This review is based on the first two seasons (series) only.
Robin of Sherwood is an old series, and it shows, but there's still no denying the excellent cinematography and music.
You can often recognize early 1980s music by a "brittle" sound quality (from the then newly invented synthesizer), and hearing the title track, I admit my heart sank. From the "Strange Land" theme onward, though, I realized this might be something special. Now I'm playing "Legend" 24/7, and will be checking out Clannad's other material. Never too late!
The technical DVD quality notwithstanding (I should have bought the blu-ray) - the cinematograhy really is top notch, too. Lots of visual inventiveness, and the shots are so carefully composed it's a joy to watch. I love all the lush greenery, birdsong etc, making the forest almost a character of it's own. In line with its romantic and religious view of nature, this Sherwood has no days of that famous English rain, and certainly none of those winters Lady Marion worried about, when Robin was trying to persuade her to live in the woods with him.
It's generally an unapologetically romantic show, which you don't see much these days, while also challenging common perceptions of King Richard and the Templars. I love that.
Michael Praed is a huge asset. An idealistic and unfIinchingly brave Robin, with a tender side. I actually found him a bit stiff at first, probably because he was used to stage acting (that might also explain his beautiful enunciation!) But yeah, then I fell for him, just like everybody else.. He seems to give it his all, and those looks? Christ. Especially in the first season. Second season it seemed like they were trying to transform him into that guy from Modern Talking. Maybe that's why he jumped ship. 1980s fashion... Anyway, he comes very close to perfect.
I also really like Judi Trott as Marion. Refined, beautiful, graceful. She had some spirit and spark in the first few episodes that I missed in the later ones, and lacks the insane charisma of her co-star, but she's a good actress. The way she's written is a good balance between tough and vulnerable. She was a dancer, and I love that she's so agile and light-footed - it makes her believable as a good runner, horsewoman, and archer. As such, she really holds her own as part of the "Merries". ( Apparently the actress struggled with the bow at first, but she was still believable with it.)
The acting is generally good, but the actors don't get that much to work with, other than fighting, planning, and scheming. No wait, the good guys also have fun. An effort must have been made for them to become friends in real life, because the band members have such great chemistry between them, and are truly "merry". They still play types, though. I know it's to be expected from an action-adventure show, but I got a bit tired of Will Scarlet's only characteristic being "hothead". His character had seemed so promising.
The "bad guys" don't work for me. I'm sorry, because I know a lot of people love the campiness of the Sheriff and Guy of Gisburne, but to me it gets boring when you realize there's not going to be any backstory, nuance, development... No sides to them, really, but smart/evil and stupid/evil, and if the Sheriff's mustache had been longer he would have been twirling it, the way he overacts. One of the reasons I'm not watching season 3, is I can't take more of those two repeating themselves. (Another reason being the whole idea of Marion being "handed down" to the next Robin).
Aside from that, I find the quality of episodes surprisingly uneven. The two-parters and season finales are by far the best, and I don't think that's a coincidence. Honestly, I think the show was hampered by the convention of the day of "stand alone" episodes, able to be aired in any order (and indeed, the order was changed). This means everything has to be established, developed, and solved within one episode. Little time for build-up of conflict, no stakes or lasting consequences, no referring to events of previous episodes, and sometimes continuity issues. So when, for example, Will Scarlet challenges Robin's leadership, it comes out of nowhere, and then is never mentioned again. A character's father, thought to be dead, turns up alive, but is then immediately whisked away, not seen again, and in a later episode is once more referred to as dead. Guy of Gisburne gets shot in the back by a crossbow at close range, yet in the following episode walks around like he only got a little burnt!
Yeah, that kind of thing does nothing for your suspension of disbelief. "The Greatest Enemy" is an exception to all of this, and I love it all the more for it.
I think this is one reason why I'm not too keen on Herne the Hunter, although I generally like fantasy. For one thing, I'd prefer a Robin Hood who comes up with the ideas of freedom and justice on his own, and considers his life his own, not one who does a god's bidding. More importantly, though, they seemed to bring Herne and his magic out whenever they were about to run out of time, and needed to solve everything before the episode was over. Like a (literal) deus ex machina.
It just got too easy. I know it's an unfair criticism, because everyone did it like that back then. The divide between series and "mini series" (who told continuing stories) was much sharper. I think Buffy The Vampire Slayer was one of the first "Mission Of The Week" shows that also did overarching storylines, and that was more than I decade later. I can't help wondering, though, what this show might have been with a few longer storylines and character arcs. I think it would have reached its (considerable) potential more.
At its best, the writing, the acting, the Praed, photo, and music still combine to form something very special and memorable. There are images - especially from The King's Fool, The Swords of Wayland, and The Greatest Enemy, that will stay with me for a very long time.
And now, back to Clannad.
Robin of Sherwood is an old series, and it shows, but there's still no denying the excellent cinematography and music.
You can often recognize early 1980s music by a "brittle" sound quality (from the then newly invented synthesizer), and hearing the title track, I admit my heart sank. From the "Strange Land" theme onward, though, I realized this might be something special. Now I'm playing "Legend" 24/7, and will be checking out Clannad's other material. Never too late!
The technical DVD quality notwithstanding (I should have bought the blu-ray) - the cinematograhy really is top notch, too. Lots of visual inventiveness, and the shots are so carefully composed it's a joy to watch. I love all the lush greenery, birdsong etc, making the forest almost a character of it's own. In line with its romantic and religious view of nature, this Sherwood has no days of that famous English rain, and certainly none of those winters Lady Marion worried about, when Robin was trying to persuade her to live in the woods with him.
It's generally an unapologetically romantic show, which you don't see much these days, while also challenging common perceptions of King Richard and the Templars. I love that.
Michael Praed is a huge asset. An idealistic and unfIinchingly brave Robin, with a tender side. I actually found him a bit stiff at first, probably because he was used to stage acting (that might also explain his beautiful enunciation!) But yeah, then I fell for him, just like everybody else.. He seems to give it his all, and those looks? Christ. Especially in the first season. Second season it seemed like they were trying to transform him into that guy from Modern Talking. Maybe that's why he jumped ship. 1980s fashion... Anyway, he comes very close to perfect.
I also really like Judi Trott as Marion. Refined, beautiful, graceful. She had some spirit and spark in the first few episodes that I missed in the later ones, and lacks the insane charisma of her co-star, but she's a good actress. The way she's written is a good balance between tough and vulnerable. She was a dancer, and I love that she's so agile and light-footed - it makes her believable as a good runner, horsewoman, and archer. As such, she really holds her own as part of the "Merries". ( Apparently the actress struggled with the bow at first, but she was still believable with it.)
The acting is generally good, but the actors don't get that much to work with, other than fighting, planning, and scheming. No wait, the good guys also have fun. An effort must have been made for them to become friends in real life, because the band members have such great chemistry between them, and are truly "merry". They still play types, though. I know it's to be expected from an action-adventure show, but I got a bit tired of Will Scarlet's only characteristic being "hothead". His character had seemed so promising.
The "bad guys" don't work for me. I'm sorry, because I know a lot of people love the campiness of the Sheriff and Guy of Gisburne, but to me it gets boring when you realize there's not going to be any backstory, nuance, development... No sides to them, really, but smart/evil and stupid/evil, and if the Sheriff's mustache had been longer he would have been twirling it, the way he overacts. One of the reasons I'm not watching season 3, is I can't take more of those two repeating themselves. (Another reason being the whole idea of Marion being "handed down" to the next Robin).
Aside from that, I find the quality of episodes surprisingly uneven. The two-parters and season finales are by far the best, and I don't think that's a coincidence. Honestly, I think the show was hampered by the convention of the day of "stand alone" episodes, able to be aired in any order (and indeed, the order was changed). This means everything has to be established, developed, and solved within one episode. Little time for build-up of conflict, no stakes or lasting consequences, no referring to events of previous episodes, and sometimes continuity issues. So when, for example, Will Scarlet challenges Robin's leadership, it comes out of nowhere, and then is never mentioned again. A character's father, thought to be dead, turns up alive, but is then immediately whisked away, not seen again, and in a later episode is once more referred to as dead. Guy of Gisburne gets shot in the back by a crossbow at close range, yet in the following episode walks around like he only got a little burnt!
Yeah, that kind of thing does nothing for your suspension of disbelief. "The Greatest Enemy" is an exception to all of this, and I love it all the more for it.
I think this is one reason why I'm not too keen on Herne the Hunter, although I generally like fantasy. For one thing, I'd prefer a Robin Hood who comes up with the ideas of freedom and justice on his own, and considers his life his own, not one who does a god's bidding. More importantly, though, they seemed to bring Herne and his magic out whenever they were about to run out of time, and needed to solve everything before the episode was over. Like a (literal) deus ex machina.
It just got too easy. I know it's an unfair criticism, because everyone did it like that back then. The divide between series and "mini series" (who told continuing stories) was much sharper. I think Buffy The Vampire Slayer was one of the first "Mission Of The Week" shows that also did overarching storylines, and that was more than I decade later. I can't help wondering, though, what this show might have been with a few longer storylines and character arcs. I think it would have reached its (considerable) potential more.
At its best, the writing, the acting, the Praed, photo, and music still combine to form something very special and memorable. There are images - especially from The King's Fool, The Swords of Wayland, and The Greatest Enemy, that will stay with me for a very long time.
And now, back to Clannad.