[Jakovasaurus]

Set your DVRs sexy people! Ron Burgundy and Champ Kind will be guest hosting SportsCenter on ESPN tomorrow (Thursday, Dec. 5 @6pm ET) .

[QuickTidal]

BBC's ATLANTIS, has up till now been a decent (if not perfect) replacement for the now-gone MERLIN. From ep to ep they have built the Bromance between Jason, Pythagoras, and Hercules and made entertaining monster of the week eps.

That all changed in the 8th ep where Pythagoras' brother Arcus appears looking for vengeance on whomever murdered their father when he was merely a baby...that one gives the Jason/Pythagoras bromance a layer I wasn't expecting and I enjoyed...but it's Ep 9 that changes the game up.

Spoiler

Even tho I KNEW it was coming, I had no idea they'd do it so soon. So Hercules owes some nefarious dude a lot of cash from his gambling, and he therefore kidnaps Medusa and tells Herc he wants a box that is contained in the Tartarus part of Hades/Underworld...and he wants Herc and Co to go get it. They do so by somewhat magical means told to them by (Donavan from Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade!). Jason and Herc go underworlding and Pythagoras stays behind to "wake them up" when they get the box. The box, you may have guessed, turns out to be Pandora's Box...and though they come up with a plan to give the criminal a fake box (because Jason being from modern day is WELL aware of how dangerous Pandora's Box is...Herc and Pythagoras don't) and stash the real box at their place. They rescue Medusa by swapping a fake box...and Herc stupidly send Medusa to their place for safety...and of course while she is there the box calls out to her and she opens it....BAM, sweet, beautiful Medusa, love interest of Hercules...becomes Medusa we know from myth, snakes for hair and turns people to stone. Jason is so pissed that he goes to the oracle who has been kind of helping him, but telling him fate is foreordained...and asks her if she knew...and she says that she did...and that further fate and the gods have deemed that one day, Jason will be forced to kill Medusa. Jason looks at her scathingly and tells her it will never happen, and he doesn't care how angry the gods are, he's going to defy them. He then walks out of her temple and stands on the steps looking at the darkening night stormed sky and growls "Do your worst." to the gods....like fuck me....amazing. I was not expecting this fun little show to get that serious that fast. It was like watching the first few eps of MERLIN in Series 1 and then the last few eps of Series 3.

Simply put this show will probably never replace my adoration of MERLIN...but in two eps it's gotten REALLY close.

Loving this.

[Spoilsport Stonny]

Quickly, has anyone been keeping up with the south park black friday/game of thrones episodes? Hilarious...

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Spoilsport Stonny, on 11 December 2013 - 03:22 AM, said:

Quickly, has anyone been keeping up with the south park black friday/game of thrones episodes? Hilarious...

Agreed.

[worry]

I'm not finna read the S5 griping that no doubt went on in the dedicated thread, so I'm putting this here: I semi-binged Fringe over the last month, and it was awesome.

[Tiste Simeon]

Started watching Luther. Flippin heck this show is incredible! Flew through season 1 & started season 2. Really tense, excellent drama. Gutted season 3 isn't on Netflix.

[QuickTidal]

Briar King, on 12 December 2013 - 01:37 AM, said:

I've watch 2 eps if Atlantis today. Yep it us Merlin with a dif title lol.
mark addy ftw!

Wait til it really gets going BK!

[Cause]

Is merlin really that good? It looked like live action sword and sorcery for children. Should I check it again? I mean i thought it was the legend of the seeker but with king arthur

[McLovin]

Walk out of this thread while you still can

[Abyss]

I've another one who wasn't impressed by MERLIN... and yes, i watched a bunch of eps before i came to that conclusion. I found it very by-the-numbers-tv with mediocre effects.

But hey, i didn't love FIREFLY either... maybe i'm just cold and dead inside or something...

[Dolmen 2.0]

Perhaps, like me, the hype overplayed merlin for you? I still enjoyed firefly but there was alot said about Merlin that had me underwhelmed when I finally sat down to watch it. Too much hype tends to ruin TV experiences for me. I expect much more than I see. The only show that ever really lived up to its hype was Hannibal.

[QuickTidal]

Cause, on 12 December 2013 - 04:46 PM, said:

Is merlin really that good? It looked like live action sword and sorcery for children. Should I check it again? I mean i thought it was the legend of the seeker but with king arthur

It is that good, but you have to give it long enough to get under your skin. It's very much a story-of-the-week show.

It has three things going for it.

1. John Hurt as the Dragon

2. Merlin Arthur Bromance/interaction.

3. Gawain. No seriously, out of all the eventual Knights...Gawain is unarguably the best.

Abyss, on 12 December 2013 - 05:16 PM, said:

I've another one who wasn't impressed by MERLIN... and yes, i watched a bunch of eps before i came to that conclusion. I found it very by-the-numbers-tv with mediocre effects.

MERLIN is an acquired taste that pretty much flies on the fact that it almost is never going to be much more than the sum of its parts...it is very much an episodic, Monster of the Week style genre show.

Why did it succeed? Because of the Bromance first and foremost. The relationship between Arthur and Merlin is above and beyond the greatest thing that show produced. Their banter, their camaraderie, the fact that they pretend not to care about the fate of one another when they do, and in later seasons their working together to try to establish a golden age of Camelot. Lancelot's story also handled in a great way. Angel Coulby is an incredible Guinevere. Anthony Stewart Head chews scenery as King Uther. Even one-off characters are handled with care.

The reason it inexplicably has such a ravenous fanbase because the show creators knew that their success in such a genre depended upon their characters.

Is it a pretty standard King Arthur show? Yup.

Is it a pretty standard budgeted SFF show? Yup.

But where it succeeds is in being more like XENA...rather than the show that inspired it (SMALLVILLE). It builds enough of a base in S1 & 2 that S3-5 are just amazing full stop. Season 5 actually was influenced by GoT...they were given a much bigger budget, more attention to stories, effects, mood, whathaveyou. I really feel that S2-5 are solid gold.

But yeah, it succeeds DESPITE its sometimes cheesiness. One of those shows that if you let it into your heart, you'll love it. It's fun, it's actiony, it's silly, it's cool. But if you can only stand outside of it and say "It's the same old thing, crappy budget, by-the-numbers storylines"....then you'll never let it in and enjoy.

There is also the fact that MOST folk I know who said "I gave it a chance..." gave it a chance in S1 which is the least of the seasons (others Abyss, not you)...in which respect it's like BUFFY.

It's one of those shows. I still miss the hell out of it all these months later. It is still my second fave archived (finished) show of all time. I THINK there are at least a few people here who like it...but I may be the most diehard on. But don't believe me...watch this:



SIDENOTE: Producers of its successor ATLANTIS are well aware of what made MERLIN succeed, and thus the bromance between Jason, Pythagoras, and Hercules is front and center the most important thing.

Lastly, the finale of MERLIN S5 left me irrefutably bereft. More-so than the end of LOST, or BUFFY, or any other show that "affected" me emotionally. The end of MERLIN was like a solid kick to the FEEL-button.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 12 December 2013 - 07:36 PM

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

I really liked Merlin, but it just got so boring after a while. There was no suspense or mystery.

[Tiste Simeon]

Why is no - one making a bigger deal about Abyss saying he didn't like Firefly? When I am grand overlord ninja Supreme of the world, not liking Firefly will be punishable by being forced to listen to Bieber on repeat for days at a time...

[Traveller]

Merlin was ok to start with but i found it got steadily more repetitive, with it's insistence on everything returning to normal at the end of each episode, with no real progress.

I guess I wanted Uther out of the way sooner to progress Arthur's journey, and it took forever to happen, forcing us to watch endless incidents of Morgana doing her shifty eyes, and walking in and out of a guarded Castle every night undetected just because she put her hood up.

There were certainly no episodes I saw that were as memorable as Fireflys Out of Gas, although you can't really compare the two - Firefly might have lost all forward momentum of it had ever reached a second season.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 13 December 2013 - 02:32 PM

[Spoilsport Stonny]

Traveller, on 13 December 2013 - 02:31 PM, said:

...Firefly might have lost all forward momentum of it had ever reached a second season.

This is the theory I've always operated under. Especially with Fox in control, although they did eventually let Fringe be Fringe, they tend to overhype (Terra Nova, Fastlane) some things too much, and then other times they allow the show's creator too much freedom, and things get out of control (Family Guy, X-Files, Prison Break). Firefly is perfect because of the circumstances that surrounded it, the happenings that were just too serendipitous, and inadvertently guided it to its so-called cult status. People can say they loved the show from the moment it aired, and far be it for moi to call them out on it, but the show never made sense until the DVD's came out and viewers could watch them in the proper order. Also, Christina Hendricks.

[QuickTidal]

Traveller, on 13 December 2013 - 02:31 PM, said:

Merlin was ok to start with but i found it got steadily more repetitive, with it's insistence on everything returning to normal at the end of each episode, with no real progress.

I guess I wanted Uther out of the way sooner to progress Arthur's journey, and it took forever to happen, forcing us to watch endless incidents of Morgana doing her shifty eyes, and walking in and out of a guarded Castle every night undetected just because she put her hood up.

There were certainly no episodes I saw that were as memorable as Fireflys Out of Gas, although you can't really compare the two - Firefly might have lost all forward momentum of it had ever reached a second season.

I can list a few eps of MERLIN in S3 or 4 that were that good.

But to be honest, I really adore the ending of the first season simply because of dealing with Nimue...

But yeah, I actually feel that S3-5 has definite story progressions, even during the standalone nature of most eps, there were things driven forward. Just when you think all is done, Lancelot shows back up, or we got that meaty backstory on Uther's promise to Morgana's father, or Excaliber or Mordred reappear. I just think they enjoyed spending their time on standalones instead of having a slow progression of episodic storytelling, they just peppered the seasons with it instead.

Just my take.

But I maintain that the Arthur/Merlin bromance is the reason to watch.

[QuickTidal]

Latest issue of GQ has an article interviewing Bradley Cooper where he talks about how much he hated working on ALIAS, because his character had less and less to do as the seasons wore on and it bothered him.

Wait, wait, wait. You get on a show as a periphery character who gets to spend a lot of S1 in the spotlight...and then complain when the organic arcing storyline doesn't include you as much? A show gives you a HUGE start in Hollywood, and ostensibly is the reason you got some of your subsequent film roles...and you PISS all over it once you're a bigger name?

Newsflash you weren't a main character. Did Kevin Weisman complain about Marshall featuring in small ways all the time?

Classy, Bradley Cooper.

[Slow Ben]

I saw on the news that Rufio won the Voice.




I thought Hook killed him, but apparently not.

[Primateus]

Slow Ben, on 21 December 2013 - 11:44 PM, said:

I saw on the news that Rufio won the Voice.




I thought Hook killed him, but apparently not.