Dark Knight

Extremely predictable and cheesy and campy perfect for any true fan of this kinda stuff. The fight scenes are so bad it is hard not to cringe the acting is so sophomoric that you feel sorry for the director and the story is so overplayed and overdone that simply reading the description let's you know episode by episode what will happen next.

We rented this as a DVD called "Darkest Knight," based on the DVD cover and the description, which implied it featured dragon battles (it appealed to our five-year-old). Within a minute of watching, it was apparent that this was a TV series, not a movie.

The acting is frighteningly over the top. Ben Pullen was very charming in the romantic comedy "The Intern," but here he chews the scenery up -- but not as much as the show baddie, Mordour (yes, someone was reading Tolkien). All of the acting is beyond earnest -- old-school theatrical, and not very good, either.

The story of Ivanhoe is interesting enough on its own, but this series tries in vain to affect the location, style and appeal of the HERCULES and XENA series, but is, in reality, humorless.

The special effects are really laughable -- there's much better supernatural effects to be found on BUFFY and ANGEL. It's closer to "Power Rangers" than it is anything remotely like what Ivanhoe should be like.

Like most of the other users I rented this under the title "The Darkest Knight" It's pretty obvious after the first minute that this is a TV show edited to look like a movie. (You'll notice that there are two "sequals" in the video store. (I've only rented the first two "movies") Why they just didn't market it as a show I don't know, probably because to my knowledge it has never aired in my area.

Word to the wise: despite the cover picture there are NO DRAGONS.

The story is straitforward though Ivanhoe is more like Robin Hood. It's bad, but bad enough to be funny. I enjoyed it and thought it was funny. (A scene in the first episode is almost word for word from a famous Star Wars scene)

So, if you are of the opinion that bad things are funny this is a good one for you.

A series well worth watching if you are into sword and and sorcery shows. There are fun characters and lots of great CGI effects. A show that the family can watch, but of course not to be taken too seriously. Great scenery and because of the British production style it has a feel different and in my view better than the usual American effort of this genre.

Don't tune in for hyper-realistic depictions of history. Tune in for fun costumes, overacting, interchangeable set pieces, comedy, sword fights, taverns, maidens, monsters, magic and wizards.

It's all done purposely, it doesn't take itself very seriously. But it also isn't laughing at or insulting the viewer by mailing it in and being cynical.

Each episode has the heroes faced with another mystery, another bad guy or another quest to go on. Of course they win, of course the bad guys lose and of course we laugh along the way. That's what it's all about!

It's a lot of fun if you're into this kind of old school adventure show. Fans of the genre will love it.