Robin of Sherwood: a few randoms and Nasir

[meganbmoore]

Some of this has come up in replies, but...

1.  I really like how they did King Richard in Robin of Sherwood.  Unlike other productions, where Richard is perfect and shining and when he comes back all is well in England, this Richard is portrayed as a good man, but flawed, and more concerned with battle than anything else...in other words, the way

Comments

[scottishlass]

I just love what Carpenter did to the legend as a whole, never had Robin and his bunch looked so gritty, dirty and smelly as they did. ;) Heck, they lived in the woods, and Erol Flynn and the sorts looked like they had just stepped out of The Woodsman - the magazine for the fashionably (merry) ranger. In RoS they wore what they had on themselves when they weren't wolfheads or wore what they had scavenged off their victims. The realism was so new at that time.

Nasir is definitely Saracen, as de Belleme says in one of the eps IIRC. I think Nasir also refers to himself as Saracen in the Templar ep.

The supernatural elements also are much nearer to the source of Robin Hood, even though ppl thought it was silly (in the 80's). Herne was commonly referred to not only as the Lord of the Woods but also the protector and he turns up in Medieval texts such as Sir Gawain & The Green Knight as well as other original old English and middle English King Arthur texts. Of course, Herne also is connected to the Druidic lore, so it was a nice touch to incorporate and emphasize on this character a bit more.

Oh, here is my absolutely favourite pic of Marian before turning Maid of the Woods.

[meganbmoore]

Nasir being a saracen is referred to a lot, actually...it also comes up in the King Richard episode, and is a plot point in the last Praed episode.

To me, Errol Flynn is the definitive Robin Hood fantasy-the cheerful charming charistmatic hero who wins the highborn lady and is recognized and rewarded the second Richard comes back and all is well...it's Robin Hood, the fairy tale-and ROS is the definitive Robin Hood myth-it's not just a couple corrupt people, it's everything, the struggle can't be fixed easily and there's really no cure for it, and, like the original stories, Richard's return isn't all that much of a help because, even though he's the better side, he's still the kind John and Nottingham are.

And that last bit there is why the supernatural elements don't bother me in the least-they WERE there inthe stories because people believed in them at the time, and they're presented as they're believed.

And yeah, this is the only Robin and Co. who really look like they're living there and getting by on what they have...even other versions who try to make it look "real" tend to just smear grime on the characters *ignores Robin's ever perfect hair*