Merlin

Some of you might have seen my rabid Merlin tweets on Twitter, especially about The Hunt for The Elusive Merlin DVD Boxset, The Plight of Online Shopping and Oh Daddy, Please Lend Me Your Mastercard. This is one of my favourite videos and totally LOL-worthy. Please excuse me as I dissolve into a puddle of girliness.

I love BBC's Merlin series. One of my favourite memories is of me and my father just watching BBC shows, documentaries and such, having a great father-daughter time. Daddy dislikes Merlin, apparently he calls it 'lame' (I FEEL SO UNCOOL NOW) but it's one of my favourite shows ever, with a fresh take on the Arthurian legends. It's rekindled my passion for such shows, and on a tangent, romance, travelling, exploring and Buff Blonde British Boys (henceforth known as BBBB, like "Heyyyy, BBBB! (L)"). But what I love most of all is the fact that there's a whole new genre for me to explore! It's opened up my eyes to the load of books based on the Arthurian legends and myths that I've never seen before in the library.

So Merlin, keep up the awesome storyline, and maybe... just maybe, would you consider sending some DVDs my way?



Hi, my name is Liyana. I’m 18 and I believe in princes and happily ever afters.

Everyone: Awww, hi Liyana.

It all started when a friend introduced me to a show called Merlin. It was shown here a few months back, and it all looked extremely boring so I didn’t watch, except for the fact that King Uther was played by Anthony Head, whom most of you know of as Giles the Watcher in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I was skeptical, but recently my boredom was more extreme so I started watching the first season. And I couldn’t stop. I’ve finished watching the second season, which just ended in the UK and right now I’m waiting for the third season to start in September 2010. The bloody production is only starting in 2010, and that is next year!

E: Thank you for your courage in telling us your story. When did this start?

It started two weeks ago.

E: Uhh, wow. That’s a short time to decide that you’re addicted to HEAs.

You see, Merlin may be the start of my current preoccupation, but my addiction started a long time ago. I believed in fairy tales, magic and mayhem and the princes that fall in love with maidens and happily ever afters!

Then one day… I grew up. It just seemed silly to believe in love at first sight, to believe in The One. Well, I suppose there’s always Neo from The Matrix, but even he has Trinity.

E: …

I admit, the dialogue may be a little stinted, and the special effects a bit gimicky, but it looks great at the same time too. The actors are relatively unknown, but they have such passion for the characters and the legend behind it that it shows in their acting! Can you believe they spend 8 months out of every year working on the show?

Merlin is just so gawky and awkward and charming and adorable and THEN there’s Prince Arthur, who’s kind of Merlin’s opposite, but he’s also hot and nice and all princely… But let’s not dwell on the characters! The actors themselves are so cool. See, Colin Morgan who plays Merlin has an Irish accent or something, I don’t know since I’m not Irish, or British—all I know is Singlish—so I can’t really differentiate accents since all I know is lahs and lors and it’s just completely different from the character he plays. Bradley James looks like a slightly dangerous, very hot teenager without his Prince Arthur garb, a teenager that I’ll cross the street to avoid… except we can’t do that in Singapore because there’s a barrier see, between the two sides of the road so we can’t jaywalk, so maybe I’ll just lower my head and keep to the side and pretend not to notice him. But his blondness! Hee!

E: What about the other actors?

Who? The girls and old guys? But who cares about them?

E: …

Oh, all right, they’re cool too. There’s Angel Coulby who plays Gwen or Guinevere and who’s a servant and maid to the Lady Morgana played by Katie McGrath, and the love story between Gwen and Arthur is just so… lovely! They’ll fall in love, she, a lowly servant maid, and he, a high prince, soon to be King of Camelot.

Then the Lady Morgana is becoming quite evil, I hope her character returns in the third season, because Katie McGrath is quite amusing in her interviews and her character spices things up quite a bit with her stubbornness to conform to Uther’s rules. Uther is played by King Giles, err, I mean Anthony Head and Gaius who is Merlin’s mentor is played by Richard Wilson, who I haven’t heard of before Merlin.

But oh, I did some research—THANK YOU WIKIPEDIA—about the legend of King Arthur and it’s quite sad because she cheats on him with Lancelot. How could you Guinevere!

E: Thank you Liyana. How are you coping with your withdrawal so far?

It’s been quite hard, but I’m coping. I’m definitely going to ration my Merlin episodes from now on!

E: Well, that’s a step forward. Soon, you’ll be free of your addiction to romance, and Merlin.

Huh? What? I don’t want to get rid of my addiction to Merlin and romance! It’s great that it rediscovered my love for such things. What kind of Merlin Fan Club is this, asking me to get rid of such awesomeness?!

E: That’s next door. This is the Romantics Anonymous.

Uhhh.. Oh, really? Well, thanks for your time. I think I’ll head there now…

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Hi, my name is Liyana. I’m 18 and I believe in princes and happily ever afters.

Merlin Fan Club: Awww, hi Liyana.