Vikings Valhalla

[Drunk Monk]

2 eps deep in my five screeners. This will debut in late Feb.

This is based on Leif Erikson who is the only Viking I know. It takes place a century after Vikings, which was based on Ragnar Lothbok who is a historic Viking I didn’t know. 

So far so good. Viking culture is much like you’d expect. There’s internal struggle within the clans as some are pagan and some are Christian and notably, the Christians are coming off more like bad guys (but they’re Vikings so killing comes swiftly). This feels like the freshest aspect of this series - the rest is typical medieval drama. 

Leif’s sister Fredis is a major sword hawtty. Also a historic figure, I’m averting my eyes from wiki until I finish the screeners. I really don’t know much about Leif either apart from his discovery of America. 

Where did Vikings poop on long boats? Just curious.

Everyone is dirty except for royalty (cue Python ‘hasn’t got shit all over him’) and the costuming is good.

Fight choreo is decent. Lots of sword, dagger, and axe (of course) with plenty of elbow blows whilst infighting. Some good single shot sequences that go a dozen moves. Nothing too fancy, feels authentic to the period. Enough fight scenes to keep things rolling along. 

D00M recommended so far.

[Greg]

Dude. Everyone knows Brendan the Navigator was the first to the new world. Yes, an Irishman.

[Drunk Monk]

Dude. Everyone knows Brendan the Navigator was the first to the new world. Yes, an Irishman.

[Drunk Monk]

E3: yeah, I’m enjoying this. Decent characters, token history, cool costumes, and most of all, decent fights.

For some reason, no one wipes splattered blood off their face tho…

[Drunk Monk]

E4: Nice big battle scene. The strategy seemed a bit absurd but it made for decent action. Left on a cliffhanger for the last ep that I have access to but I’ll save it for tomorrow.

The archers are really good in this show as in they hit their marks pretty well. The battle tend to have some decent choreo parsed by some gratuitous gore like a close up of a slit throat or eyes getting gouged out. Still works tho. 

Theses screeners aren’t the final so some of the effects aren’t in. When I first saw a scene that still had a blue screen background, it caught me off guard because I had noticed any before. There were several in this ep for me. Kinda broke the illusion but in a cool way.

I’m inspired to start chipping at the original series. One of my dog park friends is way into Vikings - it’s her fav show. From what I’ve seen of that, this has the same tone, only with more English.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

E3: yeah, I’m enjoying this. Decent characters, token history, cool costumes, and most of all, decent fights.

For some reason, no one wipes splattered blood off their face tho…

Don't wanna ruin their eye-makeup. I've noticed a lot of heavy eye-makeup on those Vikings.

[Greg]

The Vikings knew the importance of a good foundation layer before heading into battle.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

The Vikings knew the importance of a good foundation layer before heading into battle.

Truth.

[Drunk Monk]

oh gawdammit. 

now the mascara is all I can see. I thought that was just how viking eyes were. 

Actually it's like the whole point of the show is to muss up actors' faces with blood, mud, tattoos, and war paint.

[Greg]

MASCARA!

[Drunk Monk]

E5: the last of my screeners. Fredis has a psychedelic trip.  Could’ve been trippier but exactly when she came out of it was ambiguous which felt authentic. 

Big turn of events and I’m wondering how that mirrors history but I’m not reading any until I finish this for fear of spoilers. 

At the end, Fredis is riding into battle with a new bitchin sword. Yeah, I’ll watch e6 when it comes around in late feb. Fredis is my fav character. 

I like this show and will probably start in on Vikings at some later date. Too much to watch right now.

My interviews are first thing Monday morning. If any of you have questions for an armorer or stunt director, post them. I can always use some fresh ideas.

And they don’t wear that much mascara really. They wear more mud and blood.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Q for the swordfight guys: Steel or aluminum blades? Why? How close, historically, is the clothing,arms, etc?

[Drunk Monk]

I read an interview from a previous season that said bamboo blades but I will ask that. You’d think polypropylene would be the way. Some of the regal armor looks more like fantasy and I’m not sure if that falls under the armorer or costuming but I’ll likely ask that too. Thanks!  I’ve been mulling a question about compromises with costuming in terms of design.

I’ve been thinking something about fighting style - as far as I know there’s no documentation of Viking martial arts per se, no extant treatises. Do you know of any? My copy of Thimm is packed away somewhere and I haven’t seen it in years…

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I don't know of any viking treatises. The HEMA crowd doesn't swing that way, but if you search instagram for vikings you'll see a lot of eye-shadow and face tattoos

[Drunk Monk]

Look, I'm not asking them about eye shadow, mmkay Mr. Drummer-raccoon-mascara-fan-boy? 

Good comment on HEMA tho. I should figure a way to work a HEMA related question in there. It's surely fan-service but Den is in the fan-service biz. Thanks.