Oh Robin of Sherwood! One of my earliest fiction loves

[dangermousie]

My next watch is actually a rewatch. It's the 1980s ITV series about Robin Hood: Robin of Sherwood, IMO hands-down the best adaptation of the Robin Hood story into the film medium I've come across. (More specifically, series 1-2).

I first saw it when I was a child. I must have been no more than eight. Russian TV bought the rights to the program (probably because Robin Hood was always quite Soviet approved) and it was summer holidays. I and one of my cousins would glue ourselves to the TV and then, every evening, we'd go to the attic and play out Robin Hood. It left such a vivid impression on me, that I've remembered large chunks of plot.

And you know, unlike a lot of things I loved when a kid, this held up with time. I bought the DVDs a couple of years back, and put them in with a bit of trepidation. You never know when your childhood loves develop tatters.

But you know what? I loved it. Loved it in an entirely different way than when I was 8 because I was a grown-up now. I was also amused to notice that RoS hit so many of my fiction kinks that it wasn't funny. I wonder if it was responsible for some of them?

It had the incredibly strong hero, who was also messed up. Passionate about injustice, but also angry about not being able to have a normal life. Not the saintly Robin Hood of other versions, this one was flesh and blood. Tired, sometimes unhappy, always driven. And (miracle of miracles) not upper class. It had the awesome, strong heroine who fought beside the hero, and a completely devoted to each other OTP. It had h/c in spades and kisses and otp angst. It had decidedly mixed endings, not just happy fests, and points about power and corruption and responsibility. And it was a real world: real in grime and necessities, not a pretty unworldly pageant like the 1930s movie.

Oh, and Michael Praed was HOT. I wonder if this is where my predilection for fictional archers comes from?





Yum:





The cast:



Anyway, if you can overlook 80s hair, it's an excellent series to check out. The only other version I ever loved was the Russian movie version (which was even grimmer). Errol Flynn version is fun but no more, and don't even get me started on the most recent one, or the Kevin Costner movie.

Though I have to admit I cried so hard on rewatching the last ep in Series 2, Mr. Mousie had to calm me down. One of the rare shows that was necessary with.

Here are RoS mvs on youtube:



The OTP one:

Robin centric:

Heeee. Set to 'Holding out for a hero.' I have aserious weakness for super-cheesy 80s songs:

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

You are making me want to rewatch, even though I only recently managed to watch all of the first 2 seasons a few months ago(you may or may not recall the 50 or so poststhat I made on it at the time)

A part of me will always wonder what Prince of Thieves would have been like with Christian Slater as Robin than Kevin Costner(and, of course, an age-appropriate Marian, as well-not that the actress didn't do a good job, but there's no way that she could have been a "Maid" Marian, esp. w/ the social position they gave her)

By "most recent one," do you mean the current BBC series with the apparently absurdly hot Guisborne? I have'nt seen any of it yet, but those who usually peg my likes the best assure me I'll love it, I have some reservations, though.

And hey, NOTHING tops youtube vids using "Holding Out For A Hero," "Accidentally in Love" and "I Will Survive" (I'm also rather partial to vids with old classic melodies, but only with things with a classic feel)

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

The new series is so so so bad. We saw the beginning of an episode one night and decided to watch, to see if it improved and, no. It didn't.

And PoT Marian was fine until they decided to make her the Girl who needs to be Rescued. The two halves of that movie always make me irritated.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

PoT Marian was a good actress and a good character(up until all she was was the DID, as you pointed out), but historically impossible. They were trying to play it as a more historical Robin Hood, yet they completely ruined their chances of that when they cast people in their mid-30s for roles that would only work for early to mid 20s.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

*am off to read your posts*

PoT is a movie that is...argh. Yikes. Baaaaad. Christian Slater would have been better but they needed to junk the screenplay, too.

BBC series, yup. It's baaaaad, hot Richard Armitage (GoG) notwithstanding.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

heh, i think you commented on a couple of the posts when i made them, bit i'm too lazy to look.

the basic idea of PoT was actually fairly good, a better robin and a screenplay less designed to be a vehicle for the star(who didn't fit the role they wanted at all) as a result would have made it a completely different(better) movie.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

*snerks* I've never actually seen RoS. My only memory of it is of Mark Ryan showing up at our room party one year (in his leather pants), and stealing all of the booze and the women and wandering off again.

[eccequambonum.livejournal.com]

for real? i think that was my college roommate ultimate fantasy. :)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Eeeee. Heeee. *jealous*

you make me ramble!!

[eccequambonum.livejournal.com]

oh, i've been craving a rewatch of the entire series (hey, first episode i saw was with jason connery as Robin, so i never had any problem switching between the two of them). when the british dvds of the series came out in the mid 90s, i was on amazon.uk faster than a bunny and bought those puppies, and then promptly bought my first multi-region dvd player, because i NEEDED to see this again.

and i highly recommend a rewatch with the actors commentary. most hysterical stories ever in those tracks.

ah, and a young ray winstone! and clive matle. what an awesome cast for that one. no the new remake, even with the hotness that is richard armitage is utter crap and unwatchable. which amazes me that this gem from the height of the 80s and imprinted on pre-teen brains can still pass muster.

damn, i need to figure out if i can somehow convert these to ipod format without screwing myself over on the region code for my computer. . . .

Re: you make me ramble!!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I bought the vhs copies a long time ago, and then tracked down british versions of dvds and shipped them from UK. So you are not the only one :)

I am so going to watch actors' commentaries now.

ah, and a young ray winstone! and clive matle. what an awesome cast for that one. no the new remake, even with the hotness that is richard armitage is utter crap and unwatchable. which amazes me that this gem from the height of the 80s and imprinted on pre-teen brains can still pass muster.

Word.

Re: you make me ramble!!

[eccequambonum.livejournal.com]

i was the only one in college who managed to have all the episodes on tape (recorded from HBO or Showtime -- can't remember who ran it), and would regularly be offered large sums of money or caffeine to borrow r copy them. I finally did let a friend make a set of copies of mine, which became the one i loaned out or let copies be made from, for fear of hurting my originals. even when i had the dvds, it was hard to let go of those horrible, nearly worn out tapes!

damn you for messing with my planned viewing schedule! :)

Re: you make me ramble!!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I still have my tapes and am not throwing them out. Am glad to know I am not the only one.

Ohhh, I need a rewatch YESTERDAY.

[kathputli-girl.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh! This post made me so happy! I LOVED that show so much! I totally had a boyfriend in the late 80s who was obsessed with Robin/Michael Praed and had that same hair, dressed like him and learned archery! Seriously! Hahah. I used to have all these on VHS (taped off t.v.) but lost them and now only have ONE episode on a tape somewhere.