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ladykate63 March 2 2010, 10:04:16 UTC
Unfortunately Robert Addie died (of lung cancer) in 2003, at the age of just 43, so he never lived to see "our" Gisborne. (Btw, just realized that both actors' initials are RA. Weird ( ... )

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ravenya03 March 2 2010, 22:20:12 UTC
I had no idea Robert Addie had passed away. I was watching all the cast interviews on the DVD last night, and I guess because my DVDs were brand new, I assumed they had taken place very recently. That's a shame - I was often wondering if perhaps everyone was talking with a general knowledge of BBC's "Robin Hood" as well, as there were a couple of interesting remarks made...but I guess not ( ... )

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ladykate63 March 2 2010, 21:39:52 UTC
Just a couple of things I wanted to add:

1. I really, really dislike the "hero supernaturally chosen for a special destiny" concept (it was something that was a huge turnoff for me when I was reading the Dark Materials trilogy, even though I like a lot of things about the books). So that right there would have turned me off to this version of RH as well. One thing I really like about "our" RH is that in some ways Robin is almost an accidental hero; he simply finds that he has to take a stand against injustice, and for a long time he sees his outlaw status as a temporary thing. (One thing I do like about S3 is that you really get this sense that Robin knows he'll never go back to a "normal life" now.)

2. That said: this show's Will Scarlett sounds like a great character (and someone who's not in the "good guys who are 100% good" mold).

3. I do wish they'd utilized more disguises on "our" RH! (especially as it's something that I think Jonas would have pulled off very well.)

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ravenya03 March 2 2010, 22:25:23 UTC
Ray Winstone is probably the best Will Scarlett ever (sorry Harry!) At times you wish he was the main character, and in fact - he does actually remind me a little of RA's Guy of Gisborne. Kind of.

He has this low-burning rage inside him, but at the same time he's very gentle when he wants to be (he's quite protective of females, and there's a really sweet moment when he hugs an upset Marion). He does all sorts of morally dubious things, he's always pushing Robin's buttons and he's a bit of a lone wolf as well. He's the outlaw that actually acts like an outlaw. He's definitely the most talented actor in the cast, and I think really the only one that went on to a bigger career.

And yeah, our show completely dropped the ball on the possibility for fun disguises, which surely would have made all that inning and outing from the castle more palatable!

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ladykate63 March 3 2010, 03:05:48 UTC
Well, they did often disguise themselves as guards, and as porters in Show Me the Money and musicians in For England ... but that's about it. (Oh and I did find the episode where Robin disguises himself as a priest, but it's not as a prank -- it's in For England to get into the dungeon to see Edward.) There was definitely more potential there for fun disguises.

P.S. You know, I just might have to check this out for the Devil Chicken Clucking Sounds.

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ravenya03 March 3 2010, 07:50:08 UTC
Oh yeah, there were definitely disguises, but room for so many more (especially when most of the time they just wandered around with their hoods up!

P.S. You know, I just might have to check this out for the Devil Chicken Clucking Sounds.

You know I had to watch this scene several times just to make myself believe I was really hearing it! Sadly, the sound effects and music are the most dated aspect of the entire project: it's loud and intrusive and so damn eighties!

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ladykate63 March 3 2010, 06:05:12 UTC
A final thought on this, for now: I suspect that there may be more of a "storyline" in Season 3, since Michael Praed is replaced by a "new Robin" -- the Earl of Huntingdon -- and I know that Marion eventually grows to love him and accept him as her husband. So presumably there will be some development there.

I believe the half-brother relationship between Robin 2.0 and Gisburne is introduced in or near the finale. (Apparently, it was inspired by the observation that Robin 2.0 and GoG were both blond.) I've read that the RoS PTB were actually planning to do something with that storyline, but then the show ended for financial reasons.

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auroracat65 March 5 2010, 03:44:28 UTC
I could go on volumes about RoS, but mainly want to point out that the merries and Robin do have a higher purpose to free the serfs of England. And also the larger story arc your after, while not as major as RH, is there especially if you watch the episodes in time line order as opposed to airing/DVD order ( ... )

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ravenya03 March 5 2010, 09:35:23 UTC
I did very much enjoy RoS - I hope this review doesn't come across as though I didn't, and once I got past some of the stylistic quirks, I can easily understand why it's considered the definitive Robin Hood retelling.

And the bees were not CGI, they were horse flys. There was no CGI at the time.

Of yeah, of course there was no CGI! Silly me. It did look like some sort of bluescreen/superimposed special effect though.

Yeah, I noticed that both series ended their finale with Marion being fatally (or not so much...) injured. It feels as though our show copied the basic idea the first time and then decided to "up the game" for the second season finale.

7 Poor Knights is actually one of my favorite episodes because it shows the true nature of the cruaders and establishes the merries relationships along with Marion's value to the team because of her knowledge of "noble" goings on.My fovourites would have to be "Alan A Dale" (I love the nod to the ballads), "The Prophecy" (with Marion's father - nice twist!), "The Children of Israel" ( ( ... )

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auroracat65 March 6 2010, 02:40:03 UTC
Alan and Children are actually in the bottom of my list for seasons one and two along with Enchantment.

Favorites are Witch of Edlestone, King's Fool, Prophecy and Lord of the Trees.

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