Passion = Life
Review of: Merlin 102 Valiant
Overall Rating: 9
When Merlin learns that a knight is using a magic shield to cheat at Camelot’s annual sword tournament, he must expose him before Arthur becomes the next night to die. Watch the episode streaming online above.
Valiant is a fun episode and will be a lot of fun for fans of renaissance fairs and social combat. I liked the sword tournament and watching Merlin try to figure out how to assemble Arthur’s armor. The mystery and obstacles have a more Harry Potter feel to it which I enjoyed very much.
Merlin’s obstacles were not the typical ones found in fantasy stories and the solutions are not permitted to be standard by the setting. It’s fun to watch a hero that can not directly stand against their obstacles and advisories instead they have to empower another to do it for them. It creates a more symbiotic relationship between Merlin and Arthur and the situation encourages more creative solutions to the obstacles.
For more read Exploring: Merlin
Overall Rating: 9.5
Merlin arrives in Camelot and learns that King Uther has forbidden magic, which is punishable by death — yet, it is magic he uses to save the life of Arthur, the king’s son. Watch the episode streaming online above.
The Dragon’s call, the pilot show for Merlin is really well done. It’s a great fantasy show and a well constructed pilot. They did a wonderful job introducing thoroughly and succinctly the main character’s, establishing the setting and showing us the magic of the setting. The writing is solid and a nice take on the Arthurian legends.
The look of Merlin is well done, I was particularly impressed with the castle used for Camelot. The show starts out with a Camelot in the background and at first I thought ‘wow what a nice use of the mat painting effect.’ They zoom in and I was even more impressed because it still looks really nice. Then they get up close and I realized it was not a mat painting effect but it was a real set or a real castle! After watching a making of special I was pleased to find out that the castle is a real castle in France. I very glad they used that for the setting because it adds so much to the believability to the show.
I really enjoyed how magic is handled in Merlin. Fantasy shows turn me off when they claim to have magic but push for a realistic look by removing and muting most of the magic. I’m also disappointed when a fantasy show goes so over the top with the magic that they undue the immaculate reality making it hard for me to get into the show. In Merlin they struck a nice balance in the setting where there is magic, it occurs, it looks really nice but it is not over the top.
The characters are likeable, charming and show room for growth. This is very promising for a pilot and I can’t wait to see what happens with Merlin, Morgana, Guinevere, Gaius, and Arthur.
Merlin is a must see for fantasy fans, and I would recommend it for everyone as well. I look forward to watching future episodes of Merlin and am thrilled to know that the BBC are already working on the next season.
For more read Exploring: Merlin
Don’t wait. Guarantee your seat before you go and avoid a sold out show. Skip the box office lines and buy movie tickets at Fandango.com.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Clone Commandos (TV Series Season 1, Vol. 2)
WARNING: This DVD will have only 4 episodes from season one and is not the eagerly awaited Clone Wars season one box set which is supposed to be released latter this year.
I do love that the cover features Mace Windu one of my favorite characters with his purple lightsaber.
(via Star Wars)
OMG I love this! Star Wars book ends from a great and classic scene when they are in the trash room in episode IV A New Hope.
(via Club jade)
I really enjoyed John Hodgman’s speech at the Radio & TV Correspondent’s dinner for the jokes but mostly for the use of Speculative Fiction to communicate complex and emotionally charged political ideas. Before we get into that let us take The John Hodgman are you a SF fan test, are you more of an SF fan then the President? Watch the Video below.
I love his comment on the Constitution as a big faq for the U.S. and the founding fathers perspective of God as a distant Dungeon Master.
The beauty of John Hodgman’s speech is the use of SF to communicate complex and emotionally charged political ideas in an approachable manner. He was able to reach out to both sides of the political spectrum and get them to think about ideals like
(via Huffington Post)
