It Hits Different When You're a Fan

I've probably been burned enough times that I don't get excited about a lot of trailers or posters or announcements anymore.  I mean sometimes they'll announce something and it never gets made.  Or there's a cool trailer but the show or movie sucks because all the good stuff was in the trailer and it might not even be in the show or movie.  So when they advertise something like Ahsoka or the latest Marvel movie I just say, "Meh.  Let's wait and see."

But a few weeks ago I actually did get excited about something.  I went to IMDB to look something up and there was a banner ad for The Winter King on MGM+.  And my thought was, "OMG, is that THE Winter King by Bernard Cornwell?"  And the next screen on the ad said, "From the author of The Last Kingom."  And then I'm like, "OMG!  OMG!  OMG!"  Not quite dancing and screaming like when I was a kid on XMas morning, but still pretty excited.  Finally someone adapted my favorite Arthurian book series!

Original 1995 Cover

Since no one who ever stops by this blog knows what I'm talking about, let me give you a little background.  The Winter King is book 1 of "The Warlord Chronicles" by British author Bernard Cornwell, who's mostly known for his Sharpe's series about a Redcoat in the Napoleonic wars or something--I never read those.  The three books were I think written in the 90s and I stumbled across them back in high school or college and was instantly hooked on them.  They're basically a retelling of the Arthurian saga only with realistic storytelling.

The books are set in 5th Century Britain, which has seen the decline of the Roman Empire and has been left to sort itself out in the aftermath.  There are various kingdoms in what we know today as England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, most of them under the rule of the "High King" Uther Pendragon--Arthur's father.  But hordes of Saxons have begun landing and colonizing from Scandinavia or wherever, wanting to take the land for themselves.  There's also a lot of internal strife between the traditional pagan religions and the upstart Christian church.

Born into this is Derfel, a former Saxon slave who grows up in Avalon, a tower and farms owned by Merlin.  Merlin is a Druid, most of whom were wiped out by the Romans, similar to the Jedi in the Star Wars universe.  Derfel has a crush on Nimue, but she wants to be a wizard or whatever they'd call it then, so she can't really be with him.

Eventually Derfel becomes a warrior and part of Arthur's army, soon becoming a trusted friend and warlord in his own right.  Old Derfel, now a Christian monk, is used as a framing device as he sets down the story of Arthur while the Britons face their last days.

The three books then retell the whole Arthurian saga that you might be familiar with from Excalibur or things like that.  Only, again, it's a lot more realistic.  There's not really a sword in the stone or magic or any of that jazz but there are all the traditional characters.  Only some like Lancelot are not like we typically think of them.  Basically Lancelot is a preening, treacherous asshole.

A long time ago on a visit to Canada I actually bought all three books in mass market paperback, but I think I gave them away at some point, which is too bad because it would help to look through those again.

Anyway, I watched the first two episodes on Amazon Prime Video and wasn't too disappointed.  But as the title of the entry suggests, you watch things differently when you're really a fan of them.  I mean when I watch something I'm a little familiar with like Ms. Marvel or She-Hulk I might note some differences or similarities to the source material, but I don't really care.  If I'm not familiar with it at all then I really don't care.

But when you are really familiar with it, you really want things to be like the source material.  The first thing I noticed was they aren't using the framing device with Old Derfel.  Maybe they think it's too expensive or too time-consuming.  I don't know, but I do like the framing device in the books.  It helps to add an extra layer of pathos as Derfel looks back and realizes where things went right--and where they went so wrong and how quickly the Golden Age of Camelot fell apart.

The rest of it was pretty good.  It mostly just focuses on Arthur being banished by Uther and Derfel being rescued by him as a boy and growing up in Avalon, though it takes an 8-year jump because I guess they don't want to spend too much time on that part.  And then Derfel meets Gawain to start his training to be a warrior.  After the 8-year jump, Uther's wife gives birth to Mordred (the second one actually) who is to be the heir to the throne but has a clubfoot.  

The next episode gets dark as Uther dies and one of the guys he has take an oath to protect young Mordred instead goes to Avalon to kill the baby--only he kills the wrong baby.  Then rapes Nimue.  Yeah, they don't call it "the Dark Ages" for nothing.  Then Arthur shows up in a scene that was a little cheesy in how over-the-top it is when they focus on him.

The show is probably more Vikings than Game of Thrones or like Cornwell's other ancient British series The Last Kingdom in that there are kingdoms and fighting with swords and stuff but no dragons or magic or White Walkers or any of that stuff.  And definitely not that much like Power of the Ring on Amazon in that it's just humans, not dwarves, elves, orcs, or Hobbits.

When you really are watching as a fan, diversity casting can be a lot more annoying than in other times.  I don't really care if elves or Hobbits are black; I mean it's a fantasy world so what does it matter?  And in the Thor movies they can say it's really an alien planet, so fine, whatever.  In this case it is a more realistic setting, so when they make Merlin black it annoys me a little.  Though since the Roman Empire stretched from Northern Africa to Scotland it is at least plausible that Merlin could be black and he is supposed to be an outsider, so making him black does really make him an outsider.  Though I'm not sure there's any historical proof to suggest there were any black Druids.

But it gets me thinking, "Shit, what's next, casting an Asian for Nimue?"  Thankfully they didn't do that.  Not that I hate Asians, but it's 5th Century Britain; how the fuck would someone from China or Korea or Japan or wherever get there?  Then you'd have to have some awkward backstory completely outside the books to explain how her family were traders and their ship got wrecked and baby Nimue drifted a long while until she was found by Merlin or some such garbage just so they can check a box on the affirmative action list.  And then I hate myself thinking that way because to someone else it seems racist and xenophobic when really I just want some fucking verisimilitude.  Because this isn't fantasy or science fiction; this is historical fiction.

That's the kind of stuff you deal with when you really love something and while you want it to be a movie or show, it can also be kind of annoying in that no movie or show is ever going to live up to your expectations.  So besides diversity casting, I think, "Eddie Marsan is too short to be Uther."  I mean I get they needed someone with a little name recognition but Uther should really be some big thug like Vinnie Jones; someone you could really believe could beat the snot out of Arthur and threaten other kings and lead an army.  And the white chick they got to play Nimue has too many freckles.  I like freckles but maybe not that many.  They really needed someone a little more Goth-looking.  If she were younger, Helena Bonham Carter would have been great for that.  The discount Christian Bale guy they got for Arthur was OK.  (Actual Christian Bale would have been great for Uther if he'd bulked up a little; he wouldn't have even needed to tone down his natural accent.)  The guy they got for Derfel was OK but he doesn't show up until like 2/3 of the episode is over so I can't really judge much yet.

And I will be judging because probably the only thing I've wanted adapted more than this are Lloyd Alexander's Prydain books.  I mean Disney did a shitty version of The Black Cauldron in the early 80s but I want a real live action adaptation of ALL the books.  I mean, why the hell would you start with book 2?  You wouldn't start adapting Harry Potter with the second book, would you?  SMH.  And those are fantasy with magic and stuff, so if you want to cast black people and Asian people and whatnot, go nuts.  Interestingly, the Prydain books are based on Welsh mythology and much of The Warlord Chronicles takes place in Wales, which is why most of the castles in both are referred to as "Caer" something or other.

So what book series are you obsessed about that you want adapted?