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Thread: The Last Kingdom (5th Season Out)

  1. #1
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    Default The Last Kingdom (5th Season Out)

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/t...ing-drama.html

    Bernard Cornwell’s best-selling Saxon Stories are to be adapted for television as the BBC makes a play for the Game of Thrones audience.The BBC Two drama, The Last Kingdom, is billed as “a show full of heroic deeds and epic battles” that embraces “politics, religion, warfare, courage, love, loyalty and our universal search for identity”.

    The yet-to-be-cast hero is Uhtred, the orphaned son of a Saxon nobleman who is kidnapped by the Vikings and raised as one of their own.

    Filming begins in the autumn with eight hour-long episodes planned for 2015. The setting is the year 872 during the reign of Alfred the Great, when "the separate kingdoms of what we now know as England have fallen to the invading Vikings and the great kingdom of Wessex has been left standing alone and defiant".

    Fans of the books will know them as meticulously-researched historical fiction. But the BBC is keen to draw parallels with fantasy series - perhaps with one particular show in mind.

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    Ben Stephenson, controller of drama commissioning, said: “It’s an epic narrative with an extraordinary creative team. It will feel like nothing else on television, with all of the scale and intrigue of the best fantasy stories but the reality of fact.”
    Unwittingly or not, the descriptions bring to mind Game of Thrones, the HBO/Sky Atlantic fantasy series that has proved to be one of television’s biggest talking points over the last 12 months.
    Rival broadcasters have been keen to find a show to emulate that success.
    The Saxon Stories series begins with The Last Kingdom and features The Pale Horseman, The Lords of the North, Sword Song, The Burning Land, Death of Kings and The Pagan Lord. The next instalment, The Empty Throne, is out later this year.
    Cornwell has noted the similarities between his books and those of George RR Martin, the Game of Thrones author.
    In an interview featuring both authors, Cornwell said: “Fantasy and historical novels are twins – and I’ve never been fond of the label ‘fantasy’ which is too broad a brush and has a fey quality.”
    Martin said of Cornwell: “There has never been anyone that writes better battle stuff than him; his war is amazing. He really captures the drama of combat.”
    He also said that “Sean Bean was Richard Sharpe long before he was Ned Stark” – a reference to Cornwell’s Sharpe series, which was adapted by ITV in the 1990s with Bean in the title role as a soldier in the Napeoleonic Wars.
    The Last Kingdom will be produced by Carnival Films, makers of Downton Abbey, and will be shown on BBC America.
    Cornwell will not be involved. He said in the interview with Martin: “There’s talking of making a TV series about Uhtred. I want nothing to do with any such production, other than being a cheerleader.
    “I worked in television for 11 years and learned enough to know I know nothing about producing TV drama, so I’m happy to leave it to the experts.”

    A spokesman for the production said: “This is a long way from a fantasy drama set in a fantasy world with fictional characters. Brilliant as Game of Thrones is, it is nothing akin to what we are doing.”
    We have Vikings, an excellent series set in the same exact time period, and now we have this BBC series which will follow a similar story to what appears to be Aethelstan's but focusing entirely on England, which is great because no movie or series is ever set in England. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind historical series, but at least have them choose another period in history when there's already a show aiming at the same exact time period and audience.
    Last edited by Aexodus; May 08, 2020 at 05:37 PM.

  2. #2
    RedGuard's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default Re: BBC to rip off "Game of Thrones" and "Vikings"

    no movie or series ever set in england? what? theres a ton...

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    Default Re: BBC to rip off "Game of Thrones" and "Vikings"

    (sarcasm)

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    Default Re: BBC to rip off "Game of Thrones" and "Vikings"

    Game of Thrones was kinda bleh......we'll see what the BBC can do ^^

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    Default Re: BBC to rip off "Game of Thrones" and "Vikings"

    They should have done a Sharpe reboot.
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    Default Re: BBC to rip off "Game of Thrones" and "Vikings"

    Not really a rip off. Competing genera franchise with its own fan base that has been around for over a decade and is historical fiction like sharp or cadfael but is its own thing.



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    RedGuard's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default Re: BBC to rip off "Game of Thrones" and "Vikings"

    I dont personally see shows as competing with each other unless theyre in the same time slot. I watch both GOT and Vikings and I'll watch this one too if its any good.

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    Default Re: BBC to rip off "Game of Thrones" and "Vikings"

    I read three of the books. Or maybe four. I forget. They were pretty enjoyable though. I generally like a few of the BBC's shows set in historical settings. I was a big Cornwell fan a few years back. Read a lot of Sharpe. Could be worth checking out. I haven't really gotten into Vikings.

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    Default Re: BBC to rip off "Game of Thrones" and "Vikings"

    BBC's shows are generally pretty good. Can't guarantee I'll watch this though.
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    Default Re: BBC to rip off "Game of Thrones" and "Vikings"

    Shame, when you said Saxons I was hoping we would get to see the part where Widukind gets his dick kicked in by Charles.

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    Default Re: BBC to rip off "Game of Thrones" and "Vikings"

    Even aside from Sharpe, there are much better Cornwell books they could've adapted. Redcoat's my personal favorite, but the Warlord Chronicles would've been a great choice for a longish series. Not saying that because Saxon Stories wouldn't be original, I just didn't like them very much. Uhtred kinda got extremely annoying very quickly and I lost interest in the rest of the books as a result. I'd watch the series though so long as it looked nice. I didn't read most of the ASoIaF books but I still watch the series after all. I just hope it looks better and more authentic than what I've seen of Vikings. I'm not one to urge historical accuracy in movies and television, I know events and characters will be altered to tell a story, but I prefer if everything at least looks historical. Mostly because it actually looks better when it does. Vikings for example looks uglier than actual history. Everybody wears brown and is coated in a generous heaping of mud and they also have some odd, ridiculous hair and no good armor and so on and so forth. Compare it to Beowulf and Grendel for example, for all its other flaws that movie has pretty good costuming and set design and is much more pleasant to look at.
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  12. #12

    Default Re: BBC to rip off "Game of Thrones" and "Vikings"

    I haven't really gotten into Vikings so at least I won't be tired of the period if I choose to watch the BBC series. Read all of the series thought they were pretty good, although the later books got a bit repetitive, better than Sharpe in my opinion. However, I can't help but think that they should have chosen to do the Warlord series instead, especially as it has a vague mystical element to it that would create more parallels to GoT. More importantly, I think Derfel Cadarn is a much better character than Uhtred.

    As to England being the setting, it's the BBC who do you think is their target audience?
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  13. #13

    Default Re: BBC to rip off "Game of Thrones" and "Vikings"

    I don't understand where the GoT ripping off is here considering there is no fantasy.

    Quote Originally Posted by Hresvelgr View Post
    Even aside from Sharpe, there are much better Cornwell books they could've adapted. Redcoat's my personal favorite, but the Warlord Chronicles would've been a great choice for a longish series. Not saying that because Saxon Stories wouldn't be original, I just didn't like them very much. Uhtred kinda got extremely annoying very quickly and I lost interest in the rest of the books as a result. I'd watch the series though so long as it looked nice. I didn't read most of the ASoIaF books but I still watch the series after all. I just hope it looks better and more authentic than what I've seen of Vikings. I'm not one to urge historical accuracy in movies and television, I know events and characters will be altered to tell a story, but I prefer if everything at least looks historical. Mostly because it actually looks better when it does. Vikings for example looks uglier than actual history. Everybody wears brown and is coated in a generous heaping of mud and they also have some odd, ridiculous hair and no good armor and so on and so forth. Compare it to Beowulf and Grendel for example, for all its other flaws that movie has pretty good costuming and set design and is much more pleasant to look at.

    I agree that the Warlord Chronicles are better than the Saxon Stories (though I didn't get why the numbers of soldiers in battle were so low in WC, I don't think that is quite accurate) and Derfel is more interesting than Uther (though I love Uther's hate of priests) but all the Saxon Stories books are enjoyable and seem fitting with a long storyline + episodes centered on single events.What I find troubling to adapt is all the travelling Uther does, the fact he ages a lot in the series and the number of women he has.
    Last edited by Caesar Germanico; July 09, 2014 at 07:51 PM.

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    Lord Oda Nobunaga's Avatar 大信皇帝
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    Default Re: BBC to rip off "Game of Thrones" and "Vikings"

    I'll probably still watch this anyway.

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    Default Re: BBC to rip off "Game of Thrones" and "Vikings"

    Quote Originally Posted by Stavroforos View Post
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/t...ing-drama.html

    We have Vikings, an excellent series set in the same exact time period, and now we have this BBC series which will follow a similar story to what appears to be Aethelstan's but focusing entirely on England, which is great because no movie or series is ever set in England. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind historical series, but at least have them choose another period in history when there's already a show aiming at the same exact time period and audience.
    I would rather if they (or HBO) make the Warlord Chronicles instead.
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    Default Re: BBC to rip off "Game of Thrones" and "Vikings"

    Quote Originally Posted by Col. Tartleton View Post
    They should have done a Sharpe reboot.
    Indeed. That would be awesometacular.

  17. #17
    Inhuman One's Avatar Comes Limitis
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    Default Re: BBC to rip off "Game of Thrones" and "Vikings"

    Maybe they should have gone with something a bit more different than vikings for the BBC. I'm affraid it will be too similar to that.

    Spain during the reconquista, the political intrigues of the Holy Roman Empire in the medieval period including the Teutonic order's rise to power, The dutch struggle for independence against Spain in the pike and shot era, the first conquests of Europe in America and their interactions with the natives.. there's room for a lot of things where most people really dont know that much about, so it leaves more room for wonder and surprises. Unless they look it up.

    I mean, with anything medieval its always about france and england it seems. The Holy Roman Empire is never seen, aside from a few soldiers in Kingdom of Heaven. With it being a collection of many countries, I feel that the tensions of that alone could make for a great series. The teutonic rise to power could also be included in this to some extent.

  18. #18

    Default Re: BBC to rip off "Game of Thrones" and "Vikings"

    German history tends to feel claustrophobic, and not really that interesting, even when the Germans are filming it.

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    Default Re: BBC to rip off "Game of Thrones" and "Vikings"

    You know what'd be a good series: Ashoka the Great, Cyrus the Great, Pacal the Great, most people have never even heard of these people.
    It's annoying that the same stories get told over and over, I mean they're good stories, and deserve to be retold, but not at the expense of the entire history: it's practically the world being completely ignored, come on.
    Last edited by Himster; July 10, 2014 at 06:40 AM.
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  20. #20

    Default Re: BBC to rip off "Game of Thrones" and "Vikings"

    A new Sharpe would have been cool. Could have started in India too.

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