Merlin (BBC Series) 1-5

[Crimson Knight]

Hiya, everyone. Just starting this thread so everyone, maybe even myself, can discuss the five season long magical adventure series from the BBC, known as Merlin.

It starred Colin Morgan as the eponymous Merlin, hailing from a simple village, which his Mother sends him away from, in order to gain protection, in Camelot, and counsel, from the Kingdoms' medic, Gaius.

Gaius was played by Richard Wilson, who would most hopefully be well known for the comedy One Foot In The Grave, about a sort of old grump, moaning his way through married and everyday life.

Morgana was played by Katie McGrath, who you'll likely know from NBCs' Dracula, as ward of the King, with teacherous dreams, need for aid, a plotting sister...and a dark future.

Guinevere was played by Angel Coulby, a hand maiden to the Lady Morgana, with a strong spirit, compassion, and willful.

King Uther was played by Anthony Head, who some will likely know as the Prime Minister of Britain in comedy, Little Britain. Carries a powerful grudge against those with magic, sentencing those with it, or who use it, to death. Father of Arthur, Gaius an old friend.

And, finally, much like Smallville, features someone who Merlin can visit here and there for counsel, aid, and arguments, that being the Old Dragon, voiced by veteran actor John Hurt, who I will always know as wand seller, Ollivander, in Harry Potter, the first and final.

These are the majority of the characters in the show, whatever about the Druid boy, Mordred, the sorceror, Morgause, or the plotting, vengeful, sorceror, Nimueh - plus Lancelot himself, and a number more.

At times, the CGI can be a bit weak, and sometimes, you might find a mainly humourous episode a pain, when you get a few, big, dramatic episodes, that move the main plot along.

But, the backdrop of medieval Camelot can be both a burden and a blessing, with the idea of commoners not being able to accuse certain people of thing slightly annoying at times, while some big battles for Camelot can come across as rather exciting, and remind me, at times, of Blackwater, or Castle Black, in Game of Thrones.

Similar to Harry Potter, as films, and books, it starts of mostly bright, cheery, with action and peril, then darkens, twists, and scares, as time goes on.

Me, myself, have only watched to a certain point here or there into Season 3, but am looking forward to watching the rest of it, and the the penultimate and final Seasons.

Enjoy the magic...

[90'sCartoonMan]

Merlin was a great show, although I haven't rewatched it since the finale. Puts some things in perspective. Although I was always entertained by it, I thought it got even better towards the middle of the series. I'll try not to spoil anything, but when they did major status shake-ups and gave us some knights we actually care about, like Gwain and Percival, it started to feel like a bigger show.

King Uther was played by Anthony Head, who some will likely know as the Prime Minister of Britain in comedy, Little Britain.

And others will know as Giles from Buffy.

[Surtur]

I loved Merlin, it's one of my favorite shows of all time. It did include some of the themes from the show "Smallville". Specifically Merlin being told at various times he has a great destiny ahead him. It also incorporates the idea of Merlin having to keep his powers a secret from those close to him, all the while using his powers to save the day..and never getting any recognition for it. I like how it also basically had Merlin have his own version of Clark Kent in this, in which I am referring to the form of an old man he takes when he has to do magic in front of people who know him. Or rather..maybe Merlin is the Clark Kent and the old man is his Superman? I guess the latter makes more sense. They also had another similar thing in the Dragon, who was basically like Smallville's Jor-El.

So I really did enjoy the series, but I do have a few issues. First I would of liked to of had more episodes featuring Arthur and Merlin where Artur is aware Merlin has magic. I would of liked to of seen them working together, with no secrets between them. Unfortunately Arthur only finds out in the series finale and after he finds out all that really happens is he dies. That was another thing, the way it ended..with Arthur dead..I don't know, I didn't like that.

Another issue is Mordred and what happened to him. When we first see him he is young, but he shows obvious magical powers like telepathy and telekinesis. It is commented on more then once that Mordred has the potential to be very powerful. Think of the episode where Mordred and some other magic users try to steal a power magical artifact. It is said it takes some serious magical power to be able to use it. When Merlin asks the Dragon if Morgana could use it, the Dragon laughs in his face. When he asks if Mordred could use it the Dragon more or less says yeah he probably can. We also see him fight off a group of 6-7 nights with a wave of telekinetic force. But then later when we see an older Mordred..we don't see him using his magic that much. We also see it implying Morgana is more powerful the Mordred. Mordred even needs her help to clear away some soldiers who were surrounding him. But he doesn't use his power, he just stands there until Morgana helps him.

Then when Mordred fights Arthur..this fight should of been over in a few seconds. Yes Arthur had Excalibur, but he should of never been able to get close enough to use it given Mordred's telekinetic powers. It is like they just ignored what happened in previous seasons.

The final thing is the baby Dragon. Merlin gives it to the Great Dragon to raise..so how the hell does Morgana end up with it? The Great Dragon was really determined to get it, so why would he abandon it? Other then that though I love the show.

[The Red Monk]

I watched the first season years ago, and I didn't like it much. Colin Morgan and Bradley James were pretty much the only reason it managed to keep my attention. And on a completely shallow note, Katie McGrath was nice to look at, so that's another reason.

Recently started watching the rest of the seasons, and Morgan and James are still the only reason I watch it. Their on-screen chemistry pretty much carries the show. Though I am currently watching season 3, and Gwaine seems kind of cool, from the one episode that I've seen him in.

Lancelot was a bit too sappy for my tastes, and I thought Santiago Cabrera was wasted in the role. If they made Lancelot a bit more of a stoic badass, maybe he wouldn't annoy me so much.

Arthur & Guinevere's "romance" is hilarious. The lengths to which the show goes to convince us that they are in love is insane.

I also find it hilarious how the show keeps insisting that Uther is an ******* for exterminating all magic folk, then has over 3/4 of the magic users on the show be homicidal maniacs, unrepentant assholes, insane criminals or all three. Talk about mixed messages...

In short, nothing special, but Colin Morgan and Bradley James make it worth watching, if only for Arthur and Merlin's epic bromance.

[Vworp Vworp]

I watched it for the first few seasons, but the relentless crappy treatment of female characters on the show eventually wore me down. Top of that list had to be Morgana of course, who's 'heel turn' was half farcical and half infuriating.

Consider Morgana. Terrified at the realisation that she has magic, a scary prospect for anyone under Uther's reign but especially so for someone so close to him. She's alone, she's frightened, what she needs more than anything is a friend, someone who understands what she's going through. So what does Merlin do to help her? Nothing. Except repeatedly lie to her, allowing her to feel more and more isolated, whilst all the time he had Gaius to confide in and mentor him (oh, and believing whatever that Dragon told him about Morgana, whilst questioning everything else!)

Then, just to really ice the cake, when Morgana becomes the catalyst for a spell that threatens all of Camelot, Merlin's solution is to try and murder her. Frankly, at that point, I was starting to wonder just who the villain in this show was supposed to be.

Presumably the writers realised their mistake at that point too, because from then on they made it abundantly clear that Morgana was the baddie. Not by any actual believable character development of course, or with anything approaching any kind of explanation. She was just bad now. Morgana became the one of most cliched and generic villains ever seen on British television. I don't think there was an episode in season 3 where we didn't get at least one evil-smirking-behind-someone's-back scene. At one point, they even threatened to overtake the male-characters-shirtless-scene quota. And that takes some doing!

More frustrating though than Morgana's awful, awful writing was the show's complete disregard for Merlin's role in her fate. Never once did he try and help her or accept any responsibility for what had happened to her. The show kept insisting he was the good guy, despite his actually being a duplicitous, hypocritical, lying (attempted) murderer. Season 3 was it for me. I kept up with the show as far as reading recaps/reviews to see if things ever got better for Morgana, or indeed any woman on the show.

They didn't.

[Surtur]

Vworp Vworp, I think you probably stopped watching at the wrong time or maybe missed key parts of episodes. Merlin DID try to help Morgana on more then one occasion. Remember the first episode where she shows serious magic and starts a fire? Gaius told Merlin to basically lie to her and act like it wasn't really magic. Merlin disobeys and goes out of his way to tell her where she can go to seek help and where to find the druids. She leaves, but leaves in such a way where it makes Uther think she was kidnapped by the druids. Then Merlin leaves the castle to run and warn her. So how can you even say he doesn't care? That is astounding to me. He was constantly worried about Morgana at first.

Also, when Merlin tried to kill her it was because it was either kill her or EVERYONE in Camelot dies. That is a hard decision to make, but should he of sacrificed everyone for her? He didn't want to, but the Dragon said the only way to break the spell was to kill her. Merlin tried breaking the spell on his own with his own magic, but he couldn't do it. So what would you of had him do? Let everyone die so then Morgana and Morgause team up to take on the rest of the world?

Hell, in season 3 after Morgana shows she is evil and tries to take out the entire Kingdom more then once..Merlin does attack her with magic and she is dying. He then changes his mind and MINDSCREWS the great dragon into saving her life. Which in doing that lead directly to events later on that would leave both Uther and Arthur dead(though not specifically by her hand). Merlin more then once risked his life and the lives of others to try to help her. Merlin lied for good reason given the whole "kill anything with magic" attitude in Camelot.

As for if things got better for Morgana..well um she did become a nigh unkillable high priestess who was controlling entire armies. That is quite the step up from the sad weak girl she was earlier. So I'm not sure we watched the same show.

I also find it hilarious how the show keeps insisting that Uther is an ******* for exterminating all magic folk, then has over 3/4 of the magic users on the show be homicidal maniacs, unrepentant assholes, insane criminals or all three. Talk about mixed messages...

Actually, a lot of those people did it for some type of revenge because Uther had their friends and families murdered for no reason. That is what a lot of it came down to and can you really blame them? Especially since a lot of people made their livelihood using their magic and without it basically had to turn to having shitty jobs in shitty conditions. Also the other problem is Uther was a huge hypocrite because he had used magic. He used magic to have Arthur born and when it turned and bit him in the ass he blamed ALL magic on his stupid mistake and thinking he could create a life with magic without there being a balance and a life needing to be taken. Then when one of his kids is really injured in the show he tells Gaius to use magic. He is a huge hypocrite, magic is bad and terrible and needs to die..unless Uther needs it.

For those reading keep in mind when I say Uther used magic I don't mean he specifically used it, rather he sought the aide of mages.

[Vworp Vworp]

Vworp Vworp, I think you probably stopped watching at the wrong time or maybe missed key parts of episodes. Merlin DID try to help Morgana on more then one occasion. Remember the first episode where she shows serious magic and starts a fire? Gaius told Merlin to basically lie to her and act like it wasn't really magic. Merlin disobeys and goes out of his way to tell her where she can go to seek help and where to find the druids. She leaves, but leaves in such a way where it makes Uther think she was kidnapped by the druids. Then Merlin leaves the castle to run and warn her. So how can you even say he doesn't care? That is astounding to me. He was constantly worried about Morgana at first.

Does he ever tell he he has magic too? Does he ever bring her into his confidence and allow her to share the advice and protection of Gaius? Nope. He lies to her again and again and again. The one thing he could do to genuinely help her, never never does. Any why? To protect himself. That's not a hero in anyone's book.

Also, when Merlin tried to kill her it was because it was either kill her or EVERYONE in Camelot dies. That is a hard decision to make, but should he of sacrificed everyone for her? He didn't want to, but the Dragon said the only way to break the spell was to kill her. Merlin tried breaking the spell on his own with his own magic, but he couldn't do it. So what would you of had him do? Let everyone die so then Morgana and Morgause team up to take on the rest of the world?

Are you honestly telling me if it had been Arthur or Gaius who had been cursed, Merlin wouldn't have found a way to break the spell rather than simply shrugging his shoulders and saying "Meh. I'll just just have to kill him, I guess."

As for if things got better for Morgana..well um she did become a nigh unkillable high priestess who was controlling entire armies. That is quite the step up from the sad weak girl she was earlier.

Emphasis on the 'nigh' given how easily she was killed off in the finale. And playing a one-note, one-dimensional, cliched villain ain't a step up from 'sad weak girl', it's a step sideways. She simply went from being one woefully undeveloped character to another.

And that applied to every female character on the show, including Guin. This article sums up much of the show's treatment of female characters over it's 5 year run - http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8189/8...5a239bb5_o.jpg - and this was written by a fan.

[90'sCartoonMan]

So I really did enjoy the series, but I do have a few issues. First I would of liked to of had more episodes featuring Arthur and Merlin where Artur is aware Merlin has magic. I would of liked to of seen them working together, with no secrets between them. Unfortunately Arthur only finds out in the series finale and after he finds out all that really happens is he dies. That was another thing, the way it ended..with Arthur dead..I don't know, I didn't like that.

It would've been cool to have Arthur know Merlin's secret and them being a kind of unstoppable team, but with all the status quo changes the show made, I guess the one they were sure to keep is Merlin using his magic in secret. As for the finale...

spoilers:

Arthur kind of had to die because, well, that would be a huge departure from the source material. And it was cool that Merlin stayed watching over him, even to the present day. Personally, I don't think they killed off enough people to make for a true fall of Camelot.

end of spoilers

And that applied to every female character on the show, including Guin. This article sums up much of the show's treatment of female characters over it's 5 year run - http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8189/8...5a239bb5_o.jpg - and this was written by a fan.

Thanks for sharing that, although they forgot to mention Freya, who I loved.

[Surtur]

Does he ever tell he he has magic too? Does he ever bring her into his confidence and allow her to share the advice and protection of Gaius? Nope. He lies to her again and again and again. The one thing he could do to genuinely help her, never never does. Any why? To protect himself. That's not a hero in anyone's book.

The problem here is that Merlin was constantly being told by the Dragon she would be his down fall, etc. etc. He still risked his life to try to help her. Yes he kept his own powers a secret because, as I said, he was told she was bad..so he played it safe, but it still doesn't negate the whole "risked his life multiple times for her" thing. She was Uther's ward, if anyone had a chance of being found with magic and not being killed it would be her, but Merlin would be toast.

Given the situation he helped her out a lot more then he had to, since he technically does not owe her anything. I will say again that he mindscrewed the great dragon just to save her.

Are you honestly telling me if it had been Arthur or Gaius who had been cursed, Merlin wouldn't have found a way to break the spell rather than simply shrugging his shoulders and saying "Meh. I'll just just have to kill him, I guess."

You are faulting Merlin for the fact he might risk more for those he is closest to? Though it really is hard to say what Merlin would do if it was Arthur or Gaius. The point is..what would you of had Merlin do in the specific situation? Time was running out. Just have them all die?

Emphasis on the 'nigh' given how easily she was killed off in the finale.

You realize they needed to kill her with a powerful magical sword right? She had no idea Merlin had one, which is why she let Merlin get so close..given as not long before some knights had full on shanked her and she shrugged it off.

And playing a one-note, one-dimensional, cliched villain ain't a step up from 'sad weak girl', it's a step sideways. She simply went from being one woefully undeveloped character to another.

There was still *some* development for her though, and her character did go through a lot of changes over the course of the series.

And that applied to every female character on the show, including Guin. This article sums up much of the show's treatment of female characters over it's 5 year run - http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8189/8...5a239bb5_o.jpg - and this was written by a fan.

I'm not going to say it wasn't cliche or anything, just that acting like there was no real change is wrong, and that you seemed to of miss points in several episodes where Merlin does the exact opposite of what you tried to portray him to be(which is, risks his life for no reason or reward for Morgana more then once).

[Crimson Knight]

Watching the 5th Season currently. Not sure did I say earlier in the thread or not, but watch it with my Grandmother, now and again.

Rewatched Seasons 1 and 2, with her, then watched 3, 4 and now, 4 episodes of 5 done.

Liking Arthur a lot more in his current role, I must say, though having so many traitors across the Seasons infiltrate Camelot, be they Morgana, or Morgause, or Agravaine, or even in the Season 5 premiere is a bit maddening.

Like how much things have changed, with how many Knights you recognize, and know, and the laugh you can have with them. Though, amount of times they get involved with a big plot, or get dark, evil, even if only temporarily, all that, bit contrived, or tiring.

Seems no one fully has the mettle, or will, to resist, though I'm sure there are occassions where it's happened, be it with Lancelot, Percival, Elyan, one of my personal favourites for the gadabout and chancer and Irish accented man he is, Gwaine. Legend, in many ways.

Glad Merlin uses his Dragonlord gifts that bit more as time goes on, not having to go to that same chamber, or caverns, to talk to the Old/Great Dragon. The lethal, the legendary, John Hurt.

Just more convenient wherever, when others are sleeping and all, and I suppose, suspension of disbelief in regards to Knights, Arthur etc not waking up while Merlin's not only talking to a Dragon, but one that was free and actually atacking the kingdom a few years previous.

Keep wishing that plotting, evil, cold, hateful Witch, Morgana'd be killed. Keep thinking she is dead, but all the defeats, and devastated reactions, Morgause' death, all are a soothing thing, until her eventual end.

Like bond between Arthur and Merlin a lot more than I used to. They've both grown, progressed, developed, and are in ways better for it.

Wish in 4, or so far, 5, there were a few less Morgana episodes, with when it's that end of the show, and all that, and having to get stuff done, then have to progress on it, I suppose, especially with 13 episodes as opposed to other shows.