Vikings

Vikings Review And Contest!

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Vikings

So in a departure from the norm, here’s something from the good folks at HISTORY TV18! I got copies of their new show Vikings from them, and have a review – and, as a HUGE bonus, you guys get to possibly win some awesome HISTORY TV18 goodies as well – all you need to do is read the review and answer the questions below, in the comments. I’ll pick a winner by 15thApril!

Vikings is a near-realistic portrayal of old Norse culture during the Dark Ages. It’s been given a swipe of classic Hollywood polish, but this really makes it a bit more interesting without taking away from the actual meat of the show.

It’s very refreshing to see a historical show that’s been given a bigger budget than some of the traditional dramatic recreations on documentary-style shows. The lead character, Ragnar Lodbrok (played by Travis Fimmel) is the quintessential iconoclast figure, someone who we identify with immediately – season 1 is the story of how he convinces (in typical Norse fashion) his band of warriors to begin raiding west, into England – no small feat, since he had to basically invent the technology to sail out of sight of land and accurately keep to a specific latitude.

There’s a lot of family drama and local politics, but the fact is that anyone watching this show will likely be watching for the battle sequences – and these are impressive for the most part, especially in the portrayal of the weapons and tactics used by the Vikings – but you have to realize that this is probably where that Hollywood masala comes in the most. Real combat in the Dark Ages was a lot more brutal and unforgiving than what’s shown here – and the chances of surviving an encounter as many times as our protagonists do is miniscule.

Still, the show is incredibly entertaining and a lot of the episodes end on very satisfying cliff-hangers, as Ragnar navigates the treacherous waters of the North Sea and the local politics of Kattegat, the village / proto-town near his homestead.

Tl;Dr: Entertaining show, great cast, what it loses in realism it makes up for with budget and scale of production

The Vikings Contest:

Three questions (the answers to which can be obtained with some basic Google-fu)

  1. What’s the name of Ragnar Lodbrok’s village?
  2. What’s the name of the actor who plays Ragnar Lodbrok?
  3. What is the name of the character who builds Ragnar’s new boat that takes him across the North Sea to England?

Type your answers into the comments box below! As I mentioned earlier, I’ll be picking winners on April 15th. Vikings starts 31st March and is on every Mon-Wed, at 9PM on HISTORY TV18.