Merlin: a discussion

[electric discordian]

This is a natural continuation from Doctor Who an open discussion, it is after all the new tea time slot BBC drama. Family viewing in the vein of the New Robin Hood series. So apologies to you American types I apologise as you may not have seen it yet.

But you may also use this as a forum to discuss Arthurian Myth as a whole, the rules are try not to put in spoilers, I may make oblique reference to the series but it won't destroy the plot.

Firstly my initial view is on the subject of Canon, this takes Arthurian Myth and fires it out of one. It messes about with the given time line of the Morte d Arthur in a merciless and horrific manner.

Camelot is already built, Uther is King of it, Merlin is a teenager, Morgana is in her twenties, Uther united the kingdoms. All of this happens before the story so I doubt Im giving things away.

Oh and it's tainted by the evil of Torchwood as it has Gwen Cooper in it. If you disconnect that part of your brain that in anyway deals with the handling of Myth it's quite good the effects are nice, the acting is good and it has Richard Wilson as a grumpy court physician.

The floor is open to discussion on this and anything related to Arthur and Merlin, from Geoffery of Monmouth to this series taking in welsh myth as well.

Its designed to be open forum..

Go for it

 

[ThePlasmatizer]

Unfortunately I missed it yesterday!
I'll have to watch the repeat later today

Hopefully it isn't as cheesy as Robin Hood.

 

[Surreysmith]

it wasn't that good IMO. And what a bad ending "You have just saved the prince's life you can be his servant" please.

 

[electric discordian]

it wasn't that good IMO. And what a bad ending "You have just saved the prince's life you can be his servant" please.

What did I say about NO spoilers????????? And you give away the end? And in answer to that, working as the kings manservant was one of the highest honours in the court. You cant be promoted out of your social group. But being the lead servant is being promoted to the top of it!

 

[Typecast]

I'm in Australia so we won't even get adverts about it for six months.

 

[TomNook]

It doesn't matter how good it is, SG-1 did it better.

 

[Fudj]

Well despite the very obvious raping off the mythology itself, its a fun fantasy series....acting and production values are good, so while not the most epic thing on TV its not a bad series so far, although saying that its only had one episode so i guess its a case of see how it goes.

 

[Spacewolf]

yea apart from screwing with the story it seems alright they killed the woman from torchwood in the first episode so they are doing somethings right at least

 

[electric discordian]

Haven't seen anything apart from the trailer. Doesn't look anywhere near as good as the Sam Neill version. Now that was a proper Merlin

Apart from making Merlin a Chrisitan pagans evil and generally dicked around with every part of the story I loved!

 

[ThePlasmatizer]

I just saw the first episode of Merlin and I'm not impressed.

The only part of the show that really shined were the graphics, I've seen few small time dramas that are able to do it.

Unfortunately everything else I disliked, they obviously made the attempt to make it aesthetically medieval but it still wasn't convincing, the character's had no personality whatsoever, and the storyline was disjointed and uninteresting.

The Merlin series starring Sam Neill is a lot better than this show.

 

[LewsTherin]

The Campaign for Real Time is not pleased by the inconsistencies in the plotline. Not pleased at all....

 

[cheatking]

i saw the first episode today on the iplayer and i kinda liked it, i havent seen the Sam Neill version but this one was quite nice.

However, it seems their pulling the 'doctor who'plans of story telling which is:
1) introduce bad guy
2) introduce some element that seems small
3) main character uses said element to defeat/kill/transport bad guy to new dimention

Rinse and repeat

Not saying this is a bad thing because theres the whole series story line yet to unfold.

Didn't see much of the dragon, even then it was a tad pointless

 

[electric discordian]

As

I just saw the first episode of Merlin and I'm not impressed.

The only part of the show that really shined were the graphics, I've seen few small time dramas that are able to do it.

Unfortunately everything else I disliked, they obviously made the attempt to make it aesthetically medieval but it still wasn't convincing, the character's had no personality whatsoever, and the storyline was disjointed and uninteresting.

Aesthetically medieval? What bit the glass windows, the back packs, the awful chain mail which would be about as protecting as a bikini! I liked it and I preferred it to the Sam Neil version, for the above reasons.

As a side note, why do I find women in medieval garb that extra bit special? Time to go to the re-enactment fair and get the wife a dress methinks!

Despite every single atom of my being screaming noooooooooooooooo, I find this series a heck of alot more enjoyable than Robin Hood and it's certainly better than Bonekickers and of course Torchwood. I cant resist the temptation to beat that series as its the Kerry Catona of sci fi!

The Merlin series starring Sam Neill is a lot better than this show.

 

[H.R.Shovenstuff]

Merlin is a kid. On this basis I shall not watch it.

 

[ThePlasmatizer]

Merlin is a kid. On this basis I shall not watch it.

In the Arthurian legend Merlin is a boy at the beginning.

 

[electric discordian]

As

I just saw the first episode of Merlin and I'm not impressed.

The only part of the show that really shined were the graphics, I've seen few small time dramas that are able to do it.

Unfortunately everything else I disliked, they obviously made the attempt to make it aesthetically medieval but it still wasn't convincing, the character's had no personality whatsoever, and the storyline was disjointed and uninteresting.

Aesthetically medieval? What bit the glass windows, the back packs, the awful chain mail which would be about as protecting as a bikini! I liked it and I preferred it to the Sam Neil version, for the above reasons.

As a side note, why do I find women in medieval garb that extra bit special? Time to go to the re-enactment fair and get the wife a dress methinks!

Despite every single atom of my being screaming noooooooooooooooo, I find this series a heck of alot more enjoyable than Robin Hood and it's certainly better than Bonekickers and of course Torchwood. I cant resist the temptation to beat that series as its the Kerry Catona of sci fi!

I managed to some how interject the line about Sam Neils Merlin between the previous poster and my post so it looked as though I disagreed with myself in the same post! The best Merlin is the one from John Boormans Excalibur.

 

[H.R.Shovenstuff]

Merlin is a kid. On this basis I shall not watch it.

In the Arthurian legend Merlin is a boy at the beginning.

Sorry I should have specified, the BBC will try and make this realist to the kidz of today and make him just like some little kid that you would find down town on a friday night, someone like me. I'm not a wizard!

 

[Bakabaikun]

It doesn't matter how good it is, SG-1 did it better.

This /\.

Although they do get plus points for casting Richard Wilson, it still wasn't that great in general. Of course this was only the first episode so they had to introduce all of the characters, etc; thus there is still a chance it could get better, though I'm not entirely convinced it will.

 

[electric discordian]

I havent seen the SG1 bit is it good. I am still of the opinion if I can enjoy it anyone can! After a half a year of studying medieval romance and chivalric literature I know more about Arthur that I care to know! Sorry that sounds like I posing which I'm not.

 

[ThePlasmatizer]

Merlin is a kid. On this basis I shall not watch it.

In the Arthurian legend Merlin is a boy at the beginning.

Sorry I should have specified, the BBC will try and make this realist to the kidz of today and make him just like some little kid that you would find down town on a friday night, someone like me. I'm not a wizard!

I know what you mean, I'm surprised they didn't put him in a hoodie.