I'm not qualified to comment: my only exposure to Merlin has been a brief mashup on Youtube, and the reason that it's been my only exposure is that the thing was hilarious. I couldn't possibly take the actual show seriously now. Even the title leaves me giggling.
But I've snuck in here to add: Deine Lakaien. Youtube. Oh my. The remixes are better, and ignore the vocalist's highly comical hair. Epic wrenching soulful joyful wow.
You've made me want to go back to Pellinore, though. I wonder what I've missed..
Merlin is like the Ashfiend plot: It could be so much better and it's almost painful because of that. It's like using Kobe beef at McDonalds. Something is seriously out of whack, and Kobe beef deserves better than that ridiculous catsup and two limp pickles.
I think I have honestly invested Pellinore with the mythos I see in him and he perhaps isn't really as crucial or interesting as I see him to be, but isn't that a writer's job? :)
I watched and enjoyed the whole first season of Merlin when it was showing on the BBC, but it was only possible by resolutely switching off my brain and giggling. LOTS of giggling.
I will confess that I was never very conscious of Pellinore, even in my Arthurian-geek days . . . but, yeah. This show really does not take advantage of the mythos.
Uther seemed to me like he had the potential to be awesome, but I felt that the authors resolutely avoided any actual grappling with the complexities of his reign: we're repeatedly assured that he is In Many Ways Bad but at the same time We Must Defend Him (mostly, I think, because the downfall of Uther would be awkward for the plot). I think they were trying to say that, whatever his problems, he was better than the alternative . . . but I didn't think they ever satisfactorily showed it.
Oh, that does drive me crazy. They hint that, without Uther, the realm of Camelot had a lot to do with baby-eating sorcerers and the kind of fur-trimmed bad guys you see on Xena and Hercules, but they never commit. The show ends up making a lot of assumptions about the setting that are proper for a Monster of the Week show, which is... well, with the kind of source material they have to work with, it's really quite dumb. They tried to work with complex!Uther during the episode in which Gwen's father is killed for "treason," but again it was only a backdrop for emo!Morgana and even Gwen was feeling better by the end. Ugh!
To be honest, I've extrapolated some on Pellinore, simply because he is a minor character. But there's a lot of thematic goodies there, especially with the Questing Beast, and the fact that he is played for laughs most of the time when a lot of the stuff he goes through is actually more on the tragic scale. I'm more of a hobbyist with Arthuriana than a true scholar, at any rate.
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But I've snuck in here to add: Deine Lakaien. Youtube. Oh my. The remixes are better, and ignore the vocalist's highly comical hair. Epic wrenching soulful joyful wow.
You've made me want to go back to Pellinore, though. I wonder what I've missed..
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I think I have honestly invested Pellinore with the mythos I see in him and he perhaps isn't really as crucial or interesting as I see him to be, but isn't that a writer's job? :)
And now, I am off to check out Deine Lakaien!
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I will confess that I was never very conscious of Pellinore, even in my Arthurian-geek days . . . but, yeah. This show really does not take advantage of the mythos.
Uther seemed to me like he had the potential to be awesome, but I felt that the authors resolutely avoided any actual grappling with the complexities of his reign: we're repeatedly assured that he is In Many Ways Bad but at the same time We Must Defend Him (mostly, I think, because the downfall of Uther would be awkward for the plot). I think they were trying to say that, whatever his problems, he was better than the alternative . . . but I didn't think they ever satisfactorily showed it.
Reply
To be honest, I've extrapolated some on Pellinore, simply because he is a minor character. But there's a lot of thematic goodies there, especially with the Questing Beast, and the fact that he is played for laughs most of the time when a lot of the stuff he goes through is actually more on the tragic scale. I'm more of a hobbyist with Arthuriana than a true scholar, at any rate.
Reply
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