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eldritchhobbit[Poll #1577133]
"I have often thought that in the hereafter of our lives, when I owe no more to the future and can be just a man, that we may meet, and you will come to me and claim me as yours, and know that I am your husband. It is a dream I have..."
- Arthur, Excalibur
"I have often thought that in the hereafter of our lives, when I owe no more to the future and can be just a man, that we may meet, and you will come to me and claim me as yours, and know that I am your husband. It is a dream I have..."
- Arthur, Excalibur
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Date: 2010-06-11 01:48 pm (UTC)I seem to have known the standard "legends of King Arthur," from books of stories for children, for as long as I can remember.
Then I read The Crystal Cave, and a few other stories that played on the Celtic side of the legends, and that gave me a taste for Merlin as the protagonist, and a lack of interest in the whole Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot triangle, which seems to be what most people think of when they think of Arthur.
So while I'd never claim it was great art, I was already primed to like the BBC Merlin's take on the story, even if Colin Morgan and Bradley James weren't so pretty and slashy. :-)
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Date: 2010-06-18 03:01 pm (UTC)You've made me want to go have a Mary Stewart read-a-thon.
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Date: 2010-06-11 01:54 pm (UTC)1. Monty Python changed things a lot less then you might think.
2. Sir Kay was a major league dickweed.
3. Robert Jordan clearly got a lot a mileage from this when writing the Wheel of Time series, judging from all the tales featuring some rookie squire getting saddled with a demanding bitch-shrew.
4. Armor was pretty flimsy. One tap, and it just falls apart.
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Date: 2010-06-18 03:03 pm (UTC)2. So true.
3. ROFLOL!
4. ""
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Date: 2010-06-11 02:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 03:03 pm (UTC)To be fair, I think Holy Grail is by far their crowning achievement. And it helps to know Malory going into it, I expect.
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Date: 2010-06-11 02:19 pm (UTC)I also greatly enjoyed seeing Camelot performed on stage in the Melody Top theater in Milwaukee, WI -- with the lead performed by Ed Ames! Lovely, I am still a big fan of his!
Mary Stewart's Arthur series and Stephen Lawhead's series are the ones that impacted me the most as far as books about Arthur (and Merlin!) go.
Oh, and thanks in advance for the birthday wishes!! I plan to have a happy one doing all the things I like best! <3
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Date: 2010-06-18 03:07 pm (UTC)I bet the Ed Ames version was marvelous. We saw Camelot in Nashville with Robert Goulet as Arthur, and it was lovely.
Now I need to have a Mary Stewart read-a-thon. I'm a big fan of the older material - Morte D'Arthur, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, etc. - but of the 20th-century works, my favorite is Catherine Christian's The Pendragon.
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Date: 2010-06-11 03:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 03:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 03:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 03:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 03:55 pm (UTC)While I love a good Arthur tale, nothing beats Monty Python! I adore a good laugh! ;)
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Date: 2010-06-18 03:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 04:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 03:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 05:29 pm (UTC)*hugs* :)
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Date: 2010-06-18 03:11 pm (UTC)*hugs*
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Date: 2010-06-11 05:30 pm (UTC)I LOVED that... in many ways (although I found the actress playing Jennie a bit weak). Especially chilling was the staging of "Guenevere, Guenevere".
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Date: 2010-06-18 03:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 07:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 03:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 10:16 pm (UTC)My favorite movie is definitely a tie between The Sword and the Stone and Excalibur, although Camelot holds a special place in my heart.
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Date: 2010-06-12 12:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-19 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 03:29 pm (UTC)Camelot holds a special place in my heart, too. :)
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Date: 2010-06-19 07:03 pm (UTC)It is different, but I confess that's one of the reasons I really love it. I love Gwenivere for the possibly the first time in my life. Normally I'm just mad at her for betraying Arthur.
As much as I love Arthur though, I find it adorably romantic that Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero are married in real life. Also, 'If Ever I would Leave You' is just beautiful.
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Date: 2010-06-20 05:58 pm (UTC)I agree 100% about Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero. I saw an interview with them recently, and they both absolutely glowed at each other. It was so beautiful!
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Date: 2010-06-11 10:52 pm (UTC)Brother Blue, a storyteller from Boston (who sadly passed away earlier this year) is perfect as Merlin. It truly felt like they touched the soul of the story while they were making the movie, and it shone through what should have been campy dialogue and setting. There are just enough hints of other levels of meaning in it to let you leave the theater feeling like maybe there is just a bit of magic in our modern world too....
As a bit of trivia, I've been told by someone whose knowledge I respect that if you watch Excalibur carefully, there are shots which if grabbed as a still photo mirror all the trumps of a Rider-Waite tarot deck. I haven't had the ambition to go find a copy of the movie and re-watch it with that in mind though.
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Date: 2010-06-18 03:32 pm (UTC)And you've given me a great excuse to re-watch Excalibur, too!
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Date: 2010-06-21 12:50 am (UTC)I enjoy the movie of Camelot, though the 60's look to the costumes and armour is off-putting. I still tear up, however, every time I see Arthur struggle with the betrayal by Guinevere and Lancelot, and rises above and, and walks into sitting of the Round Table. Truly an inspired sequence.
There is a low budge BBC adaptation of The Crystal Cave that isn't too bad. I got it on VHS years ago, so I don't know if it's available or not anymore. It's called "Merlin and the Crystal Cave." Golan and Globus did a aremake of Sir Gawain called "Sword of the Valiant" with Miles O'Keefe as Gawain. Pretty forgetable except for the wonderful depiction of the Green Knight by Sean Connery.
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Date: 2010-06-12 12:53 am (UTC)I need to read more Mallory. I read the two last books/chapters in first year uni, and it took me years to find a second hand copy of the whole thing with the original spelling. Now I have to get around to reading it.
Like
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Date: 2010-06-18 03:34 pm (UTC)I haven't read Sword at Sunset. Do you recommend it?
I'm a big fan of the older material - Morte D'Arthur, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, etc. - but of the 20th-century works, my favorite (thus far) is Catherine Christian's The Pendragon.
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Date: 2010-06-12 02:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 03:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-12 07:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 03:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-19 06:31 pm (UTC)Another Mary Stewart fan here as well. And there was another series I really loved, but darned if I can recall the name. I sorta ODed on all things Arthur when I was a teenager, so some of it's a jumble :) I actually got to see Richard Harris in Camelot on stage when I was about 19-20. He was way too old to still be playing Arthur, but I didn't care!
The movie trailer looks interesting. It reminds me of Red Dawn a bit.
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Date: 2010-06-20 05:55 pm (UTC)Of the more recent books (that is, those less than 100 years old, LOL!), my favorite (thus far) is Catherine Christian's The Pendragon. Great stuff.
I had a Red Dawn flashback with the trailer, too (though not quite so much with the books). "Wolverines!" *feels all sentimental*
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Date: 2010-06-20 09:06 pm (UTC)And Harris was no Burton.
I saw Richard Burton, Julie Andrews, and Robert Goulet in the original Camelot on Broadway as a young girl and have been hooked on the story ever since. Yes, that makes me very old ;)