Saturday - April 06, 2013

Oh To Be A Viking, A Viking

I caught of couple episodes of the History Channel’s new show Vikings tonight. It’s filmed in that really annoying-as-all-*#^& half-dim and half-grainy style that looks like pure crap on HDTV, no matter how you adjust the contrast and brightness. Might as well go half slo-mo as well, and make it full Spartacus awful. Just don’t forget the buckets of blood and the boobies. Oh wait, History Channel. None of that! Never mind. :-(

So we’ve got your typical early 9th century Scandinavians, living under the rule of some twisted evil jarl, afraid to sail anywhere but due South to raid proto-Germany and then come right back. Or was it East? Not that it matters. The whole village - a dozen houses made of sticks plus one longhouse - seems like a grubby, crap covered stink pit, and their lives are hardly better than cavemen. Most of the men have these really terrible haircuts, with styling done by battle axe and campfire. It’s a dirty, grubby, ugly, violent, primitive life. And that’s when they aren’t killing each other or trying to rape every woman they find. Yay Vikings! Now if they’d only believe that there were lands to the west, they could go invade England and have a grand old time. Because these are the early Vikings you see. But who knows, maybe the story will develop across the episodes.

And in the midst of this filthy mess an angel glows. The directors try their damnedest, but even covered with dirt, grease, and soot, dressed in rags, with the low-res dim photography, Katheryn Winnick shines. She’s playing Lagertha, a Scandi wife to wanna-be explorer Ragnar, she’s a shield maiden and mother of at least one, down home on the farm in the poop and mud with the hairy pigs and the scrawny damp chickens. She wants to go out for a sail, accidentally find England, and chop a few monks herself, but alas, not this trip. 

Highly detailed reviews of the episodes can be found here, chock full of spoilers. Looks like Season One got an extra episode or two, and the show is already renewed for Season Two. Let’s hope they learn how to focus the camera and turn on the damn lights.

At first glimpse, this $40 million dollar production looks like it might be an ambitious play for Game of Thrones’ spot. It also seems, just from a cursory glance, that it falls way short of the dynamic intrigue that makes that HBO series so engrossing and addictive. But the world of Vikings is much simpler, and quieter, than that of a fantasy realm.
...
At first glimpse, this $40 million dollar production looks like it might be an ambitious play for Game of Thrones’ spot. It also seems, just from a cursory glance, that it falls way short of the dynamic intrigue that makes that HBO series so engrossing and addictive. But the world of Vikings is much simpler, and quieter, than that of a fantasy realm.

Oh, that reminds me ... it’s about time to look into that full size repro Viking longship being built. I last covered that about about 2, maybe 3 years ago. Somebody remind me on Tuesday, thanks.

http://www.history.com/shows/vikings

Posted by Drew458     on 04/06/2013 at 11:04 PM   
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy • Hollywood •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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