Arachnology!

 

It's September 2008 and something is lurking on the drab exterior of a derelict city centre office…something very large and something that has eight legs. It has appeared overnight to startle early morning commuters already battling with high winds and lashing rain. Emerging from the train station below they can only gasp at the sight above their heads and in seconds mobile phones and cameras are clicking, people are talking, local radio and TV reporters are hovering about. On first glance the object appears to be some sort of Victorian era machine made of metal with the appearance of a spider; sat on the side of the office block it seems to have no purpose and puzzles onlookers.

Merlin Season Two (2009)

 

(These reviews were written in 2009 and originally published in the print version of This Way Up fanzine)

There’s no question that Merlin, right from the start, was a more sure footed series than either Robin Hood or Primeval. The show seemed to have more concise scripts, was better cast and looked great. What niggled during season one though, was that for all those assets, the storylines seemed repetitive and a little too rigid. The acting, sparky dialogue, excellent cinematography and visual effects towered above the narrative which stopped the show reaching its potential. You could be impressed or amused but rarely dazzled by what you saw. It did improve towards the end but what Merlin needed was not just to be good but to be GREAT.

Season Two is GREAT. In fact, as it progressed it’s got better and better concluding with two astoundingly good episodes that, for the first time, see the show match the charismatic mix of Doctor Who which, let’s face it, is the benchmark for this kind of series. For the first time, the viewer becomes emotionally involved as we see the early simmering of the Arthur and Gwen story, Merlin’s position coming under greater threat and the dragon getting more fractious. The improved scripts still deliver the thrills and spills but they are surpassed by the tone of each episode. There’s some broad comedy, particularly evident in the relaxed friendship between Arthur and Merlin, there’s a much greater sense of danger from the villains and the plots are more varied. Each of the cast is given more as we discover more about each of them so that when the last two episodes cut loose, it doesn’t feel like some crazy sensationalist finale but genuine developments that we can relate to.

Merlin Season One (2008)

 

I’ve been rewatching Merlin because I happened to catch an episode when I was away and realised how much I’d enjoyed the series. So I thought I’d rewatch it. I’d already reviewed it at the time it was on from 2008- 13 and those reviews on seasons three to five are on the main blog if you looked back to the earlier years. The reviews of seasons one and two originally appeared in the print versions of This Way Up so I thought I’d put them on here. These are vintage reviews that I’ve not re-edited and written without the foreknowledge of later series and as they were printed rather than posted tend to be quite lengthy. I feel I was a bit harsh on season one though. Season 2 to follow shortly.

Merlin was always more interesting than Arthur as a mythological character and yet we didn’t know a lot about him. In various interpretations of the Arthurian legend, Merlin was always a mercurially mysterious talisman of Camelot with little tangible back story. A difficult subject for his own series you’d think, especially one of the newly re-forged Saturday teatime slot. As it turns out, all the potential is there simply because we’re much m ore familiar with the story of Arthur than of Merlin so by taking the Smallville route of intercepting our character before he’s even fully grown up we can find out what makes him tick.

Doctor Who - The Sunmakers

 

The Season 15 Collection bluray box is about to drop and, cards on the table, you’ll never convince me that the Graham Williams years are bad and that may be because I was the right age for them and therefore always will be.  At that point I may have abandoned the series altogether where it not for the fact that it became witter, sillier and more willing to take chances. Honestly all this stuff about production values – we didn’t notice on our over richly coloured analogue TVs watching just the once. Plus, the appeal of Doctor Who then- at least for me- was not the special effects but the stories and the dialogue. I still maintain I learned more interesting words watching the show in this period than I learned concurrently at school.

All but one of the stories in this season have already been reviewed on this blog in 2017/18 - see links at the foot of this post. Due to personal reasons I wasn’t able to do `The Sunmakers` so I have done so below. A look at the extras in the box set to follow on the main blog shortly.