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It might be a bit family-oriented, but I liked this show. Maybe cause I'm a sucker for fantasy and love this particular fantasy setting. Anyone else ?

How did I miss this?

Do you mean you missed the first episode or the whole production news ?

Its one of those "Loosely based on <insert myth here>" things. But I liked it as soon as I got over that.

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511W1TR7NPL._SS500_.jpg)

This is the only Merlin I recognize.

I agree on this. However its nice to see some fantasy series rising up.

/agree Schild. Sam Neill nailed that character, and that was a fun retelling of Merlin. I'm a bit wary of any BBC mythology treatment since Robin Hood. Yech!

Why did nobody warn me that that horrible woman from Torchwood was going to be on it?  Is there some kind of actor shortage in the UK or something?

Is this whole miniseries out yet?

Caught the second episode.

Um.

It's Smallville.  With a UK Stylee.


Avoid.

YOU DON'T LIKE SMALLVILLE?!

Actually, I have no idea what colour that green signifies, but I DO like Smallville.  A lot.  Past the first two seasons anyway, once they got away from Konstant Kryptonite.

However, I don't need to see it done by the beeb while simultaneously shitting on the Arthur legend.

It was awful.

It is the same tone as the normal green, I just prefer it.

I think I gave up on Smallville when it was still pretty new.

When you say like Smallville, do you mean decent action interrupted by inane soap opera acting and plots that curls your toes?

The shitting all over Arthurian legend is what bothers me about it most.  Aside from character names there is nothing remotely Arthurian about it.

Yes.  Don't judge me.

I've been watching this for a while and I think it's a very good show, all things considered.

- some special effects are just horrible, VERY low budget;

- Dialogues, in general, are fine; if you are a fantasy fan (literature or gaming) you willl notice some inconsistencies, though, both with dialogues and situations.

- Some show themes are repetitive, for example Gaius (court physician) always warning Merlin about the use of magic, Arthur behaviour toward Merlin (sometimes it looks like they are "resetting" the friendship feeling between them at the beginning of each episode) and Uther Pendragon choices: ok, it's probably not easy to be the king (I still have to take a shot at that), but he often looks schizophrenic in his decision making process :P.
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But what really shines through the episodes is the acting, if you look beyond some bad lines writers might give them. The cast is really great, IMO: the two best are Anthony Head (Uther Pendragon) and the ABSOLUTELY STUNNING BEAUTY Katie McGrath (Morgana).  The acting has a very "theatrical", "staged" feeling to it, but it's understandable because of the setting.

Regarding the atmosphere, it's no George R.R. Martin or anything like that: in the UK, it airs around 7pm, and some episodes aired even earlier than that, but I also think it is not childish show at all.

Just a few days ago, Anthony Head confirmed that a second season is almost certain, given the good ratings (average of almost 6.5 million viewers, and it's great for that timeslot compared to the potential pool of viewers in the UK).

It will air on NBC in February.

Really ?  Did it get better after the first four episodes ?

Hmm, if you haven't enjoyed the first four episodes I'm not sure you will like the following ones.

Some of them are average , but others are very good (especially (n.6, 7, 8, 10 and 12, season finale will air this saturday). Like I said, while the focus must stay on the sexual relationship between Arthur and Merlin, when the authors give more space to Morgana and Uther (the former does next to nothing in those first four episodes) the show is definitely better.

Forty minutes of enjoyable television, in other words, far better, just to mention one, than that HUGE CRAPPY MESS "Heroes" has become lately :P

I have been watching this with some friend, however they complain about the "lore", i have been watching it as a fun take on the setting, however they cant just let it go. As if the world really needed the Merlin story told AGAIN.

My gf occasionally watches this cos she thinks Anthony Steward Head is hot. It's shit. Depressingly so, but standard fare for BBC weekend afternoons.

It's hard to let go of the "lore" from a legend as old and familiar as that. Last year's new Flash Gordon series had the same problem and it didn't take nearly as many liberties with the legend as they have been in Merlin.

As far "the world needed the Merlin story told AGAIN" goes I think you might be overestimating that - in the video genre at least. This is the first King Arthur based television series that I can think of. There have been a few movies, there was the animated "Sword in the Stone" Disney feature and none of them were particularly faithful to the legend.  A ton of fantasy books have been written about it. It seems like every newbie fantasy writer wants his own variation of the legend but those aren't exactly designed to appeal to a mainstream audience.

I'd bet that the mainstream isn't really aware of much outside of what they saw in the Disney cartoon when they were kids. They know that Merlin is supposed to be an old man in a wizard hat and not much else. If they have really good memories they might remember that Morgan LeFay was supposed to be a bad guy. The people that actually notice all of the other violations of the legend are just fantasy nerds and it really doesn't make a lot of difference to the success of the show if you offend those guys.

Anyway, it's not a horrible show. I won't shed any tears if it gets canceled though.

Did anyone actually watch the Flash Gordon series? I tried, but I found the production quality of it so shite that I nearly chewed my keyboard in half.

Hah, I actually got to like it after a while. I think I was the only one though.

Probably.  :why_so_serious:

The new Flash Gordon confused me. The one episode I saw, they were all on Earth except for a blonde Ming who was the head of an intergalactic corporation, and everybody was going to a wedding. I was like "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!?!?!" and ran screaming from the room.

On the below average season finale:

I just found this on Hulu and watched the first episode.  I liked it and watched the second right after.  If Hulu had a third, I'd be watching it right now.  I am not sure yet whether I should be ashamed.