Meh.
It’s OK. I much prefer the early-80s Robin of Sherwood, though.
This one is an odd mix of Family Entertainment (Robin is non-violent, and refuses to kill), Comedy (the Sheriff is a wonderful scene-chewer), Anti-War-On-Terror Commentary (Examples: “It’s not our Holy War, it’s Pope Gregory’s” and “The Sheriff can declare outlaws to be Enemies of War, and execute them without trial.”) and Firefly-esque snappy-dialog ensemble piece (Robin’s manservant, Much, is pretty much Wash — same physical type, same line delivery style, and wearing the 12-century equivalent of a loud Hawaiian shirt.).
All of this, in 45-minute episodes. In my opinion, its trying to be too much.
I’ll probably grab the other ones to watch, just for the hell of it….but “Meh.”
I consider it hokey fun, having watched the first two episodes. It’s certainly not trying to be anything more than family-based action adventure, and that’s a good thing, and I see where you could interpret the Anti-WOT (although I think if we try to overthink too many shows we can see that in many of them). Wash is certainly much funnier and subtle than Much (who tends to be annoying and overact a lot).
Robin is non-violent, and refuses to kill
*insert much rolling-of-eyes here*
Oh come on… The second episode has the Sherrif painting Robin as a terrorist with the following (with only a very slight para-phrase);
“In the holy land there are camps where our young men are indoctrinated into ways and means of disrupting life back home. they are then released to return and cause havoc.”
That one pretty wore its heart on the sleeve.
I’ve seen that sort of stuff written into TV shows, books and other media content long before we had the War On Terror – it’s a staple of much speculative fiction. A terrorist is the flipside of coin that also includes a patriot.
Just because a message might exist in a show doesn’t mean it’s there to promote a message of pro-something or anti-something else. Look to Battlestar Galactica, which in this season, includes a LOT more material that could be considered Anti-WOT and yet isn’t speficially addressing that. Even in the podcasts, it was explained that although parallels can be drawn to the current war in Iraq, much of what is referenced in BSG is built on older battles and wars, such as WWII and the Civil War. Robin Hood is the same in that it seems topical, but is really drawning on stuff that’s been around again and again and again. Or as Number Six in BSG says “We’ve all been here before and we’ll all be here again.”
What makes it watchable is that it’s ‘cute’ TV and KNOWS that it is. And the costumes actually look more ‘period’ than not.
I’m very much in two minds about this: a lot of my time is spent howling “why the fuck are they using eastern martial arts, fighting with longswords like they’re Katana, making references to ticking clocks, and little john is maybe two inches taller than the next tallest merrie man, what the FECK is Gisburne wearing…”
And then the other part of my mind is saying “Let it go, it’s Robin Hood the Legendary Journeys. Maid Xena and her merry men.”