locations: ep 513 The Diamond of the Day, Part Two
This episode. Too epic. I cried, I laughed thrice, I loved, I cried some more. I loved it all so much. And I just couldn't even cope with doing a locations post before now. Sorry!
OK, so most of the locations are places we've discussed before.
A lot of the forest scenes in which we find Merlin and Arthur making their journey, starting with the one where we first find them with Gaius, have those light-barked trees with the vines and ivy. Later there are more pine trees. I suppose you could find such anywhere, but you can certainly find them around the Speech House Lake and Cannop Ponds area in the Forest of Dean. We may never pin these things down, but it all had the feel of that area. The loose sort of structure under which Merlin has sheltered Arthur in the first such scene could easily have been mocked up by the crew.
Ye gods, that awesome tree under which Morgana buried Mordred. Spilt apart years ago from lightning, it looks like, but still alive. I'd love to know where this is.
update 28 Dec 12: We went on a Locations Trip today, and checked out the 'Lightning Tree' at Lower Machen near Newport in South Wales. Unfortunately it wasn't Mordred's tree, but it was the right sort of thing in the right sort of area, so maybe we were close. If you have any ideas, we'd love to hear them! (And in the meantime, you can find this tree just off the A468 on the road to Draethen.)
The Lightning Tree near Lower Machen. Close, but no door prize!
I think Gwaine and Percival confront Morgana and her evil hench dudes in Fforest Fawr at the Blue Pool. We never quite get a good look at it, which may be partly for the sake of disguising a location used before. (Ah, poor dear Gwaine...)
Merlin and Arthur end up back at Speech House Lake. I'm not sure about the grassy shore, as it's always been pretty bare when I've been there. Maybe it's a different bit of shoreline, or the scene is put together from a number of locations. In any case, Locations Geek Bess saw them filming these final lakeside scenes there, and the following screen capture certainly looks very like the usual spot to me.
So there is continuity here, in using Speech House Lake for Avalon. They once used Etang de Carandeau in France, when Merlin farewelled Lancelot - but with the way they filmed that scene with the trees in the background, I think the location was meant to feel the same.
The Isle of Avalon looks very like artwork to me, and I am sure we are meant to think of Glastonbury Tor, which is one of the places traditionally associated with Avalon. Follow this link to a photo on Wikipedia which shows the same sort of aspect. The Tor rises from very flat ground, which often floods (or certainly has in the past), so that it becomes an island.
In Merlin it remains an island throughout. Interestingingly, the very first time we see it, there is a tall thin spire on top the hill.
When we see it again in modern times, the tower is more 'stubby', and there's a door at the bottom, just like the real St Michael's Tower on the Tor. Also, the island and even the mountains behind it are more worn, indicating how very long Merlin has been waiting for Arthur to rise again. Now, that is really attention to detail!
So we see the island, and then the truck tears past, and we pan around to follow it up the road... And the actual road is in the middle of fields, not near a lake at all! (Well, not by a big lake anyway.) So the truck allowed for a cunning cut from one bit of footage to another, and then when we see our dear old Merlin again with the lake in the background, it must be Colin in front of a green screen.
The road is below the Symonds Yat Rock lookout. Thank heavens for all those times I got lost in the area, because I have actually been there twice! (And yes, they do have huge darn trucks belting along all these narrow country roads.) The stone wall with a statue of a stag on top, that you can see behind Merlin on the left of the shot, belongs to a farm. And now I find it on Google Maps, I find that the stag belongs to Huntsham Court Farm, which is one of the locations we'd heard about them using, but didn't know what for.
(You know, I had manfully managed not cry until now, but this location serendipity just set me off again. {weepy LOLs} My Bruce just said he'll take me back there. He's my hero. Did Huntsham Court realise they were going to have to cope with pilgrimages of weeping Merlin fans...? Perhaps not.)
I can't find a name for the road, but it's the one that leads southwest from the B4229. Here are some screen caps from Google Maps. First, the same scene via Street View.
And then the map. The 'A' on the map marks Symonds Yat Rock, and the red arrow indicates Merlin's general location.
And I think that's all for now for this episode. But as Kilgarrah says, 'The story we have been a part of will live long in the minds (and hearts!) of men.' So I will be back with more just as soon as I can.
OK, so most of the locations are places we've discussed before.
A lot of the forest scenes in which we find Merlin and Arthur making their journey, starting with the one where we first find them with Gaius, have those light-barked trees with the vines and ivy. Later there are more pine trees. I suppose you could find such anywhere, but you can certainly find them around the Speech House Lake and Cannop Ponds area in the Forest of Dean. We may never pin these things down, but it all had the feel of that area. The loose sort of structure under which Merlin has sheltered Arthur in the first such scene could easily have been mocked up by the crew.
Ye gods, that awesome tree under which Morgana buried Mordred. Spilt apart years ago from lightning, it looks like, but still alive. I'd love to know where this is.
update 28 Dec 12: We went on a Locations Trip today, and checked out the 'Lightning Tree' at Lower Machen near Newport in South Wales. Unfortunately it wasn't Mordred's tree, but it was the right sort of thing in the right sort of area, so maybe we were close. If you have any ideas, we'd love to hear them! (And in the meantime, you can find this tree just off the A468 on the road to Draethen.)
The Lightning Tree near Lower Machen. Close, but no door prize!
I think Gwaine and Percival confront Morgana and her evil hench dudes in Fforest Fawr at the Blue Pool. We never quite get a good look at it, which may be partly for the sake of disguising a location used before. (Ah, poor dear Gwaine...)
Merlin and Arthur end up back at Speech House Lake. I'm not sure about the grassy shore, as it's always been pretty bare when I've been there. Maybe it's a different bit of shoreline, or the scene is put together from a number of locations. In any case, Locations Geek Bess saw them filming these final lakeside scenes there, and the following screen capture certainly looks very like the usual spot to me.
So there is continuity here, in using Speech House Lake for Avalon. They once used Etang de Carandeau in France, when Merlin farewelled Lancelot - but with the way they filmed that scene with the trees in the background, I think the location was meant to feel the same.
The Isle of Avalon looks very like artwork to me, and I am sure we are meant to think of Glastonbury Tor, which is one of the places traditionally associated with Avalon. Follow this link to a photo on Wikipedia which shows the same sort of aspect. The Tor rises from very flat ground, which often floods (or certainly has in the past), so that it becomes an island.
In Merlin it remains an island throughout. Interestingingly, the very first time we see it, there is a tall thin spire on top the hill.
When we see it again in modern times, the tower is more 'stubby', and there's a door at the bottom, just like the real St Michael's Tower on the Tor. Also, the island and even the mountains behind it are more worn, indicating how very long Merlin has been waiting for Arthur to rise again. Now, that is really attention to detail!
So we see the island, and then the truck tears past, and we pan around to follow it up the road... And the actual road is in the middle of fields, not near a lake at all! (Well, not by a big lake anyway.) So the truck allowed for a cunning cut from one bit of footage to another, and then when we see our dear old Merlin again with the lake in the background, it must be Colin in front of a green screen.
The road is below the Symonds Yat Rock lookout. Thank heavens for all those times I got lost in the area, because I have actually been there twice! (And yes, they do have huge darn trucks belting along all these narrow country roads.) The stone wall with a statue of a stag on top, that you can see behind Merlin on the left of the shot, belongs to a farm. And now I find it on Google Maps, I find that the stag belongs to Huntsham Court Farm, which is one of the locations we'd heard about them using, but didn't know what for.
(You know, I had manfully managed not cry until now, but this location serendipity just set me off again. {weepy LOLs} My Bruce just said he'll take me back there. He's my hero. Did Huntsham Court realise they were going to have to cope with pilgrimages of weeping Merlin fans...? Perhaps not.)
I can't find a name for the road, but it's the one that leads southwest from the B4229. Here are some screen caps from Google Maps. First, the same scene via Street View.
And then the map. The 'A' on the map marks Symonds Yat Rock, and the red arrow indicates Merlin's general location.
And I think that's all for now for this episode. But as Kilgarrah says, 'The story we have been a part of will live long in the minds (and hearts!) of men.' So I will be back with more just as soon as I can.