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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2014 5:51:16 GMT 1
I just thought I'd start a thread about an amazing show Linders and I discovered called " Vikings".  I gave the Blu-Ray set of the first season to Linders as a Christmas Gift, and we just finished watching the last episode last night... and ran through the first 6 episodes again tonight (yes, all in a row in one night) so as to show the awesomeness that is "Vikings" to our best friend. "Vikings" is based on the stories of the raiding / exploring Norsemen in early medieval Scandinavia, and the story focuses on Ragnar Lodbrok, an actual historical figure - though the show is a rather fictionalized version of Ragnar's adventures. I absolutely love the characters, so very well-acted, especially Floki the Shipbuilder and resident definer of the trope "Beware The Silly Ones":  ...and also Lagertha the Shieldmaiden and stunningly beautiful badass warrior woman:  I highly recommend the show, and I hope other people who like it as well will enjoy discussing it here in this thread. |
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Post by CAPT Issac R. Madden on Jan 5, 2014 6:55:05 GMT 1
I fucking LOVE that series. I have a serious crush on Lagertha. Bonus: the actress actually looks is the type that could rock out on a shield wall for a full battle and still rock a man's world all night if she wanted to. ETA: and she's Canadian.  |
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Post by jklinders on Jan 5, 2014 12:32:30 GMT 1
The show is VERY well cast IMHO. There is some bitching and moaning about about not being historically accurate on the IMDB boards but damn me if those idiots completely refuse to be specific about how. I especially enjoy how Athelston, the priest has a conflict about his preconceptions of their savagery continually rocked and then reaffirmed the more he learns about them. As they are both more civilized and more savage than first appearance the same time.
The fellow who plays Ragnar is a very intense looking man. He brings enough crazy in to sell the barbarian warrior element, but is very convincing as an unually intelligent and insightful warrior in his culture.
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Post by Tillian Panthesis on Jan 5, 2014 13:24:49 GMT 1
Well, it's a docudrama, it's difficult to have a mixed balance between accuracy and some good storytelling, especially if thefacts are sometimes a bit mundane or something.
But anyway, I have heard of it, but I haven't seen it yet. I was curious about the show before, but now your recommendations had me intrigue. I'll check it out when I have the chance.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2014 13:25:04 GMT 1
I fucking LOVE that series. I have a serious crush on Lagertha. Bonus: the actress actually looks is the type that could rock out on a shield wall for a full battle and still rock a man's world all night if she wanted to. ETA: and she's Canadian. We thought you'd like it...  And I agree with you about Lagertha - she is beautiful, and badass, and one of my favorite lines in the show was when she said to the two wanna-be rapists in the first episode "You couldn't kill me if you tried for a hundred years." Just the calm, cool way she said it, and the fact that she turned her back on them (however briefly) when she turned toward the forge where her sword was... shows how confident she was in her ability to kick their arses. I loved how the only emotion she showed there was after she beat them up and sent them on their way, and she started running looking for her daughter - no fear for herself, just concern for her daughter's safety. I love love love her... And I love Floki, how silly he comes across with the twitching and the semi-prancing and the hysterical giggling, but when he is on a raid, and when something makes him serious, he turns off the silly and in the blink of an eye he's terrifying. Not a man one would want to cross... And I find it awesome that the actor who plays Floki (Gustaf Skarsgård) is the son of actor Stellan Skarsgård, who played Dr Erik Selvig in Thor / Thor: The Dark World / The Avengers... and is the brother of Alexander Skarsgård, who plays Erik Northman in TrueBlood... such a talented family! I'm getting very excited for Season Two of Vikings... |
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Post by CAPT Issac R. Madden on Jan 5, 2014 16:09:46 GMT 1
The show is VERY well cast IMHO. There is some bitching and moaning about about not being historically accurate on the IMDB boards but damn me if those idiots completely refuse to be specific about how. I especially enjoy how Athelston, the priest has a conflict about his preconceptions of their savagery continually rocked and then reaffirmed the more he learns about them. As they are both more civilized and more savage than first appearance the same time. The fellow who plays Ragnar is a very intense looking man. He brings enough crazy in to sell the barbarian warrior element, but is very convincing as an unually intelligent and insightful warrior in his culture. The actor who plays Ragnar is Travis Fimmel: best known for his time as a model for Calvin Klein. And I completely agree about the priest. |
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Post by CAPT Issac R. Madden on Jan 5, 2014 16:11:24 GMT 1
I fucking LOVE that series. I have a serious crush on Lagertha. Bonus: the actress actually looks is the type that could rock out on a shield wall for a full battle and still rock a man's world all night if she wanted to. ETA: and she's Canadian. We thought you'd like it... And I agree with you about Lagertha - she is beautiful, and badass, and one of my favorite lines in the show was when she said to the two wanna-be rapists in the first episode "You couldn't kill me if you tried for a hundred years." Just the calm, cool way she said it, and the fact that she turned her back on them (however briefly) when she turned toward the forge where her sword was... shows how confident she was in her ability to kick their arses. I loved how the only emotion she showed there was after she beat them up and sent them on their way, and she started running looking for her daughter - no fear for herself, just concern for her daughter's safety. I love love love her... And I love Floki, how silly he comes across with the twitching and the semi-prancing and the hysterical giggling, but when he is on a raid, and when something makes him serious, he turns off the silly and in the blink of an eye he's terrifying. Not a man one would want to cross... And I find it awesome that the actor who plays Floki (Gustaf Skarsgård) is the son of actor Stellan Skarsgård, who played Dr Erik Selvig in Thor / Thor: The Dark World / The Avengers... and is the brother of Alexander Skarsgård, who plays Erik Northman in TrueBlood... such a talented family! I'm getting very excited for Season Two of Vikings... I also love how she reacted to Ragnar not taking her on his first raid in England: shield-bashed him right in the mush while he was drunk. Seriously, if she was my wife, I wouldn't give her up for anything. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2014 16:46:53 GMT 1
We thought you'd like it... And I agree with you about Lagertha - she is beautiful, and badass, and one of my favorite lines in the show was when she said to the two wanna-be rapists in the first episode "You couldn't kill me if you tried for a hundred years." Just the calm, cool way she said it, and the fact that she turned her back on them (however briefly) when she turned toward the forge where her sword was... shows how confident she was in her ability to kick their arses. I loved how the only emotion she showed there was after she beat them up and sent them on their way, and she started running looking for her daughter - no fear for herself, just concern for her daughter's safety. I love love love her... And I love Floki, how silly he comes across with the twitching and the semi-prancing and the hysterical giggling, but when he is on a raid, and when something makes him serious, he turns off the silly and in the blink of an eye he's terrifying. Not a man one would want to cross... And I find it awesome that the actor who plays Floki (Gustaf Skarsgård) is the son of actor Stellan Skarsgård, who played Dr Erik Selvig in Thor / Thor: The Dark World / The Avengers... and is the brother of Alexander Skarsgård, who plays Erik Northman in TrueBlood... such a talented family! I'm getting very excited for Season Two of Vikings... I also love how she reacted to Ragnar not taking her on his first raid in England: shield-bashed him right in the mush while he was drunk. Seriously, if she was my wife, I wouldn't give her up for anything. I loved what she said too, when Ragnar protested over her smacking him - when she said (I can't remember the exact quote) something along the lines of: "Never mind that - defend yourself!" right after knocking him flat on his arse with a shield-bash to the head... and when their son breaks up thir fight and then after Bjorn leaves the room, she just hauls off and gets one last whack upside Ragnar's head... I love her... |
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Post by CAPT Issac R. Madden on Jan 5, 2014 17:19:04 GMT 1
Fun fact: Katheryn Winnick is actually a skilled fighter in real life. She's a black belt, has been training since she was 7 years old, and by age 21 had opened 3 of her own schools. I like her a hell of a lot more than the Jarl's wife and that Sweedish princess.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2014 21:03:32 GMT 1
In reference to the Jarl's wife (if you're referring to Siggy, the wife of Jarl Haraldsson who is played by Gabriel Byrne - another fantastic actor!), I actually rather like her but for different reasons - she's kind of eerie-looking, with the heavily-Kohl'd eyes and the wide-eyed stare she does, and I do like how her character progresses over the season. I did not like the character of Aslaug the princess at all; she irritated me a bit... but really, Lagertha is the best female character on the show... and I did not know that Katheryn Winnick was a fighter in real life - but that could be why she looks so natural as a warrior in the show.
Either way, she's awesome.
And Floki is hilarious.
And the actor who played Erik is Vladimir Kulich, who was the voice of Ulfric Stormcloak in Skyrim!
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Post by CAPT Issac R. Madden on Jan 5, 2014 21:34:57 GMT 1
I was pleasantly surprised by how well-done this series is given it's a History Channel production. Lately it's been nothing but bullshit reality shows and creepy Greek guys saying aliens are responsible for things he doesn't have any knowledge about. From Ragnar to Floki, everyone's giving a memorable performance. I actually watched Vikings over Game of Thrones when both were running in the same time slot down here. By the way, all this Viking talk made me go to Barnes and Noble to pick up a book on Viking history. |
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Post by jklinders on Jan 5, 2014 21:57:40 GMT 1
I was pleasantly surprised by how well-done this series is given it's a History Channel production. Lately it's been nothing but bullshit reality shows and creepy Greek guys saying aliens are responsible for things he doesn't have any knowledge about. Required meme pic  Ragnar is probably as much fiction as history, but it's really hard to say what's real as the only crap written down about him was by the people who he stomped on for however many years. The sagas are going to be pretty heavily embellished. I have always loved the Norse mythos though. They had a wondrous and rich imagination regarding their gods and the creation (and eventual death) of the world. |
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Post by Clint Johnston on Jan 5, 2014 22:37:42 GMT 1
Whilst historical accounts of one particular viking may be limited, historical accounts of vikings in general are pretty much everywhere they existed. So this is definitely on my To-Do list of shows. Right now I'm enjoying "Sherlock" and "The Americans".
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Post by CAPT Issac R. Madden on Jan 5, 2014 23:12:36 GMT 1
Well there is one thing that I do know about the Norse. They had a concept called "word-fame" in that they thought that if one lived a short, but famed life that one would gain a kind of immortality as people would speak of your exploits long after your death which was preferred over living a long but mediocre life. It seems that the Vikings of old would be proud of the word-fame that they've achieved.
On another note: I like how they choreographed the fights in the series. It's refreshing to see a reasonably accurate depiction of warfare vice the Matrix-esque bullshit that was "Troy".
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Post by jklinders on Jan 6, 2014 0:39:32 GMT 1
Indeed, most of the melee was as short, un-embellished and brutal as would be expected from sword combat. The swords master for the show has a European name rather than the Japanese choreographers that have been made very popular since the Matrix movies. I think that has made all of the difference.
On a funny side note, the scene where the raiders are feasting in The English king's castle reminded me of the scene in The Hobbit where the dwarves are feasting at Rivendell. It was too easy to see the dwarves commenting on how weird the English were.
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