The Adventures of Robin Hood

Yes, this was, indeed, a fine production. Richard Green certainly brought the character of Robin Hood to sparkling life with a dashing personality and great conviction. Australia's own Errol Flynn did a pretty good job as well.

These shows were fun. They made history entertaining.

It's a shame that kids don't have this sort of educational fare to fire their imagination these days.

Period films and television series have frequently come in for a great deal of criticism over the years and much of the flack has been entirely justified.

However, some of the better productions which have graced both the big and small screens have presented tales of earlier times in a way that the printed word has often been unable to.

The small town in Washington where I grew up had only one television station in the late 1950's. It was a CBS-affiliated station but seemed to run more syndicated programming than network stuff. One of these syndicated shows that is remembered fondly by pretty much every baby boomer kid in Kennewick, WA. was "The Adventures of Robin Hood" with Richard Greene. All the bigger budgeted Robin Hoods pale in comparison--and I don't think this is just nostalgia talking. This version of Robin Hood was very British (as it should be) and great fun to watch.

I have very fond memories of this series from when it was first aired in Britain in the fifties. In fact, it was my favourite at the time. I remember being amazed that, in one episode, Robin Hood had an 'evil twin' who could appear in the same shots as him. I also used to love the sword-fighting. And, of course, there was that moment when Robin said 'I have a plan . . . ' and the scene faded out . . .

I saw some of the episodes again more recently and realised from an adult perspective how good it really was: the goodies were good, the baddies were bad and the actors didn't mumble!

But what I still haven't found out is how the look-out always managed to shoot his arrow with the message wrapped round it into the tree in Robin Hood's camp without pranging someone!

Of all the shows that I watched when I was a child, this is the one I liked the most. I loved the show - and I loved Richard Greene. He was remarkably good looking and charming. The Sheriff of Nottingham was a dastardly villain with no sense of humor. Robin and his merry band not only defeated the Sheriff in every show, they did it with grace and humor. Unlike most shows of the 50's, Marian did not just sit around in a long dress waiting to be rescued. She put on her tights and fought. I don't remember her using a sword very much, but she was an excellent archer. Looking back after over 40 years, I realize that the relationship between Robin and Marian was more that of pals than lovers as befitted a Saturday morning show for kids. Part of me would like to see it again, but another part me is afraid that it would lose some of it's golden glow. I feel sorry for the kids today. They get endless violent cartoon shows that are only created to sell merchandise. They will never thrill to

"Robin Hood, Robin Hood Riding through the glen, Robin Hood, Robin Hood With his band of men, Feared by the Bad Loved by good Robin Hood, Robin Hood, Robin Hood."

I watched this series as a child while in Whitney, England, and have many fond memories of it. Much to my delight I found a Video with three of the original episodes and found that it really was a very enjoyable show, even at my current age of 56!