Um, couldn’t they have just made a show with medieval fantasy? Why did they have to use the names from the Arthurian myths if they weren’t going to use ANY of it? I mean, like ANYTHING? It’s just the names, and a few of the jobs are right. But the rest is wrong, wrong on levels that make absolutely no sense at all. As a stand alone fantasy television show, this would rock. It does rock. But every time someone says Merlin’s name, I have to do a double take, because it doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t look right. There is a wrong ness.
Casting that aside, it is a good show. Some day, some day there will be a good movie/television show that actually pays homage to the source material. But this isn’t even rewriting, or redesigning mythology, or expanding or adding to it. There is no actual connection between this show and the original mythology other than names. That’s it. And that strikes me as a missed opportunity.
Because almost everybody knows the name Merlin, and so they’re more likely to watch a show about someone they’ve heard of rather than [random guy/girl]. And a lot of those people know nothing about the legend, so won’t have the sense of wrongness you’re getting.
I don’t see how that is- Merlin isn’t really like Harry Potter, you know? And you can tell that the writers and producers KNOW the stories, since they drop little things here and there. And it makes it even more confusing.
This is the land of Merlin. A lot of people know the name, at least vaguely.
Can’t speak for why the directors sidestepped the legends. TV shows are often dumb.