I am well aware that opinons among the fans of Arthurian legends varies -at time widely- in regards to feelings towards the BBC Merlin series. Some find it a breath of fresh air, a reminder of why they loved the legends in the first place (like myself), others don't see it as a good adaptation or simply prefer another Arthurian show or mini-series' take on the familiar tales.
Some loved the show from start to finish, some were mad that it kept getting renewed and Starz Camelot did not...
Well no harm there. Everyone's allowed to like what they want. What is too kiddish for one person may be a delightful break from grown up stuff for another, and visa versa. What is a cool way of looking at the legends to one is a dull rendering to another.
However, I have to laugh when people state that Merlin is against/a mockery to the legends we all know and love, and then make ANY of the following comments/questions.
I'm sorry, but if you've ever been clueless enough to ask ANY of these fellowing questions or said any of the following statements, you're just NOT going to be my go-to expert on all things King Arthur, you're just not, LOL.
And I'm certainly not capable of taking your opinon on Merlin's status as a good or bad adaptation seriously.
(Sad to say, YES, these are REAL questions/statements I have seen or heard before; I wish I could say otherwise, I really do...)
1) What? Arthur and Guinevere get married? He's supposed to marry Morgana! (When was the last time this person read any piece of Arthurian literature?)
2) Who's Morgana?
3) Merlin's gay in the legends (Um, what legend are you people READING?!)
4) Mordred's supposed to be Arthur's SON! (Okay, now THIS one I can understand... However, if they really
studied the matter, they'd seen that while in most sources he is Arthur's son, he's not ALWAYS. He's not even always Morgan Le Fay's son, either, often the son of Morgause or possibly another of Arthur's sisters, depending on the story)
5) Arthur DIES? (And yes, this statement has been referred to the LEGEND, not just the show...)
6) Morgana's evil?
7) This is so wrong; Uther never adopted Morgana as a ward! (Um, you don't know that! She had to of lived SOMEWHERE in the legends, before she was shipped off to a nunnery or to an island to learn to be a priestess or wherever, and if Ygraine and Gorlois were dead...)
8) -is the old guy King Arthur? (they were asking about UTHER!)
9) there were no talking dragons in the dark ages! (Really? This is NEWS!) 10) Why's the lady of the lake just an arm? (lots of legends, my friend, lots of
legends... But I apologize if this person was merely expressing their wish that Freya play a more active role in the show, for I too shared that dream, LOL)
Now, I hope anyone reading this is not offended, and realizes that I never write these things to bash anyone or with cruel intent, only to spread awareness and hope that, as fans of a great show we all either love or love to hate, we can at least be semi on the same page. I'm not saying we all have to be Arthurian legends experts, by any means, but it annoys me when people try to talk about things like they're experts when they know nothing about them. I guess you could say that's a pet peeve of mine. I'm not even saying people who don't want to have to go below the surface basic knowledge of King Arthur tales in general, but if you don't know much about a matter, is it so hard to ADMIT this before sharing your thoughts/opinons rather than come off as pompous or simply annoy people who DO read Arthurian legend extensively?
Thoughts?