"Spartacus": Blood, Guts and a naked Lucy Lawless

"Put the kids to bed, lock the door, pull down the shades, 'cause you ain't seen nothing like this," Starz executive VP of creative development told a room of TV critics at their summer meeting.

It's Spartacus, coming around again next January on the pay-cable network, with some of the hyper-realistic style of The 300, and pushed by Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, of, among others, Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys fame. Critics got to see the editors' cut of the trailer, which had been shown, in edited form, last weekend at the big Comic-Con gathering in San Diego.

The fanboys missed a little nudity, but not a whole lot of the graphic blood and guts, as slaves slice off each others' heads, legs and arms, and inflict other, less precise mayhem. Aw, it's not that bad, said executive producer and head writer Steven S. DeKnight. Gladators didn't get into the "gruesome, violent, twisted stuff" until the Roman Empire was in decline, after the time of Spartacus and his slave rebellion.

Asked their favorite gory moments, DeKnight mentioned people getting "stabbed, slashed and beaten to death."

"What's that ball with the spikes on it?" Raimi asked gleefully.

But Peter Mensah, who will play Doctore, a loyal slave, got everyone to agree that the best comes when a victor cuts off his defeated opponent's face and wears it over his own for a couple of days. Lucy Lawless, Taper's wife, who plays "the devious Lucretia," went on about the wonders of makeup artists in New Zealand, where the show is shot. Scrambling at the last minute to perfect the artificial face, they finally figured out it would work best if they gave it a little cook in the microwave.

"It's the Kiwi way, really," said Lawless. Getting things done by the seat of your pants, that is, not microwaving faces.

And speaking of pants, there frequently aren't any in this show, where the male actors can choose from a variety of prosthetic penises to enhance their naked look, the most manly of all being dubbed "The Kirk Douglas," in homage to the legendary actor's Spartacus performance nearly 50 years ago.

So far, said Lawless, she's kept her pants on. Not so with her top, she said, though there were no noticeable shots in the uncut trailer.