Except for Jason's nice hairy chest, I don't know where to put my attention to in Atlantis. Maybe Medusa's story is a good plot but I don't think the producers know how to write complex stories.
I've been watching & fastforwarding a lot, mostly to shirtless-Jason scenes, but after the "holy sh#$" of the opening sequence of Ep 1, it's faded to the point it does little for me anymore. I'd much rather spend the time watching reruns of Bradley's chest, which works for me in a big way.
I'm sure schadenfreude causes bad karma but yeah, I can't help but feel a teensy tiny bit gleeful about the ratings, although at this point I almost feel a bit sorry (almost). Merlin 1x07 had better overnights than Atlantis 1x07 consolidated, that's quite bitter.
Looking at these figures it seems that some viewers simply gave up on the show, not sure how they'd be able to win any back in the coming weeks (not to mention S2). I'd love to know what's going on at BBC One HQ when they talk about autumn 2015 these days...
Atlantis is going nowhere. I still have no idea what they think they are doing with the show. There is nor REAL story, just little bit here and there. There is very little chemistry between the main 3 players. There is not much left after Jason's chest and his oh so happy smile.
I don't find the guy who plays Jason attractive at all, so his bare chest or smile was completely wasted on me. What bothered me was his acting or rather his lack of talent for it, it wasn't overly convincing (I only watched one episode but in reviews it's been mentioned several times that his acting abilities are... not always up to par with co/guest stars, which is rather unfortunate when you play the main character :/ ).
Imo Mark Addy who is playing Hercules seems to be the true 'star' of the show. Even Pythagoras got some decent scenes in the last episode. I think they picked Jason for his more outwardly attributes (which obviously do not convince us of his acting abilities....
Ditto about Jack Donnelly, he is dull and a bare chest is not enough to make it. (To be honest, seeing Bradley's bare chest too often had the same effect on me, but there were other interesting things in Merlin.) The lead actor/character is obviously too weak to carry such a show.
Most of the time, you've got the feeling that they mainly rely on Mark Addy's talent for comedy, but it's not enough to make a good show. The chemistry between the main actors doesn't seem so bad to me, but the characters are shallow, it's difficult to feel involved and to care about what happens to them.
The images and the direction are still good, but the stories are flat.
You can find most of Merlin's flaws in Atlantis but without the charm.
Haven't watched Atlantis for obvious reasons (not being a Brit), but my English friend who has been following it on and off says it's increasingly boring plot-wise, lacking chemistry between the 3 main characters and that the only thing going for it is the looks of the guy who plays Jason. So pretty much what everyone else is saying.
Apart from the obvious reasons (lack of Bradley and Colin especially) I do wonder whether the switch of underlying legend that is being mangled plays a role in the show's decline. Brits know their Arthur, Merlin, Lancelot, round table, but I doubt everyone's equally comfortable with the Minotaur, Ariadne and so forth.
I am sorry that Atlantis has been renewed. The Js don't deserve it.
The BBC should be discussing two things IMO; 1) Getting Quirke onto the scedule, and 2) Finding a brand new INTERESTING and exciting concept and hiring Bradley in the lead role ASAP. (Colin too, of course, but that wouldn't realistically happen, I'm afraid... Although I would be over the moon if it did!)
I think the problem is that they DON'T use Greek myth. The minotaur in the first ep was pretty much it. Where are the gods? All the other monsters? When they do use them they're not recognizable - for example the Furies were just a whirlwind. The evil queen does what? Use a voodoo doll. Seriously. And another witch does that flingy thing that frustrated everyone who wanted to see actual magic on Merlin.
Greek myth is campy and rich - too bad it's all wasted on the showrunners.
I think Bradley complete disappearance into oblivion if far more mysterious than any episode of Atlantis so far! He is a great actor - so what happened? I do not believe that it is only the poor choice of scripts as he hinted at one point. A friend of mine just watched the audio commentary on one of the S5 episodes. He said there that he would like to do stage after Merlin OR disappear completely from the acting scene. Well, it seems he has chosen the latter!
Well even Cultbox (judging by their tweet) couldn't find anything positive to say about the latest episode (by Merlin writer Julian Jones apparently) These guys have all worked and written with each other before. I think the "settling down" period has well and truly passed.
I'll be interested to see what happens if they manage to fob sell or trade this to other countries - will they even want it? While our Australian Broadcasting Commission gets pretty much everything BBC makes, bad or good, I wonder if they'll bother airing it, or just shove it on at some ungodly hour on the childrens channel.
Ian McArdell has always been a reviewer looking for positive aspects even when scripts were weak, but he seems to struggle with Atlantis... I agree there's a lot of familiarity [with Merlin] and I suppose prodcution wise it works. I rankle slightly at the reuse of actors in secondary roles myself... the show really needs to carve out its own path. Am trying really hard to review it on its own terms, without making comparisions. [x] The 'settling down' period is definitely over. I'm sure it wasn't easy to get a show this 'size' up and running in a rather short period of time, on the other hand they had so much experience with Merlin, most of their effort had to be put into casting the right people (Marc Addy is great, Pythagoras ok, seems they didn't chose the strongest actor to play Jason) and writing decent enough episodes
( ... )
Certainly from the comments I've read, most would agree with you that they seem to have repeated every mistake they made with Merlin,(for example, plot holes, continuity etc - as well as not calling the dragon!!!!) mistakes which fans overlooked because the cast more than made up for them. They certainly did make us care about the characters, I don't think that was down to the script, but the actors themselves. The first season might have been cheesy, and had some weak episodes, but it certainly had charm in spades. They struck lucky with the cast in Merlin, that sort of lightning strike doesn't happen twice.
From what I understand, the process of getting Atlantis up of the ground was certainly rushed, but Merlin wasn't their first TV series, so they should know what they are doing. I"m certainly no expert, but everything I've ever read says concentrate on the scripts first, work out the "world" in which the story is set. If you are telling a good story, and have a cracking script, everything will flow from there
( ... )
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Looking at these figures it seems that some viewers simply gave up on the show, not sure how they'd be able to win any back in the coming weeks (not to mention S2). I'd love to know what's going on at BBC One HQ when they talk about autumn 2015 these days...
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There is very little chemistry between the main 3 players.
There is not much left after Jason's chest and his oh so happy smile.
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Even Pythagoras got some decent scenes in the last episode.
I think they picked Jason for his more outwardly attributes (which obviously do not convince us of his acting abilities....
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Most of the time, you've got the feeling that they mainly rely on Mark Addy's talent for comedy, but it's not enough to make a good show. The chemistry between the main actors doesn't seem so bad to me, but the characters are shallow, it's difficult to feel involved and to care about what happens to them.
The images and the direction are still good, but the stories are flat.
You can find most of Merlin's flaws in Atlantis but without the charm.
Reply
Apart from the obvious reasons (lack of Bradley and Colin especially) I do wonder whether the switch of underlying legend that is being mangled plays a role in the show's decline. Brits know their Arthur, Merlin, Lancelot, round table, but I doubt everyone's equally comfortable with the Minotaur, Ariadne and so forth.
I am sorry that Atlantis has been renewed. The Js don't deserve it.
The BBC should be discussing two things IMO;
1) Getting Quirke onto the scedule, and
2) Finding a brand new INTERESTING and exciting concept and hiring Bradley in the lead role ASAP. (Colin too, of course, but that wouldn't realistically happen, I'm afraid... Although I would be over the moon if it did!)
Reply
Greek myth is campy and rich - too bad it's all wasted on the showrunners.
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He is a great actor - so what happened? I do not believe that it is only the poor choice of scripts as he hinted at one point.
A friend of mine just watched the audio commentary on one of the S5 episodes. He said there that he would like to do stage after Merlin OR disappear completely from the acting scene. Well, it seems he has chosen the latter!
Reply
These guys have all worked and written with each other before. I think the "settling down" period has well and truly passed.
I'll be interested to see what happens if they manage to fob sell or trade this to other countries - will they even want it?
While our Australian Broadcasting Commission gets pretty much everything BBC makes, bad or good, I wonder if they'll bother airing it, or just shove it on at some ungodly hour on the childrens channel.
Reply
I agree there's a lot of familiarity [with Merlin] and I suppose prodcution wise it works. I rankle slightly at the reuse of actors in secondary roles myself... the show really needs to carve out its own path. Am trying really hard to review it on its own terms, without making comparisions. [x]
The 'settling down' period is definitely over. I'm sure it wasn't easy to get a show this 'size' up and running in a rather short period of time, on the other hand they had so much experience with Merlin, most of their effort had to be put into casting the right people (Marc Addy is great, Pythagoras ok, seems they didn't chose the strongest actor to play Jason) and writing decent enough episodes ( ... )
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They struck lucky with the cast in Merlin, that sort of lightning strike doesn't happen twice.
From what I understand, the process of getting Atlantis up of the ground was certainly rushed, but Merlin wasn't their first TV series, so they should know what they are doing. I"m certainly no expert, but everything I've ever read says concentrate on the scripts first, work out the "world" in which the story is set. If you are telling a good story, and have a cracking script, everything will flow from there ( ... )
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