Who *are* these people, and what have they done with Robin Hood?

So a new forum, and, alas, another rant about that wonderful BBC post-modern take on a much-loved English legend ... because, as S3 lurches towards a depressing and undignified end (IMO), it's quite clear that the BBC doesn't really seem to have an awful lot of affection either for it, or the long-suffering fans still hanging on in there until the bitter end - and boy, some of us are already bitter. For a series you'd expect to focus on the title character and his merry chums, S3 ... well, S3 hasn't, really. Instead, we were introduced to Isabella, Gisborne's clearly troubled sister, early on in the series - and suddenly the series seems to be all about her - which I wouldn't've minded half so much had she been brought in during S2, say, when we didn't suddenly have 3 major new characters to try and assimilate all at once. This has resulted in the outlaws being pushed largely to one side, often reduced to the roles of "extras with lines".

What has been particularly loathed by many fans is the direction of the last four episodes.

Spoiler:

Because yes, in case no other remaining fans were aware of it, they went there. Oh, you know the one I mean: that plot device:

Spoiler:

They just about got away with it in Robin of Sherwood, but this smacks of desperation.

And to add insult to injury,

Spoiler:

If Rose Tyler is RTD's self-insert, then someone working on RH really needs to back away from his PC now.

Spoiler:

Screencaps of the series finale have already been leaked, so it's already pretty clear who dies - and if the BBC complain, it would be rich, given they pissed off a lot of fans by casually revealing the death of a major character in a press release.

Spoiler:

I'm really sorry to have ranted on for so long, but I needed to get that off my chest - and if anyone who started reading this has stuck with it, then - well, you're resilient, I'll say that for you! But BBC, this show is dead to me now - and I think that given the piss-poor ratings, a fourth series is a bad idea... :mwahaha:

Bloody Meg. I hated bloody Meg. I agree with your last spoiler completely. May as well have just been an extra. FFS. I can't even enjoy this ironically anymore. Ever since Guy grew his hair and started moping about and generally applying too much eyeliner, there hasn't been much left in it for me.

Although this series has been indirectly responsible for BNP HILARITY. Nick Griffin went on a radio show and was being all nice and downplaying the racism when apparently it all got too much for him and he reportedly just burst out with:
'I mean they've got a black Friar Tuck in Robin Hood! What's that all about!?'

I don't want to bump without cause but I feel I can't let this pass without comment.

Worst. Season. Finale. EVER.

Spoiler:

This whole third series has been a trainwreck. I can't believe taxpayers continue to put up with the shit that the bbc produces with their money!

Fitchsticks wrote:

I don't want to bump without cause but I feel I can't let this pass without comment.

Worst. Season. Finale. EVER.

Spoiler:

This whole third series has been a trainwreck. I can't believe taxpayers continue to put up with the shit that the bbc produces with their money!

The way you describe it, I can't say I blame the actress for wanting to get out of the series.
Not going to look, nosiree bob.

I gave up on this series once I saw the first episode, with the subtle-as-Tsar-Bomba War on Terror references and Maid Marian flipping out like a ninja.

No worries, then, since the show's not coming back.

I'm sure the viewing public will get over it. But how is the actor playing Much supposed to feed his children now? Huh?

I was recently informed by my mister that he knew Jonas Armstrong, as they both went to the same college (the boyf studied for a technical theatre degree in Lunnun town)

Apparently Jonas is/was a prick; he constantly talked about how he was destined for super stardom and never got any rounds in at the bar, citing the fact that 'Geniuses never have any money.'

Fitchsticks wrote:

I was recently informed by my mister that he knew Jonas Armstrong, as they both went to the same college (the boyf studied for a technical theatre degree in Lunnun town)

Apparently Jonas is/was a prick; he constantly talked about how he was destined for super stardom and never got any rounds in at the bar, citing the fact that 'Geniuses never have any money.'

:shocked: For real? Seriously?! :shocked: I mean, Jonas has said himself that when filming for RH first started in 2006(?) he was somewhat full of himself and behaved like a total twat, but I've also heard unfavourable comments from a radio presenter who "encountered" him on a train, and there's just something about him I can't warm to - hardly enough to damn him with, I know, but still... It's also interesting that on RH DVD commentaries no-one comments much on what Jonas does - and one i/v with Sam Troughton (Much) for this last series seemed rather telling when he was asked how everyone felt about Jonas leaving: it may have just been me, but it's been a long time since I've seen someone flounder that badly when trying to think of something "nice" to say... :roflmao:

Drabbler wrote:

No worries, then, since the show's not coming back.

A good thing, too - after all, who the hell would there be left worth watching? A badly-misused David Harewood and Joanne Froggatt, Gordon Kennedy, and poor Clive Standen as that desperately annoying twat of a "kid" brother who seemed not only to be a medieval MacGuyver, but also a one-man army in pure Errol Flynn style?! :shocked: No thanks! :tongue2:

So this is way later, but I was describing S3 to a friend earlier today and when I noticed this topic I had to vent here some more. I'm not going to use spoiler tags, since this is months later.

I loved the first and second seasons of the show. I loved Jerk!Robin and Slashy!Much and Ninja!Marian and when Alan's hanging out with Guy and the hoodies. I cried at the end of S2. And S3 started out promisingly, with Robin darker and Guy not washing his hair and Vaysey being Vaysey. I quite liked Kate and Isabella at first, and I was predicting that Isabella and Robin would end up in some kind of wrongbadhot relationship and Kate would end up with Alan.

Then it went wrong. (It could be argued that it's all related to my spec being Jossed, but I think it's deeper than that.)

In no particular order:

• Isabella going evil. Come on! She had perfectly good reasons for being angry with Guy, and to make him turn out okay and Isabella bad diminishes her abuse. Plus, she was a good amoral selfish foil for Robin when she was neutral.
  
• Kate/Robin. It made no sense in the story, especially as they were only together for a few episodes. Added to the UST with Isabella, it makes it seem like female characters are just there for Robin's sake.
  
• Archer. Everything that has been said about him here is spot-on. I get that they had planned for Robin to die at the end of S3, right, and they wanted a similar character to carry on the show with, but he was painful. The ending would have been much stronger if we were left with Much, John, and Kate carrying out Robin's work, since they're not superheroes, instead of Robin-Only-Better.
  
• Guy and Robin practically being related, which seems like a subset of the previous but isn't. The only thing that saved that episode is that I LOVE Dean Lennox Kelly, but it was like that bit in Phantom Menace when you realize that Obi-Wan should have recognized R2D2 and C3PO in A New Hope.
  
• Everything about Alan's death. Jesus.
  

I did like how Marian showed up at the end. It felt true to the show.