Merlin

[erastes]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/merlin/

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Merlin

Well. It's not quite as bad as Robin Hood - being a little better acted for a start but it's not that far off. You really have to suspend any knowledge of ANY Arthur myth, no matter who told it and start from scratch - pretend that you know nothing about the legends at all.

What concerns me is that kids will be watching this that will think that this IS the story, and their parents wouldn't know any better one way or the other. 

T E White, Malory, Monmouth and Tennyson are spinning - SPINNING - in their graves.

The Good: 
*  Merlin is a bit hot. So is Arthur.  I see much slash in the future and perhaps fanfic.  I'm sure this has been done deliberately by the writers. Merlin and Arthur hate each other and Merlin has been given the job of Arthur's manservant.  They are the same age.  *rolls eyes*  No turning him into a minnow then, I'm guessing.
* The Cast: Richard Wilson, John Hurt, Anthony Head (camping it up beautifully)
* Special effects look promising and they've chucked a lot of money at it.
* Gwen from Torchwood dies twice!  Hurrah!

The Bad:
* Makes the Sam Neill version (started well, got a bit floundering) look like The Definitive Version
* Guinevere is a serving wench and black. And no, saying that doesn't make me racist. But really - if she had even existed how bloody likely was it that she'd be black?  What is this? Retroactive Scriptwriting?  "OK Tarquin, we have a Muslim woman as a Merry Man, and a black Guinevere, do you think that'll make up for the Crusades and Slavery?"
* People throw perfectly good food at the Pillory.
* And they throw tomatoes. TOMATOES!!!
* When is this supposed to be set?  It's a hideous mish mash of eras and - like many a Hollywood version seems to be "sort of" set sometime around the 12th? century?  There's the knights dressed in plate armour and chain mail, someone saying that they can't find their glasses - metal hand rails set into stone castle staircases - and the architecture??? PLEASE don't get me started. Film in France apparently (and Wales) because obviously England doesn't have any castles. 

I'm ashamed.

Anyone else see it?

ETA: There's a new BBC version of Tess of the D'urbevilles on now. Let's hope there's no computers and spaceships.

Comments

[marquesate.livejournal.com]

*covers eyes*

There is a reason why I don't pay a TV license/haven't got a telly: what horror is that??? Why does the BBC do such awful things?

[erastes.livejournal.com]

You are very wise. However I advise popping over the BBC iplayer and watching just 10 minutes of it. Just for fun.

:)

mildly OT

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

There is a reason why I don't pay a TV license/haven't got a telly

Phew, I'm not the only one after all ;). This description makes me go all DO NOT MISS! ;)

Re: mildly OT

[marquesate.livejournal.com]

Nope, you're not the only one. We haven't had a telly for 3.5 years and have never looked back, but we do have several desktops and laptops ... ;-)

[joyful-molly.livejournal.com]

What a mess. I don't think I'll suffer through another episode... one dragon alone is not worth the pain. Next to bravery and faith, knights also had to sport boyband haircuts and look like members of Westlife. *groan*

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Wasn't that written into the Knight's edicts?

Praying over your sword in overnight vigil and singing "I believe I can fly?"

[joyful-molly.livejournal.com]

Ahaha! You're releasing terrible plot bunnies, here! :-D

[haydenthorne.livejournal.com]

I'll just sit here and photoshop Arthur and Merlin together. :D

As for Tess, I'm guessing that she escapes the gallows and runs off with Angel Clare for Geneva.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Amazingly Tess is pretty faithful. Seems Literachoor is sacrosanct but legends and myths we can turn into The Knight's Tale version of events.

[souliesoul.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I know, when I saw the tomatoes I cringed. And what a waste - it was all good, edible food. Weren't there hungry people in Camelot (or er, did they rename it)?

It's all well and good trying to aim for racial inclusion, but, I agree, Guinevere would most likely have been white.

I've pretty much given up on the BBC managing to get the concept of historical accuracy anywhere near their shows. They seem to think that they can handwave everything!

As for Tess, we had to study that in English and it was such a depressing read, really without hope, at least that's what's stayed with me, so I'm skipping that and typing up my art history notes instead!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Yes - Tess starts sunny and goes progressively downhill from there. I do recommend the Zepherelli version if you feel strong one day, armed with many many tissues - but it's a gorgeous version.

Good edible anachronistic tomatoes too.

I didn't catch the name of the place, just some wibbling on about Albion. *rolls eyes* I may have to get the Sam Neill version out of DVD just to bleach my brain. Or The Disney Sword in the Stone. It says something when Disney is better than the BBC.

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

My children took one look at it and went 'that looks rubbish', so I didn't even have that as an excuse to watch. I might take your advice and watch a bit on iplayer, just so I have an informed reason to pass it up next time :)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

There are various reasons it seems to be worth watching, and then something makes you scream so best stay away. I shall just watch out for Arthur/Merlin fanart.... *hopeful*

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Having seen it, it's certainly very pretty. It bothers me that it doesn't seem to connect anywhere to either history or Arthurian legend. (I guess that if they'd used original names for the characters it would have lost what tiny glamour it has and be revealed as yet another D&D ripoff). Googly-eyed gangly teenage Merlin looks like one of my daughter's 14 year old friends (behaves like it too). I think I might have liked it twenty years ago, but I'm glad I had 'Robin of Sherwood' instead.

[zamaxfield.livejournal.com]

Tomatoes?!! WTF? Okay. Maybe they were just planning past the part where you have to watch it and right through to the part where a good trailer makes me curious enough to buy it as a DVD.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't buy it. I'd get Hotspot Shield and watch it on the BBC Iplayer.

[zamaxfield.livejournal.com]

I'm not quite sure what Hotspot Shield or a BBC Iplayer is, to be honest, but whatever it is, I'll probably like it, since you're responsible for introducing me to a lot of things I like, like Torchwood and the most recent Dr. Who incarnations.

I have a region free DVD player and I'm not afraid to use it. ;-) A lot of other things, I'm afraid, I can't download because things that are compatible with PCs aren't always compatible with Macs.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Hotspot shield is a website where you can hide your IP - which means you can watch programmes from another country - I watch American programmes using it - and the BBC iplayer is where you watch tv programmes on line. What I mean by "i wouldn't buy it" was simply that I wouldn't give them more money - I already pay my licence fee to the BBC and that paid for that drivel.

*makes face*

[aunty_marion]

I giggled a lot throughout. I'd been forewarned about the black Guenevere thing, so I'd done my *headdesking* in advance (though from the publicity stuff in Radio Times, etc, we appear to be getting some black knights. No, not Black Knights....). And yes, the tomatoes... *headdesk* more.

But the chain mail was very nicely knitted - I'm sure I couldn't have done better myself! Oh, and the nice modern English notices on the castle walls, in nice modern typography too. And Morgana's not-quite-there dress. And they appear to have nicked the dragon wholesale from Dragonheart - it was quite a shock that it sounded like Ollivander instead of Sean Connery!

Yes, the Merlin/Arthur slash is probably already being written. Though Arthur reminded me irresistably of Robert Addie as Guy of Gisburne in Robin of Sherwood - now that Merlin is his manservant, can we expect Arthur to take a bath, so he can ask Merlin to rub him dry? "Harder, Gisburne Merlin! Harder!"

At least it's marginally better than Bonekickers.

Ooops, reposted to fix wonky HTML!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Am now giggling madly.

"We expect great things from you, Mr Merlin, very great things."

Bonekickers? What was that? I had some very expensive psychiatry to rid my memory of that show, you know.

I do hope there's a bath in the near future.

[volterra.livejournal.com]

Well, if you think about it, Mallory, Tennyson and White, were working from their own realities instead of the original one. That is to say the dark ages, no metal armor hardly of any sort and certainly no chivalry or ladies in flowing dresses who are helpless and pine away looking at mirrors. (Never mind that I love that poem).

Mallory, et al wrote for their generation and their generation's sensibilities -- and so chivalry played a major part in the Arthurian romances and the idea of courtly love. These things didn't exist in the dark ages.

This is just the 21st century's generation's take on it.

And given that I can't abide anything Arthurian that isn't properly set in the Dark Ages (well as properly as can be given what we know), I'll be avoiding this -- but um, Anthony Stewart Head is tempting.

Well, you know unless Clive Owen is in it -- in which I go batshit crazy that they got the history all wrong but drool over the boys and the stories. Ahem.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Yeah but I don't think even White had tomatoes.

:)

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

Sounds like Queer As Arthurian Folk from your description. I love the legendary Tomatoes of Camelot.

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

I believe I shall possibly try iPlayer, but ultimately return to my copy of Excalibur, which is at least enjoyably campy.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

God - yes, much more sensible.

[mzcalypso.livejournal.com]

Geez. The BBC graphic looks like a cover flat for a faux medieval m/m romance, which is what you seem to be describing. I think it's the boys' lipgloss... Not a bad notion, it's just not the Arthurian legend, either. I give it 6 months before analogs start showing up in the m/m ebook catalogs.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, there's a lot of pouting young men. I feel that they've learned a lot from Rusty D Davies...

[emilyveinglory.livejournal.com]

I think I might skip this one--and I already have written Merlin/Arthur slash ;)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

*snorts* Now I may have to go and try and find that. Please tell me it's not Sword in the Stone based...

[emilyveinglory.livejournal.com]

It isn;t based on a specific fandom but my own version. In fact i think you can still get a copy here: http://www.lionheartdistribution.com/originalgay.htm

They are two old zine style novellas called 'Alas, the Red Dragin' and 'Among new Men'.

Really just reflecting my mlove of older men, in this case a *lot* older... oh well...

[suryaofvulcan.livejournal.com]

I think this is going top be one of my guilty pleasures despite it's flaws. In addition to the things you mentioned, how come every Tom, Dick and Merlin in the 12th/15th/17th century can read? And those mountains he walked through at the beginning looked like nowhere in Britain I've ever seen.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I feel that I might be doing the same guilty thing purely as a post-Strictly Come Dancing you understand...

:)