Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands

I first turned Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands on by mistake and quickly realized that this show could be an interesting watch. I have been pleasantly surprised and at times, I have only been mildly disappointed.

If you enjoy fantasy story telling, decent sword fight choreography, and minor attempts at comedy then give it a try. I don't think you will be too disappointed.

BUT...For the people who are easily dissuaded by mid talent acting and a bit of copy cat antics then I feel you will not enjoy watching it.

A lot of people are bashing it because it is trying too hard to be Game of Thrones. The title sequence is a direct copycat and really takes away from the show. Once people see and hear it they immediately get turned off and want nothing to do with it. There are small inadequacies that push the viewer to eye rolling but most of them can be overlooked. The story isn't the strongest but you can't compare it to GoT, that is unfair. If you compare ANYTHING to GoT it would be unfair.

If I was allowed to change ONE thing only...I would take away the title sequence and replace it with something individual. I believe wholeheartedly that it's a huge issue for people and will cause the show to lose some major viewers.

Don't give up on it after the first episode. It takes a little time to get rolling. It's really not a bad watch at all. Give it a try.

Bad acting. Inaccurate view of the era/location, even considering it's based on a myth. Within the first 20 minutes of episode 1 you are introduced to a multicultural Britain. Several Africans and Indians are present. Even families who have integrated into the society. I could see MAYBE a foreign slave or two but even that would be far-fetched with no historical justification. In short, another attempt to infiltrate European history with multiculturalism and ruin a great piece of European identity. Even setting this aside, it still sucks. A clear (and horrible) attempt to ride the Vikings/Game of Thrones fanwagon.

As a complete fantasy addict who is normally very forgiving, and a lover of early history, I personally had high hopes, but this show is a huge disappointment. It is far inferior to modern series like the Vikings, Last Kingdom and Game of Thrones.

There is nothing wrong with a modern telling of an ancient story for a young audience today. To fill out and even creatively adapt the epic for a 21st century audience would be good if it was done well. This wretched mixed up travesty abuses and soils the name of one of the the original and greatest works in the English literature. It has very little to do with the original Anglo-Saxon epic of Beowulf, rather it is a badly written 21st century quasi-medieval fantasy that steals a few names from the original and begins to tell the audience a utterly different inferior story.

Good grief the whole program is a bad with below average direction, production and acting. The whole cast where wholly unconvincing and Beowulf himself was a very poor version of the super top notch warrior of English literature. And what the hell have they done with Heriot, the great hall was some weird Mayan, tolkienesque, 21st century fantasy temple hybrid, were warriors did not have banquets but mingled at cocktail parties. So many of the costumes and sets appeared to be either bad or borrowed from other fantasy productions.

I hoped for so much something as great as 'Vikings,' or 'The Last Kingdom,'but it felt like an episode of Doctor Who (i.e. more for kids and sets that look like sets). Then after a lot of irritated huffing and puffing on my part, I realised it has been made for a young audience who would get the most from this ambitious reworking and I expect these it would delight. I can't rate this properly as it wasn't made for me, but if I look back to my earlier tastes in life, am sure I'd have revelled in this show. The time slot should have given me a clue that it wasn't intended for me and all the gripes I had are answered by it being reworked for it's target audience which doesn't include me. From childhood to 24 I expect I'd have loved this version of Beowulf. I hope enough of it's target audience find it.

When i saw Beowulf in the TV listings, i immediately hoped that a decent drama had been created, based on the historical poem, and produced to a high standard. I was quickly disappointed.

Although the story is very loosely based on the old English poem about a Scandinavian monster terrorising a Danish King, that is pretty much where the similarity ends. You are very quickly introduced to CGI trolls working a in human village in place of oxen, turning a wheel. It is at this point you realise the slant is farther toward the fantasy realm drama than the historical realm drama.

In terms of the characters, they are rather cliché and lacked depth. The sets are OK in parts and in others look like cheap fantasy set pieces. They also seem inconsistent as great halls with cast relief gates in bronze are hardly likely to be the product of a 20 person village. The grandeur of some of the buildings is far out of whack with the population size and any semblance of industry or agriculture.

Casting, and cast diversity - within minutes you are introduced to characters that are obviously Indian Asian, and also Black (African). There are quite a few characters with diverse ethnic origins. Again, if you were expecting something akin to the fantastic 'Vikings' or even the Stars productions like 'Spartacus' forget it.There is no attempt at historical, cultural, or geographic realism as a backdrop for this show.

A Black male actor appears in Arabic dress who speaks with a solid south England accent. I totally get diversity in a modern TV show about modern society, or even in culturally mixed locations like Rome, but in something apparently 'based' on an AngloScandinavian tale/poem it hardly fits. This reality works in both directions, if i were watching a show about the rise of a chieftain in Africa in 300BC, then i'd hardly expect to see the cast featuring heavily with Chinese and white Australian sounding actors (it just drags you out of the show). It's another element that constantly reminds the viewer that there is no historic setting for this and it is little more than a uber low budget Lord of The Rings rip off merged merged with the title Beowulf.

If this show were targeting adults, one has to ask, who watches stuff like this? The script, acting, story seems quite immature. It does feel more like a teen show, however it is on UK TV in a late evening slot. For this reason i suspect it won't pick up the viewers, and won't make a second season.