sophieisgod: (Default)
she's got red lipstick and a bright pair of shoes ([personal profile] sophieisgod) wrote2008-10-30 11:20 am

In Which Sophie Goes Batshit Crazy Over Wizards And Shit Like That

Hey, remember this time last year when I freaked about the cracky awesome that is Robin Hood? This is like that, but with Merlin.

THIS SHOW MAKES ME SO VERY, VERY GLEEFUL. It's like Robin Hood, only better written (YOU KNOW I LOVE ME SOME RH, BUT S1 ESPECIALLY HAS SOME BLOODY AWFUL WRITING. But I still love it!) and with more slash and a lead character whom I adore rather than despise! Also, MAGIC! Ohh, BBC, I love it when you dick about with legends.

Merlin
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Apologies for the lameness of these pictures, but I didn't want to rob off with any of the pretty ones from people's picspams. Incidentally, [livejournal.com profile] lonelyfajita's spams are insanely fabulous. So, you know, go and look at those and revel in the joy. Anyway! Merlin! I have got ridiculous amounts of love for Merlin and also for Colin Morgan. He is such a darling boy! He's just so open and lovely and awesome, and his happy face is the best thing ever, but he also has a healthy drama queen streak where he occasionally gets all WHAT IS THE POINT OF MY LIFE WITHOUT MAGIC??? and flings himself on the bed. It is magnificent. I'm liking the struggle between him and Gaius over the appropriate uses for his powers (and their relationship is one of the sweetest things on the show, oh my days), and I'm really looking forward to when he properly has to start getting his hands dirty, like he had to in 1x06. Also, characters with a destiny are FTW. Just ask Kara Thrace. Most importantly, he sports a Will Scarlett-esque neck scarf. THERE IS NOTHING ABOUT HIM I DON'T LOVE!

Arthur
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Dude, I was so prepared not to like this guy. He's kind of a douche! He likes beating people up and he's arrogant and treats his servants like shit. But! Bradley James has a hilariously expressive face, and his looks of disgust are FTW, as are basically all his other looks (I'm a big fan of his OH SHIT A CGI GRYPHON!face myself), and he has a rather impressive chest which wardrobe likes to showcase often with open-necked shirts. And Merlin is going to make him awesome! This process has already begun! And his relationship with his father is so well-drawn and painful, because he will be a better king than Uther but right now he's biting his tongue a lot of the time while trying to curb some of his dad's more reactionary tendencies, and ON TOP OF ALL THIS he has all the shit of being a prince, and everything that means re: courage and self-sacrifice and not letting people see your emotions. So, yes, he is kind of Poor Little Rich Boy, but I love him more and more each episode. COME ON, HE SAYS THINGS LIKE "I SHOULD WARN YOU, I'VE BEEN TRAINED TO KILL SINCE BIRTH."

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Arthur/Merlin

You know how Robin Hood is really, really gay? Merlin is like gay on heat. ABSOLUTELY BRIMMING WITH SLASHY GOODNESS. There's even a Great Slash Dragon who keeps telling Merlin that he and Arthur's destinies are entwined and that they're two halves of a whole! It is so very fabulous! And that's before we even get to their actual relationship! Phnar, I love them so much. Of course, they start off all hating each other because Arthur is a bullying douche and Merlin is really rather odd, and then there is a scrap which Merlin hilariously loses, and then there is more hate-filled banter/flirting (DUDE, THAT MOMENT WHERE MERLIN GOES "HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN TRAINING TO BE A PRAT, MY LORD", AND THEN HE LOOKS UP AT ARTHUR AND RIGHT THERE, THAT IS JUST EYESEX), and then another scrap (with flails!) in which Merlin sneakily uses magic but kind of loses anyway, and then Arthur actually says "There's something about you, Merlin... I can't quite put my finger on it." NEVER CHANGE, BOYS. And then Merlin ends up as Arthur's manservant (My Wifey [livejournal.com profile] templa_otmena actually thought Uther said "manslut"), which leads to him having to dress him all the time and awesome shit like that. And then they start saving each other's lives, and the fabulousness explodes in a way I never dreamed possible on family TV. I love paying my licensing fee.


Morgana
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Now, I freely admit that I don't know very much about the source material on this one (although, [livejournal.com profile] darkangsty42, I have ordered The Mists of Avalon!), but I am liking this Morgana a lot. She's hardcore, but she can't be hardcore in the way that Marian is OMG THE NIGHT WATCHMAN hardcore, and that's okay. She's really the only character who consistently stands up to Uther, and she's great at talking sense into Arthur. I actually love the dynamic between the two of them - it's classic "I like you so I'll pull your pigtails" stuff. Also, she's utterly gorgeous, and she's not above using her fabulousness to flirt with Valiant or whoever and make Arthur jealous and/or gormless. This really is Camelot High, but whatever! I really hope we get to see her coming into whatever powers her psychic nightmares are hinting at, because that could get kind of epic.

Gwen
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Why yes, I did sneak in a picture of Lancelot, what exactly is your point? I like Gwen a lot, and I like that the Gwen/Merlin stuff is kind of light-hearted and bumbling and low-key. If she ever starts properly pining, that would be kind of shit, but right now it's fun! And also, Gwen/Lancelot was reet nice. But, I especially like it when she and Gaius form a "Merlin's in trouble!" tag team of awesome. Like Morgana, I hope she gets more stuff to do as the season progresses, because from what I've seen she could turn into quite the social reformer, and that would be awesome.

Other stuff

I think the way the show has set up attitudes to magic is really interesting. It's like, race isn't so much of an issue because of colour-blind casting or whatever, so magic becomes the site of otherness in the context of the show, which basically is really dangerous for Merlin and therefore awesome for the plot. I think it was the Guardian preview of the show which raised the issue of the character being a cipher for a) emo teenagers or b) gay teenagers, and it's kind of fascinating to see how people respond to him, whether or not they know about his powers. Gwen's kind of shocked response to the idea of magic was one thing that I thought was pretty cool and unexpected, and I can't wait to see what happenes when Arthur eventually susses it out. Also, the music! It's so pretty! And the crack is not quite at RH levels yet, but Will Mellor with a pimped out snake shield was pretty fucking hilarious.

Now, I need your help! I need recs! I need many different kinds of fanfic, I need vids, and I need picspams! Interviews! Sexy pictures of sexy boys! I KNOW I CAN COUNT ON YOU.

In Conclusion
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Oh, and re: the whole Tennant thing - I think I've ranted enough about RTD and the way Ten's character developed for you to guess I'm kind of relieved by the news. I still adore The Tennant, and my issues with the character are not at all to do with him, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for an awesome Eleven, and hoping that David continues to do magnificent theatrestuffs and other sexy things.

How are you? ♥

[identity profile] darkangsty42.livejournal.com 2008-10-30 02:44 pm (UTC)(link)
HEEEEE MERLIN.

Everyone does the best face-pulling in this. 4rlz.

Still waiting for Excalibur to show up. (Come on, it's in the opening credits! Season finale, meybee?)

THE GAY. THE GAY. My sister and I cannot contain our glee every time it goes even further. JOHN HURT WANTS THEM TO BE GAY TOGETHER FOREVER. (PS - John Hurt is scary as hell in I, Claudius.)

Mists of Avalon... I haven't read it in a billion years, but my sister's reading it for the first time and been keeping me up on her reactions. Be prepared to probably hate Guinevere really really hard. Honestly, this show is the first time I've ever like her character. (How could one, really? She's sunshine and bunnies in this.)

But yes, Arthur and Morgana have always been personal favorites.

Pompey's gonna be on this Saturday! Excitement!

THUMBS-UP GIF FTW.

Really, I just love this silly show and it's silly CGI so hard in the face. I'm just scared that when it comes over to the States and my friends see it, they'll think I was huffing crack when I watched it.

I too, feel that I'm relieved about the Who news. Except we're going to be distracted during the specials over speculation for who's next.

This comment just got long and all over the place. Sorry about that.

[identity profile] sophieisgod.livejournal.com 2008-10-30 02:58 pm (UTC)(link)
OOOOH, BRIDESHEAD! Love those peeps.

It's like their faces are made of magical rubber! IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY.

I was wondering about that, too! Oooh, so much still to discover! And I bet most of it is gay! Speaking of TEH GAY, I'm just listening to a Bradley James radio interview, and the clip they used to introduce him was the one where Merlin calls him a prat and then eyesexes him!!! JOY JOY JOY ABOUNDS.

Gwen is adorable in this, but I'm not averse to some book-based hateage! As long as Morgana is kickarse, I'm happy. ALSO, I tried to buy the sadly-out-of-stock-everywhere, probably-horrible TV miniseries, and it has Michael Vartan AND Hans Matheson! MADNESS!!!

KENNETH CRANHAM, BABY. Also, the seductive evil wench was Lukey 2.0's telly girlfriend for years on this horribly lame show called Where The Heart Is! SOONER OR LATER, THERE WILL BE A CROSSOVER OF SOME KIND, AND IT WILL BLOW MY TINY HEAD OFF.

I can't stop looking at the Arthur gif! It's like, I love him and his often idiotic ways, but then I look at his shoulders or his chest and I lose coherence and start dribbling. THIS SHOW, MAN.

YAY COMMENTS!

[identity profile] darkangsty42.livejournal.com 2008-10-30 03:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Never seen the miniseries - the library had it for a bit, and then it disappeared. My mother saw it when it originally aired and hated it. The production was apparently spot on, as was the casting, but the script missed the entire point of the book.

Is it bad that I get way more amped up for this and Stephen Fry in America than I do for Pushing Daisies and The Office in a given week?

[identity profile] darkangsty42.livejournal.com 2008-10-30 05:41 pm (UTC)(link)
EFF YES. Psych homework, what psych homework?

[identity profile] sophieisgod.livejournal.com 2008-10-30 06:44 pm (UTC)(link)
THAT IS AMAAAAAZING. There go the next several hours of my life!

[identity profile] auroralives.livejournal.com 2008-10-30 05:00 pm (UTC)(link)
ALSO, I tried to buy the sadly-out-of-stock-everywhere, probably-horrible TV miniseries, and it has Michael Vartan AND Hans Matheson! MADNESS!!!

IT. IS. ALL. ON. YOUTUBE!

Or at least it used to be. I watched the whole thing on Youtube over the summer. IT WAS LOLTASTIC! I shall try to find it for you.