BBC Robin Hood Reviewed

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Allen W Wright	BBC Robin Hood Reviewed	Lead	[-]
Posts: 241 (10/07/07 10:27:45) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Tags : None I finally posted an article about the new series on my site, although I doubt fans will be too happy with it. I had a very hard time writing the article, and I'm still not that satisfied with it. It hope it doesn't come as too cruel, but well I honestly didn't like the first series. I had to get this out of the way, because I really haven't updated my site since the new series premiered. It probably would have been too strange just to continue ignoring the new show. So, that's one demon exorcised. www.boldoutlaw.com/bbcrobinhood/ Let the hate mail begin. (And I've seen enough hate mail directed at other critics of the series that I know I'll get some.) Allen
Anna Fraser	Re: BBC Robin Hood Reviewed	#1	[-]
Posts: 33 (10/08/07 01:43:41) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Hello, Allen, Youll probably be disappointed this is not hate mail! Ive just read your review with great interest. I cant really comment on the new series, as I only watched the first episode, and disliked it so much, that I decided not to see any more of it. I was particularly interested in the second part of your article, on the Crusades. I tried to summarise the origins of the Crusade idea in Robin Hood stories for the fans of The Adventures in Sherwood Forester magazine on our website (Issue 2, and then 14). I havent read the Victorian novels, so it was all second-hand information. I wasnt sure if it made sense; now Im relieved to see that you came to a similar conclusion in your article. Have you seen the episode of The Adventures called The Infidel, in Season 2? The Muslim character Ali is not a member of the outlaw band, but they are definitely on the same side. The treatment of the Crusades in The Adventures is probably inconsistent more often than not, they stand for WW2, but not in The Infidel. Id be interested in your comments on that some time in future. Thank you again for your very informative article. Anna www.robinhood-tv.co.uk
1981Marcus	New series	#2	[-]
Posts: 309 (10/08/07 03:21:53) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Well, I haven't seen enough of it to judge, but from what I have seen I wouldn't quibble with a word of your review. BTW, re the history of the Crusades in Robin Hood fiction: is Stocqueler's Maid Marian available anywhere at a reasonable price? Every copy I've come across has been in the 3-figure range, which I can't afford.
Allen W Wright	Re: BBC Robin Hood Reviewed	#3	[-]
Posts: 241 (10/08/07 03:23:04) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I rewatched all the first series episodes of the new series when I wrote the article. Painful to get a concentrated dose of that. Thanks, Anna. I think I might have seen The Infidel ages ago. My region 2 player (and despite what the label says, season 2 of Adventures is Region 2 -- where every other season is region 0) is toast at the moment, but I'll try to rewatch it soon. I'm really struck by the massive influence Ivanhoe had on the legend, not just the Normans vs. Saxons motif, but everything. I checked with one professor who knows all those 18th century prose lives and plays, and he couldn't think of an instance of Robin going on Crusade prior to Ivanhoe either. The stuff about De Koven is a bit of a tribute to professor Lorraine Stock who has spent a lot of time compiling information about Maid Marian (his second Robin Hood-themed operetta, although confusingly the first one also was called Maid Marian when performed in the UK). Allen
Allen W Wright	Re: BBC Robin Hood Reviewed	#4	[-]
Posts: 241 (10/08/07 03:24:44) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I don't have a copy of it either. I seem to recall it was going to be reissued in some massive set, overseen by Prof. Knight, but I think those were only affordable if you made a professor's salary. Allen
WoodsyLadyM	Re: BBC Robin Hood Reviewed	#5	[-]
Posts: 167 (10/08/07 05:57:12) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	*Quote:* I don't have a copy of it either. I seem to recall it was going to be reissued in some massive set, overseen by Prof. Knight, but I think those were only affordable if you made a professor's salary. I think you're referring to the Robin Hood Classic Fiction Library put out by Routledge. They are about $240 to $260 a book. The entire collection is $1370. Who knows though it might be cheaper if and when they come out in paperback, or you could always check out a good university library.
WoodsyLadyM	Re: BBC Robin Hood Reviewed	#6	[-]
Posts: 167 (10/08/07 06:13:21) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Allen, Excellent review and I agree with most of the points you made. Especially about Robin's coming back from the Crusades yet still acting like he'd been away on a summer vacation. Also this nonsense about not killing your enemies is ridiculous. For some reason I just find the Sheriff very irritating. He's nowhere near as much fun as Alan Rickman. Panto or not I think Robin should have just killed him off in the 1st season. One can only hope the producers come to their senses in the 2nd.
Allen W Wright	Re: BBC Robin Hood Reviewed	#7	[-]
Posts: 241 (10/08/07 07:35:16) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I'm not all that taken with Keith Allen's Sheriff either. I can't tell how good the acting for most of the outlaws would be under other circumstances, because they are given so little to do. For example, Harry Lloyd (Will) played an actual part on Doctor Who and he was pretty good. But they've given Will Scarlet nothing to do so far. Anna, I checked out the Sherwood Forester articles -- nice. I see a reference to me in the first. I didn't know this way back then, but now I'd have to say the most likely link to Fairbanks would have been the second musical/operetta from Reginald de Koven and Harry Smith "Maid Marian" (as opposed to their earlier one known as "Robin Hood" in the US and "Maid Marian" in the UK). Lorraine Stock did a lot of research, and found that the second one got played a lot more than generally reported and on tour. And the DVD release of the Fairbanks movie uses music from the first de Koven operetta at very least. (Not sure if that was Kino Video's idea or if they are basing it off some actual 1922 piano accompaniment scores for the film.) Allen
1981Marcus	De Koven	#8	[-]
Posts: 309 (10/08/07 12:27:50) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Professor's salary, eh? Well, I finish my doctorate in two years, so if I walk straight into a job... Another availability question: I've ordered a recording of the first de Koven musical: is the second one available?
Allen W Wright	Re: De Koven	#9	[-]
Posts: 241 (10/08/07 15:22:58) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I asked Lorraine, and she said no. She is trying to encourage some campuses (her own or Rochester, where the 2009 conference will be held) to mount a production of it. So, we'll see. In terms of the first operetta, I have both a recording from the 1920s I think (of an earlier cast) and then the Ohio Light Company one that the sheriffs at the border preventing me from seeing. Allen
Grammar Hammer	Re: Review of Current Robin Hood	#10	[-]
Posts: 93 (10/09/07 14:22:47) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	The review was terrific, well balanced, and well considered. I've seen the whole of the first series several times, and it amazes me how inconsistent both the quality and continuity of plot and character are. Still, I'm looking forward to series 2 to see what changes/progress/improvements (hopefully) are afoot. Unfortunately, we in the U.S. aren't slated to get the second series until early in 2008. I've always felt that the current series picks up on a lot of plot and character elements from The Adventures but doesn't handle them as well. Greene's Robin also expressed his weariness with killing after his Crusades experience, but this did not preclude him from killing when the situation demanded it. Greene's Robin also evolved from a man of social rank to a more egalitarian leader; this is something we never see in Armstrong's portrayal, as he seems to be less an Earl and more "one of the boys" from the start. I also agree that Much is one of the best played (that Troughton pedigree!) and written characters in the current series, but I think you shortchange him a bit in terms of seeing him as simply comic relief. As a whole, Much has more depth and dimension than even Robin, especially in terms of his having more of a sense of what makes a gentleman. I do think the writers keep undercutting him by having some of the stupidest things come out of his mouth (What do girls eat?), though. "I'd like to be a pessimist, but that is a luxury I cannot afford." Mother Hubbard Queen of the Grammar Hammers

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