~Prince of Thieves~

Most people know that I’m a sucker for good television. I have, for example, spent most of these last few days catching up on season 3 of “Battlestar Galactica” because I know Andy wants his DVDs back, and season 4 has just started on US TV. I watched maybe 8 episodes of season 3, and then the first 3 episodes of season 4, loving pretty much every minute of it, despite the somewhat emotional storylines.

Most people also know that I’m a sucker for bad television. Television that only appeals to a certain minority of individuals. Usually because it is quirky, has actors that I like in it, or some other strange combination of things.

One example was Gene Roddenberry’s “Andromeda” which still counts as one of my favourite shows of all time, through a combination of a) having Kevin Sorbo as the lead; b) having quite interesting storylines for at least the first 3 seasons; and c) just being quite cool in unexpected ways.

A second example is the BBC’s “Robin Hood”. While there were some cringe-worthy moments throughout the series — as there tends to be with anything the BBC produce really — I found the whole thing generally camp, entertaining fun, and I especially liked the new slants on old characters, and the general dynamic of the cast.

I’ve always liked the legend of Robin Hood. I guess it’s the archery thing. I’ve always seen Legolas in “Lord of the Rings” as kind of an elven Robin of Locksley, and I did — perhaps I should be ashamed to admit this — like the Kevin Costner film “Prince of Thieves”. Some things that film did very well. It’s a pity Costner and Mastrontonio had about as much chemistry as lead and water.

This chemistry is one of the things that the new Robin Hood does well. It helps that they have several episodes to work the relationship between Maid Marian and Robin over. It helps that Lucy Griffith and Jonas Armstrong have considerable onscreen chemistry. And it helps that the characters have more depth than a 2 hour movie could hope to portray.

It was this depth that Lucy Griffith was inclined to talk about in a recent interview I read. I thought it was interesting because, for some strange reason, I’d never really considered the nature of Robin and Marian’s relationship properly. In most of the versions you see of the tale, Robin gets the girl. You’ve only got two hours to play out the storyline after all. So the BBC’s version, which now runs to about 26 episodes over 2 seasons, has to make that relationship more complicated. This is what Griffith said, and I found her take on it not only very interesting from a story point of view, but from a personal perspective as well:

“…she's essentially in love with somebody that she can't have, as far as she can see. And I think that would make a lot of people cold, especially towards the person in question, because there's kind of a bitterness related to that person, even though you're really in love with them. So she's kind of quite cold throughout the whole thing.”

That just makes me wonder, at the moment, all things considered. I do have this tendency to fall for the girls I can’t have, and while I don’t paint myself as some great tragic figure or romantic legend, I do wonder if eventually this will be how things play out for me…

Anyway, back to somewhat more positive things.

Firstly, draft two of the novel is complete and I’ve begun work on what I call the Continuity Crunch, where I’m buzzing through it and tidying up all the story mistakes and errors and weaving the plot threads more tightly. If I get the little details sorted — making sure bit characters have the right hair colour throughout, for example — then the third draft should literally be just tightening everything up and making it the best story I can make it.

Secondly, I managed to get into the Age of Conan beta, which I am quite looking forwards to. The client is a hefty 12 gig, which is taking a while to download, but it’s the first MMO after Warhammer: Age of Reckoning that I’ve been looking forwards to playing. Robert E. Howard’s world in the Conan novels is quite dark and gritty and bloody, and that’s definitely something I think will sell to angsty gamers.

And finally, “Doctor Who” is on tonight. Dunno if you like what Russell T. Davies has done with the reinvented “Who” this season, but I’ll watch anything with David Tennant in.

You’re now up to date 

~J