Page vs Screen: Cursed

Born in the Dawn - To pass in the Twilight

As I write this, I'm still hesitating between writing a single post about the Thomas Wheeler (author) & Frank Miller (illustrator) book Cursed and the corresponding Netflix series, or keeping page and screen separate. Even with the series - cover each episode as I have done for other series? Or because it's Netflix and I marathoned through it treat it as a single 10h film? So many decisions... I guess I'll just have to start writing and we'll see what comes out of it.

Cursed is a feminist retelling of the Arthurian myth, written by Thomas Wheeler and illustrated by Frank Miller. It's a young adult fantasy novel that reframes the Arthurian legends by telling them through the character of Nimue, famously known as the Lady of the Lake in the traditional versions (sometimes an ally of Arthur's, others the keeper of Excalibur, and in yet others a protégé of Merlin's who steals his magic and leaves him trapped in a tree). In Cursed she is a young Fey woman (the Fey are various clans of humanoid beings with a connection to the spirit world that probably inhabited Britain before humans came, and have been slowly being pushed out of their lands by humans, more recently persecuted by  fanatics called Red Paladins sent by the Church), whose mother Lenore is the Arch-Druid and healer of her Sky-Folk clan. The story begins as their village is attacked by Red Paladins, and Lenore entrusts Nimue with a powerful sword and asks her to deliver it to Merlin.

Since books have trailers now (?!), here's a look at the book and show trailers:

 

I thought it would be interesting to contrast the book and the show, as they were pretty much created at the same time (Wheeler and Miller hadn't even finished writing it when Netflix optioned it for a series adaptation, and the book hadn't been released yet while the show was filming) and Wheeler is showrunner of the Netflix series. Well, book 1 and season 1 (in case others come out in time).

Obviously spoilers for both book and TV show below! (and potentially for a follow up book if they pick up some of the threads from the show that weren't in the book)

Attempting a "historical" King Arthur in the movies (2004)

Here's a movie I remember being excited about when it was announced (King Arthur on the big screen? yay! Digging into possible historical basis? cool!), and then being a bit puzzled with it when it came out. Not quite convinced by it as "King Arthur", but having enjoyed it as a film nonetheless, in great part thanks to its excellent actors (who sadly had to work with some clunky dialogue at times *shudder*).

* Sidebar: next time someone wants a "historical" King Arthur... just go straight to the excellent "The Warlord Chronicles" by Bernard Cornwell and adapt those! *

Diving into it now, because I was looking for something to pop into the dvd player that I hadn't seen in ages, and felt in the mood for some swordplay and horseback riding. 😉

So let's take a closer look at King Arthur (2004; note: "Director's Edition", and I don't remember enough of the cinematic to point out the differences), directed by Antoine Fuqua, screenplay by David Franzoni and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer (which explains quite a bit... *sigh*) and starring Clive Owen, Ioan Gruffudd and Keira Knightley (in her first post-Pirates movie I believe; curiously before this she'd done a Robin Hood movie for Disney called Princess of Thieves which I guess I'll have to watch at some point for this blog!).

Need I say it? SPOILER ALERT for a 2004 movie!

Who is this King Arthur?

Artorius (Arthur) Castus. A half-Roman / half-British (mother) commander of the troops guarding Hadrian's Wall (like his father before him), leader of a unit of Sarmatian knights who serve Rome fro 15 years. A name apparently already well-known throughout the island (Guinevere tells him "My father told me great tales of you (...) Fairy tales. The kind you hear about people so brave, so selfless, that they can't be real. Arthur and his knights. A leader both Briton and Roman."). He's a devout Christian, a student of Pelagius (who is now deemed a heretic by Rome) who believes men have free will and thus are free to choose their own destiny/fate. When he learns that Pelagius is dead and his teachings of equality among men are deemed heretical by Rome, his faith in Rome is shaken (Alecto "the Rome you believe in does not exist except in your dreams").

Clive Owen does an excellent job of bringing to life a man who is dedicated to his cause (Rome, his men), tired of waging battle and longing for a peaceful life in Rome, who slowly begins to understand himself better as he is forced to confront certain truths about Rome and faces the prospect of the land he has dedicated his life to protecting simply being abandoned to its fate during the Saxon invasion.

Tragic Merlin on Once Upon a Time

Every version of the Arthurian Legend has its own version of each of the legendary figures, and Once Upon a Time is no different. After several episodes in which we've gotten to know these versions of Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, in episodes 505 & 507 we finally learn Merlin's story.

Warning: Spoilers for Season 5 of Once Upon a Time from here on out!

Camelot meets Storybrooke in Season 5a of Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time started out based on the characters in the fairy tale of Snow White, then episode by episode expanded the cast to include other stories, sometimes even letting us visit those other lands. But through the first four seasons to only reference to Camelot was in passing, a land of legend mentioned by an exiled Lancelot when he meets Snow White and Prince Charming in the Enchanted Forest. That ends now as a magical twister drops Grannie's dinner and our heroes in the Kingdom of Camelot!

WARNING! Spoilers ahead for season 5a of Once Upon a Time.

The first half of season 5 of OUAT takes place between Camelot and Storybrooke, with the Camelot stories taking place 6 weeks before the "present time" in Storybrooke. I won't go into all the story details of each episode, since the point of this blog isn't OUAT. We'll just look into our favorite Arthurian characters and see what they're like in their fairytale world, and how they adapt to our modern world.

In Camelot

First off, this Camelot is definitely a fairytale-medieval version of Camelot! Gorgeous castle with turrets and pennants etc, you can definitely see the Disney influence. They of course throw a gorgeous ball (to welcome our heroes to their land, and to celebrate Merlin's prophesied imminent release from the tree).

Once Upon a Time meets the world of Arthurian Legend in the Season 5 premiere

"Don't. (...) One day you will have the opportunity to remove Excalibur from its stone. And you mustn't. Leave the sword alone."

Says a mysterious cinema usher to a very young Emma Swan. It's Minneapolis 1989. Disney's "The Sword in the Stone" is playing in a theatre. How does this usher know her name? Why does he tell her not to take the sword from the stone? He says if you do something you're not supposed to do, even if you do it for a good reason, bad things will happen. A young terrified Emma watches young Wart pull Excalibur from the stone as our screen fades to black and then to 3 knights galloping across the land: it's King Arthur, Lancelot and another knight! Arthur pulls Excalibur from the stone... an incomplete Excalibur which is missing the tip.

Zoom in on the Dark One's dagger with Emma Swan's name on it, and you realize that dagger looks an awful lot like the missing piece of Excalibur...

SG-1: Camelot

Season 9 finale! Which of course will end on a cliffhanger... *sigh* :p

Walter Bishop Meurig

So while the rest of their allies (Tokra, Jaffa, Asgard) are searching for the new "supergate" the Ori will use to invade our galazy, SG-1 heads to the planet whose coordinates they discovered via the phase-shifting device in Arthur's Mantle. They're hoping to discover the anti-Ori weapon Merlin had created. They arrive in a small medieval town and are greeted by Meurig (John Noble!!!), the local Governor, who welcomes them "to Camelot (!). Past and future home of Arthur and his knights." :o)

The town is awaiting the return of Arthur and his knights who set off on a quest to find the Sangraal (a.k.a. Holy Grail). They believe that he will return once someone succeeds in pulling the sword from the stone... because yes! There is a sword in a stone in the centre of Camelot!!! :o)

"Only he who is pure of heart and true of spirit can pull the sword from the stone."

SG-1: Arthur's Mantle

Season 9, episode 18 starts out with Colonel Samanth Carter working in her lab on an Ancient device found in Glastonbury when Dr. Daniel Jackson, Teal'c and Col. Cameron Mitchell discovered the truth about the mythical Avalon in the season première. As she tries to calibrate something a bright light shines out and she and Cam disappear from our screens. And so another crazy Stargate adventure begins! :o)

Sam out of phase!

It turns out that the device has shifted Sam and Cam into another dimension (apparently there are 11 of them according to string theory, don't ask!), slightly out of phase with ours. This means they can see and hear everything, but can't touch anything or communicate with anyone as no one can see them! 

Cameron: "That was an alternate reality, this is an alternate dimension. Hell, all I need is a good time travel adventure and I've scored the SG-1 trifecta!"

Merlin 512-513: The Diamond of the Day, series finale

Why oh why did they have to air the end of the series during the holidays?! Don't they know we're über-busy at that time of the year and can't properly enjoy the show or have time to write about it after?! *sigh* Fortunately I took notes while watching, and am just going to combine both episodes together in this one post.

In brief: this is THE END. If you know anything about Arthurian Legend then you know exactly what that means. The epic Battle of Camlann. Morgana and Mordred and their Saxon army against Arthur and his knights. With Morgana finally knowing that Merlin a.k.a. Emrys is the real threat, and so she first takes drastic measures against him. Be prepared, things get very bloody. There will be lots of significant deaths and you will cry!

Be warned: major spoilers from here on down! Read only once you've seen the episodes. Then share your thoughts at the end please!

Let's do this in parts:

Merlin 511: The Drawing of the Dark

"There are some paths woven so deeply into the fabric of the world Merlin that nothing can be done to change them."

It finally happened: Mordred has broken with Arthur and Morgana knows who Emrys is!!! The end is nigh indeed! The only thing missing is for Arthur to find out about Merlin, and based on the previews for next week I'm afraid that won't be until the final episode. *sigh*

Excellent episode! A story featuring a Druid girl wounded during an attack against Camelot soldiers finally got the ball moving on bringing the season series to its end (sniff!). At last we have the answer to the puzzle that is Mordred: is he just faking it to be close to Arthur in Camelot? Or does he truly believe in Arthur's vision (and the king himself) but something happens to make him break away and become the enemy? 

Merlin 510: The Kindness of Strangers

Drat! I saw this late, I'm reviewing it even later and my brain is all fuzzy because of a nasty cold that's allowing me to give Rudolph a run for his money! :o(

 

So in this episode Arthur is all lovey-dovey with Gwen, they're both obviously super relieved she's no longer Morgana's evil puppet! This of course leads to some funny moments with Merlin trying to help Arthur be romantic... not very successful I might add! :p

Merlin 509: With All My Heart

Well, now that we know that this is the final season of Merlin *sob*, I was doubly relieved to see this episode addressing the issue of brainwashed-Gwen so we can (hopefully) move on to more interesting things, like Arthur finding out about Merlin! Unfortunately as of this episode he still has no clue... And this would have been the perfect occasion for Arthur to HAVE to accept Merlin's sorcery as it was the only way to save Gwen! *sigh* Well, at least we got some good laughs with both aged "Emrys" and a female version, the "Dolma"! :p

Merlin as the aged Emrys (or Dragoon the Great) and in drag as the Dolma! :p

Merlin 508: The Hollow Queen

Hmmm... Merlin seems to be alternating between really good episodes and "meh" episodes (last week's) lately, and this was another good one! 

Although she still doesn't know Merlin is "Emrys" (and thus her mortal enemy), Morgana does realise he has done a lot to protect Arthur and foil her plans on many occasions and so finally launches a direct assault on him as a prelude to a plan to assassinate Arthur. She knows him well enough to find the perfect lure for a trap and he falls for it hook, line and sinker! Took me a while to see it coming and there were some moments that truly surprised me and had me going "woah!". Merlin really had me worried there! 

 

Merlin 507: A Lesson In Veangeance

Aha! Finally an episode in which Angel Coulby (Gwen) has something to do! Plus it's always great fun seeing Emrys (i.e. "old" Merlin) again, speaking in riddles! :o)

Merlin 506: The Dark Tower

This week's episode follows the pattern of a traditional quest to rescue -as Gwaine says- "a maiden in a tower, a damsel in distress" (to which he adds: "I was born for this moment." cocky much? lol!). The maiden in question is Guinevere, taken by Morgana to the Dark Tower. Except Gwen is no longer a maiden now that she's married, right? ;o)

The Dark Tower is place to be feared, where many young knights have met their end. Even better, to get there Arthur and his knights (and Merlin) must find a way through the Impenetrable Forest  followed by the Dolorous Plains, a desert full of the remains of dead knights. Hmmm... a princess -well, queen- in a tower at the other side of a forest of thorns? Sleeping Beauty anyone? Although poor Gwen can't sleep in this tower... :p

Merlin 505: The Disir

Ahhh, now that's more like it! After last week's uninteresting outing, Merlin is back with an excellent episode that really gives Bradley James (Arthur) and especially Colin Morgan (Merlin) a chance to show us how good they are! But at the same time it's a very frustrating episode as we don't appear to be any closer to Merlin revealing his true nature to Arthur! If anything that moment has just been significantly pushed back. :o(

Merlin 504: Another's Sorrow

Morgana convinces Odin to attack Nemeth, an allied kingdom of Camelot's, capturing its king and the princess Mithian (to whom Arthur was briefly engaged in season 4).  She then coerces Mithian into "escaping" to Camelot for help and leading Arthur into a trap (to "rescue" her father) so Odin (who hates Arthur for having killed his son, but the sentiment is mutual since Odin is responsible for Uther's death). For a moment I thought Gwaine would finally be clued in to Merlin's secret, but no such luck. Poor Merlin needs more friends in the know! And how on earth has Morgana not figured it out yet?! Perhaps she will once she is strong enough to match him (something he mentions to Gaius at the end that has him worried)? It's hard to compare their magic because we always get to see a lot more of hers than his!

After last week's magnificent episode (Merlin confronting Uther's ghost!), this episode didn't inspire me too much, until Merlin stopped Arthur from killing Odin (in battle, not murder!) by telling him:

"Think about what you're doing. What good will this achieve? How many times have you talked about uniting this land? Will killing this man make that dream any closer?"

Merlin gives Arthur some good advice.

Yay! First mention (that I can remember) in this series of Arthur's dream to unite the kingdoms of Britain! So, is "High King" Arthur a possible future? ;o)

For a more detailed (and hopefully more inspired) review than mine, head on over to Billie Doux.

Elements from Arthurian Legend:

Not much this time other than the usual (Camelot, the Knights etc.), except for the possibility of a unified Britain and a High King Arthur.

Also, I seem to remember one of Morgan Le Fay's (here Morgana) magical abilities was that of altering her appearance, and here she did that by appearing to be "old".

Merlin 503: The Death Song of Uther Pendragon

Halloween must be just round the corner... Merlin gave us a truly spooky ghost story! ;o)

Glad as I was to see Uther gone and Arthur finally King of Camelot, I have missed seeing Anthony Head (Giles!!!)... so it was wonderful to have him rejoin the family in a ghostly form! Poor Arthur, missing his father and still desperate for his approval, only to be put down by Uther (ghost) because, well, he's not Uther's clone! Arthur is a much better man (and King) than Uther ever was -as Merlin keeps telling him- and believes in a more just Camelot and doesn't want to rule through fear. Uther accuses him of destroying his legacy by appearing weak, allowing commoners to become knights and marrying a serving girl.  

Uther is not happy with Arthur's rule in Camelot!

And then he finds out about Merlin!!! This has to be one of my favourite moments in the whole series, Merlin facing down Uther:

Merlin 501-2: Arthur's Bane

Merlin's back, YAY!!! They're starting with another bloody two-parter that leaves you hanging at the end of the first episode and you know all the good stuff was saved for the second part so boo! So I'm just going to group them as one for the blog! ;o)

still angry!

As a general impression, I'd say that wasn't a bad season opener... and yet I felt something was lacking. Can't quite put my finger on it. Three peaceful years have passed since Arthur's coronation and wedding to Guinevere, and suddenly Morgana's back (she spent 2 mysterious years "in darkness" with the young dragon... future flashbacks?) and causing trouble in the icy north! Several of Arthur's men have gone missing and of course he heads north to rescue them, only to get into trouble himself with the Saxon troupes guarding Morgana's new lair. She has all these captured men digging away beneath the castle searching for the "Diamair, the key to all knowledge" which will tell her what "Arthur's Bane" is. Merlin in the meantime is the recipient of a vision in which a grown Mordred pierces Arthur with a sword. Battle of Camlann anyone? And then kind of freaks out when he discovers Mordred among the Saxon captors!!!

Mordred killing Arthur?!

Excalibur by Bernard Cornwell

We've reached the final volume in the Warlord Chronicles trilogy, with Arthur finally the undisputed leader of the British (while his nephew Mordred remains King of Dumnonia in name only, guarded in his palace with no real power, kept alive basically until he marries and produces an heir). It's time for one of the key events in Arthurian lore: Mount Badon! From the author's website:

"If Arthur existed (and I am quite certain he did) then he was probably the great British war leader who won the battle of Mount Badon. No one knows where it was fought, or how it was fought, but we do know that the battle took place and it was the one great defeat inflicted on the English invaders of Britain. In Excalibur we follow Arthur and Derfel to that enormous struggle and incredible victory. It not only throws the Saxons back, but reunites Arthur and Guinevere. He might hope now to be left alone, to have a time of peace after gaining a great victory, but new enemies arise to destroy all he has achieved. First is Mordred himself, the crippled king who owes everything to Arthur and now tries to kill his benefactor. Mordred’s ally is Nimue who has come to hate her mentor, Merlin. And so the story ends as it has always ended, at Camlann . . . ‘and so my lord was gone. And no one has seen him since.’"

Enemy of God by Bernard Cornwell

Second volume in the Warlord Chronicles trilogy, the story starts moments after the ending of the first volume with the aftermath of the terrible battle of Lugg Vale against Kings Gorfyddyd of Powys and Gundleus of Siluria. The warring British kingdoms are now unified in their fight against the Saxons, From the author's website:

"At the end of The Winter King Arthur fought the battle that forces unity on the warring British kingdoms and now he sets out to face the real enemy – the English (it is one of the great ironies of the Arthur stories that he should have become an English hero when, if he existed at all, he was a great war-leader who opposed the invading Sais). First, though, Merlin leads a perilous expedition into the mysterious west to retrieve a cauldron, one of the treasures of Britain – this cauldron story is almost certainly the root of the holy grail strand in the Arthur tales. The treasures of Britain, Merlin believes, will bring the old Gods onto the side of the British in their struggle against the Saxons (and the Christians, whom Merlin hates). But the treasures will also set Briton against Briton – especially as Guinevere, now Arthur’s wife, wants to make a magic of her own. ‘Chaos was now thick across Britain, for someone had spilt the Cauldron’s power and its horror threatened to engulf us all.’"