Cinemusings

ROBIN OF SHERWOOD: SET 1

Even for its time period and origin of production, "Robin of Sherwood" is really bad. I've taken in to consideration its age and nevertheless I barely made it past the first episode. "Robin of Sherwood" is a terrible and cheesy series that attempts to add a fantasy twist to the Robin Hood mythos. There's a sacred silver arrow that everyone desires, and the fact that Robin Hood is a prophesized warrior here. Before being shot down by arrows after assassins raid and destroy Loxley, he proclaims, "The hooded one... the hooded one is coming." Oh brother. This is combined with what the box describes as "Real History" which is baffling considering it's common fact that Robin Hood never truly existed.

I respect its apparent cult standings and even in spite of my dislike for the series, it's still garnered a large following and a few fan sites from folks who appreciate the new Robin Hood take and what it offers in the charismatic performance by young Michael Praed as Robin, the long haired rebel of Loxley who stands up to local authorities and forms his own rebellion of thieves in the woods.

But in spite of his strong performance, much of the series is often poorly acted and reliant on awful editing that keeps many of the action sequences almost impossible to follow.

The director seems to want to leave his audience dizzy and rattles the camera or provides quick cuts whenever we're supposed to be following a sword fight or bow and arrow assault. If that's not enough, the score is quite awful and reduces any of the attempted tension per episode. "Robin of Sherwood" seems to make a habit out of building my good faith and then completely smashing it because though Praed is very good as Robin, most of the series is just absolutely horrid. All the mysticism added is ridiculous with the entire legend of Robin foretold through a prophet who spends three minutes staring in to the camera as we see what will happen to Robin in future episodes, including the famed arrow match, his fight with Little John, and every other Robin legend you've heard told time and time again, ad nauseum. And at one point, he's called "Robin of the Hood."

I'm sorry, I just couldn't help but laugh. The scripts take great pains in making sure never to refer to him as Robin Hood and it was quite irritating. When Robin does come to the screen while not being reduced to a supporting character, he's given nothing but trite dialogue and romantic chemistry with Maid Marien whose entire character is just a rehash of other performances from prior "Robin Hood" movies and series. This series sets up such a pretense that it's beyond anything you've ever seen from the mythos that almost no one refers to him as Robin Hood. It's always "The Hooded Man," "The Hooded One," "The One in the Hood." I almost expected someone to call him "Little Green Riding Hood," or something. If that's not enough, Robin is never a man of wit and cunning, he's instead reliant on mystical weapons given to him by an ancient knight which are, yes, a bow and arrows, and a sword. "Robin of Sherwood" featuring the Hooded Robin is a wash out.

Fans of the show need not fear, there are some really good extras here. Among many, we have three audio commentaries for the first two episodes of series one as well as for episode four. On Disc Five we're handed "A Look Back" The Making of Series 1 and 2, both clocking in at a respective hour each featuring interviews with star Praed and the series creators. "The Electric Theater Show: A Behind the Scenes Special" is a twenty four minute episode of the British series that examines the legacy of Robin Hood and the influences of the series. We're also given a hand full of Series 1 and Series 2 outtakes, as well as the title sequences for the US and French versions of the series. There's also Cast Filmographies and Unseen footage from the show on "The Electric Theater Show." This is quite a treatment for the fans.

- Felix Vasquez Jr.
Date Published

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