# Brit Dopers, what's this Robin Hood the series thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 21, 2007, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-whats-this-robin-hood-the-series-thing/393126 "2007-02-21T19:51:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-whats-this-robin-hood-the-series-thing/393126/21 "2007-02-22T13:39:23Z")
[QUOTE=Szlater] MIHigh? Isn’t that aimed squarely at the under-12s, rather than the whole family? I watched one and a half episodes and couldn’t see what would attract anyone above the age of 13 to the programme. [/QUOTE] Ahh, [M.I.High](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.I.High), for some reason, I thought “MI High” was a shorthand for [Mile High](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile_High), until I saw the “nothing for folks above the age of 13” bit. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-whats-this-robin-hood-the-series-thing/393126/22 "2007-02-22T13:53:03Z")
[QUOTE=MarcusF] As above. I’m one of those who gave up after two episodes :dubious: [/QUOTE] I watched it all but the real-world allegories were just too heavy-handed. Real-world tie ups are fine but the have to be done with a deft touch not a clunking great Monty Python boot. It didn’t help that the Merry Men were a collective Charisma-free zone. Guy was okay though. Marion weak. The Sherriff okay but not up there with the guy in Robin of Sherwood. And don’t get me started on the Muslim sidekick. As for the rampant inability of any man in the series to recognise a woman dressed as a dude. :rolleyes: Women have breasts, that’s how I recognise them even if they don’t wear skirts, have short hair or wear a mask. It’s just not that difficult. But it was better than the usual crap and we have to make allowances for it being aimed at a family audience. I’m looking forward to the Sarah Jane Adventures. She always was the hottest Dr Who assistant (in my then teenage eyes) and hasn’t lost it (to my old eyes) now. ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-whats-this-robin-hood-the-series-thing/393126/23 "2007-02-22T13:56:50Z")
[QUOTE=PastAllReason] The first season of Robin of Sherwood seems to be coming out on DVD next month. I haven’t seen the new series, but I’ve certainly seen Robin of Sherwood. It was a great show, and had music from Clannad in it as an added bonus. [/QUOTE] Next month? :dubious: I’ve owned the full series on DVD for at least a year, maybe longer. You can buy it from the UK eBay site and get it shipped over. Of course, most DVD players in .au are region-free; not sure if that’s the case elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-whats-this-robin-hood-the-series-thing/393126/24 "2007-02-22T14:13:58Z")
[QUOTE=Bites When Provoked] Next month? :dubious: I’ve owned the full series on DVD for at least a year, maybe longer. You can buy it from the UK eBay site and get it shipped over. Of course, most DVD players in .au are region-free; not sure if that’s the case elsewhere. [/QUOTE] And you’re in PAL territory, unlike the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-whats-this-robin-hood-the-series-thing/393126/25 "2007-02-22T14:25:25Z")
It was quite meh, much like Torchwood but without mobile phones and flashy clothing. If you want a BBC production that did the legend proud, try [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maid_Marian_and_her_Merry_Men) 🙂 (and no, I jest not kind sir!) ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-whats-this-robin-hood-the-series-thing/393126/26 "2007-02-22T14:46:54Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] It was quite meh, much like Torchwood but without mobile phones and flashy clothing. If you want a BBC production that did the legend proud, try [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maid_Marian_and_her_Merry_Men) 🙂 (and no, I jest not kind sir!) [/QUOTE] A classic show. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-whats-this-robin-hood-the-series-thing/393126/27 "2007-02-22T15:00:38Z")
[QUOTE=Szlater] My point is that it’s better than what the competition is doing in similar time-slots. My hope is that by reintroducing the early evening saturday family drama (Dr Who and Robin Hood) it will promote the idea that we can have programming that whole families can watch together than isn’t just a Vernon Kaye/Ant n Dec vehicle. [/quote] Actually, I’d quite like to see something along the lines of the Generation Game - and I wouldn’t be even slightly upset if it’s hosted by Ant & Dec - they used to be quite good at that sort of tomfoolery. I certainly don’t care to watch _Celebrity Dance Island_ or _Strictly Jungle Factor_ ever again. > [@](#): > > MIHigh? Isn’t that aimed squarely at the under-12s, rather than the whole family? I watched one and a half episodes and couldn’t see what would attract anyone above the age of 13 to the programme. I agree; it’s just that Torchwood, Doctor Who and Robin Hood all have the same ‘meh’ feel too, at least to me - you can tell what’s going on in the episode, and what’s about to happen just by looking at your watch. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-whats-this-robin-hood-the-series-thing/393126/28 "2007-02-22T22:57:45Z")
I watched the first few episodes, noticed the complete lack of any sort of personality among the “good” guys, muttered darkly about the obvious anachronisms, complained that “it’s coming to something when Guy of Gisburne has a better arse than Maid Marion”, and then somehow forgot to watch it after about episode six. Not wildly exciting. Better than _Big Brother XLIX_ or _Celebrity Pet Drug Rehab Challenge_, but that’s not saying very much, is it? ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-whats-this-robin-hood-the-series-thing/393126/29 "2007-02-23T01:01:18Z")
[QUOTE=Bites When Provoked] Next month? :dubious: I’ve owned the full series on DVD for at least a year, maybe longer. You can buy it from the UK eBay site and get it shipped over. Of course, most DVD players in .au are region-free; not sure if that’s the case elsewhere. [/QUOTE] Canada is in Region 1 along with the US. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-whats-this-robin-hood-the-series-thing/393126/30 "2007-02-23T07:26:30Z")
They did a very good spoof of the programme on last night’s _Dead Ringers_. It ended up with a break-dancing competition in Sherwood Forest between Robin and the Sheriff of Nottingham. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-whats-this-robin-hood-the-series-thing/393126/31 "2007-02-23T08:18:58Z")
It’s very cheesy, but if you don’t take it seriously I think it’s quite amusing. A friend and I watched it religiously and amused ourselves by poking fun at it - it reminded me a lot of Xena and Hercules, which were also rather cheesy but still quite fun (well, I thought). But don’t expect a masterpiece. I swear the captions and special effects were added with Powerpoint and Photoshop. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-whats-this-robin-hood-the-series-thing/393126/32 "2007-02-23T08:49:57Z")
ITV digital is repeating their Robin Hood series, only caught the theme tune but that was enough to put it above the Beeb version 😛 ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-whats-this-robin-hood-the-series-thing/393126/33 "2007-02-23T20:05:54Z")
[QUOTE=HazelNutCoffee] It’s very cheesy, but if you don’t take it seriously I think it’s quite amusing. A friend and I watched it religiously and amused ourselves by poking fun at it - it reminded me a lot of Xena and Hercules, which were also rather cheesy but still quite fun (well, I thought). But don’t expect a masterpiece. I swear the captions and special effects were added with Powerpoint and Photoshop. [/QUOTE] I liked Hercules and Xena too. They were cheesy on purpose. So if it’s like that who knows, I might enjoy it. ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-whats-this-robin-hood-the-series-thing/393126/34 "2007-02-24T22:56:41Z")
[QUOTE=Usram] And you’re in PAL territory, unlike the OP. [/QUOTE] Ah. I’d forgotten about that - we can watch any region, any format, and take it all a bit for granted. I’d assumed that you could use your computer’s DVD drive to play a non-Region 1 DVD, but forgot all about that pesky PAL/NTSC thing… although I’d think you could still view it through your monitor? Maybe not; I’m not at all sure how it works. Do LCD TVs get affected by the PAL/NTSC options? They’re basically just oversized computer monitors, aren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-whats-this-robin-hood-the-series-thing/393126/35 "2007-02-24T23:13:19Z")
No PAL/NTSC is irrelevant if you’re watching a DVD on a computer. There are three potential sources of incompatibility: region coding, as you mentioned; colour encoding (that’s where PAL and NTSC come in), which is not an issue if you’re connecting a DVD player to a TV with component or RGB cables; and video format, i.e. the number of horizontal lines and frames/fields per second. The display device has to be able to show 25 fps 576-line video for it to cope with PAL DVDs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-whats-this-robin-hood-the-series-thing/393126.md?page=1)