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© Companions of the Longbow
Robin of Sherwood. A 1984 TV show reviewed by Mark Tustian.
Firstly, let's look at the downside of watching a 20+ year old television series and get the major negative points out of the way.
Firstly the special effects aren't going to be on par with something you can see today. There's a lot of smoke, coloured lights and slow picture dissolves whereas today you'd get a lot more computer generated effects and sophisticated camera moves. Unfortunately there's also a manifestation in a later episode of a 'demon' which looks like a plastic toy you could win at the local amusement arcade (but as if a nod by the makers on the naffness of the 'demon' it appears again on the blooper reel).
If you can accept the inevitable limitations of a 1984 TV series prepare to enjoy yourself. And to be honest, for 99% of the time you don't need special effects to create a great show. You just need good actors, great scripts and great settings. "Robin of Sherwood" thankfully has all of these.
The music was performed by the Irish band Clanned and was a major plus for the show with one of the best TV title songs ever. However the show does suffer from what I like to call "eighties power chord" syndrome. What I mean by this is that occasionally there's a dramatic moment which, perhaps if this were to be done again today would be met with swirling violins or the natural sounds of a piano or guitar chord. However this was the eighties so all they needed to do was switch on their Yamaha keyboard, select 'power chord' from the instrument memory, wind up the volume and DA-DAAAA! You get used to it after a while but it's jarring the first time you hear it (watch Richard Donner's 1985 film "Ladyhawke" if you really want to see how badly something can age just by having an eighties electronic soundtrack).
And finally the ending of each episode now seems a bit odd. I can't quite put my finger on it but sometimes it seems like the makers finished the story and just decided to end the episode with a quick call of 'cut'. Perhaps I've been spoiled by too many shows which are finished with one of those clichéd and cheesy joke moments where the cast is frozen in the act of laughing at the comedy sidekick doing something stupid? Who knows?
Anyway, now on to the good things.
Robin of Loxley played by Michael Praed for the first two seasons