Camelot

[ericadawn16]

So, I sort of had my reservations about Camelot before it premiered but it was Starz and it had pretty so I thought why not?

I even joined the LJ community because something with Merlin and Arthur can't be that bad?

Well, it's not bad but it's not really holding my attention either. There's too much politics and sex and not enough magic.

Also, it's unfair but I think I now expect all Arthur stories to have a slash dragon. It's just necessary.

Is anyone else feeling this way or does everyone else love it?

Comments

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

The reasons you don't like it are the reasons I love it. I watch Merlin because it's King Arthur, but Camelot speaks to me and the Britain that I've been reading about since I was a kid.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

I'm staying with the community though because often fanfics stray from the source material.

Yeah, I suppose I'm just strange. I always liked magic but I couldn't make it through Once and Future King, it got boring.

However, I did really enjoy King Arthur since they did a new take on the tale with placing it earlier, more in line with the real Arthur and going into the Fall of Rome. It came out in the summer and then, that fall, I took Ancient World History which stopped right at that point when Rome fell and everything started disintegrating. That class was also the only reason we saw Alexander but I still feel it was worth it just to see Alexandria as it would have looked like then, so beautiful.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I've never read Once and Future King [g]

Have you read Mary Stewart's books? The Crystal Cave is the first one. They're my formative Arthurian fic experience :)

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

No, I've never even heard of them.

In college, it seemed like everyone else had read Mists of Avalon and I have since had people argue with me about Arthur canon based on MoA even though it's like Arthur basically has NO canon. There are similar names, Arthur is born under odd circumstances and Merlin is a respected adviser possibly wizard, that's it.

I never read MoA but I highly enjoyed Susan Cooper's Arthur series.

[zakath-nath.livejournal.com]

I watched the three first episodes and I don't like it. Not because of sex and politics and the lack of magic but I think it isn't very well written and I don't like the character (althought Kay is cute).

I will continue to watch it but I wait much more for Game of Thrones in the same kind of series, I love the books and the adaptation seems great.

[jolinarjackson.livejournal.com]

I only watched the pilot, because I didn't have time for the other episodes, yet (there are so many other shows to watch). That pretty much says it all, since I always make time for my special shows.

I'm not exactly going crazy over it, but it's okay. I started to watch because I study medieval literature and it's always fun to see new versions of Arthur and company on the screen (I love 'Merlin').

My review for the pilot pretty much is: Too much sex, "what the hell? That kid supposed to be ARTHUR?", wonderful landscapes and "Dear God, I know that Merlin guy. But where from?".

So all in all: Not impressed, but not disgusted, either. :) I think I watch two more episodes and then I'll decide if I like it as much as 'The Tudors' (which I hated the first three episodes, but I was so glad that I stayed on board later on).

Enough ramble! *scampers off*

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Merlin is Joseph Fiennes so my guess would be Flash Forward or Shakespeare in Love.

See, I watched The Tudors, I made myself watch the whole first season, maybe two and...still meh. When I tried it before and didn't like it, I blamed never having been a fan of Henry the Eighth but I loved the film of The Other Boleyn.

I usually don't admit to not loving The Tudors. It's just EXPECTED that everyone loves it if you like English history at all.

[jolinarjackson.livejournal.com]

Has to be Flash Forward, then. Another show I ditched because it just didn't get to the damn point.

I think not everybody's cut out to like The Tudors. I liked it in the end, very much even. But I'm a fan of Henry the Eighth (well, not really of him, 'cause let's face it, he was creep! But the story's fascinating). And I thought that the guy playing Henry was just great.

English history is interesting. I like it a lot more than ours. Must be all those kings and stuff. Better myths, too. :)

[lavenderfrost.livejournal.com]

I usually don't admit to not loving The Tudors. It's just EXPECTED that everyone loves it if you like English history at all.

I get you - I'm a period drama addict and after s2, The Tudors became more of a chore for me than anything. I caught up on it when I got bored. ^^;; Was excited about it at first, but it got more LOL WTF as it went on. (Culminating in an OMGLOLWTF finale that just left me like '...that's it?')

[corrielle.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen any of it yet, but I'm looking forward to forming my own opinion... but I just wanted to say, "Tee hee... slash dragon." I'm usually a sucker for politics in my fantasy, so it sounds like it'll be right up my alley.

Also, a couple of the casting choices are a big draw. Joseph Fiennes as Merlin? Sign me up. And ever since he was in ,like... three episodes of Robin Hood I've grudgingly found Clive Standen pretty attractive, so finding out he plays Gawain piqued my interest.

[biggles1025.livejournal.com]

There's too much politics and sex and not enough magic.

I totally agree. When I first heard about the show, I was all over the idea because Joseph was going to be playing Merlin. But then I watched the pilot and it was so awful I gave up. Being as I am a huge fan of "The Tudors," I wasn't expecting the sex and politics to be a turnoff, but for some reason they are in this series. It just all ended up being rather blah to me.

[lavenderfrost.livejournal.com]

I don't love it, but it's amusing enough and has Joseph Fiennes, so I can't really not watch. Merlin is far better - I find that in Camelot I don't really give a damn about anyone, whereas in Merlin, I love the characters, so I'm a lot more invested in what happens to them.