World Enough and Time

Hee, I got Arthur followed by Gwen and Mordred :O What does THAT say about me~

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Well, it is, as best, and interesting triangle!

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Hah! That's to say the least~ I find myself intrigued by the Mordred tales (Douglas Clegg's version is very interesting 'Mordred, Bastard Son'). There should be more back story research done on him in my future :D

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I hadn't read that one - thanks for the tip. I'm happy to see that my library has it.

Yes, research on Mordred: good idea. I loved the way David Hemming portrayed him, but then, I always liked David Hemming.

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Yeah the only downside to the Clegg book is its a first of a trilogy that... hasn't been worked on and I'm not sure if it ever will be finished. HOWEVER, its incredibly well-done and creates this very sympathetic character for someone who's been vilified since his birth.

And oooh, I shall look into this David Hemming~ Youtube seems to fail me for the moment but I will keep looking!

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If I can find a David Hemming clip, I'll let you know.

its incredibly well-done and creates this very sympathetic character for someone who's been vilified since his birth.

Yes. Starting life with your father trying to kill you is so dramatic and tragic - and so very Oedipal.

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Even before that, go to the Greek mythology of the Titans vs Olympians. Chronos ate all of his children (save Zeus, and Hera who is his sister, I think) for fear of being overthrown and Zeus was hidden away from him while his wife fed Chronos stones in place of her last son. Then when Zeus came of age, he rose up and did away with ALL of the Titans, destined to be the downfall of his father.

Which is also why Zeus ate Athena's mother when she was pregnant and thusly Athena burst from his head...

Patricide seems to be a fond theme in myth~ :D

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Yup, there's lots of patricide in myth and fiction. In Torchwood we only have attempted fratricide.

So far.

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They did shoot at the shapeshifter pretending to be Rhys's mother... does that sort of count?

And Ianto's mythic tailor father! :D I think the only reason we haven't seen that inner conflict (aside from the underused/poorly written Gray) is cause they've done us the favor of either making them so grand (see: Gwen) or killed them off already (see: Ianto, altho according to BeeB texts his mother is around somewhere along with a married sister).

My favorite random parent death myth? Definitely Dionysus's origins. With Hera tricking his mother to basically be killed by Zeus's godly-light while still carrying his child, so to save the unborn babe Zeus stitches the boy into his thigh to remain there until he's ready to be born.

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its incredibly well-done and creates this very sympathetic character for someone who's been vilified since his birth.

Errr... [g] Yes, I guess it counts! Sort of.

And Ianto's mythic tailor father!

Lots of resonance there. Will we ever see it?

altho according to BeeB texts his mother is around somewhere along with a married sister

I didn't knwo that. Hmm. I wonder what Ma thinks of Jack.

Dionysus is cool. I'm not sure what my favourite random parent myth is, though in relation to child-killing I always think first of Lymond in the Dorothy Dunnett novels. And Cable, one of my favourite comic book heroes, who had to kill his son - though they then retconned that so it wasn't his son any more. (Drat.)

And though I don't usually like Biblical stories, especially OT ones, I kind of like Moses in the bullrushes.

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Yeah, I hope I didn't accidentally spoil you or anything for Ianto's family, I think it was said in one of those behind the scenes books that was released *sweats it* I have the horrible habit of putting fandom foot into mouth and letting things I've read slip~ Sorry if it counts as spoiler!

And yeah, Cable got the crazy shaft being bounced around in time over and over again. How many times has he been reborn now? I do like his super bff with Deadpool though, those two balance each other out into a great and hysterical comic series.

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Yeah, I hope I didn't accidentally spoil you or anything for Ianto's family, I think it was said in one of those behind the scenes books that was released *sweats it*

No problem! I don't want to be spoiled for actual storylines but background info is great. (And I know it isn't always easy to know when one becomes the other, which is okay, too.)

Cable got the crazy shaft being bounced around in time over and over again. How many times has he been reborn now?

Too many times! I miss the good old days when he had that underwater HQ and a computer to talk to. I liked the time-travel, too, and the moral ambiguity of using teens to fight his war.

I do like his super bff with Deadpool though, those two balance each other out into a great and hysterical comic series.

Wonderful stuff. Not to mention that I love Fabian Nicieza's writing.

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I've always loved Mordred. Of course, in the earliest versions of the story, before Lancelot was invented, he was the Queen's lover, which makes it all wonderfully entangled.

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David Hemmings was very cute in Camelot. Sadly, he took to drink and ruined his looks – got dreadfully fat and seedy-looking.

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I prefer versions of the story that don't include Lancelot (a 12C innovation), and have Mordred/Medrawd properly as Gwenhwyfar's lover. My favourites are:
Joy Chant, The High Kings
John Arden & Margaretta d'Arcy, The Island of the Mighty (play)

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I haven't yet seen the current TV series Merlin, though I hope to soon.

Avoid at all costs. It's as bad as the recent Robin Hood. It ditches all the traditional material. Arthur and Merlin are contemporaries (both teenagers), and Arthur is being brought up as crown prince at Uther's court. Morgen (here Morgana) is Uther's ward. Guenevere, here 'Gwen', is Morgana's maidservant, and is the daughter of a blacksmith, who is also Black.

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You make it sound very funny - making me all the more curious about it!

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Generally speaking, it depends what they do with Lancelot as to whether I like him, though he is seldom my favourite part of the story. I did like Franco Nero, though. (Don't so much like Robert Goulet.)

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It's so sad when actors do that.

I got a kick out of seeing him in Stingray, though. He was one of the producers.

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Mordred's role is in so many ways the most interesting.

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rosiespark.livejournal.com

I'm actually enjoying it - against all expectations! I spent a lot of last weekend watching it and am now caught up and eagerly awaiting the next episode. I'm not sure why it isn't terrible, but I'm finding it tremendous fun.

Part of it, I think, is that the characterisation is good and is backed up by solid acting by just about everyone - Merlin is an awkward but irrepressibly cheerful teenager and Arthur initially comes across as a most unpleasant bully but is gradually shown to have rather more to him. He's also far from unattractive. *g* And he has Daddy issues and overcompensates by having to be the best at everything while secretly thinking he's a disappointment to his father. Shades of Lymond and Faramir. ::shrugs helplessly:: And Daddy Uther is Anthony Head, you might like to know.

It's like crack fic - irresistible when done cleverly, with a bit of thought - which this is, IMO. Frex, it's slowly feeding us information about the mystery surrounding Arthur's birth, a nameless supporting child character who featured in only one episode was revealed at the end of the episode to be Mordred (and the episode was called "The Beginning of the End", which is nicely ominous), and we've had Excalibur being forged in a somewhat unusual way and then being hidden in the lake.

It may not be your cup of tea, but I'm enjoying it! And if you do watch, don't stop at the particularly heavy-handed bit of scene-setting that is the first scene in the castle courtyard in the first episode. It gets (a lot!) better.

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rosiespark.livejournal.com

Surely you'd have the sound on for the bits featuring Ioan? "I don't like anything that puts a man on his knees"? OWTTE. I hated Clive Owen as Arthur, but still, all that wonderful slashy subtext was pretty inspiring. :D

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janne-d.livejournal.com

It is much better than the recent Robin Hood - I couldn't even watch a full episode of that and I am happily addicted to Merlin.

The difference, I think, is that Merlin is charming and made by people who obviously love what they are doing and love genre series in general, whereas Robin Hood was annoyingly smug and felt like it was made by people who were cynical and patronising about genre shows. Plus how can you go wrong with Anthony Stuart Head, Richard Wilson and John Hurt as supporting characters?

It's not like the Arthurian legends haven't been flexed until they cracked before either!

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janne-d.livejournal.com

Oh, bugger. I came out as Lancelot! Apparently that is:

"Honourable and passionate. You never back down from a challenge. Your friends are very important to you. You believe in justice and duty far above your own personal security and comfort.
Congratulations! This was the most challenging result to get. You are one of a kind."

but considering Lancelot is my least favourite character, I am not best pleased. Though I my second and third (and very close together) results were Arthur and Merlin, so that's a small comfort!

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