6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.7 |
People's hero, war hero, romantic hero and leader of the world's most famous resistance group...Robin Hood is known and loved by millions around the world. His fight against a corrupt government and greedy officials is something we all can connect with. Fun, modern and intelligent, the BBC's Robin Hood is guaranteed to appeal to today's sophisticated viewers and is set to be as popular as the new Doctor Who. Sharp, witty scripts by Dominic Minghella and a striking new look set the tone as the BBC updates this popular legend for all the family.
Starring: Jonas Armstrong, Gordon Kennedy (I), Sam Troughton, Joe Armstrong, Richard ArmitageAdventure | 100% |
Action | 74% |
Romance | 32% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: VC-1
Video resolution: 1080i
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Four-disc set (4 BDs)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 2.0 | |
Audio | 2.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Even though there isn't a shred of solid historical evidence that a selfless savior ever bounded across England snagging gold from barons and tossing bread to peasants, the legend of Robin Hood has endured for more than six centuries. The rise of television has given the iconic hero of the people an even richer stomping ground. The BBC produced a serialized version of the tale in 1953, the late '50s found Richard Greene bounding his way through 143 episodes of The Adventures of Robin Hood, and ITV revisited the legend in the ‘80s with the critically acclaimed Robin of Sherwood. More recently, the BBC debuted a younger, leaner Hood in the aptly titled Robin Hood.
Series creators Dominic Minghella and Foz Allan change too much and offer too little...
The BBC's latest adaptation of the Hood legend recasts Robin as a young heartthrob (Jonas Armstrong) who returns home from the Crusades to find his homeland trapped beneath the boots of a villainous Sheriff (Keith Allen). After several heated confrontations seal his fate, Robin befriends a band of rebels -- a former gang-leader called Little John (Gordon Kennedy), a servant with the unfortunate moniker of Much (Sam Troughton), a pair of outlaws named Will Scarlet (Harry Lloyd) and Allan Dale (Joe Armstrong), and a warrior girl called Djaq (Anjali Jay) -- who share his desire to undermine the Sheriff's authority. He also meets the lovely Lady Marian (Lucy Griffiths), a woman whose sole purpose seems to revolve around injecting the series with sexual tension. While the indomitable Friar Tuck is nowhere to be found, Robin and his makeshift battalion battle the Sheriff and his skilled knights, fight to preserve the throne of King Richard, and begin to redistribute the blessings of England's elite to its poorest citizens.
Even though it split both British and American audiences when it first aired, Robin Hood: Season One soars when reveling in its own bloated sense of big-dumb-fun. With so many modern trappings on hand to transform Robin and his band into 12th century rock stars, the series hurtles along at a great pace every time arrows fly and horses thunder into view. Sure, the action is undeniably limp and quite anticlimactic at times, but it at least makes each episode mildly entertaining. Of course, that would all be well and good if the writers' stiff plotting and mind-numbing dialogue didn't overtake the production handle their individual parts well, but it's nearly impossible for the actors to break free of their clumsily-scripted roles and cookie-cutter reactions. It’s particularly damning for the long-term tale since the episodes become more and more tedious as the bad guys get badder and the good guys have little more to deal with than in-house melodrama (the sort I’d expect to encounter on a show like Degrassi: The Next Generation... not Robin Hood).
Loftier episodes are also undone by even more critical problems. The Sheriff is a decidedly sinister force, but offers all the complexity of a one-note serial villain. Armstrong is effective enough to make his wiles more charming, but he lacks the gravitas required to sell more tragic aspects of his character. Worse still, Griffiths gives Robin an attractive female-trinket to fight for, but the character itself is little more than a superficial MacGuffin; a contrived cog in an oversimplified machine. As you might expect, the hero and would-be heroin slap together a paper-thin relationship that takes its sweet time to get or go anywhere. While none of these problems ruin the season, they do hinder the tale’s potential. I grew increasingly tired of my time in Sherwood, rarely had the urge to leap head first into the next episode, and didn't find the writers’ reinterpretations of several classic characters to be very intelligent or appealing. TV fans who love to kick back with lighter fare like Xena and Hercules may find something worth watching in the BBC's colorful medieval romp, but I found Robin Hood to be a shallow, underwhelming, and poorly conceived mess.
The 4-disc Blu-ray edition of Robin Hood: Season One features all thirteen first season episodes including:
Robin Hood: Season One arrives on Blu-ray with a nauseating 1080i/VC-1 transfer that renders the lively forests of Sherwood with rather haphazard care. First, the good. The series' lush palette looks far more lifelike in high definition than it did on the first season's flat and murky DVD release. Skintones are more natural, primaries are more vibrant, and blacks are substantially deeper. That's not to say the darkest scenes are flawless -- source noise and crushing are frequent issues, fine detail is occasionally blotted out by overzealous contrast, and delineation isn't nearly as revealing as I would have liked. Even so, the image has clearly reaped the inherent rewards of the BD upgrade.
Unfortunately, it's just not enough. While fine textures and background details are sharper, too many hazy shots, soft edges, and clarity inconsistencies litter the proceedings. Worse still, artifacting pops up on more than one occasion, faint banding affects bright skies and candlelit interiors, and bouts of crush are a distraction during nighttime scenes. Moreover, faces are often texture-free, resolution is faulty, and I suspect some heavy-handed DNR was even slathered on the transfer (for what reason I can't imagine). I even caught regular instances of motion smearing, ghosting, aliasing, and mosquito noise. I wouldn't go so far as to call the transfer a complete waste of space, but it's definitely one of the worst BD television presentations I've reviewed.
All things considered, diehard series regulars might appreciate the slight visual improvements, but newcomers and casual fans will be far too annoyed with the crumbling image to care.
The back cover of Robin Hood: Season One only lists a Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo mix, but the discs themselves also offer a fuller Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track for each episode (the only catch being that you have to access the audio menu to select this more appealing option). Alas, even the upgrade to a proper 5.1 track isn't enough to save this release from the series' uninspired sound design. Dialogue may be crisp and well-prioritized, but the rear speakers provide little more than stagey ambience and weak acoustic support. Likewise, a few action scenes offer a handful of hearty bass thooms but, for the most part, the LFE channel is painfully weak and surprisingly inconsistent. As it stands, the track doesn't exhibit the sort of immersive qualities high-def enthusiasts have come to expect from more recent lossless presentations. Pans are stocky, directionality is imprecise, and most of effects are relegated to the front soundstage.
Granted, the sonics aren't a complete wash since dynamics are fairly impressive for a standard DD track, but it's still quite disappointing (especially when you consider the fervor of the on-screen action). There just isn't a lot to enjoy other than the track's lack of glaring technical mishaps or compression deficiencies. Fans of the series probably won't care about Robin Hood's lackluster audio, but I thought it sounded too much like its standard DVD counterpart to get excited by what I was hearing.
The Blu-ray edition of Robin Hood: Season One includes all of the special features that appeared on the standard DVD release. While the video content is still presented in 480p, BBC Video has developed a generous supplemental package that gives fans quite a nice collection of material to dig through.
Since the series is still going strong, Robin Hood has obviously mounted a respectable army of fans... but it simply isn't the sort of show that will ever appeal to my tastes. Cheesy, clumsy, and bland, this first season struck me as little more than a limp retelling of a legend that deserves smarter scripts than what it's been given. This new Blu-ray release isn't much better. While it does feature an improved video presentation, the transfer is far from perfect, its Dolby Digital audio track is underwhelming, and its admittedly healthy supplemental package will only appeal to those who are already in love with the series. If you've never watched the show, be sure to rent Robin Hood: Season One long before you consider a purchase.
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