From the creators of Merlin comes a new fantasy drama series, Atlantis, set in a world of legendary heroes and mythical creatures. Last night, Atlantis premièred with its first episode, The Earth Bull, and despite not being immediately gripping, it does show some promise for the series.
Atlantis stars Jack Donnelly as Jason (presumably of Argonauts fame), a young man who takes a submarine down into the ocean in an attempt to find his missing father. But something most irregular happens to Jason’s sub, and he suddenly finds himself marooned - and inexplicably clothes-less - on an unknown shore. With nothing more than the pendant his father once gave him and a pile of clothes he finds on the shoreline, Jason makes his way inland and comes across a vast and impressive looking city.
After a wild chase through a market, involving a number of city guards and a two-headed lizard, Jason is rescued by a young Pythagoras (Robert Emms) and we learn that this is the city of Atlantis, before the fall. Although Pythagoras is more than happy to take in the perplexed Jason, his house-mate Hercules (Mark Addy) is less than enthused by this newcomer’s arrival…
From here, the story borrows elements from the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur, as the Atlantean people are brought before King Minos (Alexander Siddig) in an annual ritual to draw stones; a white stone means that one is safe, but a black stone means that they are one of the seven to be sacrificed to the Minotaur and appease the gods. Offering himself in place of Pythagoras (who drew a black stone), Jason is taken with six others to face the Minotaur, with only a spool of thread given to him by Minos’s daughter, Ariadne (Aiysha Hart), to help him retrace his path back out of the cave...
This opening episode of the series shows promise for the future. With impressive, detailed sets and costumes, and fantastically rendered CGI in the form of the Minotaur and the aforementioned two-headed lizard, Atlantis certainly has a wonderful aesthetic feel to it. The cast provide excellent performances throughout, with Emms’s slightly awkward, bumbling yet brilliant Pythagoras, Addy’s subversive take on Hercules, and Donnelly’s portrayal of a man finding his feet in this unknown land. They’ve set up a truly talented triumvirate to lead the show.
However, the story did fall short on a few occasions, and this could largely be due to it being the pilot and having to establish its Universe. Jason adapts to life in Atlantis exceedingly quickly, suddenly being able to perform such unlikely athletic feats as jumping on to the city’s wall, swinging from a pole to propel himself upwards, and he takes on the hero’s mantel fairly early on in the story. However, this could be connected to his special destiny that the Oracle (Juliet Stevenson) mentions to him shortly after his arrival on Atlantis. But at least he’s not particularly good with a sword (worse than Pythagoras, as it turns out)! There is also a substantial amount of expository dialogue from the Oracle, as she explains how Jason was born in Atlantis, that there’s a gateway between their worlds, and that he has many enemies here who would kill him if they found out who he was. This exposition does feel quite heavy, especially for the first episode, but it does help to establish the character and the story that is starting to unfold.
That’s not to say it wasn’t good, by any means. It was certainly an enjoyable opening episode, and the incorporation of various recognisable myths and legends was done exceedingly well (although I must admit the confrontation with the Minotaur felt a little anticlimactic). There are also some elements of intrigue introduced in this episode which will no doubt be expanded upon in future episodes: Who is Jason really, and what is his destiny? Who are those who would wish to stop him, and why?
All in all, the first episode of Atlantis was a good opening to the series; although the dialogue seemed overly expository at times, and the story occasionally fell short, it was an overall enjoyable viewing. Pilots are often a shaky start for any series, and The Earth Bull certainly shows some promise for the future of Atlantis. I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of the series pans out.
If you missed the first episode of Atlantis, you can catch it on BBC iPlayer here.
No comments:
Post a Comment