Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Robin of Sherwood: Set 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

Arguably the definitive Robin Hood.

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater July 11, 2011

Forget Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood, Disney’s foxy anthropomorphized take on the legend, and—for the love of all that is holy—the abysmally bad idea that was Prince of Thieves, a film so dreadful it inspired its own (equally bad) Mel Brooks spoof. For a real Robin Hood story you basically have three options: the eponymous silent film from 1922, with sword-swinger extraordinaire Douglas Fairbanks in the lead, 1938’s The Adventures of Robin Hood—perhaps the best adaptation, starring Errol Flynn—and Robin of Sherwood, a British TV program from the mid 1980s that took much of its inspiration from the pagan rituals, festivities, and folklore of pre-Christian England. All three are excellent, but only Robin of Sherwood gives you 26 episodes of arrow-shooting altruistic outlaw action. The show ran for three series—or seasons, as we Yanks call them—and became a massive hit in its home country while also generating a cult following in the U.S., where it aired on the Showtime cable network. Acorn Media, which previously put out all three series on DVD, has gathered together the first 13 episodes—series one and two—for their Robin of Sherwood: Set 1 Blu-ray collection, which features new high definition masters of the original 16mm footage and a great selection of bonus materials. If you’ve always fancied yourself an honorary member of the merry men, this is the Blu-ray release you’ve been waiting for.

Little John and Robin

There are certain elements of the Robin Hood mythos that feature in just about every adaptation—the conflict between Robin and the Sheriff of Nottingham, the archery competition with Robin in disguise, the wooing of Lady Marion, the bow-staff fight with Little John, who becomes the hero’s trusted right hand man—and Robin of Sherwood gets all of this pre-established stuff out of the way in the first two episodes, setting the stage for series creator Richard Carpenter to develop all-new expansions of the mythology. Carpenter even puts his own spin on Robin’s “origin story,” making him the son of Ailric of Loxley, a rebellious nobleman who was killed by the evil Sheriff while protecting The Silver Arrow, a magical talisman that comes into play later in the series. When the story begins, Robin—played by the handsome, luxuriously maned Michael Praed—is living in the King’s woods with his adopted younger brother, Much (Peter Llewellyn Williams), a not-so-bright innocent who gets them both in trouble when he illegally poaches a deer. Power-tripping gamewarden Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Robert Addie) brings Robin and Much to the Sheriff—devilishly portrayed by Nickolas Grace—who tosses them in jail, where they meet Will Scarlet (a young Ray Winstone), a hothead who wants revenge against England’s Norman conquerors. They bust out of prison, of course, and by the end of the two-part episode, Robin’s band of “merry men”—and one woman—is complete, rounded out by the portly Friar Tuck (Phil Rose), the near-silent Saracen warrior Nasir (Mark Ryan), the hulking Little John (Clive Mantle), and the lovely Lady Marion (Judi Trott).

What sets Robin of Sherwood apart from other versions of the tale is where it goes next. In the first of many nods to England’s pre-Christian origins, Robin is chosen to be the prophesized “Hooded Man” by Herne the Hunter, a shamanic supernatural figure who appears with the body of a man and the head and antlers of a stag. (Yes, he’s as creepy as he sounds.) Endowed with “Albion,” one of seven mystical blades forged by Wayland the Swordsmith, Robin is called to protect the oppressed Anglo-Saxon serfs who suffer under Norman rule. There are indeed plenty of “rob from the rich, give to the poor” scenarios here, but the plots—some of which extend across multiple episodes—are generally more complex than you’d expect, drawing on history and fantasy alike. In “The King’s Fool,” Robin saves the life of a crusader who turns out to be Richard the Lionheart (John Rhys- Davies), but the twist here is that the returning king isn’t necessarily portrayed like the benevolent hero that he is in other versions of the tale. “Lord of the Trees” puts Robin and his men in a bind when they have to abstain from violence for a pagan harvest celebration— even while Sir Guy’s mercenaries plot to capture them—and in “Seven Poor Knights From Acre,” the men-in-tights face off against a band of Templar warrior monks. The best episode, the two-parter “Swords of Wayland,” finds Robin protecting a small village against a satanic cult called the Hounds of Lucifer, a group of notoriously un-merry men led by the wicked Morgwyn of Ravenscar, an abbess who wants Robin’s sword for a ritual that would summon the devil from hell. For the small screen during the 1980s, the special effects in this episode are great.

Robin of Sherwood is a near-perfect example of how to adapt and add to a time-honored legend. While sticking close to the staples of the classic story—the anti-Norman attitude, the anarchic, proto-guerilla outlaw warfare—the series embellishes the Robin Hood mythos with a certain kind of magical realism. The show is gritty and—to a point—historically accurate in a way that we never saw in any of the previous Hollywood films about the character, yet it’s also steeped in the supernatural, evoking the old English pre-Christian folklore of tree-worship and fertility festivals. This works really well, making the show equal parts period action drama and rustic fantasy. It certainly helps that most of the series was shot on location, using real castles and forests instead of in-studio reproductions. This gives the show a level of production value that far exceeds what you’d expect from its relatively meager budget. Of course, none of this would matter much if we didn’t enjoy spending time with the characters, but Robin of Sherwood’s casting is excellent and—like the show’s take on the legend as a whole—filled with alterations and surprises while still remaining faithful to the story. Instead of being weak, willowy, and always in need of rescue, Judi Trott’s red-headed Marian is something of a firebrand, always capable of keeping up with the merry men. Ray Winstone plays Will Scarlet with conviction—I also like how he’s pitted against Robin in several episodes—and Clive Mantle is both huggable and fierce as the gentle giant, Little John. It’s Michael Praed, though, that rules the show. Don’t be fooled by the feathery 1980s hair—Praed is Robin Hood. At least, that is, until the third season, but that’s a discussion for another review.

Robin of Sherwood: Set 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

One of the reasons why Robin of Sherwood makes a strong candidate for a Blu-ray release is that, unlike a lot of British shows from the 1980s, it was shot on 16mm film instead of video. While inherently softer and more grainy than 35mm, the 16mm footage yields wonderful 1080p/AVC- encoded transfers that markedly improve on the quality of the DVDs and look much better than the series ever looked when it was originally broadcast on television. Detail, all around, is much more finely resolved, whether it's in the texture of the actors' faces, the fabric and leather of the period costuming, or the intricacies of the props. The image is quite soft at times, but it's important to take into account some of the production techniques that the show's cinematographers used, including softening, "glamour shot" type filters and gradient filters. (Check out the crazy red cast in "The Swords of Wayland.") There are some noticeable color and brightness fluctuations—especially in early episodes—but nothing overly distracting. Leafy forest greens are the most dominate color, of course, but the full color spectrum is balanced and dense, neither oversaturated nor wishy-washy. Grain is visible—there's been no DNR scrubbing here—and only occasional noise gives sign of any compression. Overall, I think this set looks great considering its source materials.

Robin of Sherwood: Set 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

It's disappointing that there are no lossless or uncompressed audio options here—the episodes are presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo—but it's debatable how much of a difference high definition audio would make in this situation. Considering all the action in the show, Robin of Sherwood's sound design is very restrained, with workable but understated sound effects. You'll get what you expect—clanging swords, whizzing arrows, etc.—but none of the foley work is particularly punchy or convincing. Not that it matters all that much. The real emphasis here is on the dialogue —which, with a few exceptions, is almost always clean, clear, and unmuffled—and the award-winning score by Irish folk group Clannad, a mix of traditional Celtic instrumentation with washes of synthesizer and layered vocals. It's a bit too "Enya" for my tastes—this makes sense, as Enya was a member of Clannad before embarking on her solo career—but fans will appreciate how full and lush the music sounds here. The menu of each disc in the set also has a tab that lets you select an "original mono" track, but I couldn't get this to work. When playing an episode after selecting mono, the audio would simply default to the stereo track, and when I pressed the audio button on my remote, I could only cycle through the stereo mix, a Polish Dolby Digital 2.0 dub, and—on certain episodes—commentary tracks.

Robin of Sherwood: Set 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Across the three Blu-ray discs you'll find commentaries and stills galleries, but the bulk of the supplementary features are contained on a bonus DVD, which includes an excellent making-of documentary and more.

• Commentary Tracks: Series creator Richard Carpenter and director Ian Sharpe provide commentary "The Kings Fool" and for both parts of the pilot episode, "Robin and the Sorcerer," while two-parter "The Swords of Wayland" features commentary by director Robert Young and producer Paul Knight. Carpenter is quite frank about what works and doesn't work in the series, and my favorite quote has to be his thoughts on the silver arrow: "I was never fond of that prop, it looks like a medieval dildo."
• The Electric Theatre Show - Expanded Edit (1080p, 36:33): In 1983 Grampian Television covered the making of the first few episodes of Robin of Sherwood for their long-running Electric Theatre Show film magazine program. This new edit of the show has been re-edited from the original materials and includes footage that didn't appear in the broadcast. There's a lot of great behind-the-scenes stuff here, along with interviews with Richard Carpenter and a few other cast and crew members.
• Series 1 Stills Gallery (1080p, 15:02): A self-playing gallery with hundreds of stills.
• Music Only Tracks (Dolby Digital 2.0): Isolated soundtracks for "The Prophesy," "Lord of the Trees," "The Children of Israel," and "The Enchantment."
• Series 2 Stills Gallery (1080p, 9:23)
• The Making of Robin of Sherwood: Nothing's Forgotten (SD, 1:00:28, 41:33): If you own the DVDs, you've already seen this terrific, exhaustive two-part retrospective making-of documentary, which includes interviews with just about everyone involved, reminiscing about the experience of making the show.
• Series One Out-Takes (SD, 8:35)
• Series Two Out-Takes (SD, 7:13)
• Textless and Foreign Titles (SD, 10:39): A collection of intro sequences for various markets outside England, including the U.S., where the show was simply branded Robin Hood.
• The Prophecy Fulfilled (SD, 10:01): A series of interviews with director Robert Young and actor Philip Jackson.
• Robert Young Remembers (SD): In two separate sequences, director Robert Young discusses the shooting of The Swords of Wayland (5:55) and The Greatest Enemy (7:08). Think of these like ultra-compressed audio commentaries.
• Booklet: The set comes with a fantastic 40-page essay by Simon Wells, who charts the history of the series and elucidates the ways in which Robin of Sherwood differed from and expanded on the usual Robin Hood mythos.
• DVD-ROM: Insert the DVD into your computer to access PDF files of several scripts, handwritten notes, and even a magazine devoted to the cast of Robin of Sherwood.

Robin of Sherwood: Set 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Robin of Sherwood is one of the few productions about the altruistic outlaw that gets it right—nailing the allure of the legend and doing justice to the characters. Certain aspects of the show seem dated now, but on the whole it holds up remarkably well after almost 30 years. Lack of lossless audio aside, Acorn Media has done a terrific job with this release; the show looks wonderful in high definition and the four-disc set comes loaded with all the special features from the DVDs. I'm definitely looking forward to the second batch of episodes. Recommended!