What I've Been Watching, King Arthur edition: BBC One's/SyFy Channel's Merlin
So here's something I haven't done here in a while - talk about something on TV. And, since the Arthurian legend has been adapted into so many forms (including TV and movies), this is as good an opportunity as any. So today I'm going to talk about BBC One's ongoing series, Merlin.
I've paired this show with White's Sword in the Stone because they both take certain liberties with the, for lack of a better term, Arthurian canon (i.e. all the old stories and legends). Not that that's necessicarily a bad thing, mind.
The series follows the exploits of a young wizard/warlock/whatever Merlin in the kingdom of Camelot. The problem is that Uther, the ruler of the kingdom, outlawed magic some time ago. Merlin originally comes to Camelot to become the apprentice of Gaius, the royal physician, and quickly become the personal servant of Prince Arthur. Merlin quickly finds out that there are prohesies concerning him and Arthur, and the series goes on from there.
While I'm sure that brief introduction makes some of the differences between this show and most other interpretations of the Arthur story pretty clear, I'll nevertheless go into them now. The biggest divergence from the traditional canon is that most of the characters (Merlin, Arthur, Guinevere, Morgana, etc.) are pretty young. The principal actors are all in their mid-to-late 20s, so the story tends to focus on their formative years, and has only recently moved closer to the more well-known aspects of Arthurian legend.
Some people might have issues with this, likely fearing that the classic tales get overwhelmed with typical teen show drama. I won't say there isn't any unnecessicary drama, but it has gotten better with time. The bigger flaws are some of the overly-used storylines. An often-used general plot is Merlin having to protect Arthur and/or Camelot from magical threats without revealing his own magical nature, and this gets old after a while. Thankfully, these episodes are balanced out by the big story arc episodes, usually the multi-part series finallies.
Now comes my own personal cirticisms, so beware of spoilers.
I have two big complaints with the show, and they both center around the character of Morgana. In series 3, Morgana becomes one of the villains, plotting with her sister Morgause to overthrow Uther. Morgana returns to Camelot to act as a mole, secretly plotting the kingdom's downfall. It's at this time that she also learns that Uther is actually her father, an interresting inversion of the traditional Arthur-Morgana relationship. When Morgana and her sister take over Camelot in the series finally, this fact is used to justify Morgana taking the throne. Needless to say, Arthur, Merlin, and several of their allies rebell against them, and eventually free the kingdom.
The first complaint is how Morgana acts whenever no one else is looking at her. She's constantly giving these looks that just scream "I'm plotting something Evil! Mua-ha-ah!" and after a while, I wanted someone to call her out on this. I'm not sure if I should lay the blame for this on actress Katie McGrath, the writers, or the directors, but somebody should have caught this.
In the next series, Morgana spends most of her time hiding in the woods, still plotting to retake the throne of Camelot, aided by Arthur's uncle Agravaine (again inverting the characters' traditional relationship).
Now we come to my second complaint - Morgana's claim to the throne. Throughout series 4, she's constantly calling it "her throne," despite the fact that she pretty much has no claim to the throne of Camelot. As I mentioned before, Morgana is Uther's daughter - his illegitimate daughter. And while this show takes place in a mish-mash of medieval England, I'm fairly certain that children born out of wed-lock, particularly those of noble or royal parentage, cannot inherit any titles from their fathers. So any claim Morgana has to the throne of Camelot is purely ficticious.
So what's my final opinion of BBC One's Merlin? It's not a bad show. Most of the cast has pretty good chemestry, and it's interresting to see someone look at Arthur, Merlin, and all the other characters durring their early years, before they become the characters of legend. And while there are plenty of skippable episodes, the show is still very enjoyable as a whole.
I've paired this show with White's Sword in the Stone because they both take certain liberties with the, for lack of a better term, Arthurian canon (i.e. all the old stories and legends). Not that that's necessicarily a bad thing, mind.
The series follows the exploits of a young wizard/warlock/whatever Merlin in the kingdom of Camelot. The problem is that Uther, the ruler of the kingdom, outlawed magic some time ago. Merlin originally comes to Camelot to become the apprentice of Gaius, the royal physician, and quickly become the personal servant of Prince Arthur. Merlin quickly finds out that there are prohesies concerning him and Arthur, and the series goes on from there.
While I'm sure that brief introduction makes some of the differences between this show and most other interpretations of the Arthur story pretty clear, I'll nevertheless go into them now. The biggest divergence from the traditional canon is that most of the characters (Merlin, Arthur, Guinevere, Morgana, etc.) are pretty young. The principal actors are all in their mid-to-late 20s, so the story tends to focus on their formative years, and has only recently moved closer to the more well-known aspects of Arthurian legend.
Some people might have issues with this, likely fearing that the classic tales get overwhelmed with typical teen show drama. I won't say there isn't any unnecessicary drama, but it has gotten better with time. The bigger flaws are some of the overly-used storylines. An often-used general plot is Merlin having to protect Arthur and/or Camelot from magical threats without revealing his own magical nature, and this gets old after a while. Thankfully, these episodes are balanced out by the big story arc episodes, usually the multi-part series finallies.
Now comes my own personal cirticisms, so beware of spoilers.
I have two big complaints with the show, and they both center around the character of Morgana. In series 3, Morgana becomes one of the villains, plotting with her sister Morgause to overthrow Uther. Morgana returns to Camelot to act as a mole, secretly plotting the kingdom's downfall. It's at this time that she also learns that Uther is actually her father, an interresting inversion of the traditional Arthur-Morgana relationship. When Morgana and her sister take over Camelot in the series finally, this fact is used to justify Morgana taking the throne. Needless to say, Arthur, Merlin, and several of their allies rebell against them, and eventually free the kingdom.
The first complaint is how Morgana acts whenever no one else is looking at her. She's constantly giving these looks that just scream "I'm plotting something Evil! Mua-ha-ah!" and after a while, I wanted someone to call her out on this. I'm not sure if I should lay the blame for this on actress Katie McGrath, the writers, or the directors, but somebody should have caught this.
In the next series, Morgana spends most of her time hiding in the woods, still plotting to retake the throne of Camelot, aided by Arthur's uncle Agravaine (again inverting the characters' traditional relationship).
Now we come to my second complaint - Morgana's claim to the throne. Throughout series 4, she's constantly calling it "her throne," despite the fact that she pretty much has no claim to the throne of Camelot. As I mentioned before, Morgana is Uther's daughter - his illegitimate daughter. And while this show takes place in a mish-mash of medieval England, I'm fairly certain that children born out of wed-lock, particularly those of noble or royal parentage, cannot inherit any titles from their fathers. So any claim Morgana has to the throne of Camelot is purely ficticious.
So what's my final opinion of BBC One's Merlin? It's not a bad show. Most of the cast has pretty good chemestry, and it's interresting to see someone look at Arthur, Merlin, and all the other characters durring their early years, before they become the characters of legend. And while there are plenty of skippable episodes, the show is still very enjoyable as a whole.