Nimue's Story

There have been so many reiterations that when I learn of a new one, I think there can't possibly be any more different takes on the story of King Arthur, can there?  Apparently, there can.  We've forgotten that the story of King Arthur isn't just the love triangle surrounding Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot or the rise of Excalibur and Camelot.  We've forgotten that there were more magical people than just Merlin, Morgause, Morgana, and Morgan le Fey (even if those last three were in some iterations the same person.)  We've forgotten that the story of King Arthur is mostly just that.  It is a story and like any story, there are more characters than just those you remember and the bits of the story that you recall easily.  After all, Camelot, Merlin, and King Arthur have so many stories surrounding them that it could be just like a quest for the Holy Grail to find out the truth behind them all, couldn't it?

There are contradictions within contradictions and if you write fanfiction, you'll find it rather hard to cross something like The Sword In The Stone with BBC's Merlin, but not impossible.  Magic is in both these stories so it wouldn't necessarily be out of place for something like the multiverse theory to come into play.  Not only are there shows and movies devoted to the stories themselves but there are those that claim to be the reincarnation of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (Avalon High springs to mind) or that have an arc the references them (here's to Once Upon A Time...again.  They really played around for this particular show! Though DC's Legends of Tomorrow on Netflix have a few episodes that integrate King Arthur as well...)  You may be wondering why the hell I'm typing about this?

Netflix has a new series available.  You might have only heard its title or heard a little about it because of the show being on the Top 10 list on Netflix.  If you've heard anything about it's setting or time period, you might mistakenly think that this series extolls on the virtues of the white man and casts all or almost all women in a negative light.  You'd be wrong.  To be honest there wasn't a lot of information given or trailers that were seen before my husband and I decided to give it a shot.

The name of the series is Cursed.  And in this section, there may be a few spoilers.  Alright I can guarantee that there will be a few spoilers and I apologize for them, but this isn't a male-oriented King Arthur's beginnings or ending story.  It's not a story that focuses on the relationship between Merlin and Arthur or the sad love triangle of Guinevere, Arthur, and Lancelot.  No, this story, though obviously a Merlin/King Arthur story, revolves around a character that no one really knows but everyone subscribes to as evil and the downfall of Merlin.  Cursed follows the story of Nimue.  You will note familiar characters as the series is watched.  Yes, you get to meet Merlin, Uther, and Arthur all fairly early, but the story is not centered on them, but on Nimue and the plight of the fey.  It's a story that reminds viewers of the horrors that the church and those with power can be wrought over land that relies so heavily on things outside their control.  There are mysteries even in the start and there are changes made to what is widely accepted as the story of King Arthur, Camelot, and the Knights of the Round Table, but the changes make just as much sense as the information a person can find when they research their family history.  Vikings are introduced as well as the church's destructive army - the Red Paladins.  It's a show that you should pay attention to when the episodes end because it would be easy to binge it instead of making yourself wait to watch because you have to be up the next day.  They don't shy away from the horrors of the "witch burnings" that existed during Uther's reign, but they don't glorify it as a just sentence for those put to death either. 

Cursed is a show the portrays both the good and the evil in grey lighting.  For while killing is wrong, is saving your or another's life wrong?  Is harboring someone to protect them from a group that targets an entire species/race/group of people just because they are different right?  There is much to consider when watching and you'll find that much like any family research or scientific study that yields new information done, this show will make you question what has largely been accepted by the populace to be a part of the King Arthur and Merlin saga.

Streaming Sites

This past week a new streaming service that people have been anxiously waiting for finally became available.  Unlike so many others, I was excited but I wasn't about to spend money on something that I might not get to fully enjoy, after all, Disney+ only advertised Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and National Geographic even if there were articles that indicated there would be a bundle deal that included Hulu and ESPN.  My husband was more than agreeable to this.  So we canceled the WWE and Hulu subscriptions we had and we'll very likely be getting Disney+ before the end of the month.  Once that happens, my writing will definitely take a major nosedive since I've heard the series So Weird is fully available on it. 

I've searched online to find the series to buy on DVD, but never did, not even on the official movie site!  I'm not a huge fan of Star Wars, nor do I care for Star Trek before anyone starts to try to call me a Trekkie.  I may be a geek/nerd, but that doesn't mean I have to be typical or stereotypical about it!  We also own a number of movies - not just Marvel, Disney, or Pixar, but independent films and Paramount Pictures, but a lot of Disney.  It doesn't mean by any stretch of the imagination that I have everything that will be on Disney+ as evidenced by the knowledge that one of my absolutely favorite television shows is available on it while I've been unable to get it.  I have managed to get Dark Angel and most of Leverage of DVD (still need season 5...)

While Disney is no longer on Netflix, it doesn't mean there aren't shows on Netflix that I won't be watching.  They have exclusive content just as Hulu does that are, in my honest opinion, worth spending time watching.  They also have shows that aren't on Hulu and don't forget that streaming is only one part of Netflix.  Originally, Netflix didn't stream.  It was basically just an online Blockbuster (for those who don't understand, Blockbuster was actually a brick and mortar movie rental.  It started with VHS tapes at least when I was a child before DVDs and the internet.  It wasn't just a local movie rental either.  I'm sure a quick Google search can help you find out more, but suffice to say, good luck finding one anymore.  They died before several small-town movie rental businesses did.)  When Netflix first started they would mail the DVDs and charge your card for the length of time you kept it.  I don't remember all of the particulars, but it added streaming as an alternative, but it doesn't and never had their full library available for streaming.  Nowadays, you can no longer rent since they rely solely on streaming services and that consumers are more likely to watch their shows and movies online using their internet services.

I'm so thankful we have DVDs that we can watch because weather happens as does just general other reasons for power outages or internet blank-outs.  Life happens, so it's nice to have back-up plans.  Whether or not things will go great for Disney+ will depend on their competitors and what they do with the vast amount of content at their fingertips.  They have to compete with Netflix which has constantly changes content and there are rumors that they may team up with Nickelodeon.  If they got Nickelodeon and say Funimation to bundle up with them, Disney+ would definitely have some competition.  Americans are aware of anime, mostly thanks to Toonami, but Sailor Moon, DBZ(DragonBall Z), and so many others made kids of the late nineties and early 2000s (so born in late '80s to early '90s) search for more.  It started a wave of other culture awareness that also made us aware of more to the world than what we learned about in our little worlds. 

Anyway, Disney may have access to Marvel which means a wealth of characters as well as multiple possible storylines and that's just from the well-known Marvel characters.  They have their old Disney shows, many of which left fans wishing for more - looking at Gargoyles and So Weird among others.  Some shows need to be redone to set them up to what we are yelling about today, but to do so will definitely offend some.  They won't want anything to change what they loved.  It's like the outcry when every single superhero movie or series has ever been made and books to movies:  people will compare and contrast and find one version better than the others.  Those who grew up with the original will always prefer it.  They'll find problems in how things are portrayed.  Things that have been changed or left out which changed some of the dynamics while pulling forth dynamics that maybe weren't as apparent in the original (this sentence is mainly targeting Harry Potter which is rife with missing depth and more obvious depictions of certain foreshadowed futures, but it's not the only nor is it the first offender, just the easiest to explain because very few don't have any idea what Harry Potter is about even if they've never read the books or seen the movies.)  Others will find problems with the original shows either because of the effects or because they willfully ignore the time period its set in or they see the stereotypes and take offense (not that they shouldn't in some cases, but look at when the show/movie was made before arguing its validity and the setting!)  I mean something set in the 80s or as old as set in the early 1800s would treat certain types of people severely differently than we do now or how they may have been treated in years before A.D.  It doesn't mean the thoughts of how they were treated would have been different. 

There is a movie set in a time period that is very much a decent representation of the time period and place it's set in - Mary Poppins.   No, I'm not talking about Jane, Mary, Michael, Mr. Banks or even the servants, chimney sweeps, or birdwoman (though they all can help my case)  I'm talking about Mrs. Banks, the children's mother.  There's a scene talking about their plans on a day Mary Poppins is supposed to be off.  She said she had to attend a rally and she wore a political-based sash.  Mrs. Banks was a fighter for women's rights.  For the time period and place it is set in, it makes sense that at least one of the several women in the show would be fighting women's rights.  And this was a Disney movie.  Thank you, Disney, for giving a mother who was willing to try to make things better for her daughter, even if she didn't spend much time with said daughter.

Netflix, however, tends to really delve into the darker things and nostalgia that plagues our generations with shows like Stranger Things, Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, among several other shows.  There are several classics and reality shows available through Hulu, though.  That's not to forget about other streaming services - YouTube, Amazon Prime, Funimation, PlutoTV and Crunchyroll just to name a few.  Wherever you find the shows you enjoy, keep an eye for things that change such as the variety of content on others.  If you have a to watch/rewatch/finish watching list like I do, you may find it growing with all the original content that appears on different streaming sites and spin-offs and crossover episodes for whatever you may be watching not to mention reboots and movies...wow, Buffy, Charmed, Doctor Who, Bleach, Supernatural, CSI, JAG, etc. have really made things hard for me to truly catch up on things for story ideas I might have or blog posts...