Just watching part of King Arthur on FX...

It's still not a great movie.
But it's got two things going for it. Pretty darn good music, and Kiera Knightly in blue body paint and and skimpy furs and leather straps.

The historical inaccuracies annoy me a bit though. (stirrups hadn't been invented yet, steel wasn't as common as iron and bronze, and the Roman shields are the wrong shape...)

Kiera's cute though... and has a few good one liners.

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
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Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
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Eureka, CA

Oh, yeah.. and the crossbow wasn't invented until centuries later either...

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
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Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
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Eureka, CA

While in this context it's usage is a little early, but, wasn't the crossbow 'invented' almost a millenia earlier?

Are you supposed to post pics in threads like this?

In concept, perhaps, but as you say, as a battlefield weapon it's portrayal here is centuries too early.
It wasn't until the middle ages that the crossbow began to replace the long bow as a battlefield weapon.








Oh, and Kiera in blue & leather.

She's got them puppies strapped down a little tight...

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--

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Eureka, CA

Yes.
Yes, she does.

I did see one scene that showed a good representative of a saxon scramsax short sword in the movie though...

Still have a half finished one out by my forge....
Gonna have to get back to that hobby one day (now that my shoulder is better.... screwed it up trying to go too heavy with a 4lb hammer for too long... took a couple YEARS before I could swing a hammer properly again!).

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Paul F.
-----
A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--

--

--
Eureka, CA

Have they thrown any really big rocks (or Tacomas) with a trebuchet yet ?

I thought this version has been considered the most 'accurate' portrayal of the story/legend/times...?

Maybe I am thinking of another movie produced around the same time?

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"Most historically accurate" in that the king associated with the "Aurthurian" legend was most probably an english king (not a king of all england, but a king of some part of england...) and lived in post-roman britain rather than in the middle-ages which is most common in stories and movies...
In THAT regard, it's the most "accurate"..
However, the "little things" like costume, technology, period dress and weaponry..
I give them a grade of "D".

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Excalibur got any of those little details any more right... (much as I like THAT movie, it's attention to historical detail was worse!).


I should probably admit that my bookshelf contains "Le Mort De Arthur", a two volume scholarly work "The Real King Arthur", "The construction, decoration, and use of arms and armor", "A History of Weaponry", "A History of Medieval Europe", and Hume's "History of England from the beginning to 1688"....

I won't lie and say I've read all of them completely... but I have a number of interests that have crossed through Arthurian legend territory here and there.

Oh, and if anyone is interested in reading "Le Mort De Arthur", I recommend the translation of the Winchester manuscript by John Steinbeck. It's the most readable version I've ever read. Still looking for a copy of my own.

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--

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Eureka, CA

Uhm, rent Domino! Those would be some pictures that are definitely NSFW.

Quote
JoeBob
Yes.
Yes, she does.

Succinct and to the point. Well done.

Paul,

Historical innaccuracies aside, King Arthur was good fun. As for books, my favorite of them by far is the Camulod Chronicles by Jack Whyte. He takes the story from long before the birth of Arthur through his death. Definitely a far more "historically accurate" version of the story than anything else I've read to date.

Robert

Robert M.
Thanks for the tip! I'll have to give that one a read!

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--

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Eureka, CA

Paul,

Trust me when I say you'll regret thanking me! It's a long series of lengthy novels. Once you get started, you'll not stop until you finish them all. They're that good! Heh! Heh! Heh! <EG> And, for the record, much more enjoyable than Firelord by Parke Godwin, another somewhat historically accurate portrayal of Arthur.

Robert

"Le Mort De Arthur" is probably the most recent of the medieval versions of the Arthur story, so it's been "Christianized" for the audience it was intended to serve.

More "archetypal" versions (older and more unadulterated) are Cretien d'Troyes' "Parsifal" and the German Wolfram von Escehnbach's "Parzival". (There's also a French children's story called "Peronik" that's kind of cool.)

If you're a guy and want to understand why you do that voodoo that you do so well, read Cretien and Wolfram.

[www.mystae.com]

Monstrously good stuff.

As I recall (which may not be accurate), "Sir Percival" (Parsifal, Parzival) wasn't related to Arthur until "Le Mort De Arthur" was compiled..

I will add those works to my ABEBooks "wants" list though

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--

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Eureka, CA

A quick googling shows me to be incorrect.... (not a big surprise! LOL!).

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--

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Eureka, CA

Boy, this has got to be a first--a thread that starts out talking about a hot babe degenerates into a discussion of literature.

hot babes and literature are mutually exclusive?

[www.booksattransworld.co.uk]