless' actual husband, gets teased for being the man behind all the nudity, and both times I've interviewed him, he agreed that he definitely did want to push the envelope, but that Starz was also always pushing for more.)

Also in the featurettes, we see "Gladiator Boot Camp," where all the actors went to train before the filming had even begun (and star Andy Whitfield is fit, but also kinda scrawny).

Since this is a review for a gay media outlet, I'll tell you the truth: behind-the-scenes, the men are enormously appealing, the absolute perfect combination of "masculine" and "silly." They're also refreshingly affectionate with each other. When Whitfield and Jai Courtney (Varro, my pick for the single hottest cast member of all) are put in a vat of fake (but edible!) sewage for one scene, it's adorable the way they squirm and whimper.

Could they be more cuddly? Answer: no. And did I mention how incredibly hot they all are?

But this is all also pretty bittersweet. Not surprisingly, Andy Whitfield, the star of the show, looms large in the behind-the-scenes footage. He comes across as sweet and decent and oh-so-humble. But we now know that he's since been diagnosed with cancer, he didn't respond well to the initial treatments, and he's had to withdraw from the role, which is currently being recast.

Like I said, bittersweet.

In addition to the featurettes, the DVD release also includes audio commentary of the season's thirteen episodes with key talent, including Whitfield and co-star Lucy Lawless. And for the record? Lawless is hilarious. In one audio commentary, a naked woman walks by with a thick, um, pubic area. Lawless' hilarious take? Something like, "Good Lord, she looks like Mr. Tumnus!"

It used to be bother me that Lawless is so obviously not Xena, but it doesn't bother me anymore. Now I think her bawdy sense of humor and her aura of genuineness and spontaneity are a big part of the reason she's become such a gay icon.

The point is, if you liked Spartacus: Blood and Sand on television, there's plenty more here to enjoy.

Next Page! Screen caps from the behind-the-scenes!

Here are some screen-shots from the DVD's behind-the-scenes footage: