1.1 The Earth Bull Robin Hood may have been a tad pantomime in places, whilst Merlin took a few series to become an impressively dark show with a great sense of humour. Both series were really there to fill in the gap between series of Doctor Who and whatever reality show the BBC chose to throw at us. Robin Hood fell apart when the lead actors departed, whilst Merlin soldiered on and overcame its critics. When Atlantis was announced, it seemed that the BBC was going for the ‘third time lucky’ approach with a Saturday evening series that would complement Doctor Who and give the family another historical series to start the fire of imagination amongst your fans. A young lad sets out to find out what happened to his father. He has – like his father – a submarine and a pendant left to him by his dad. Some funky stuff happens and Jason, as it turns out the son is named, loses his clothes and gets stranded on a beach. After a madcap chase through a market, involving the city guards and a two-headed lizard, Jason is rescued by a young Pythagoras and we discover that he’s in Atlantis before it became the Lost City of Atlantis and where Jason has no problem speaking to the ancient Greeks and finding The Oracle, who fills in a lot of the details to Jason’s purpose and history. Sadly, the friendship promptly leads to trouble as Pythagoras risks being sacrificed to The Minotaur by King Minos. Perhaps Jason can step forward and prove his worth, make a few enemies and set on his path to become the man of legend… The first episode of Atlantis is an uneven affair – combining misplaced humour, a rushed introduction to the key characters, an ample drizzling of nonsense and a couple of well constructed, but awkward, action sequences. Beautifully shot and well acted, the cast includes Mark Addy (as Hercules), Juliet Stevenson (as The Oracle), Sarah Parish (as Pasiphae) and Alexander Siddig (as Minos) as the marquee names, whilst Jack Donnelly (as Jason) will be familiar to the fans of House of Anubis and Aiysha Hart steals her scenes, despite dull dialogue, as Ariadne, who falls in love with our hero and gains him an enemy in the form of the controlling Pasiphae. Collectively, the actors do a great job with a somewhat ropey script. Addy doesn’t have a great deal to do, but tackles it as if he were in the lead, whilst Sidding is regal and Parish is channeling Lady MacBeth levels of dominance. It’s in the newer names that this story lays. Donnelly is occasionally wooden and Robert Emms is much more interesting as Pythagoras. Hopefully, the relationship will find its feet as the two actors develop some of the tangible camaraderie that the series really does need. In the period of forty-six minutes, Jason goes from a clumsy oaf to an athletic god of manliness, whilst stepping into the role of fool, saviour and agent of social change. He is recognised by The Oracle and The Minotaur as the man who can change things, whilst there are those who, it seems, will become his enemy. Thankfully, by the end of the episode he’s become firm friends with Pythagoras and Hercules, with a touch of the humour seen in Capps, Overman and Murphy’s previous series, Merlin. Visually, the episode does look impressive. The lizard and Minotaur are testaments to the strengths of its CGI, whilst the scenery is on par with what was seen in Merlin, making Atlantis a rich and beautiful place that is vibrant to look at it. Despite its uneven start, Atlantis could become a strong series. It has a talented production team who have shown they can handle pseudo-mythology – Merlin was critically mauled in its first series, but went on to become a really good show. If Atlantis can find its feet early on, it’s going to be worth watching. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
