As somewhat of a fantasy junky I can never get quite enough of the medieval genre. I would prefer some fantasy driven things but those are virtually non-existent on US television.
Anyway, the two specific series that I can think of are Cadfael (Derrick Jacoby is just a fine actor) and Robin of Sherwood (if you can get over the 80’s hairstyles it is pretty enjoyable). Are there any other TV series out there set in this time period, including serious minded cartoons?
I am specifically interested on series that are set pre-gun powder.
Covington Cross was early 90’s, about 91-92, I think. It starred Nigel Terry (Excalibur’s King Arthur), and Ione Skye. I liked it, although it wasn’t terribly historically accurate. For a network TV show, it was pretty good, just not “lowest common denominator” enough. Of course, I was about 16 at the time, so my memory may not be completely accurate. If I remember correctly, I would characterize it’s epoch as approximately 1350-1450, which is, of course, post-gunpowder (as was much of the high middle ages), but well within the “armored knights on horseback” period.
The first Blackadder was set late 15th century, but I’d hardly call it serious-minded.
There’s always Xena: Warrior Princess, which I think is absolute worthless dreck, but it is pseudo-medieval.
There’s supposed to be a Forgotten Realms TV series on the boards, but I have grave doubts about the finished quality of such a project, but maybe with the success of the LOTR films, a good medieval fantasy television series will be presented in my lifetime.
Dragon Tales has a number of giants, who are dressed in medieval garb.
The Smurfs was set in medieval times.
Why yes, I do have young kids. Why do you ask?
And I liked Covington Cross. In one scene Nigel Hawthorne is going off to work (battle) with his sons, and his wife sits by the fire disinterestedly, and says as they walk out “Have fun storming the castle.” My wife and I use that one all the time.
If I remember right, Covington Cross had a sort of parody quality to it, in that the teenagers acted sort of like late-20th-century teenagers, & there father was like a put-upon sitcom dad. Sort of in the same way “Hägar the Horrible” sometimes makes jokes about modern life through a pseudo-viking lens. That was the one big turn-off. I watched anyway; cool clothes & swords.
Of course, it’s been ten years, so I may be remembering wrong…
There was a British “Robin Hood” that was seen in the US in the late 50s which starred Richard Greene. Monty Python used the theme music for the “Dennis Moore” sketch.
Numerous episodes of History Bites are set in medeival times, and they make no bones about that fact that life was disease-ridden, superstition-filled, oppresive and short.
There was a series on Fox called Roar, that was set in Ireland, probably circal 10century or so. It stared a young Heath Ledger, but did not last long.
Roar. I don’t remember that one at all. Looks like that one may be a keeper. According to IMDB it is set in roughly 400 AD in Ireland. Were all the people real dirty too?
I bought the Covington Cross series from Ebay for 20 bucks just to see it. I figure you can’t go wrong with 13 episodes for 20 bucks. Though it won’t be here for at least a few days.
Have you tried anime (Japanese animation)? There are a lot of medieval fantasy cartoons from Japan. A few that I can think of off the top of my head are “Record of Lodoss War”, “Fushigi Yugi” (aka “The Mysterious Play”), “El Hazard”, and “Vision of Escaflowne”. There is a slightly different idea of what “fantasy” includes in Japan–for example, “Escaflowne” includes mecha (giant robots), but there’s also plenty of sword-fighting, knights, castles, princesses, dragons, etc. You should probably try “Lodoss War” first–I think that it is closest to what you are looking for.
If you could stand a more lighthearted fantasy approach, I’d suggest the various “Slayers” series (“Slayers”, “Slayers Next”, and “Slayers Try”). It’s like a D&D game gone awry–but don’t they all go awry at some point?
LOL D&D gone wrong. I think I was part of those campaigns. It was best when the game master was slightly dim and easily manipulated. The game would go away from roleplaying and into extortion.
I couldn’t find a TV series called Wizards and Warriors. Do you remember an actor who was in it? I remember countless bad movies with similar titles but those are ones I steer clear of typically.
I could go for Anime too. I like live action a little better because it is easier for me to get immersed in it. I remember seeing the Record of the Lodoss War in the local video store a while back but I didn’t pick it up because I thought it was part of Robotech. I guess I should check it out again.
Thank you everyone for your input so far. Keep them coming.
Wizards and Warriors (1983) - starring Jeff Conaway of Taxi fame… and directed by Billl Bixby! The user comment of “campy fun” is spot on from my recollection.
Roar had incredible music…other than that it was a Hercules/Xena ripoff set in Ireland. It was bad, but with wonderful music. I wish they’d release a soundtrack album, but, alas, I’m sure that will never happen.