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Who steals from the rich to give to the poor? Who is the last
bastion of truth, freedom and goodness for the peasants? Who
really gets up the Sheriff of Nottingham's nose?. Robin of
Sherwood? No, contrary to popular belief, it was Marian who
led the merry men. In the continuing saga of Tony Robinson's
Maid Marian series, we find the forest dwelling troupe
getting into more scrapes and blunders to do good for the
people of Worksop. Backed up by 'thick-as-a-brick' Rabies,
aptly named Little Ron, and Rastafarian Barrington, (oh, and
Robin), Marian tackles the might of Evil King John and the
mischief of the Sheriff of Nottingham...
Following
on from the release of The
Complete Series One, Eureka Entertainment now
present us with 1990's second series of Tony Robinson's historical(ish)
comedy. These six episodes (and indeed all subsequent series)
were, almost unbelievably, never previously released on any
format, and so this 2-disc DVD set is long, long overdue.
The second series sees the welcome return of all the regular
cast, as Marian's gang of freedom-fighting misfits continue
to help the peasants of Worksop fight the tyranny of King
John and his right-hand man, the Sheriff of Nottingham, played
to greasy perfection by Robinson himself.
The
cast ensemble has grown somewhat since the first series though,
and we have new characters embroiled within the comedy conflicts
such as Rose Scargill (Marian's treacherous former best friend
and now Robin Hood's biggest fan) and Guy of Gisbourne (King
John's utterly useless and wet-behind-the-ears nephew, who
is forced to stay with the very reluctant King).
Whilst it's nice to see such a large and lively cast of characters,
this season's cast growth does have a small detrimental effect
on some of the original regulars. In particular, the introduction
of the incredibly silly Guy of Gisbourne into the King John
household seems to reduce the roles of the undisputed stars
of the show, Gary and Graeme, the King's brilliantly bumbling
guards.
The
sheer wetness of Guy does begin to grate after a short while,
and it's a shame that the character couldn't have been a little
more 'semi-regular', allowing the superb comic timing of the
Guards a bit more room to breathe. Another noticeable difference
between this series and the first is the increasingly frequent
use of anachronisms and satire. Whilst the first series remained
pretty faithful to its historical setting, the second series
begins to veer into the modern world with plenty of contemporary
references and clear political satire. This is not necessarily
a bad thing, as many of the cultural allusions are so sharply
written and downright funny (as well as being a strong pointer
to the show's future direction) although it does detract a
little from the deep-rooted wholesome magic that embodied
the first series.
Nevertheless,
these discs contain six more charming, witty and captivating
episodes of one of the best children's series ever made, and
it's great to finally have them on DVD. The Worksop Egg
Fairy is a classic example of the show, as the ignorant
villagers struggle to come to terms with the concept of a
chicken, much to Marian's increasing frustration. The Beast
Of Bolsover (a clear reference to Dennis Skinner, MP for
Bolsover) sees a rival gang of outlaws attempt a take-over
of Sherwood Forest, whilst the series is rounded off with
something of an 'epic' - Rotten Rose is, uniquely,
a two-part Maid Marian story and sees the gang in real trouble,
as both Marian and Robin are finally captured by the Sheriff
and face imminent execution.
It's good to see a marked improvement on the special features
too. The Complete Series One was let down slightly
by having Tony Robinson provide a solo commentary for just
one episode. This time round, not only do we have commentaries
for two whole episodes, but we even have some new participants
- Robinson is joined by the director, the costume designer
and the make-up artist (stop yawning at the back) for The
Beast Of Bolsover, whilst Little Brown Noses features
a much more banterous and heart-warming commentary with director
David Bell, Howard Lew Lewis (Rabies), David Lloyd (Graeme)
and Mike Edmonds (Little Ron).
Also
included in this package is another fun mini-comic, a simple
but quite slick Hunt The Chicken interactive game and
a rare chance to view an Internal Trailer in which
Robinson and the gang try to convince the BBC sales team to
get behind a new range of Maid Marian books - it's
actually quite intriguing to watch this special material,
originally intended for BBC eyes only.
This
step up in the presentation is worthy of such a truly vintage
children's comedy classic and bodes well for future releases
of the later seasons. Roll on Series Three.
Danny
Salter
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