Magicness of Ness

[Kimra]

I just watched most of Merlin. (which is awesome for pretty boy staring, but useless for script / plot or historical accuracy*)
I want to hit Merlin over the head for being useless, and kill some of the writers. But overall I've been enjoying it. I have a soft spot for badly made fantasy movies / tv shows. Possibly because there are not many good ones. Anyone seen this one or have an opinion on it even without watching it?

*is is possible to be historically accurate with a story more legend than reality?

[Cirtur]

I watched Merlin and at times it was pretty bad, but all of the characters had their reasons for doing things, especially the king who was written as a rational guy instead of an overbearing authority figure.

One thing I did like about Merlin was that it followed a supporting character. Arthur is the guy that has to fight everyone and Merlin helps him and I thought that was interesting.

[Lethal Interjection]

Kind of off-topic, but I love Merlin in the novel That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis.
He's a mix of badass and mirth. The way he ultimately has fun with his role in overthrowing the conspiracy was just great.

[FengharTheNord]

It's got Anthony Stewart Head in it. But I still don't like it.

[mountainmage]

Thought this was going to be an Earthbound thread.

[Cirtur]

I fucking love earthbound.

[mountainmage]

It certainly is a great game. I love this part.

[littleninja]

Kind of off-topic, but I love Merlin in the novel That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis.
He's a mix of badass and mirth. The way he ultimately has fun with his role in overthrowing the conspiracy was just great.

YES!

I agree.

[LordRetard]

One of my brothers has started playing it again. He moved back in and he said the first thing he wanted to do was play Earthbound. It's a pretty good game, I guess.

[smiley_cow]

Partly inspired by this thread, partly out of pure boredom I'm taping the next episode of Merlin. I'll let you know my thoughts on it when I have some.

[Kimra]

I think the king is actually the best written character in the whole show. Everyone else is just a little bit un-bright. Two episodes left, and I can't watch them now - the swirliness would be too much even for me. (yeah go on figure out what i mean without reading any of my other posts)

[Lethal Interjection]

Kind of off-topic, but I love Merlin in the novel That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis.
He's a mix of badass and mirth. The way he ultimately has fun with his role in overthrowing the conspiracy was just great.

YES!

I agree.

I was actually thrown off by it at first. I didn't expect to actually laugh reading a book like that.

[Kimra]

Meh. Just finished watching Merlin. Go downloading goodness.

I like Joss Whedon's theory when writing tv shows. "Treat every season like it's the last."* Because this means you actually give the audience something, the story progresses, characters can develop. Rather than... say Pokemon or the Brady Bunch, or any of those shows that continuously cycle out the same thing every episode. Bad fights good, good wins, yay no one has grown. In other words, although my angst button was pushed (I become chocked up when people stub their toes so this is hardly an impressive feat), it failed to deliver anything that inspired or intrigued. I do have that desire to re-write the whole thing for them and make it good, but I have that for many things.

Example: Star Wars Episode's 1,2, and 3.

/end rant

*Total paraphrase

[Sahan]

I grew tired of Merlin, everytime I was expecting the story might progress a fair bit (e.g. Uther preparing himself for an inevitable death to protect Arthur from an evil magic), they make it so that miraculously the day is saved/Merlin succesfully his conceals his ability to do magic. I stopped watching after that episode where he returns to his village, by that point my already faltering faith in their ability to provide an interesting overall plot was well and truly dead.

I loved Bernard Cornwell's take on the Arthur mythology in the Winter King, due to its gritty, controversial nature and determination to come up with a historically plausible storyline significantly different from the traditional one, yet still recognisable for those who knew the legend. Arthur was merely a Celtic warlord fighting off the Saxon invaders, Wizards and witches had as much physical power as modern stage magicians, but relied on their bag of tricks to gain a psychological power over others. Women were treated like they would have been in that period of time, and Christians were only just emerging in a pagan world. Good read, though I only read the first 2 books in the trilogy I think.

[Kimra]

It didn't get better as far as progression of story went. (Actually a spoiler) Uther doesn't die, and Merlin doesn't get discovered by anyone, at all, ever.