My new favorite show!
The Adventures of Merlin is premised on the idea that Merlin and Arthur were young men filled with the energy, drive, and love of adventure typical of all young men before they became the aged and wise adults everyone is familiar with.
Now, being the non-TV watcher that I am, I completely missed all of the episodes that have already aired on NBC. Thanks to the magic of Hulu, however, I just watched episodes 3-7 and loved them all.
The special effects aren't the greatest, especially considering what is capable by CGI artists today (consider shows like Battlestar Gallactica), but I am willing to overlook them simply because the stories are great.
The Merlin in this series does not yet have mastery over his gift of magic and is having to learn to use it in a society that has outlawed all sorcery as evil. He is being raised by and mentored by the court physician Gaius who is a wonderfully wise character who seems to having a passing knowledge of magic himself. There is a very overbearing Uther Pendragon who for lack of a better description, is portrayed as a hardened and uncaring bastard who is doing his best to pound his son Arthur into his likeness. Arthur, however, shows a streak of compassion for his fellow man, though he does his best to hide that under a veneer of snobbery.
The main antagonist so far in the series is a witch named Nimueh who continuously plots against Camelot in an attempt to kill either the young Arthur or the young Merlin.
The sets and costumes are great. The actors do a very good job. There is even a recurring role of a wise dragon who is voiced by the wonderful John Hurt.
And, in case I have not yet mentioned it, Colin Morgan, the twenty-something Merlin is very good looking, has a great smile, and beautiful eyes. And, of course, I love his accent. My only complaint in all of this is that his costumes are always too darn loose for me to get a good look at his posterior. Well, that's not the point of the series, I suppose. ;)
