What I've been seeing recently.
I have now seen the entire first season of Merlin. Verdict: AWESOME. More intelligent thoughts may follow, but I don't think anyone should really count on it.
So, first of all, I love the characters!! Merlin is so awesome, as are Arthur and Gwen and I'm still having a little reserve about Morgana (sometimes I really like her, and other times I just want her to get over it and go away, but on the whole I'm inclined to think favorably of her. Seriously, having tiny explosions of magic in your dreams while living in the same place as the kingdom's biggest hater of magic? I would be pretty terrified in her position, and so I'm at least sympathetic towards her.) I love Arthur and Merlin's whole relationship and I can see why people ship them together. I don't because of my personal convictions on that subject, but I totally want them to be BFFs. At this point I don't think either of them would really admit it (certainly not to each other), but they've definitely made huge strides in that direction. I can't wait to see how the Arthur/Gwen relationship gets developed in the next season (the bit in #13 when he was teasing her was great!)
Thought I had about Uther while watching the 13th episode today: His answer to any problem is always "Kill it/him/her." If it's dangerous/magical, kill it. If it might be dangerous/magical, kill it. If it looks like some part of it might potentially be dangerous/magical, kill it. If it was associating with anything dangerous/magical, kill it. If it looks cross-eyed at anything dangerous/magical, kill it. Make it dead first, have second thoughts later.
A few months ago, I was trying to explain to one of my friends what it was about, and while attempting to explain why Gwen was a blacksmith's daughter without making the writers sound crazy and like they'd never read the source material, he cut in and said, "But that's wrong." And it is. Technically. But, the answer I should have given him is that instead of getting hung up on all the details that are "wrong," that conflict with practically every version of the legend I've ever heard, just watch it and see for yourself how many things that are so RIGHT. Like the character relationships, and the neat ways they sneak in familiar plot elements (Excalibur! Lancelot! Mordred (:P Where is Gawain, guys?? Seriously.)!), and how they generally make it such an enjoyable show to watch that I can't wait to see more. I didn't have that feeling when I finished the first season of Robin Hood, despite overall liking it.
So leading into second seasons, I'm hoping to finish season 2 by the end of the month. A very unlikely goal, I know, but I move into my dorm on September 1st, and I think my sister would do physical harm to me strongly object if I watched the rest of the second season without her.
As for other things I've watched recently...
The Young Victoria was an excellent movie. Awesomely done. Even my dad made a comment halfway through saying, "Hey, this isn't bad!" He does like the 1995 Pride & Prejudice miniseries (Mr. Bennet is probably his favorite character... maybe him and Elizabeth together), so I don't know why he was so surprised. I want to make graphics of it, but I can't find beautiful high quality screencaps. Mediocre ones, yes, and I've been doing my best with those with what time/resources I've got, but it was such a good (and pretty!!) movie that I want better ones. Also, if MWT succeeds in getting a movie of the Attolia books anytime soon, I pick Emily Blunt for Attolia. Some scenes (alone in her room with nobody to trust because everyone wants to manipulate her left and right) really brought Attolia to mind. And Albert was pretty awesome too. :D
Oh, and I finally figured out how to do a mood theme, and this is possibly my favorite image. :D
So, first of all, I love the characters!! Merlin is so awesome, as are Arthur and Gwen and I'm still having a little reserve about Morgana (sometimes I really like her, and other times I just want her to get over it and go away, but on the whole I'm inclined to think favorably of her. Seriously, having tiny explosions of magic in your dreams while living in the same place as the kingdom's biggest hater of magic? I would be pretty terrified in her position, and so I'm at least sympathetic towards her.) I love Arthur and Merlin's whole relationship and I can see why people ship them together. I don't because of my personal convictions on that subject, but I totally want them to be BFFs. At this point I don't think either of them would really admit it (certainly not to each other), but they've definitely made huge strides in that direction. I can't wait to see how the Arthur/Gwen relationship gets developed in the next season (the bit in #13 when he was teasing her was great!)
Thought I had about Uther while watching the 13th episode today: His answer to any problem is always "Kill it/him/her." If it's dangerous/magical, kill it. If it might be dangerous/magical, kill it. If it looks like some part of it might potentially be dangerous/magical, kill it. If it was associating with anything dangerous/magical, kill it. If it looks cross-eyed at anything dangerous/magical, kill it. Make it dead first, have second thoughts later.
A few months ago, I was trying to explain to one of my friends what it was about, and while attempting to explain why Gwen was a blacksmith's daughter without making the writers sound crazy and like they'd never read the source material, he cut in and said, "But that's wrong." And it is. Technically. But, the answer I should have given him is that instead of getting hung up on all the details that are "wrong," that conflict with practically every version of the legend I've ever heard, just watch it and see for yourself how many things that are so RIGHT. Like the character relationships, and the neat ways they sneak in familiar plot elements (Excalibur! Lancelot! Mordred (:P Where is Gawain, guys?? Seriously.)!), and how they generally make it such an enjoyable show to watch that I can't wait to see more. I didn't have that feeling when I finished the first season of Robin Hood, despite overall liking it.
So leading into second seasons, I'm hoping to finish season 2 by the end of the month. A very unlikely goal, I know, but I move into my dorm on September 1st, and I think my sister would do physical harm to me strongly object if I watched the rest of the second season without her.
As for other things I've watched recently...
The Young Victoria was an excellent movie. Awesomely done. Even my dad made a comment halfway through saying, "Hey, this isn't bad!" He does like the 1995 Pride & Prejudice miniseries (Mr. Bennet is probably his favorite character... maybe him and Elizabeth together), so I don't know why he was so surprised. I want to make graphics of it, but I can't find beautiful high quality screencaps. Mediocre ones, yes, and I've been doing my best with those with what time/resources I've got, but it was such a good (and pretty!!) movie that I want better ones. Also, if MWT succeeds in getting a movie of the Attolia books anytime soon, I pick Emily Blunt for Attolia. Some scenes (alone in her room with nobody to trust because everyone wants to manipulate her left and right) really brought Attolia to mind. And Albert was pretty awesome too. :D
Oh, and I finally figured out how to do a mood theme, and this is possibly my favorite image. :D