The Legend of Merlin (serial): Difference between revisions

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The Legend of Merlin was the sixth story of Season 40. It was written by Ben Aaronovitch, directed by Hettie MacDonald and featured Richard Griffiths as the Doctor, Lisa Bowerman as Bernice Summerfield and John Banks as Henrick.

Synopsis

The TARDIS crashes on a parallel world in the 1000s. The Doctor is mistaken for a wizard and is sentenced to death by the evil Morgaine. The Doctor avoids death only to find that Morgaine isn’t just anyone, she is a sorceress.

That’s when it hit the Doctor: This all seemed very familiar.

He is to become Merlin and he is to banish Morgaine to imprisonment for all eternity, ready for her to return to battle his former self.

Plot

Part 1

To be added.

Part 2

To be added.

Part 3

To be added.

Part 4

To be added.

Cast

To be added

Crew

To be added.

Memorable Quotes

To be added.

Background Information

Development

Pre-Production

To be added.

Production

To be added.

Post-Production

To be added.

Reaction

Viewers at the time were happy to see the doctors return for the 40th. Fans and critics responded overwhelmingly to the return of Griffiths, but more to Ben Aaronovitch writing the story with many feeling very nostalgic with the use of action and tension that still held up to their expectations. However, a few were critical of continuity references used to Battlefield, as well as most stories in this season.

Speaking to DWM in 2011, Aaronovitch said: "Watching the story back was such a treat. It was really helpful that out of most other stories, this one was prepared years in advance. I wrote Battlefield beforehand, so I knew what I was doing for those who though they spotted so many differences. The only thing I would've done to make the whole experience worthwhile was to have more confidence during my time and simply say "Yes, I think we should do this to understand the whole Merlin concept more" instead of keeping hold of it for ages. But I think looking back, the story suited Season 40 more as it had a much better budget (to make everything feel old!) and it was the time where everyone could look back fondly on the last 40 years of Doctor Who, which thankfully avoided more fans being new to the Merlin idea and not understanding it."

Story Notes

To be added.

Continuity

To be added.

Home Video Releases

VHS

This story was first released on VHS in 2003.

DVD

This story along with the other stories in Season 40 were included in the Complete Season 40 Box Set released in December 2003.
This story was included in The Complete Richard E Grant Era (DVD Box Set) in April 2012.
This story was included in the Complete Richard Griffiths Era (DVD Box Set) as a Bonus Disc.

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 ==Background Information==
 ===Development===
+*
-* During [[Ben Aaronovitch]]'s time as Script Editor, he planned out a story to be based around the events of Battlefield which he wrote some years earlier. The idea was that it would see the then-current Eighth Doctor become Merlin after battling Morgaine before his former self, and this would serve as a prequel to Battlefield.
-* Aaronovitch planned to pen the story for [[Season 32 (Doctor Who)|Season 32]] as the second story of the season. However, he felt that something like this could be used for the future for another writer to do this, but kept his script in case.
-* By mid-2002 with the 40th anniversary approaching, Aaronovitch met up with [[Russell T Davies]] in the hopes to write the story; seeing as no-one took his concept yet. Ben was in great luck as Davies briefly explained the outline of [[Season 40 (Doctor Who)|Season 40]] which saw Doctors 4-9 have one story each, and that Eight had yet to have one.
-* After penning Aaronovitch, Davies then told producer [[Chris Sanderman]] about the concept, who was thrilled to hear about Ben writing for the season, specifically the Eighth Doctor.
 ===Pre-Production===
@@ Line 42: / Line 38: @@
 ===Reaction===
 * Viewers at the time were happy to see the doctors return for the 40th. Fans and critics responded overwhelmingly to the return of Griffiths, but more to Ben Aaronovitch writing the story with many feeling very nostalgic with the use of action and tension that still held up to their expectations. However, a few were critical of continuity references used to Battlefield, as well as most stories in this season.
-Speaking to DWM in 2011, Aaronovitch said: ''"Watching the story back was such a treat. It was really helpful that out of most other stories, this one was prepared years in advance. I wrote Battlefield beforehand, so I knew what I was doing for those who though they spotted so many differences. The only thing I would've done to make the whole experience worthwhile was to have more confidence during my time and simply say "Yes, I think we should do this to understand the whole Merlin concept more" instead of keeping hold of it for ages. But I think looking back, the story suited Season 40 more as it had a much better budget (to make everything feel old!) and it was the time where everyone could look back fondly on the last 40 years of Doctor Who, which thankfully avoided more fans being new to the Merlin idea and not understanding it."''
+* Speaking to DWM in 2011, Aaronovitch said: ''"Watching the story back was such a treat. It was really helpful that out of most other stories, this one was prepared years in advance. I wrote Battlefield beforehand, so I knew what I was doing for those who though they spotted so many differences. The only thing I would've done to make the whole experience worthwhile was to have more confidence during my time and simply say "Yes, I think we should do this to understand the whole Merlin concept more" instead of keeping hold of it for ages. But I think looking back, the story suited Season 40 more as it had a much better budget (to make everything feel old!) and it was the time where everyone could look back fondly on the last 40 years of Doctor Who, which thankfully avoided more fans being new to the Merlin idea and not understanding it."''
 ===Story Notes===
 To be added.