The department heads at the BBC certainly worked hard to impress upon their audience the need to religiously watch and follow their brand new fantasy drama series - Atlantis. The idea behind it was to provide a new programme to fill the void left by Merlin, which chronicled the younger years of Merlin and King Arthur. It was a series which ran for five seasons, amassed global acclaim and legions of fans (including yours truly). So, after viral marketing campaigns, blazing social media trails, and cinema-style previews, Atlantis hit our screens. That was several weeks ago, and we are now eight episodes into the new series. Now, as Atlantis takes a slight week long break in its run to make way for the stonking anniversary event of Doctor Who (one assumes the BBC wanted to give the Timelord the predominance of the spotlight) I think its a good time to reflect.
Well in a word, I rather like it. As with other TV shows, it has to be said Merlin included, I was not immediately blown away from episode one, and I am reserving total judgement until the last of this series at least. Yet I am definitely hooked enough to keep on coming back for more. Atlantis for me started strongly enough and has gradually evolved and ingrained itself more and more with the viewing audience. In terms of plot, there certainly are enough elements of action, love, drama and comedy per episode to thrill and retain audiences. The plotlines and characters are of course routed and based upon Greek mythology, tales of ancient gods, heroes and monsters.
The classicist in me was split two ways. On the one hand, my interest was pricked upon recognizing all these names and references, and on the other I was quite confused and a tad dissapointed to see that the writers are taking constants and episodes of Greek mythology and then tearing them quite asunder. The result, from a strictly academic and a mythological point of view, is a right muddle. However, I am very aware that as each week passes, there is a resolute web of intrigue threading through what they have done with these mythical characters, and how they have brought in elements that seem alien, but somehow work, and seem to be leading to something incredible. I do not wish to provide any spoilers here, but whatever your knowledge of Greek mythology I do feel that it is certainly worth watching.
In terms of casting, I feel Atlantis is a slightly mixed bag, but one generally swaying toward the positive. Newcomer Jack Donnelly plays the lead hero Jason, and whilst his acting is strong and consistent, there is for me quite an air of the one-dimensional about him. As yet he just seems to be scraping by with his leading man status, the action is there and so is the intrigue, but this character still seems to be a slow burner (a rare find I feel with a leading character) which is fine, but will not be forever. I just hope we get to see Jason's character cover some ground before interest is lost.
There are many highlights among the cast however. Renowned acting staples Sarah Parish and Juliet Stevenson play the striking and manipulative Pasiphae and the mysterious, ethereal Oracle respectively. Robert Emms' Pythagoras provides comedy as well as fragile drama, and Jemima Rooper plays Medusa in a beautiful but reserved way. The stand out star by a mile for me though is Hercules, as you've never seen him before, played by the incomparable Mark Addy. The character of Hercules hits you every week with a bombardment of character and comedy, which Addy delivers wonderfully, and yet when the time comes the tables are turned effortlessly to heartbreaking drama, and often a fantastic mix of the two. Yes indeed for me Mark Addy is currently the star of this ensemble, and I am very glad he is recieving star billing and praise thus far.
So, hype aside, I do believe that Atlantis is definitely worth watching and sticking with. Time will tell if it is a match for established BBC offerings like Merlin or dare I say it Doctor Who, but judged upon its own merits without comparisons and I do feel that we could be potentially watching Atlantis for a while yet.
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