Merlin

[Farmer Reil]

Anthony Stewart Head as Uther Pendragon. Richard Wilson as the narrator/court physician. Santiago Cabrera (Heroes' Isaac Mendes) as Lancelot.

A host of young British talent, including Colin Morgan in the title role (Dr. Who fans might remember him as Jethro in one episode last series). And a chick I don't know who plays Morgana and is... of suitable aesthetic parameters.

This cannot fail. It has Anthony Stewart Head in it. Cannot fail.

Will not fail.

I expect AT LEAST Robin Hood levels of watchability; harmless family entertainment that doesn't fuck the basic story over too much. Like Robin Hood, there are so many different versions and cycles of Arthurian Legend that they can pretty much get away with anything. Like in this case, they have Merlin as Arthur's childhood friend. In the common Merlin lore, Merlin was the one that tricked Uther into sleeping with Gorlois' wife, and thus spawning Arthur in the first place. So it's unlikely they'd be anywhere near the same age. But for the sake of family entertainment, I'm willing to give them that one... Especially as, in the common Merlin law, Merlin wasn't actually that much of a good guy; he was either a bard driven insane, briefly possessed by a daemon, or half-daemon - depending on the story. But these days everyone thinks of him as the good guy, so... changes must be made, since you can't really have too many Tweeners on prime time mainstream entertainment programs, especially in the title role...

There is a huge failure in the casting, of course. Bradley James, who plays Arthur, is a dirty fucking Devonian. And, as well as Wales (perfectly acceptable), it was filmed in Kent. >_<

Also, on a completely unrelated note, Louise Dylan who plays Bronwen is in an upcoming comedy horror film from the writers of Balls of Steel called Lesbian Vampire Killers. Now THAT'S a film worth watching.

Anyway, back to the point... 7:30pm, BBC One, tonight.

Edited September 20, 2008 by Farmer Reil

[Cactus Drags]

Oh fuck, must watch. I don't know a great deal about Merlin, but Bernard Cornwell's Winter King mentions him a few times, and it's a fantastic book. I always forgot to watch Robin Hood, I'll have to track that down as well. Ta for the heads up, I've not seen it advertised or anything.

[Farmer Reil]

Well hey, that was a pretty solid start. The acting of the non-famous actors is a shit-ton better than in Robin Hood (Arthur in particular, though he's still a dirty Devonian). The whole thing with the Great Dragon was sort of cool, but reminded me of Sean Connery's dragon in Dragonheart, a film I never want to be reminded of, ever. Have to admit though, I'm not really feeling Anthony Stewart Head as Uther Pendragon. Maybe it's because he'll always be Rupert Giles to me, but Uther was a big hulking badass with a cool beard. And wasn't, in fact, a very nice person - he tried to hit on the wife of one of his Dukes, and when said Duke found out and moved back home to Cornwall with her, Uther declared war on him and tricked the Duke's wife into having sex with him (spawning our 'hero' Arthur). Then the Duke died (that same night in fact, but not by Uther's hand) so Uther practically forced his wife to marry him. Not exactly the actions of a noble, good-natured king, eh?

ASH is none of those.

All in all though, it seems promising. The story was nothing overly complex of course, this is 7:30 on BBC1 while Dr. Who is on holiday, but enough to keep me watching. Or at least, enough for me to Series Link it on Sky+. And next week we get Will Mellor.

Arthur chatting up Morgana was a bit weird though. Dude, she's your half-sister. Are you seriously telling me you've never seen her in a pretty dress? The incest is acceptable, the guy playing Arthur is from Devon, we can only expect so much (); besides, Arthur's son marries Arthur's other sister, so there's a precedent (well, not a precedent because this happens first, but... you know what I mean!). His reaction was just a bit... odd. Besides which, she's the son of your fathers' dead rival. Just because daddy stole his wife, doesn't mean you can take his daughter!

And do we really need two "at first I thought you were a cunt, but now I'm starting to warm to you" storylines? Merlin, fine. But Gwen as well? Assuming of course they don't amputate the whole Guinevere and Arthur thing completely, which they might. There are a few places they could go with these characters, considering it's set several years before most Arthur/Merlin legends are and the way they've taken some characters down a different path could either be interesting or crap.

Edited September 20, 2008 by Farmer Reil

[METALMAN]

I enjoyed it. I'll probably watch the next episode.

[James Casey]

I missed the first few minutes, but yeah, it's perfectly watchable. And I thought that was Will Mellor. Given that I've never watched an epsiode of Hollyoaks or Casualty (was it Casualty he was in?) I'm disgusted with myself that I immediately recognised him.

And as for recognition, who was the maid that got killed by the witch thing? I'm sure I've seen her in stuff before.

Oh, and Eve Myles was also in Torchwood on BBC HD at the same time - which made me wonder why this wasn't HD as well (and, for that matter, why Dr. Who isn't?)

[Farmer Reil]

I missed the first few minutes, but yeah, it's perfectly watchable. And I thought that was Will Mellor. Given that I've never watched an epsiode of Hollyoaks or Casualty (was it Casualty he was in?) I'm disgusted with myself that I immediately recognised him.

And as for recognition, who was the maid that got killed by the witch thing? I'm sure I've seen her in stuff before.

Oh, and Eve Myles was also in Torchwood on BBC HD at the same time - which made me wonder why this wasn't HD as well (and, for that matter, why Dr. Who isn't?)

Will Mellor was Jack Vincent in Casualty, aye. I IMDB'd that though; I know him as the legend that is Gaz in Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps.

And the maid, Bronwen, was Louise Dylan who hasn't been in anything else as far as IMDB knows, but will be in an amazing-sounding horror comedy called Lesbian Vampire Killers next year.

[therockbox]

Who was the voice of the dragon? I recognised it but can't find anything on IMDB or the BBC site.

[9 to 5]

John Hurt.

[Lord Nibbler]

Should I bother checking this out on iPlayer? The reviews of "watchable" and "harmless family entertainment", and the comparison to Robin Hood (which was shite) don't fill me with confidence..

Oh, and Eve Myles was also in Torchwood on BBC HD at the same time - which made me wonder why this wasn't HD as well (and, for that matter, why Dr. Who isn't?)

High def. CGI costs a lot more than standard def. CGI.

[Farmer Reil]

It's only 45 minutes long. Watch it, if you don't like it, stop watching it.