1. Hey, another good example of this is the Doctor… XD (Nope, not worked out of my system yet) 

    Oohhhh, Merlin gets better? I watched seven episodes and got bored. Can I skip to the end of the season?

    I generally quite enjoy the juxtaposition of light and dark. Particularly as in Doctor Who. Hehe. 
     

    • Kaci says:

      Merlin’s much more episodic, but it’s fun. You probably could, I suppose. The last two go together.  But you’re almost *at* the end of the season, if you watched  seven of them. 

      I like DW, but Merlin better demonstrated the “light” side of things, at least to me. You’re right; DW does do that. But in this instance I just went with Merlin because it’s lighter on the whole.

      The shows I watch tend to be a bit dark, so turning on Merlin helps me out.  But yeah, Merlin gets better. Season two is better than season one, I think.   They worked more with character development this round. (And tried really hard to make me pity Uther. They did try hard.)

      • I got bored for a couple of reasons: 

        (1) Okay, I was really disappointed that Merlin uses spells. I thought he was going to be different, the one kid who had natural magic while everyone else forced it. I called him Jedi-Merlin and it was a lot of fun. Until the end of episode 1.

        (2) the formula of each episode. Magical thing attacks in some way. Merlin saves them. Without revealing himself.

        But it was fun, the antics of the characters. It just didn’t last. 😛 (Not like DW. XD)

        I think it depends on which episode you watch of DW. Series 5, for example, is tons lighter than series 4 or 6. (And series 5 happens to be the one that I always refer back to because it’s my favorite. XD) Rather than Merlin which seems to be light all the time. (It’s not even that serious when people are going to die because we know they won’t…)  

    • Kaci says:

       
      (1) Okay, I was really disappointed that Merlin uses spells. I thought he was going to be different, the one kid who had natural magic while everyone else forced it. I called him Jedi-Merlin and it was a lot of fun. Until the end of episode 1.
       
      I thought that was interesting too, because he’s supposed to be powerful enough to not need them. I’m curious to see how that plays out.  I expected that to stop after the finale of season one.   From what I can tell, the spells are more like ‘training wheels.’  He can’t control it yet, and he really should be using the spells less over time.  But I really think Gaius is holding him back in many respects.  Either that or the writers realized there’d never be a chance of him getting caught if he never had to speak the spell.  It’s getting harder. I half thing Arthur has to legitimately be suspicious and simply deciding not to confirm it (cuz then he’d have to do something about it).
       
      (2) the formula of each episode. Magical thing attacks in some way. Merlin saves them. Without revealing himself.
      Haha. I’ll admit I’m ready for them to change it up sometimes.  It works out better when they start focusing on other characters for a bit. Arthur really starts to own in season two. I really like him now.
       
      But it was fun, the antics of the characters. It just didn’t last. (Not like DW. XD)
      In all fairness, it took me awhile to warm up to DW.
       
      I think it depends on which episode you watch of DW. Series 5, for example, is tons lighter than series 4 or 6. (And series 5 happens to be the one that I always refer back to because it’s my favorite. XD)
       
      I agree on DW. But like I said, I chose to use Merlin because it’s mostly lighter.
       
      Rather than Merlin which seems to be light all the time. (It’s not even that serious when people are going to die because we know they won’t…) 
      Haha. You have no idea, my friend. 0=) Get to season two.
       
      In all fairness, I can make that charge against 99% of what I read or watch. The trick is in how they survive.  

      Again, that’s why I picked Merlin: The darkness (siege warfare, dark magic, nasty rituals, doomed characters) is never dismissed, but it’s never dwelt on too much.  It’s there, but they don’t hammer me with it. After DW, Criminal Minds, and a plethora of dark-themed whodunit shows, I’m ready for something less psychologically taxing.
       
      Really, it’s part of what I call a necessary purge phase. As a writer, after I write something dark, I have to go purge – there’s a variety of ways to do it, but I have to purge the poison I’ve taken in. Same as a reader/viewer.  After the finale of DW and a rather dark Criminal Minds episode, I was ready for something less taxing. Merlin does it for me. (I”d go for a book, but I’m not sure I own that many.)

  2. Galadriel says:

    My first introduction to the term “Chiaroscuro” was in Kate DiCamello’s novel “The Tale of Despeaurux, where it’s the name of a rat.  

    Jenni and Kaci, I love how we tie in Doctor Who to almost everything. And the fifth season is my favorite too.  The Doctor has a lot of chiaroscuroic moments…the Family of Blood comes to mind. 

  3. Great post, Kaci. I love this idea of showing light in such a way that it sets off the dark. It’s the inverse of what many people say, but I think it mirrors spiritual reality. It’s when we see God’s love and Christ’s sacrifice that we realize our own righteousness is filthy stuff, not good at all. The light illuminates and it also contrasts. Good, good thoughts.

     

    Becky

  4. (Anyone know what happened to our comments? On my browser everything looks like it’s in Bold font. Very annoying.)

  5. Kaci says:

    My first introduction to the term “Chiaroscuro” was in Kate DiCamello’s novel “The Tale of Despeaurux, where it’s the name of a rat. 
     
    haha. A friend introduced it to me. I loved the idea.
    Great post, Kaci. I love this idea of showing light in such a way that it sets off the dark. It’s the inverse of what many people say, but I think it mirrors spiritual reality. It’s when we see God’s love and Christ’s sacrifice that we realize our own righteousness is filthy stuff, not good at all. The light illuminates and it also contrasts. Good, good thoughts.
    I just got to thinking, after awhile, too much darkness and even the speck of light seems dark. After awhile dark humor is  just dark humor – it can only push back the darkness for so long. It’s a shade of gray in the middle of the blackness. But pure, unadulterated light exposes the tiniest thing that crosses its path.
     

  6. Fred Warren says:

    To quote a different  incarnation of Merlin: “For every high there is a low, for every to there is a fro…”

    Not a lot of chiaroscuro going on in that version, but I thought the idea of Merlin winning a wizard’s duel by becoming a contagious bacterium was genius.

What do you think?