“The Adventures of Robin Hood” Television Review: To Binge or Not to Binge

    Over the course of the years, countless legends have graced our modern culture.  From Hercules to King Arthur, these stories have been passed down and have helped shaped our idea of heroics and morality.  Still, one legendary figure seems to relate to almost every working class person and that person is Robin Hood.  Historians have debated if he was based on a real person or completely made up but his story remains legendary regardless.  What we know for sure about Robin Hood is that he was a folk hero as far back as the 1400s and that he always fought for the people of England.  He was a true working class hero.  Being the popular figure he is, countless pieces of media have depicted the adventures of Robin Hood.  From books to movies, from video games to television shows, Robin Hood content is available and popular on all forms of media.  One such piece of media I will be talking about now is the show “The Adventures of Robin Hood”.

    One quick note about this show, I have been watching episodes from a complete series box set provided to me from the good folks at Mill Creek Entertainment.  This show is public domain and there have been releases on DVD in groups of episodes from other distributors over the years (I think I have a few) but for the cost, this Mill Creek release is the cheapest and easiest way to obtain the complete series in one set.  If you are already a fan of the show or Robin Hood in general, I highly recommend this particular release.

    As far as the show is concerned, “The Adventures of Robin Hood” tells the story of...the adventures of Robin Hood.  The title pretty much sums up the television show nicely.  Joking aside, the show features Robin of Locksley returning home from the crusades to find he was presumed dead and his estate has been given away.  Trying to make things right, he ends up an outlaw and at odds with the “law”.  Robin joins forces with the outlaws in Sherwood Forest and together they fight the Sheriff of Nottingham in the name of King Richard.

    The television show ran for a number of years, from 1955 to 1960 and the show hasn’t aged too well unfortunately.  While the actual show is entertaining, the episodes got a bit repetitive although characters do come and go throughout the series which helped keep the show somewhat fresh.  Being shot in black and white mutes what could have been a vibrant and colorful show and dates the show quite a bit.  While it was common for shows to be filmed in black and white during this era, most modern audiences will be unlikely to watch a low resolution show, shot in black and white and filmed in fullscreen.  Not being in color, the show can also be hard to see at times.  The static in the audio is also a bit distracting at times.

    It is interesting to watch this show and compare it to other Robin Hood shows.  Being a big fan of Mel Brooks’ fan, I have always loved “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” but I had no idea how many references that movie made in regards to this show.  Interestingly, I was surprised how differently this show felt compared to the 1938 Errol Flynn “The Adventures of Robin Hood”.  While the film had a playful tone, the tv show takes itself more seriously.  The show does get more fun as it goes on and it embraces it’s swashbuckler heritage perfectly.  One thing I liked is how the pilot covered his time in the crusades without focusing on it entirely like the Russell Crowe “Robin Hood” movie.

    The show helped spawn a feature film in 1960 called “Sword of Sherwood Forest“ which also starred Richard Greene and co-starred Peter Cushing.  Greene played Robin Hood as a noble who knew when to fight and when to live to fight another day.  I actually enjoyed Greene’s performance more than some other actors but he isn’t my favorite either.

    It is hard to say if someone should binge this show or not mainly due to it’s age.  I think older audiences would get a kick out of it while younger people just wouldn’t find it accessible in my opinion.  It was interesting to see a show feature sponsors in their opening credits though.

Overall Grade: B

To Binge or not to Binge Verdict: BINGE(For people 30+) NOT TO BINGE (For people under 30)

Buy “The Adventures of Robin Hood” The Complete Series on DVD Today!!!

"Thumb Wars: The Phantom Cuticle" Movie Review

    Around the time “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace” was set to come out, it seemed like the whole country was caught up in Star Wars fever.  It seems strange to say especially now if you didn’t grow up during the time, but it was like Star Wars brought people together in a way never before seen.  Everyone wanted to show their love and excitement for the new prequel and a lot of comedians did so by releasing loving parodies of the original trilogy.  One such filmmaker, Steve Oedekerk, did so with a short film entitled “Thumb Wars” (also known as “Thumb Wars: The Phantom Cuticle”).  The short film aired on UPN a day before the release of the Star Wars prequel and I fell in love with it.

    I discovered this little gem by accident one day while flipping through the tv channels when I was a teenager.  This was a 20-30 minute special which spoofed the first Star Wars movie.  This film was family friendly and features somewhat juvenile humor.  The film literally features thumbs with faces scanned onto them as parody versions of the original Star Wars characters.  The short film is dumb humor but it’s the type of humor I adore.

    “Thumb Wars” paved the way for other spoofs featuring thumbs.  It was also the predecessor to the comedic film “Kung Pow! Enter the Fist”.  The work of Oedekerk tends to get panned by critics but it also tends to develop cult followings.  Even these ‘thumb universe’ short films have a loyal following.  Comedy is very subjective, so it remains one of the hardest subject matters to do a fair review of.  I mean, there are times I have to be in the mood to watch a comedy even if it’s one I love.

    I tend to gravitate towards abstract humor and comedy that appears dumb, but actually has more wit to it than it seems to on the surface.  That is why Mel Brooks has always been one of my favorite comedy writers.  He was a master at writing silly dialogue that actually had a lot of thought and references to literature and history put into it.

    Now, “Thumb Wars” isn’t on the level of a “History of the World: Part I” but it is silly and irrelevant and you know what, I am okay with that because it made me laugh.  “Thumb Wars” was made for a whole family to enjoy so the humor needed to be accessible to everyone.

    I am going to give this short film a grade, which I was on the fence about at first.  I figured maybe I couldn’t give the movie a ‘fair’ grade because it's impossible to grade a comedy fairly.  Then I thought about it and realized that all films are subjectively good or bad.  I have already put myself out there as a judge of cinema (aka cinema snob).  Look, even though I know this film is beyond silly, it still makes me laugh.  So maybe my grade will be unfair to some, but this short deserves a little more love so I am going to give it some.

Grade: B+