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This summer there was a British import on American television: Merlin. NBC brought this popular BBC series as a summer replacement. I've always liked the stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the round table so I was very happy to give this a view.
Okay, the first problem I had with the series is that it's a complete re-imagining of the entire King Arthur fable. In the tales, King Uther Pendragon died leaving no heir. The old wizard, Merlin, drove a magical sword into stone and anvil and declared that he who is able to free that sword would be made King. A boy by the name of Arthur accidentally pulled the sword and was made King. In this television series, Arthur is the son of Uther, the "natural" heir to the throne. Merlin is a boy who is made Arthur's servant to keep an eye on the rash Prince of Camelot. The series has been a collection of episodes that basically throw in about any / every magical reference, as well as anything else that might be considered from that period. Some examples would be appearances by the unicorn, griffin, dragon, Black Knight, and how Lancelot became a knight, to name a few.
If you don't care about the adhering to the original story, the show isn't half bad. It took me a while to stop getting angry at all the period pieces that didn't belong and just enjoy the show for what it is, entertainment through re-imagining the tale.
Most of the cast are okay at best except for Uther Pendragon played by Anthony Head (best known as Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer). He is so great at playing a hateful narrow-minded monarch that you wait for his scenes. He makes the show most worth watching.
The series ran the season finale last weekend. I dunno if there are more BBC episodes to import for the future, but with nothing else to watch against it, I would go for another season.
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