1. Robin Hood and the Sorcerer (TV Movie)

28/04/1984

Robin of Loxley and his friend Much are arrested in Sherwoood Forest for killing one of the King's deer. They are imprisoned by Guy of Gisbourne of the Sheriff of Nottingham in the Sheriff's dungeon where they meet up with a motley bunch of criminals who are destined to become the first of the Merry Men.  After they escape into Sherwood Forest Robin is approached by Herne The Hunter and told that it is his destiny to fight the Norman invaders.  The Sheriff knows all about Herne, he holds a silver arrow that is reputed to have once belonged to Herne himself.  The Sheriff and his brother , the Abbot, upset over the activities of Robin and his men arrange a fayre, including an archery contest, in the Castle. He offers the Silver Arrow of Herne to whomever wins the contest, something he is sure will tempt Robin out of the forest and into his grasp.  After this fails to end up with Robin's capture their last resort is the Sorcerer, Simon De Belleme, a worshipper of the dark arts, who wants Maid Marian as his bride. He agrees to use his sorceropus powers to capture, or kill, the men of Sherwood Forest as long as the Sheriif and the Abbot promise Marian to him.

My Review: Robin's father was the previous champion of Herne the Hunter and died to save his son. Ailric passed much of his skills on to Robin, his skill with the bow, his sense of right and wrong and of course his eventual position as Herne's new 'son'. Michael Praed sometimes drops his common speak and a rather posh Mayfair accent can be heard coming from Robin's mouth, but apart from this he looks and feels like he's totally suited for the part. His long dark hair and slight stubble makes him every inch the ruggard out doorsy romantic icon of jingoistic guerilla warfare. His trials are many in this first movie length episode, he's captured for poaching, imprisoned, mounts an escape, lured into an archery contest, forced to fight his way to freedom, lured into a trap to rescue Marion and then forced to fight then flee for his life. Half of his merry men are slaughtered by the end of this story alone, I counted eight dead outlaw bodies. At the very end he reminds the others that there's still so much for them to do, thus opening things up for the rest of the series.  Little John starts off as a possessed servant of de Belleme (the sorcerer of the title) but he's freed by Robin and he quickly becomes one of the most trusted members of Robin's gang. We see that he favours the 1/4 staff but he's also good with a bow. Clive Mantle is a giant of a man and gives us a rumbling gentle giant who can turn nasty in an instant if provoked.  The Sherrif is a scheming political creature, he always looks for how a situation can improve his standing or his treasure horde. He cares little for anyone else and he's more than willing to use people as pawns in his game. Nikolas is perfectly cast as the nefarious Sherriff, he gives us possibly the definitive portrayal of a nasty petty money grabbing opportunist.  Marion is a spiritual woman but with a playful feminine side too. She had prepared herself for a lonely life of prayer and chastity but instead she gives it all up to run off with a gorgeous bloke and shack up with him and his six burly mates in a second. Her courage and spirit are never in question and Judi Trott plays her splendidly, elfin one moment, a raging tigress the next.  All in all it's a most enjoyable 100 minutes, the plot is neither too slow or too quick, it's the perfect Goldilocks formula with everything just right.

2. The Witch of Elsdon

05/05/1984

The Sheriff, Abbot Hugo and Guy are in the hamlet of Elsdon presiding over the trial of Jennet and Thomas, a husband and wife acused of witchcraft.  Robin has a dream that leads him to make decisions that the rest of the Merry Men question the logic of, but his dreams lead them to a disguised tax collector and some hidden taxes.  The Sheriif is furious about the loss of his taxes and wants Robins head on a plate. Loathe to send Guy and his men into Sherwood to die he comes up with a cunning plan to get to the outlaws.

My Review: Will Scarlett comes to the fore more in this episode when he discovers a distressed woman trying to escape the Sherriff's men in the forest. He takes her to meet Robin and the others. She explains that she was to be hanged and she had escaped. This was of course an obvious trap as we the viewers were privvy to her capture and her true motivation for escape, as a plan of the Sherriff's to capture Robin.  The main characters were all on top form again, with Hugo even more weasley and cowardly than ever before. Guisbourne was all impotent fury, a typical bully who's been bested when those he had picked on ganged up against him.  In the background two new members joined the gang, Martin and James, neither of which seemed particularly memorable as they had so very little screen time. Nazir still hasn't said a single word yet either!  The plot is simple enough and yet it never bores because there's lots of little sub plots running in the background. There's Marion wanting to get more involved, Guisbourne's nasty streak, the Sherriff's money being stolen, the woman's husband being held as insurance, the merry men setting up an ambush. It's all these little details that makes the show so much more than it might have been, it makes the show feel bigger, largerer, more grand.  Plus the dreamy feel to the opening scene and Marion's vision just add an extra layer of juicy mystacism to everything.

3. Seven Poor Knights from Acre

12/05/1984

The arrival in Sherwood of seven Templars, heading back to their church in Lincoln, and their gold crested banner is too much for a cutpurse to ignore.  He steals the banner and runs into Robin and his men as he escapes. The Templars think that they are all together and after a brief altercation the Templars leave, with Much as a hostage.  Now Robin and his men have to deal with seven of the most feared fighting men known to man, to rescue much from their grasp.

My Review: A really mixed bag of sub-stories this time. On the one hand there's a thief who's stolen a religious artefact and is persued by the seven knights of the title. Then there's the money pinching Sherriff doing a tour of his manor to drum up some taxes (as they were stolen last episode - nice touch) and then there's the Merry Men and Woman doing some target practice in the woods. They all seem comfortable around each other now, laughing and carrying on like best mates. The 2 newbies from last week even get put in the foreground for a moment, alas for one it'll be the only time. They get mixed up in the plot when the thief is discovered lurking nearby and the knight automatically assume that Robin and co are the ones really responcibler and they attack first, kill James, capture Much and ask questions in French later. The knights are really nasty, brutes too. There's no compassion at all in any of them, they're stone cold killers just looking for an excuse. So they blame Robin and then the Sherriff stumbles across them and takes advantage of the situation after they slight him and make Gisbourne look a fool so easily. The Sherriff is at his best here, thinking quickly to turn this chance meeting in his favour, he tells them all about Robin as a ploy to have them do his dirty work for him. Robin and co meanwhile try to rescue Much but fail and Robin fights duel with one of the knight, rather than simply torture the main character mindlessly and brutally for a while. Obviously they've never read one of Kate Orman's novels. In the end the stole artefact, a gold banner top makes its way into the hands of the Sherriff and he's delighted to get a hold of it, as it means he can have his revenge on not just Robin but also the knights, they'll be disgraced and thrown out of their order. However things go wrong for him when Robin and co sneak into the castle and steal it from him. The story ends with Robin freeing Much and disgracing the knight by capturing them and melting their precious down to help the local villagers pay their taxes to the Sherriff. All in all a very good story and one that sends a stong message, that evil comes to those who think it.

4. Alan A Dale

19/05/1984

While visiting his new love, Meg, in Wycombe, Little John is seen by Guy and the Sheriif's men. The Sheriff punishes the villagers by fining them six months wages.  Meanwhile a Minstrel, Alan A Dale, is found wandering through the forest on his way to kill the Sheriff! His love, Mildred, has been betrothed to the Sheriff and is being delivered to Nottingham, along with a 10,000 Mark dowery.  Robin and Marian realise that they can help Alan by rescuing Mildred and get the money to help the villagers of Wycombe at the same time. All they need do is find Guy and his men and ambush them.

My Review: This story really brings Guisbourne and the Sherriff together in an intimate manner. It starts with John having developed his character a bit by getting a girlfriend. Indeed this whole episode is about relationships as Alan A Dale arrives in Sherwood and the Merry Men soon learn that he's part of a love triangle with his beloved and the Sherriff as the other two members. The Sherrriff is revealed to be mysoginistic as well as antisocial. He's quite comfortable being naked around other men and at the end of the story he quite happily shares a warm bath with Guisbourne and gets the blonde knight to scub his back, his eyes bulging as Guisbourne's hand sinks below the water level. The Sherriff was only in the marriage for the money, so he's quite happy when Robin concocts a clever scheme to reunite Alan and his beloved and take the dowery too. Except the Sherriff is his clever self and has replaced the money with heavy rocks! This was a nice touch, it builds the Sherriff up more, making him worthy of his office. Guisbourne is at his shouty best too, barking out orders and running about with his men. There's a lovely moment when the Sherriff tells Guisbourne to get rid of them or put them back in their little box. Again Nazir doesn't speak, but he does get to kill a couple of soldiers. Martin gets a couple of scenes too, noticibly sparring with Tuck in a 1/4 staff duel. The only real complaint I can make are the badly CSO'd black specks of dirt that are substituted for badly CSO'd bees. In the mythology Alan A Dale is one of Robin's Merry Men but in this series he's a one off character, which works well imho. He's a larger than life character in this story, a boaster and a really bad singer. If he stayed any longer the others would have killed him! The story ends with Alan and Mildred being married by Tuck and then riding off to begin their lives together.

5. The King's Fool

26/05/1984

Robin and his men save a wandering knight from a band of cut throats who ambush him in Sherwood. After a meal and drink together the knight surprises Robin with an offer that could change the lives of all the Merry Men!  Could they soon be free men or is Robin being tricked by someone he trusts with his life....

My Review: This is a great episode, because it really shakes the series up and seeing what it's made of. It starts off simple enough, Robin saving a man from a group of murderers, then it becomes something bigger as they talk over meat and drink. They try to tax the man for his horse as payment, which seems oddly out of character even for Robin. Still they agree that he can keep the horse if he can beat Little John in a wrestling match (pity it wasn't ECW rules) and the Chavalier Desguise beats him, revealling that he's really Professor Maximillian Arturo Gimli, Son of Glóin King Richard - Lionheart! This was a really good swerve move imho, very far out of left field. Much to everyone's surprise Nazir becomes quite chatty to the King, having two lines of dialogue in one scene! The outlaws are pardoned and asked to attend the King in Nottingham, where Guisbourne captures them in typical befuddled manner and is embarrassed by the king for his presumption. This was a really nice moment, very in keeping with Guisbourne's character as a rash impulsive massacre everyone first and then celebrate his triumph later. The king however only wants Robin as a publicity stunt to humiliate the Sherriff and drum up business for his next war, against France. Will refuses to even go to Nottingham, he can see the King for what he is straight off. What does seem anachronistic is Nazir apparently eating pork and drinking alcohol! As a Muslim he's not allowed to do either. The King auctions off his nobles titles back to them for cash and soldiers and calls his brother to account for his powerplays behind his back. One by one Robins men desert him, first Nazir, then Little John and Martin. Finally Robin sees the truth and the King realises he'll have to have Robin whacked. Alas Guisbourne is assigned to do the job and not only does he screw it up but he ends up with a crossbow bolt in his back, thanks to Marion. Alas he returns the favour and shoots her in the back too as the last of the outlaws flee Nottingham. The story ends up in an old stone circle where Robin calls on Herne to save Marion, which he does and then the Merry Men meet up again, reunited at last. I really liked this story, you get the feeling that the series really could have gone a different way, with Robin and co going off to Normandy to fight for the King, the next season could have then opened with the survivors returning to Sherwood only to find things even worse than before and them resuming their roles as the peoples champions. However I think this version works better, the king is shown more accuratley than most other presentastions, as a warrior concerned only about defeating his enemies and not about his people, only their money. Also Will Scarlet becomes only the third person (so far) to have Herne reveal himself to, and only the second in person. A near-perfect ending to the first season with he promise of even better to come and the last time we'll ever see Martin.