I absolutely love reading your thoughts on this show. It basically reduces me to incoherent flailing, so it's nice seeing really well thought out posts that I can read and enjoy and use to see new things in the show when I rewatch it. Also, the paragraph about Arthurian chivalry is beautiful. I may have possibly gotten a little emotional over it, just because that's such an important idea to me and I think it's one of the many reasons I'm so attached to the legends and to Arthur.
Thanks for this thought-provoking analysis of one of my favourite episodes! Poisoned Chalice for me is the moment the show really starts to get into gear - I can't wait to read your take on some of the later eps (the flipside of which is it's very hard not to say spoilery things about how some of your points tie in with them).
So much here echoes my thinking when I first watched this one: Merlin as The Fool - as I just said on mint_amaretto's archetypes post here
Merlin would be The Fool in my Cult BBC TV Tarot if it weren't for the fact that a)he's pretty much the reason Tarot has a Magician card, and b)The Fool must = The Doctor, really. Four and Ten especially.
Jeeves & Wooster - the whole food fight exchange made me want a Wodehouseian AU with Arthur as a member of the Drones...
And this, for those of you who told me you didn't study King Arthur in school, is the Arthurian Legend in a
( ... )
Thank you for commenting and for the link. I hope you don't mind if I save it until I've finished watching the series.
Merlin would be The Fool in my Cult BBC TV Tarot if it weren't for the fact that a)he's pretty much the reason Tarot has a Magician card, and b)The Fool must = The Doctor, really. Four and Ten especially
There's one school of thought that sees the Major Arcana as a journey, with the Fool as the first step to becoming the Magician.
This whole paragraph made me jump up and down squeaking gleefully, because YES. That's exactly what it's all about, why this story is so powerful and eternal and endlessly re-interpretable and awesome. And to class, age, gender, nationality this particular re-interpretation can add race and, metaphorically, sexuality.
Which is one of the things that makes this version awesome.
I'm very much hoping that the question of Merlin's paternity will become a future story arc. I postulate Gaius may know more than he's telling, judging from the way he ducks out of answering Merlin's 'Do you know
( ... )
By all means save the link till the end - I too hate to be spoilered. I went to put the link for merlin_meta here but I see you've found it! It's a small comm but very much quality over quantity; there's some cracking posts about all sorts of things.
There's one school of thought that sees the Major Arcana as a journey, with the Fool as the first step to becoming the Magician.
Yes! With the World leading back to the Fool at the end, because you had all you needed all along, you just didn't know it. I love that interpretation.
Gaius...has issues, is about all I can say without spoilers. Really interesting issues that give him fascinating layers though. For a pre-watershed family entertainment show, we do get characters with surprisingly complex motivations and relationships.
Gaius...has issues, is about all I can say without spoilers. Really interesting issues that give him fascinating layers though. For a pre-watershed family entertainment show, we do get characters with surprisingly complex motivations and relationships.
Those are the only kind of pre-watershed shows which live up to the mandate of teaching children to watch good drama when grow up. Christopher Eccleston gave that as his reason for seeking the role of Nine. As a parent, it has my whole-hearted approval. Anything that doesn't it too wretched to sit through with my children.
Thank you. Good luck with your exams. It's criminal to have to write about Dubliners on a wore-out brain.
There's an essay on witchvox about a little boy who simply had too much energy, and was mistaken for having HDD. His mother realized he needed a focus and raised him to be an Arthurian Knight, using all that excess energy to help those who needed it. Instead of becoming a monster, he became a hero.
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So much here echoes my thinking when I first watched this one: Merlin as The Fool - as I just said on mint_amaretto's archetypes post here
http://mint-amaretto.livejournal.com/709.html#cutid1
Merlin would be The Fool in my Cult BBC TV Tarot if it weren't for the fact that a)he's pretty much the reason Tarot has a Magician card, and b)The Fool must = The Doctor, really. Four and Ten especially.
Jeeves & Wooster - the whole food fight exchange made me want a Wodehouseian AU with Arthur as a member of the Drones...
And this, for those of you who told me you didn't study King Arthur in school, is the Arthurian Legend in a ( ... )
Reply
Merlin would be The Fool in my Cult BBC TV Tarot if it weren't for the fact that a)he's pretty much the reason Tarot has a Magician card, and b)The Fool must = The Doctor, really. Four and Ten especially
There's one school of thought that sees the Major Arcana as a journey, with the Fool as the first step to becoming the Magician.
This whole paragraph made me jump up and down squeaking gleefully, because YES. That's exactly what it's all about, why this story is so powerful and eternal and endlessly re-interpretable and awesome. And to class, age, gender, nationality this particular re-interpretation can add race and, metaphorically, sexuality.
Which is one of the things that makes this version awesome.
I'm very much hoping that the question of Merlin's paternity will become a future story arc. I postulate Gaius may know more than he's telling, judging from the way he ducks out of answering Merlin's 'Do you know ( ... )
Reply
There's one school of thought that sees the Major Arcana as a journey, with the Fool as the first step to becoming the Magician.
Yes! With the World leading back to the Fool at the end, because you had all you needed all along, you just didn't know it. I love that interpretation.
Gaius...has issues, is about all I can say without spoilers. Really interesting issues that give him fascinating layers though. For a pre-watershed family entertainment show, we do get characters with surprisingly complex motivations and relationships.
Reply
Those are the only kind of pre-watershed shows which live up to the mandate of teaching children to watch good drama when grow up. Christopher Eccleston gave that as his reason for seeking the role of Nine. As a parent, it has my whole-hearted approval. Anything that doesn't it too wretched to sit through with my children.
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LOL on the last bit with Arthur and Merlin off into the sunset. Works for me as well.
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There's an essay on witchvox about a little boy who simply had too much energy, and was mistaken for having HDD. His mother realized he needed a focus and raised him to be an Arthurian Knight, using all that excess energy to help those who needed it. Instead of becoming a monster, he became a hero.
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