Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire
Remember when halphasian watched every James Bond movie and blogged about it? Or when clyde_park watched all of the Disney animated features in order? Or when vovat watched everything that ever existed and reviewed all of it? I've always wanted to do something like that, so in 2012 goldenmoonbear and I have decided to track down as many filmed adaptations of the legend of King Arthur as we can find. I've been a pretty serious Anglophile for the past 20 years, and yet I have never really gotten into King Arthur. This year I will remedy that. I'm starting with this list that I found on Wikipedia, but I'm interested in hearing your suggestions as well, if you know of something that Wikipedia left out.
Here's what we've seen so far this year:
1. Excalibur (1981) My rating: 3/10. OK, I kind of loved it, but I had to watch it in short segments over several days because of the highly irritating acting style. It's basically early-80s dudes yelling as loud as they can in fake Medieval accents and treating everything they say as if it is a huge proclamation. Although it's set in ancient England, a lot of the plot, dialogue and look is clearly stolen from Star Wars. The knight costumes look like space suits and the backgrounds are all very sci-fi. Even the titular sword is given a green glow as if to make it resemble a light saber. The plot only makes sense if you're already familiar with Arthurian legend, otherwise you'd think this was the stupidest thing you ever saw. Notable for early appearances by young Liam Neeson, Patrick Stewart and Helen Mirren.
2. Avalon High (TV 2010) My rating: 5/10. If it's made by the Disney Channel or ABC Family, there's a good chance that I shamefully love it, and this is no exception. The gimmick is that modern day American high school students are somehow the reincarnations of King Arthur and his cohorts, as foretold by a prophecy. There are some clever things about it, such as the possible Arthur reincarnation being homecoming king (get it?), and having a girlfriend named Jennifer who is cheating on him with football star "Lance", though most of it is exactly what you would expect from a Disney / ABC Family movie: popular people are jerks, adults are out-of-touch, underdogs triumph, etc. There are a couple of surprise twists; one of which is obvious from the beginning and the other of which kind of ruins the continuity of the whole movie and doesn't add up at all. There were multiple ways that it could have been better. Why not have the Lady Of The Lake be the captain of the swim team? Why don't they eat at Round Table Pizza all the time? But I digress.
3. Merlin (TV Series 2008- ) So far I've only watched the first two episodes (out of a possible 39) so I can't really give it a fair rating. In this re-telling, instead of having Merlin be a contemporary of Uther Pendragon and the one responsible for bringing Arthur into the world, they have Merlin & Arthur meeting each other as young 20-something hunks. Rather than Arthur being a lower class servant who doesn't realize he is royalty, this Arthur lives in the palace and is already a Prince and somewhat of a douche. Uther has outlawed all magic, so Merlin has to keep his abilities a secret, all the while using them to keep young Arthur safe and out of trouble. At least that's what I think the show is about. Like I said, only 2 episodes in. Bonus: Uther is played by the prime minister from "Little Britain".
Here's what we've seen so far this year:
1. Excalibur (1981) My rating: 3/10. OK, I kind of loved it, but I had to watch it in short segments over several days because of the highly irritating acting style. It's basically early-80s dudes yelling as loud as they can in fake Medieval accents and treating everything they say as if it is a huge proclamation. Although it's set in ancient England, a lot of the plot, dialogue and look is clearly stolen from Star Wars. The knight costumes look like space suits and the backgrounds are all very sci-fi. Even the titular sword is given a green glow as if to make it resemble a light saber. The plot only makes sense if you're already familiar with Arthurian legend, otherwise you'd think this was the stupidest thing you ever saw. Notable for early appearances by young Liam Neeson, Patrick Stewart and Helen Mirren.
2. Avalon High (TV 2010) My rating: 5/10. If it's made by the Disney Channel or ABC Family, there's a good chance that I shamefully love it, and this is no exception. The gimmick is that modern day American high school students are somehow the reincarnations of King Arthur and his cohorts, as foretold by a prophecy. There are some clever things about it, such as the possible Arthur reincarnation being homecoming king (get it?), and having a girlfriend named Jennifer who is cheating on him with football star "Lance", though most of it is exactly what you would expect from a Disney / ABC Family movie: popular people are jerks, adults are out-of-touch, underdogs triumph, etc. There are a couple of surprise twists; one of which is obvious from the beginning and the other of which kind of ruins the continuity of the whole movie and doesn't add up at all. There were multiple ways that it could have been better. Why not have the Lady Of The Lake be the captain of the swim team? Why don't they eat at Round Table Pizza all the time? But I digress.
3. Merlin (TV Series 2008- ) So far I've only watched the first two episodes (out of a possible 39) so I can't really give it a fair rating. In this re-telling, instead of having Merlin be a contemporary of Uther Pendragon and the one responsible for bringing Arthur into the world, they have Merlin & Arthur meeting each other as young 20-something hunks. Rather than Arthur being a lower class servant who doesn't realize he is royalty, this Arthur lives in the palace and is already a Prince and somewhat of a douche. Uther has outlawed all magic, so Merlin has to keep his abilities a secret, all the while using them to keep young Arthur safe and out of trouble. At least that's what I think the show is about. Like I said, only 2 episodes in. Bonus: Uther is played by the prime minister from "Little Britain".