4.11: The Hunter's Heart

[Ursa major]

You are taking this far too seriously. It clearly isn't any period in history in this reality. Not only that but have you ever seen those mountains in England? And when did you last see giant Hamsters? Or that French castle they all live in? As for the siege tunnels, by that look of that map the ground beneath them must resemble Swiss cheese!

That was my point: there are huge anachronisms (magic being by far the most obvious), so there's no need to pick on one aspect which, although it may seem less "realistic" to us, is probably one of the few things in the series which stands some chance of being true for the period**.




** - The period being one when a warlord might have flourished and been successful without leaving much, if any, trace in recorded history.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I'm happy enough with them moving the Arthurian bit around; in fact one of the best things about Arthur is its ability to move, to be recreated, no myth lasts this long if it can't. But if we ask is it accurate then i think we have to be able to say no, it isn't. If we ask are we still willing to suspend our disbelief and accept it, I have to say it depends on the writing, the engagement, and by and large, yes I do, happily.

 

[ghostofcorwin]

I'm not sure why it's felt that Merlin's secret cannot be revealed without somehow jeopardizing the overall story. A whole season could be easily devoted to that transition -- the revelation of Merlin's powers, the return of Excalibur, the development of the round table into a fixture at Camelot (I know it was presaged in an earlier episode), the quest of the holy grail, etc. It would be a transition to the known myth, which still carries plenty of intrigue and danger. (How Merlin's manages the use of magic will be a big issue, whether Arthur knows about it or not.) No matter what, Mordred will remain Merlin's and Camelot's bete noir. Not to mention that Merlin still faces the question of seduction and entrapment in the crystal cave (Morganna? Nimue back from the grave? Another sorceress yet unseen?). There are a couple of seasons worth of material in this alone.

 

[Overread]

I wonder if they might even be considering a spinoff series - Arthur!
Build the peek of the Merlin series into the unveiling and revelation of his magic and then shift focus in a new series to Arthur as he claims Excalibur and sets out to properly build the round table and his kingdom.

That lets them shift the character focus, lets them break the moulds that the Merlin series runs on; maybe lets them also be even a touch more mature with the series and content if they so wish.
Also I've noticed that they like reaching back to the "old man" Merlin appearance and if they shifted a new series focus to Arthur they could easily have Merlin take that role (the spell goes wrong) without destroying what the Merlin series has already established.

 

[TL Rese]

I think they made a mistake with Gwen; in mythology she was a powerful dynastic choice as well as Arthur's love, and a strong ally. To have her as a serving girl was always going to present problems, and yes, make it all hard to believe.

yea, i agree - i think having gwen as a serving girl probably has to do w/ instilling a didactic quality into this series for kids. kids thus learn that true love doesn't depend on race, class, etc. okay, that may be, but their personalities should at least still click. instead, their romance comes off as flat and difficult to believe.