Jim B

I love the original, I’ve watched it many times as a child and still watch it occasionally as an adult. The acting was good, the special effects were good (for the 80’s) and storytelling was good. For its day it did a fantastic job of empowering women, Madmartigan may seem like the alpha male heroic warrior, but in reality he serves Willow who in turn serves Alora Danan. The story happens to them, not because of them, they’re just looking after Alora Danan whilst empowered by Raziel and Cherlindrea, two of the three most powerful characters in the film including Bavmorda, with Sorsha as her second in command. This isn’t spelled out for us, it didn’t need to be, it’s portrayed through good storytelling. Skip to the new series and they miss the mark instantly, it’s so obvious what they’re desperately attempting to achieve. Instantly we are told, not shown, that the princess and her friend are strong capable women and her brother is a useless sap. Within a very short time we’re told, not shown, that the princess is in a gay relationship with her friend. This feels so blatantly tacked on it’s painful, without developing the characters or their relationship and showing how they grow to love each other, this instead is spelled out for us in what seems like a “Hey, this is an LGBTQ friendly series don’t you know!” The suddenness of it with absolutely no chemistry just doesn’t work at all. By all means give representation, but do it well and make it believable. I hope it at least develops into something that actually helps the story along rather than simply being what it currently appears to be, an attempt to appeal. The whole reason more realistic and arguably more subtle representation is needed is to “normalise” it, so when we see it it isn’t glaringly obvious. Look to GOT to see how it can be done more successfully. Then we’re introduced to another useless man, the other Prince, even more of a sap than the first. We get it, girl power, but do you need to write it so poorly? Speaking of poor writing, who’s idea was it to have the Queen send her inexperienced and ignorant daughter and only heir off to save the day with only a young knight, a useless prince, an old knight (Who dies without a single one of them reacting to or mourning this fact, really?) and a freshly released prisoner to accompany her to save the prince and potentially the world? Surely she has an army, well trained and experienced fighters by the dozen to do this sort of job, at least have the accompany these immature, inexperienced, naive and frankly annoying children if they in fact have to go at all, which seems unlikely. If they had escaped together and flouted the queens orders that would at least be believable, but for her to instantly and so easily agree that it’s a good idea that just they go is just unbelievable in the extreme. These horribly written plot devices are the least of the series worries. The YA vibe, terrible acting, poor jokes, denim costumes, inexplicable accents (In a medieval land full of British accents all the teens have American accents?) all repeatedly beg the question, what the hell were they thinking!? And if the episodes themselves aren’t enough to pull you out of the story and the very thin fantasy vibe, the awful modern music after every poorly written cliffhanger will certainly snap you out of it. The series does have some great visual effects and some interesting creatures/monsters, but that is about the only positive I can give.