Merlin

Well, or even sh- well, shows, shows that finished, say, 15 to 20 years ago, I'm thinking.

Kids shows like Raven, M.I. High, the series, the BBC series of Robin Hood or Merlin, Charlotte.

That generation of shows would sort of be the equivalent now.

Are people still...

Uh, have people got round to the place where they're nostalgic for those shows, and are perhaps looking for Colin Morgan to come back to Merlin and do, do a special, do a series? That kind of thing.

I think that's the sort of yardstick to put it at.

I think Mike's right, that Doctor Who could actually gather some dust before people start to miss it again.

Hello, and welcome to Anywhere But The Tavern, a Merlin Rewatch podcast series where we dive back into the mythical, but not always magical, Kingdom of Camelot.

On today's episode, we travel all the way back to 2008, where the series first began, as Merlin himself travels from his home village of Ealdor to the Kingdom of Camelot, where he'll meet future friends, future enemies, but most importantly here, the Dragon's Call.

How was that? That was pretty damn good.

You know what, Kieran? That's well written.

It really is.

But we're finally doing it.

We're finally doing this Merlin

podcast.

Uh, but I was like, Goddammit.

And I, but then reading about it I was like, this sounds so up my alley, and I really like the lead actor in this role, Colin Morgan, who played very affably the lead role of Merlin in the BBC Merlin TV series.

Then I'm like, ah, fuck, am I gonna have to watch this? It's probably gonna be disappointing.

I was pleased to say I don't think this is disappointing.

Yeah, Wart, [laughs] living with his foster father, Sir Ector.

And he isn't leading armies, he's just a kid who loses an arrow in the woods and happens to stumble into the cottage of Merlin.

If we connect this to the bigger picture, the cultural anxieties of the time, both T.H. White's original writing and the Disney adaptation are deeply concerned with education.

Education?

Right.

It's practical, it's grounded, it's about learning to polish armor and survive in a brutal feudal system.

And then you have Merlin.

Yes, Merlin, who uses magic to turn Arthur into fish and squirrels to teach him about physics, gravity, and the interconnectedness of ecosystems.