That sounds really cool. I saw some commercials and it looked absolutely ridiculous and not worth watching at all, they were really downplaying the retelling of King David story part of it. I'll check it out online sometime.
TBH I'm extremely surprised that this is a NBC show, and not something on HBO or Showtime. The quality is very impressive and story pulled me right in. I'll certainly be keeping up with this one.
I caught the last hour of the two hour premiere. Pretty awesome from what I saw. I gotta watch it on NBC now, but I think I may be hooked unless it goes downhill after a few episodes. That bit at the end with the butterflies was a good touch.
I checked it out solely because Ian McShane is a badass (Swigin!) and I absolutely loved it. I felt like I was watching a movie, and I was really impressed by the quality of the whole thing.
Honestly I didn't even pay notice to the whole David vs Goliath thing until after I watched the episode and saw the comments on Hulu, and then I had an "Ohhhhhh yeah," moment.
OH crap! I've been seeing posters all around for this. Can't believe I missed it already. Hopefully they'll replay it. Errrr.....I guess there's always hulu since it's NBC.
It felt like an understudy of Scott Card made a television series.
I think that the main thing that is going to carry it, is the setting. With a mixture of familiar and unfamiliar design in the cities, uniforms, names, and locations, it has that all-pervasive element of totality. Known countries are not being made to do unnatural things; in this case, it is the inverse. The butterflies are sorta strange though.
I wish Goliath had still been a person in this flick. This show is ok so far. But David sorta comes off as an unsure rigid wimp though compared to the David of the bible during this time. The David of the bible was much more confident. Price of modern interpretation i guess.
I like the Samuel part the most at the beginning when he anoints David with the motor oil. Pretty cool with the music and all.
I'm kinda luke warm on it. I only caught the last half of it though, so I may have been too lost to really follow it properly. I'll give it another go though, as long as it doesn't compete with my other shows
sounds cool, Im in the uk and this isnt on here yet is it? are they just doing the story of david or does it go into other "kings" storys from the biblical book of kings?
Ephesians: as far as I could tell in the bible story david wasnt particularly amazing as a person(shepard and harp player while his big bros are warriors) and this is what made it even more obvious to people that it was not david that was strong but Davids faith in God that made him strong. Maybe the show is emphasising how ordinary/weak he is, just like we are? just a guess as I havent seen the show myself yet.
Ged: From what I can tell it is taking the basis of the book of Kings and the core character of the Biblical David is there just like you described. There are solid religious undertones to the show that add that alternate universe feel to it and help make it a lot of what was described earlier... something you would expect to see on HBO or Showtime. Get on NBC.com and check it out man... I would think you could still watch it on there.
sounds cool, Im in the uk and this isnt on here yet is it? are they just doing the story of david or does it go into other "kings" storys from the biblical book of kings?
Ephesians: as far as I could tell in the bible story david wasnt particularly amazing as a person(shepard and harp player while his big bros are warriors) and this is what made it even more obvious to people that it was not david that was strong but Davids faith in God that made him strong. Maybe the show is emphasising how ordinary/weak he is, just like we are? just a guess as I havent seen the show myself yet.
Your right, David was ordinary but the work God did through David was Extraordinary.
The biblical David (before he was king or in the army of Israel) was a Shepard who:
1. Killed a Lion with his bare hands. 1 Samuel 17:34
2. as a teen, Defeated a giant (Goliath) with a sling (before he was even in the military)
3. was more courageous than the army set before the enemy because he knew his army was Gods army. (I suppose they got this part close to right in the show)
What Made David great was his courage and unwavering loyalty to God in the midst of evil all around him.
Just wanted to chime in here and say both episodes are up on hulu.com right now ... and good lord, they are awesome. Digging this show immensely, it's very powerful.
I'm on the fence with this, it depends on the direction they decide to take it. If they keep playing up the god angle, they're likely to lose me. However, if they take the angle that the king is just hallucinating about the butterflies because of what the priest told him, and the priest was really telling him that he had lost the support of the influential church, not the support of 'god', then this could be interesting.
It's based on stories form the bible, though. Why is the judeo-christian theology so alarming?
It's not alarming, I would just find it boring to have it told with the 'god' angle present. If they tell it like the story from the bible as it more likely happened (a good example of that is the Kings retelling of the Goliath story, where it was accidental and mis-construed as david being powerful when really he was just scared), then I would be interested.
In short:
Interesting
Power and influence of the church in an era where there is one predominant religion followed by most of the populace pitted against the power and influence of a large conglomerate corporation, with the royal family that appears to be the biggest power in the kingdom just pawns between them.
Not interesting
God picks new king, events transpire to remove old king (because he is 'bad') and bring in new king (because he is 'good').
Absolute good and evil are boring. Shades of grey are real and interesting.
Agreed glib. I got a BSG kind of feel off that pilot episode and found that they weren't really pushing the bible on people just using it as a point of reference for their story, sort of like BSG is mildly based on the mormon stuff.
Replies
TBH I'm extremely surprised that this is a NBC show, and not something on HBO or Showtime. The quality is very impressive and story pulled me right in. I'll certainly be keeping up with this one.
I will definitely watch the next episode.
B
Honestly I didn't even pay notice to the whole David vs Goliath thing until after I watched the episode and saw the comments on Hulu, and then I had an "Ohhhhhh yeah," moment.
I think that the main thing that is going to carry it, is the setting. With a mixture of familiar and unfamiliar design in the cities, uniforms, names, and locations, it has that all-pervasive element of totality. Known countries are not being made to do unnatural things; in this case, it is the inverse. The butterflies are sorta strange though.
I like the Samuel part the most at the beginning when he anoints David with the motor oil. Pretty cool with the music and all.
Ephesians: as far as I could tell in the bible story david wasnt particularly amazing as a person(shepard and harp player while his big bros are warriors) and this is what made it even more obvious to people that it was not david that was strong but Davids faith in God that made him strong. Maybe the show is emphasising how ordinary/weak he is, just like we are? just a guess as I havent seen the show myself yet.
Your right, David was ordinary but the work God did through David was Extraordinary.
The biblical David (before he was king or in the army of Israel) was a Shepard who:
1. Killed a Lion with his bare hands. 1 Samuel 17:34
2. as a teen, Defeated a giant (Goliath) with a sling (before he was even in the military)
3. was more courageous than the army set before the enemy because he knew his army was Gods army. (I suppose they got this part close to right in the show)
What Made David great was his courage and unwavering loyalty to God in the midst of evil all around him.
It's not alarming, I would just find it boring to have it told with the 'god' angle present. If they tell it like the story from the bible as it more likely happened (a good example of that is the Kings retelling of the Goliath story, where it was accidental and mis-construed as david being powerful when really he was just scared), then I would be interested.
In short:
Interesting
Power and influence of the church in an era where there is one predominant religion followed by most of the populace pitted against the power and influence of a large conglomerate corporation, with the royal family that appears to be the biggest power in the kingdom just pawns between them.
Not interesting
God picks new king, events transpire to remove old king (because he is 'bad') and bring in new king (because he is 'good').
Absolute good and evil are boring. Shades of grey are real and interesting.