*snaps fingers*
Oct. 21st, 2008 04:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bedlamsbardI know what's bothering me about Merlin! Besides the horrendously bad CGI, the complete lack of a decent fight choreographer or military advisor (NARNIA YOU HAVE GIVEN ME RIDICULOUSLY HIGH STANDARDS), and the complete mutilation of the Arthurian mythos. That's all incidental.
Not enough snark.
I mean, there's a fair amount of snark, but for some reason I keep expecting more. I also want more Merlin and Arthur interaction, but whatever, I'm sure that will come in time.
My other problem: there's a quote from one of the Keladry books, I think Squire, where Kel asks Raoul what he and Alanna and Jonathan and Gary were like as pages and squires. And he says, "Like puppies in a basket." I was expecting that, for some reason. We know who these people are going to grow up to be: I want to see them getting there. And we're not getting that to the extent I expected. I'm watching Young Hercules at the same time, and there's the puppies in a basket aspect there -- the goofiness, the falling over themselves, the glimmers of potential, all that. I mean, come on, I want Arthur and Morgana and Gwen and Merlin and Lancelot and Gawain and Kay and all that lot! I want them young! I want them trying so hard, and running up against Uther and the older knights at every turn! (Er, there's a slight possibility I was expecting a more BtVS feel too, though I have absolutely no idea why. *shrug* Maybe it's Antony Head.)
Instead...not so much. I mean, it's complete and utter crack. (It's complete and utter crack that makes me want to take every point they bring up there and write Narnia. Like, the bit in Ep. 2 where Uther or Valiant -- I don't remember -- asks Arthur if he's too much of a coward to fight? I want to write the scene post-Natare and post-amnesia where one of the newcomers to the court (arrived while Peter was off a-mercenarying) and asks Peter that same thing after Peter refuses some sort of combat thing. And then Peter turns around and punches him in the face. And the griffin attack at the beginning of Ep. 5? Hilarious because approximately twelve hours earlier I friggin' wrote a griffin attack in Dust, and it was a damn sight scarier, if I do say so myself. And yes, Tirian looked competent. But I digress.) But for Merlin being Arthur's manservant? THEY NEVER TALK. WHAT THE HELL. I mean, aside from when Merlin does something stupid and Arthur has to cover his ass. (AND BOY WOULD ARTHUR EVER LIKE TO COVER HIS ASS. I MEAN.) More Merlin and Arthur! Let's have some more interaction between all the characters; that's what we're missing here. That's what we need for the puppies in a basket feeling!
And what happened to Merlin being able to use magic instinctively? Now he has to use words? Like, I get if he's doing actual spells, but what about when he's just moving stuff around? That's gone, that is, and I liked it. *sulks* I hate it when they set stuff up in the premiere that isn't carried over into the rest of the show.
Also, Merlin looks, like, ridiculously ragged for a manservant. Costuming!
Apropos of nothing, for some reason, I was absolutely convinced throughout the entire first episode that it was going to end with Arthur (and Merlin in tow) being spirited off to the middle of nowhere, and that the entire first season was going to be them traipsing around Britain (Albion, whatever) trying to get back to Camelot, and maybe gathering a ragged crew of wannabe knights along the way that would later form the core of the Knights of the Round Table. And Arthur and Merlin would grow as people and have an unbreakable bond! And Arthur would be able to survive in the rough, and also to understand the ordinary people of Albion! And then in the finale they'd make it back to Camelot and have to save Uther's life somehow, and then Arthur is thrown in prison because no one thinks he's really Prince Arthur, and then he breaks out and saves Uther's life. And then season two would be about Arthur readjusting to court life, and more adventures. I mean, seriously, words cannot contain how friggin' confused I was at the end of Ep. 1 because I was so convinced that that was what was going to happen. I mean, a vague pretense at the myth!
Not enough snark.
I mean, there's a fair amount of snark, but for some reason I keep expecting more. I also want more Merlin and Arthur interaction, but whatever, I'm sure that will come in time.
My other problem: there's a quote from one of the Keladry books, I think Squire, where Kel asks Raoul what he and Alanna and Jonathan and Gary were like as pages and squires. And he says, "Like puppies in a basket." I was expecting that, for some reason. We know who these people are going to grow up to be: I want to see them getting there. And we're not getting that to the extent I expected. I'm watching Young Hercules at the same time, and there's the puppies in a basket aspect there -- the goofiness, the falling over themselves, the glimmers of potential, all that. I mean, come on, I want Arthur and Morgana and Gwen and Merlin and Lancelot and Gawain and Kay and all that lot! I want them young! I want them trying so hard, and running up against Uther and the older knights at every turn! (Er, there's a slight possibility I was expecting a more BtVS feel too, though I have absolutely no idea why. *shrug* Maybe it's Antony Head.)
Instead...not so much. I mean, it's complete and utter crack. (It's complete and utter crack that makes me want to take every point they bring up there and write Narnia. Like, the bit in Ep. 2 where Uther or Valiant -- I don't remember -- asks Arthur if he's too much of a coward to fight? I want to write the scene post-Natare and post-amnesia where one of the newcomers to the court (arrived while Peter was off a-mercenarying) and asks Peter that same thing after Peter refuses some sort of combat thing. And then Peter turns around and punches him in the face. And the griffin attack at the beginning of Ep. 5? Hilarious because approximately twelve hours earlier I friggin' wrote a griffin attack in Dust, and it was a damn sight scarier, if I do say so myself. And yes, Tirian looked competent. But I digress.) But for Merlin being Arthur's manservant? THEY NEVER TALK. WHAT THE HELL. I mean, aside from when Merlin does something stupid and Arthur has to cover his ass. (AND BOY WOULD ARTHUR EVER LIKE TO COVER HIS ASS. I MEAN.) More Merlin and Arthur! Let's have some more interaction between all the characters; that's what we're missing here. That's what we need for the puppies in a basket feeling!
And what happened to Merlin being able to use magic instinctively? Now he has to use words? Like, I get if he's doing actual spells, but what about when he's just moving stuff around? That's gone, that is, and I liked it. *sulks* I hate it when they set stuff up in the premiere that isn't carried over into the rest of the show.
Also, Merlin looks, like, ridiculously ragged for a manservant. Costuming!
Apropos of nothing, for some reason, I was absolutely convinced throughout the entire first episode that it was going to end with Arthur (and Merlin in tow) being spirited off to the middle of nowhere, and that the entire first season was going to be them traipsing around Britain (Albion, whatever) trying to get back to Camelot, and maybe gathering a ragged crew of wannabe knights along the way that would later form the core of the Knights of the Round Table. And Arthur and Merlin would grow as people and have an unbreakable bond! And Arthur would be able to survive in the rough, and also to understand the ordinary people of Albion! And then in the finale they'd make it back to Camelot and have to save Uther's life somehow, and then Arthur is thrown in prison because no one thinks he's really Prince Arthur, and then he breaks out and saves Uther's life. And then season two would be about Arthur readjusting to court life, and more adventures. I mean, seriously, words cannot contain how friggin' confused I was at the end of Ep. 1 because I was so convinced that that was what was going to happen. I mean, a vague pretense at the myth!
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-21 10:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-21 10:37 pm (UTC)*eyes* I refuse to enter another fandom except as crossovers.
Well that's a snag!
Date: 2008-10-21 10:38 pm (UTC)Re: Well that's a snag!
Date: 2008-10-21 10:39 pm (UTC)Re: Well that's a snag!
Date: 2008-10-21 10:47 pm (UTC)UM. I've lost my train of thought. Random point: they've actually got a lot of creative freedom with this one, because there's not really (technically) an Arthurian canon; Le Mort D'Arthur didn't come from nowhere. (Basically Celtic myths > Welsh folklore > Breton troubadors > Welsh folklore redux > Geoffrey of Monmouth, etc.) I guess that's why I can watch this guilt-free.
Re: Well that's a snag!
Date: 2008-10-21 10:52 pm (UTC)Well, I mean, there is some Arthurian canon (unless I've forgotten everything I grew up with; I grew up with the Greek myths as my primary and the Arthurian mythos as my secondary). Arthur being raised by, what's his face, Kay's father, Uther and, um, what was her name, Igraine? together, the sword in the stone, that bit. Arthur being raised at Uther's court keeps tripping me up, for some reason; that's the main sticking point.
Although. I have to admit the bit in Ep. 2 where Merlin's using magic to clean all of Arthur's armor cracks me the hell up; it reminds me of "The Sword in the Stone." Isn't there a similar scene there?
Re: Well that's a snag!
Date: 2008-10-21 10:56 pm (UTC)Sorry, it just sort of comes out. :x
Wait, I remember what I was going to say! You're totally going to write that Athur-and-Merlin-get-kidnapped fic, right? YOU COULD SEND THEM TO NARNIA. *nods*
Re: Well that's a snag!
Date: 2008-10-21 11:48 pm (UTC)*cocks head to side* My bets for this season: Arthur finds out Merlin's a wizard at the end of the first season, pulls Excalibur out of the stone at the end of either the first or second season (if the show lasts that long), maybe the third. Uther's dead before the fourth season, anyway.
*eyes you* We did mention the part where that was a season-long arc, yes? I tend to either think in novels or TV seasons; this thing with Narnia where I think in individual stories is something new. Given the fact that they'd have to be gone at least a year to pull off the emotional mood I'd like to have...yeah, I'm thinking not so much.
Re: Well that's a snag!
Date: 2008-10-21 10:57 pm (UTC)Re: Well that's a snag!
Date: 2008-10-21 11:48 pm (UTC)Re: Well that's a snag!
Date: 2008-10-22 12:48 am (UTC)