Woohoo! Got "Robin of Sherwood"

[trancejeremy]

Came out this week, but no one seemed to actually carry it in stores. Except finally I found that "Barnes & Noble" had it. Of course, they only had it for $5 off of MSRP rather than $10 like everyone else supposedly had it, but $5 was better than waiting another week.

I hadn't seen it in probably 15 years, so I wasn't sure how well it would hold up. But it does. Seems a bit more D&D-ish, too, I guess it was part of the wave of fantasy stuff inspired by it (since it was originally from 1983). And vice-versa - I have to think Nasir inspired a certain Drow ranger

 

[Alaric_Prympax]

I waiting for my copy from DeepDiscount.com. I ordered it on the 13th for $38.99 with free shipping but it would take 5-10 business days. I been checking the mail everyday. I've been looking forward to this for a long time. I was about to give in and purchase the regionless version which I think was about $99 or was that 99 pounds (I don't have that symbol on my keyboard), anyway I'm thrilled that's it's out now.

 

[Xyanthon]

I bought the limited edition DVD set this summer from Vision Entertainment. I think that Robin of Sherwood is my favorite interpretation of the Robin Hood legends.

 

[Felon]

My interest is piqued. I've seen some rather dull interpretations of Robin Hood. What makes this one so enduring and endearing?

 

[Hypersmurf]

My interest is piqued. I've seen some rather dull interpretations of Robin Hood. What makes this one so enduring and endearing?

Michael Praed is awesome.

It's got Ray Winstone.

Music by Clannad!

Herne the Hunter.

A Sheriff of Nottingham who is delightfully scathing to everyone.

John Rhys-Davies as King Richard.

And, of course, Nasir!

(I've owned the DVDs for three or four years now )

-Hyp.

 

[trancejeremy]

Hmmmm. What makes it different from other Robin Hoods (though bear in mind, later Robin Hoods were influenced by this show.). I would say:

It's more an ensemble show, rather than just focusing on Robin. While in most Robin Hoods you can generally see his famous merry men, they tend to be nothing but caricatures. Will Scarlett in particular gets a very important role. They also introduced Nasir (which made it into that awful Kevin Costner version), a Saracen who originally is apparently hired to fight Robin, but joins with him. (And like I said, he has to be the inspriration for Drizzt, since how many mysterious strangers in a strange land that dual wield scimatars are there?. Don't hold that against the show, though). The cast is just really good, and that extends to the villains as well.

It's fairly dark in tone.

The production values are quite good. Shot in England, the arms & armor, while probably not historical (indeed, I don't think any of them actually use a proper long bow), certainly looks realistic enough. Clannad did the soundtrack (which is kinda ironic, actually, since they are Irish)

There's a strong fantastic element. Robin in this case is the son (not literally, but spiritually) of Herne the Hunter. You also have some black magic.

It manages to combine the two "theories" of who Robin Hood was into one show. (That is, Robin of Loxley and Robert of Huntingdon). Indeed, it does a pretty good job of using a lot of bits from the various Robin Hood legends although does add a lot of new stuff (like the aforementioned Nasir)

 

[Hypersmurf]

They also introduced Nasir (which made it into that awful Kevin Costner version), a Saracen who originally is apparently hired to fight Robin, but joins with him.

He was supposed to be killed in the pilot, but the cast got on so well with the actor that Richard Carpenter decided to write him in as a regular character.

And apparently the Prince of Thieves writers didn't realise that the character wasn't part of the original legend - Morgan Freeman's character was originally named Nasir, until Carpenter threatened to sue, and they changed the name to Azeem...

-Hyp.

 

[Alaric_Prympax]

He was supposed to be killed in the pilot, but the cast got on so well with the actor that Richard Carpenter decided to write him in as a regular character.

I knew about this from Mark Ryan's IMDB page. I thought that was interesting. Nasir became my favorite character in the series so I'm glad they kept him.

And apparently the Prince of Thieves writers didn't realise that the character wasn't part of the original legend - Morgan Freeman's character was originally named Nasir, until Carpenter threatened to sue, and they changed the name to Azeem...

-Hyp.

Glad to see that those writers did their research. But I did overall like the movie, that is to say I was entertained by it. I always thought that Azeem was inspired by Nasir.

 

[Felon]

Three seasons, eh? I'm reminded of that Simpsons parody of a PBS telethon fundraiser where they were showing "Britain's longest-running series"....all six episodes!

About how many episodes total?

 

[Alaric_Prympax]

About how many episodes total?

24 episodes total. But the 1st is episode (Robin Hood and the Sorcerer) is two hours long and in S2 there is another 2 hour episode (The Seven Swords of Wayland) so there are 13 different hours. I guess when they orginally aired they showed both hours of those two story to make one episode. In S3 there are another 13 total hours in which the first two make up 1 story (Herne's Son parts 1 and 2) and then the last two hours make up another story (Time of the Wolf parts 1 and 2). I guess that when S3 aired those two stories were 'to be continued' (it was about 20-22 [reruns] years ago since I had last seen them). Just check out IMDB's "Robin of Sherwood" and click on the season for an episode rundown.

Oh BTW I received my copy on Tuesday and I've already watched all 13 hours. I really enjoy that show.