BBC Merlin: Series 5 is to be the last
You heard me.
I woke up and read this. It's taken from the BBC One website, so it's official:
"It was announced today that the current series of Merlin will be the last as BBC One’s hit show reaches a spectacular conclusion this Christmas. The epic family fantasy drama will bow out with a special two-part finale, as this unique re-telling of the Arthurian legend reaches its natural and dramatic end - it’s not to be missed!"
A link to the article is here.
I really dunno how to feel about this. One the one hand, I never wanted them to drag the show out and - despite some let-down filler episodes - the show has generally kept up a good pace. So I respect their decision of ending it on a high note, as I don't want the quality of the show to suffer. I also appreciate that there are only a limited number of things that they can do with the Arthurian legends in a children's show (after all, incest, bigotry and many other immoral things were rife in the legends).
However, at the same time, I really am not happy at the moment. One thing that made Arthur's rule so special was the length of it. Arthur lived to a ripe old age because of the peace. There was no need for fighting, so he lived a good while. In the show, Arthur has been king for a total of five years and the man HASN'T HIT THIRTY YET! ...I think you know where my point is going. How the hell can the Battle of Camlann happen so soon?
I have faith in the writers, I really do.
I have faith that they're actually gonna leave the series at a natural-but-open end. After all, neither Arthur nor Merlin have reached their legendary statuses yet; Arthur hasn't united all of Albion under one banner and Merlin certainly isn't quite yet an almighty wizard. And after all, even if a Reveal does happen in the next 5 episodes remaining in the series, it would be extremely crap story-telling for Arthur to lift the ban so quickly. It's one thing for Arthur to accept Merlin's magic, it's entirely another for a kingdom which has been devastated multiple times by magic to be accepting of it being legal to use freely again.
I really hope my faith isn't being misplaced.
Each series delivered certain key points:
Series 1: Merlin accepted his destiny to protect Arthur and their friendship solidified.
Series 2: We saw the kind of king Arthur would become and the Arthur/Gwen relationship was established.
Series 3: Morgana as a villain was established and the Knights of the Round Table were introduced.
Series 4: Arthur became King and Guinevere became Queen.
What the key point of series 5 is gonna be is still up in the air. But, me and my sister reasoned early on that it was going to be either a Reveal or, at the very least, Merlin finally getting an increase in rank to Adviser. After that, either the (planned) movies or another series would be used to finally wrap up Albion being united under one banner and the ban on magic being lifted.
That's the most logical way to do it, at least.
I heard another rumour that they were thinking about setting the movies in the past and using them to tell the 'untold stories' that we never saw, and therefore give us the chance to see characters that either died or vanished into the ether. However, I really hope that isn't going to be the case. True, they may be able to pull off a great story. But, the audience would know where the characters were going to end up by the end. The writers wouldn't be able to do anything drastic without completely disregarding what they have done in the show.
No... better to wait a few years and let the actors age and then make the movies set in the future; preferably dealing with uniting Albion and dealing with the issue of how to respond to everyone's magic, not just Merlin's.
Eh, we'll have to see. Either way, expect another rant on the 29th of December.
XD :D XD
I woke up and read this. It's taken from the BBC One website, so it's official:
"It was announced today that the current series of Merlin will be the last as BBC One’s hit show reaches a spectacular conclusion this Christmas. The epic family fantasy drama will bow out with a special two-part finale, as this unique re-telling of the Arthurian legend reaches its natural and dramatic end - it’s not to be missed!"
A link to the article is here.
I really dunno how to feel about this. One the one hand, I never wanted them to drag the show out and - despite some let-down filler episodes - the show has generally kept up a good pace. So I respect their decision of ending it on a high note, as I don't want the quality of the show to suffer. I also appreciate that there are only a limited number of things that they can do with the Arthurian legends in a children's show (after all, incest, bigotry and many other immoral things were rife in the legends).
However, at the same time, I really am not happy at the moment. One thing that made Arthur's rule so special was the length of it. Arthur lived to a ripe old age because of the peace. There was no need for fighting, so he lived a good while. In the show, Arthur has been king for a total of five years and the man HASN'T HIT THIRTY YET! ...I think you know where my point is going. How the hell can the Battle of Camlann happen so soon?
I have faith in the writers, I really do.
I have faith that they're actually gonna leave the series at a natural-but-open end. After all, neither Arthur nor Merlin have reached their legendary statuses yet; Arthur hasn't united all of Albion under one banner and Merlin certainly isn't quite yet an almighty wizard. And after all, even if a Reveal does happen in the next 5 episodes remaining in the series, it would be extremely crap story-telling for Arthur to lift the ban so quickly. It's one thing for Arthur to accept Merlin's magic, it's entirely another for a kingdom which has been devastated multiple times by magic to be accepting of it being legal to use freely again.
I really hope my faith isn't being misplaced.
Each series delivered certain key points:
Series 1: Merlin accepted his destiny to protect Arthur and their friendship solidified.
Series 2: We saw the kind of king Arthur would become and the Arthur/Gwen relationship was established.
Series 3: Morgana as a villain was established and the Knights of the Round Table were introduced.
Series 4: Arthur became King and Guinevere became Queen.
What the key point of series 5 is gonna be is still up in the air. But, me and my sister reasoned early on that it was going to be either a Reveal or, at the very least, Merlin finally getting an increase in rank to Adviser. After that, either the (planned) movies or another series would be used to finally wrap up Albion being united under one banner and the ban on magic being lifted.
That's the most logical way to do it, at least.
I heard another rumour that they were thinking about setting the movies in the past and using them to tell the 'untold stories' that we never saw, and therefore give us the chance to see characters that either died or vanished into the ether. However, I really hope that isn't going to be the case. True, they may be able to pull off a great story. But, the audience would know where the characters were going to end up by the end. The writers wouldn't be able to do anything drastic without completely disregarding what they have done in the show.
No... better to wait a few years and let the actors age and then make the movies set in the future; preferably dealing with uniting Albion and dealing with the issue of how to respond to everyone's magic, not just Merlin's.
Eh, we'll have to see. Either way, expect another rant on the 29th of December.
XD :D XD