Created by producers Julian Murphy and Johnny Capps, the new series of 'Atlantis' was revealed last night on BBC 1, taking the spot of legendary magical drama 'Merlin', produced by the very same men.
Essentially, in almost Alice in Wonderland-esque parallel, the premise of the programme is a young man named Jason who accidently travels to the Lost City of Atlantis in the search for his father who was lost at sea a few weeks previously. It is there that he will meet his great destiny, his friends, his love interests, and most importantly, his home, something which he'd never quite found in the 'ordinary world'.
Now, even from the summary, it is easy to see the similarities between this, and other 'off world-y' dramas, from Merlin, to Gladiator, even to Harry Potter, in his naive understanding of a world he's been thrown into, yet has a great power in this world all the same. The City of Atlantis can be likened to an early Roman city, in it's dress, it's people, it's design, and even it's monarchy, with the great King Minos dubiously ruling the people into fear and hatred, ensuring his passionate beliefs in the Gods are spread throughout his lands. And from there, it is quite obvious that Jason does not fit in quite like the others.
Unlike Harry Potter, however, our hero isn't quite the embodiment of magic and mystery, and is very much a 21st century boy in a 3rd century world. The clothes don't suit him, he's useless with a sword, and he questions every little decision or tradition made by the people, and this is possibly why he does make such a good main character. Although it takes him a shockingly short amount of time to settle into his new life as citizen of Atlantis, willingly giving up everything he had of the world he'd lived in for 18 years of his life, there is so much happening in the first episode that an hour of deep characterisation on 'but how shall I live without my mobile phone?' seems unnecessary.
It should be said that we are still told very little about Jason's character, however. We don't know if he had any friends, or a girlfriend, any family, if he went to school, back in the real world, as the only person we meet is a colleague of his father's, who helps him in his search. This is an unfortunate negative in the episode, though, of course there is still plenty of time to explore this in further episodes. Another thing hopefully to be explored in the continuation of the series is originality, as possibility the biggest downside to the writing here is it's almost plagiarized story lines and dialogue. The parallels to 'Merlin' are literally endless; both central characters arrive in the world they will spend the rest of their lives, and instantly begin causing problems. The both start brawls in the marketplace, both upset figures of authority, and both end up stumbling into the place they will soon call their new home, with an older figure to care for them, a love interest of a higher class, and a best friend to 'banter' with as they go about trying to save the world. As an avid fan of Merlin, it was almost embarrassingly easy to spot the similarities in the two, especially in the relationship between Jason and new best friend Pythagoras (yes, the triangle guy from all those coma-inducing Maths lessons you don't remember), played by Robert Emms, previously known by his work in War Horse alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddleston. Unlike Merlin and Arthur, their relationship is much less of a slow burner, and a lot more instantaneous, with Jason literally falling into Pythagoras' lap and rolling around on the floor with him for a while, before going on to risk his life for him later on in the episode. As ever, this relationship is clearly going to be the one to focus on, with the BBC sprouting yet another timeless bromance for audiences to get their teeth into, yet, they still haven't learned their lesson when it comes to love interests.
Ariadne, daughter of King Minos, is the unlucky lady this time around, taking an immediate interest in Jason when he accompanies Pythagoras to Minos' courtroom halfway through the episode. Played by Aiysha Hart, the princess is obviously beautiful, and whilst there is some mild staring between the two characters, the chemistry is sadly lacking, and the girl herself actually appeared to be just a reincarnated season 1 Morgana Pendragon, defying her parents brutality, befriending the plebs, doing good work behind the King's back, although it is yet to be seen whether she too will take the dark and deadly route, and become the enemy of her very own family.
A character who is clearly going to become a favourite of the series has to be Mark Addy, playing a version of Hercules you wouldn't typically expect, with his portly figure and perpetual drunken state, he appears to be Pythagoras' grumpy landlord, who joins the two boys on their adventures around the city. A figure of light comic relief, he fits into the dynamic of the lads well, though it'll be interesting to see if he can get his teeth into the more gritty, emotional story lines, and if his cowardice, which was predominantly comic in this episode, will cause problems for them all later on in the series.
Overall, the episode was an enjoyable watch, if slightly on the simplistic, predictable side, and the characters themselves were very well cast, my personal favourite being adorably nerdy Pythagoras, and whilst it's likely that I will watch next week, the writers are definitely going to have to step up their game to keep me hooked for the entire series.
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