lesbiassparrow | Entries tagged with robin of sherwood

No free time yet, but look at this lovely icon that I got from

avictoriangirl

I am almost done with my rewatch; I can't bear to watch it right through to the end yet, though. Saving up Golem Robert of the giant teeth for tomorrow. Nothing beats Gundar over-acting and Robert in peril.

I'm up to the one with the devil worshipping village that is cursed to burn, burn, burn. Complete with the plastic monster thing that arises from the mystic pool where Gundar frolics. I think they blew their entire dry ice budget on that one.

The hilarious thing is that it usually looks relatively dry and nice in Sherwood, but all the commentaries are about how much it rained and how this was the one nice day for weeks and they'd spent most of their time huddling under trees and fighting off pneumonia.

Also I spent all today working and I'm still behind. How does that happen?

I have been so madly, ridiculously busy lately that it's been horrible. But still: I have watch more Robin of Sherwood. I am through the tragic death and starting in with the introduction of inferior Robin. But even though I do find Jason Connery rather wooden and no match for Michael Praed, I do find the brawl between him and Will hilarious. Complete with random goats and the guy who won't arrest them because his brother serves such good ale.

ETA: The first Robin of Huntington episodes win the bad hair title hands down. So many mullets and so few excuses for them.

Hmm. It seems a bunch of people are hopping over to dreamwidth. I have an account there, but, to be honest, keeping up with two journalling sites is beyond me. And, despite LJs constant fuckwittery, I prefer it over here. Unless all my flist vanishes - and even then - I can't see myself having the energy to move anywhere. And I have a strong suspicion that DW will not quite prove to be the fannish nirvana that everyone anticipates. Though if it is, well done there.

Basically, I guess, that while I don't like LJs mistakes, I don't really expect any blogging sites to act any different if they get large enough and want to turn a profit. And years of reading fandom wank doesn't exactly make me believe that fans running anything is automatically a good thing.

But more importantly: I am doing a rewatch of Robin of Sherwood and it is awesomely good as ever. I think I might buy the Blu-rays whenever they come out. RUNNING THROUGH THE GREENWOOD IN HIGH DEF. HOW AWESOME WILL THAT BE? Plus exciting dry ice will be even better in Blu-Ray. I AM SURE OF IT. Um, I may have bought a set of the novelizations which were going cheap.

In conclusion: Robin! The Hooded Man!

1. So via Calixa I have found that I can't watch Gossip Girl on the Canadaian telly tonight. There goes that plan.

2. I think I shall watch Prison Break even though I've never seen an episode as it sounds like it could be potentially Kdramaish. Is there any new show I should start watching? I like: melodrama, amnesia, mortal illnesses, and more melodrama. Not really picky about the setting. Oh, and star crossed love. If the people in love also have the amnesia and illness that's the best.

3. I was going to watch East of Eden, a brand spanking new Kdrama, but it's 50 episodes long. That's a bit too much of an investment for me, so instead I shall catch up on some back viewing: Beautiful Days. I think there's a mortal illness in that. Plus repressed people.

4. People on Robin of Sherwood are now throwing axes at the sheriff. Excellent even if it means that I am ON THE LAST EPISODE OH NOES AND NOW MY REWATCH IS OVER AND I HAVE A ROBIN OF SHERWOODLESS FUTURE TO LOOK FORWARD TO. IT IS COLD AND BLEAK, MY FRIENDS.

I feel one of Jason Connery's great disadvantages is his greatly inferior to Praed hair. It teeters on the edge of mulletness which I find disturbing.

I am currently on the lepers episode which shows us Will Scarlett almost naked. And makes Guy of Gisbourne all emo and filled with a Tortured Past. I approve of the first but not the second.

I have moved onto Robin of Sherwood: the Connery bits. I don't dislike it as much as I used to because a) well, the Merry Men and Marian are still amazing and b) Connery's commentary and interviews are HILARIOUS.

Also! The first two episodes with Owen of Clune and Richard O'Brien as a mad sorcerer are to be cherished for their impressive amount of over-acting. Now the Merry Men are off to see if Mad Peg can cure Robin's wounds. When your choice of medic has 'mad' in their name it is never a good sign for the state of medicine.

I have been rewatching Robin of Sherwood and have finally gotten to the episode with the demon worshipping nuns. IT IS TOTALLY THE BEST THING EVER.

ETA: Will Scarlet is so angry and untrusting. And Little John is all burly. And you get the fey Robin* and the awesomest Marian ever.

*I refer, of course, to the first Robin. The second...well, let's say that Jason Connery is no Michael Praed and leave it at that.

To get over my tragic disappointment that both my 'Autumn Tale' and 'Loveholics' DVDs did not have any subtitles at all (not even really terrible ones) I am posting thoughts of less than deep variety. (I am also watching, thanks to

baleanoptera's recent picspam, Robin of Sherwood. So good. So full of attractive men leaping through the greensward. Plus the best Marion ever. How the hell the recent series managed to screw up the Robin Hood legend so badly is beyond me.)

Anyway onto the fascinating subject of this post, the bastard hero. Kdramas are, as far as I can see, almost obsessively fond of this character. They're not alone in that, of course: romance is full of men with less than perfect social skills who are redeemed by the love of a good woman. Normally I roll with this and even enjoy their wankerishness because I know eventually they will have to bend or break to get the heroine.

However, my reaction to both 'My Name is Kim Samsoon' and much earlier to 'Full House' (where I also spent most of the series wanting to smack Rain's character) has made me realize that while I can accept the bastard hero in romance and melodrama I have a much harder time with it in comedy. I guess it's because it's the nature of comedy that the hero will suffer much, much less and thus his nasty behaviour will not reap its due bitter reward. However, in melodrama he will usually have to spend much time suffering terrible angst and emotional pain because of his behaviour and thus my desire to see him be horribly tortured is satisfied by the narrative. In comedy it is not very comic to do that sort of thing to your hero so he usually escapes fairly unscathed despite his record of horrific slights and insults.

In addition, in comedy you don't usually have a tragic past mapped out for the hero that explains his horrible interactions with the heroine. (I think it's not surprising that Draco, who is I think, largely a comic figure in the actual Harry Potter canon as opposed to fanon is usually given a horrifically awful family life in fanfiction. It goes a long way to fit him into a standard byronic model which Rowling's character does not. But that's beside the point). As I am small-minded enough to demand horrible pain and suffering in the past of anyone who is going to be a total jerk I am probably doomed to hate the bastard comic hero. Unless, of course, anyone is going to be good enough to actually have one of them eaten by bears in the final episode.

I am interested to know what bastard hero did or didn't work for you and why and what bastard hero everyone else likes but you can't stand. It would make me feel much less lonely in my hatred for Samshik.

But! (and this point is not connected at all to any of the ones above) you should also go and look at

calixa's picspam of Legend of the Condor Heroes. I can't wait for this one: it looks packed with attractively dumb heroes, fighting, villains, and furry hats. I am also tempted to make it my first wuxia but I doubt I can restrain myself from the genre that long.

Long weekend and I should be off doing things and stuff but I have plague. It is not totally counteracting the greatness of Carolina's win tonight but the shrieks of delight were a bit subdued. And not only do I have plague but I have to clean the flat (guests are probably entitled to have somewhere to sit) and I cannot see X-Men this week as I promised to see it with a friend who is currently away.

Have finished The Five Doctors. I am still of the opinion that 'no....not the mind probe!' is the best line ever in a Who episode. But Gallifreyean fashion sense is so awful it could very well rip the fabric of space and time. I'm astonished that both Romanas had excellent taste in clothes (I'd suspect non Gallifreyean mums but that would open a whole new world of looms vs. sex vs Gallifreyeans think too much of themselves to shag non time lords debate). And in other completely unexciting news have ordered a bunch of DVDs including Earthshock (aka the one where Adric dies). How do I not own that?

Am now watching Robin of Sherwood. Wow, they really liked to put Praed in excessively tight leggings. Which was very kind of them, but I think I did read once that they had a tendency to split in filming as he ran like a deer through the forest and the sun lovingly reflected off his dark hair... Er, sorry got a little carried away there.

And there needs to be more Five/Tegan fic. So I can read it.

Current Mood: sick

Based purely on fond childhood memories I have ordered Robin of Sherwood on DVD from Amazon UK. I have a feel that rewatching it will be a bit like rereading The Dark is Rising and realising that your memory plays horrible, horrible tricks on you. But still I couldn't resist - there were manly men running through the forest, gods with antlers, evil sheriffs, and lots of bows and arrows, and have I mentioned manly men running through forests? Michael Praed was my first tv boyfriend.

Going through Amazon I saw there was a Dick Turpin series which is also now out on DVD. If Sterling wasn't so absurdly high at the moment I would have bought it; highwaymen are like pirates, you cant really go wrong with them. They just have to get on their horses and gallop madly for me to be all amazed and impressed.

I have also given up on the new Doctor Who ever being shown on US tv so will end up buying it when the boxed set comes out. But why is it so bloody expensive? For 13 episodes $80 seems a bit high to me.