The Musketeers Are Coming To The BBC Soon
January 7, 2014 by brennon
I stumbled on this one while I was watching the end of the news and it looks like it could be quite good indeed. The Musketeers is a new show inspired by the old tales and it's coming to the BBC very soon indeed. Check out the trailer above.
It looks like it's got pretty incredible production values and Peter Capaldi, the Doctor, is in it too! Maybe he is doing a bit of alternative time travel and taking on a few new character traits.
I think this one could be a lot of fun and I will be eagerly awaiting the first episode to see if it can deliver.
What do you think?
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Looks a thousand times better than Atlantis.
I am intrigued. It can’t be worse than the last Three Musketeers movie to come out of Hollywood, that’s for sure.
That’s what they said about the last Musketeer movie (2011) to come out of Hollywood, which was worse than the previous one (the 2001 martial arts flick, The Musketeer, which was unintentionally hilarious and you should watch it just to get a good laugh), which was worse than the previous one (Disney’s 1993 movie), which was far worse than previous one. The only good Musketeer movie to come out so far is the 1973 movie directed by Richard Lester, with Christopher Lee as Rochefort, Charleton Heston as Richelieu, Oliver Reed as Athos, Richard Chamberlain as Pathos and a young Michael York as D’Artagnan (so many good performances in one movie). The followups to that movie (same cast) were pretty good too, though not as much as the first.
Granted, the BBC is more likely to escape this trap than most, but I still wouldn’t pin too much hope on it. Just look at those production photos. D’Artagnan looks like a roadie for Nickelback inexplicably wearing period costume. The trailer flows like a Dr. Who ep (music and all). Not that the Doctor is bad, but it’s entirely the wrong feel for the Musketeers.
I actually liked the ’93 Disney one, as I grew up watching it. The other newer ones I enjoyed a lot less, though I did like the way The Musketeer handled the Cardinal. In the book, Richelieu is an antagonist, but not exactly a villain, and I think The Musketeer handled that well actually. Though he is duped a little too easily.
It’s almost as if before 1973 there had never been a movie made of the Three Musketeers story because so many of the subsequent versions have fallen short. I’m sure there must have been versions with Erol Flyn or Robert Taylor or one of the old super masculine actors of old, but it seems like ever since the 1990s movie producers have forgotten how to make a decent movie based on the Alexander Dumas novel, and it should be the easiest thing in the world. And the 1973 film is a comedy. You would have thought some one would want to have a go at making a straight version. I can’t even remember if the Keifer Sutherland , Charlie Sheen version of the 1990’s was any good.
I’ll have to put that one on my endless list of must watch movies (The 2011 Musketeer – that is) I’m a bog fan of laughably bad movies. Was the 1993 on the “Brat Pack” one , with Kiefer Sutherland and Charlie Sheen and Chris O’Donnel and stuff. I’m not even sure I’ve seen that version; such is the length of the list of movies I still need to see. I agree that the 1973 version is about the best I’ve seen and with a cast like that you’d expect so too! And that series of films are supposed to be comedies. I’m not sure how many straight takes I’ve seen on the story. Perhaps you’ve got to go back to the 60’s / 50’s for that. It’s the kind of thing I expect Errol Flyn or Robert Taylor must have done back then?
I too fear that it’s just going to be another series of the ilk of Robin Hood, Atlantis, King Arthur etc… that are firmly aimed at an undemanding child audience with little regard for the older members of the audience that just happen to be in the same room. But such are the modern times we live in. tut-tut…
Of all these things/TV shows , I think Dr Who is probably the best, perhaps cause it retains a stronger element of originality than these other strongly derivative productions which is such a shame but I think it’s what audiences and thus TV producers demand. I’ll look forward to when it changes, hopefully for something better.
Oh come on how can you not like Tim Curry as the cardinal (in my opinion one of his best performances)
Though I do agree that the 1973 pair wee a masterpiece of film (you missed out a very young Kim catral who appeared as the daughter of malady DeWinter in the second one)
1973 version is great.
The trailer is very slick for this BBC version – let’s hope the show is as good.
It’s hard to beat a thorough swashing of the old buckle, once in a while 🙂
The 1973/74 film (the actors were told it was going to be a 4 hour epic, while the studio always intended it to be split into 2; something I think both films benefit from) is pretty much the definitive Musketeer film. It was always going to be a tough act to follow.
I hope something is done different with this version; there are something like 29 films about the 3 musketeers, and while I haven’t watched them all, I suspect alot of them tell the same story in a very similar way.
I could do without this being another Merlin / Atlantis / Robin Hood, where we have 4 people get together and foil a fairly standard plan from the same villain each week. We’ve had enough of that from the BBC, I don’t think we need another which has a slightly different skin
Speaking of musketeers movies, I really liked the 1998 version of “The Man in the Iron Mask”.
I don’t know who makes these things but I wish they would stop . I know it’s just the Beeb trying to come up with a credible substitute for Doctor Who while that series is in it’s annual down time but it’s so obvious that they are trying to duplicate the things that made Doctor Who a success that it’s painful. I will deliberately watch the other side or whack on a DVD while these crappy programmes are on cause I freakin’ hate them. They should try coming up with an original idea for once rather than constantly resurrect old ideas that have worked before which they think they can put a lazy modern twist on. It makes me hark back to the days when Saturday night TV was all Game shows costume dramas or rubbish like that when I would go out in to the streets to play on my bike or kick a ball around in the play ground! For gawd’s sake! What do I pay my TV license for!!!
It makes me thank the gods of Hades that I work on a Saturday evening!
Why is a low rent Dr Who fill-in being posted as a major story? Is BoW a tabletop gaming site or someone’s Facebook newsfeed? It may well be something people who visit the site will watch, but so will the Super Bowl and I wouldn’t expect to see major news stories on that. I suspect the counter-argument would be that this is under the umbrella of “geek culture”, whereas sport is not, but even if that were the case, the only “geek culture” postings we get are for crappy big budget movies and crappy TV shows, most of which are heavily advertised in other places to begin with.
I was wondering what had prompted this comment, as this is a story that was put up over the quieter period and had long since moved down the flow…
I was confused…
Then I saw it had been promoted to the bloody home page and the feature bar! 🙁
Everything became clear lol
@dignity as much as I’m looking forward to this show, surely there are stories more fresh and ‘focused’ that deserve a promotion?
So as to not only come across as the curmudgeonly old man that I am ;), I do think this kind of thing has a place on BoW, just not where it currently is. It does break my engagement with the site when it’s there. Nor do I think that major news story status should only be given to tabletop gaming stories, things like the Hobbit movies certainly do deserve the status.
And to elaborate a little on the end of my barely coherent rant, when we do get non-gaming geek stuff it’s inevitably of a very specific kind, namely movies and TV shows with a very commercial sensibility. We rarely get news on comics, novels, or on movies and TV without that sensibility. The site has a great diversity of tabletop gaming but that diversity isn’t matched when it moves out of that realm.
Hi @redben, I guess this is just a case of everything is not for everyone.
I want Beasts of War to be entertaining as well as informative.
I’ve been on leave on and off over the holiday period, missed this story when first posted but just tonight during a train ride I visited the site to be entertained and zeroed in on this straight away as I had limited viewing space (screen res) on my iPhone and wanted to break the monotony of my journey. I thought “oh The Musketeers I know what that, is what’s new?”
Is “The Musketeers” a relevant topic I think it is. I found it very interesting that @ozzie below pointed out there may be a discrepancy in the costume department of the show.
“The period is about 1650s yet the BBC costume designers make them look like they are from the 1450s. Perhaps they have recycled them from other dramas. I think the real D’Artagnan was killed at a siege in the Franco-Dutch Wars about 1673.”
So I’m guessing this could well be of interest to gamers interested in historical time periods and maybe some people are just looking for something to watch this isn’t a damn crime investigation show, after all there’s a bucket load of them on TV. (Now I’ve said it will be just my luck that the next featured story will be on the TV show “Castle” lol)
Cheers for highlighting this guys, this will go down a treat with my fiancée she LOVES costume dramas and I don’t think she will care if the costumes aren’t quite right. Thank goodness for me, there’s no Mr. Darcy in this and it has swords! lol
No issue with a variety of content or with coverage of wider “geek culture”. As much as anything the two posts from me are born from frustration of a lack of variety in the coverage of geek culture.
No one mention (hushed voice) the Pride and Prejudice sequel/follow up they showed over Christmas and New Year or Lloyd’s gonna be in serious trouble with the fiancé that he let her miss it…. it did have a different guy as Mr Darcy tho. lolz
The period is about 1650s yet the BBC costume designers make them look like they are from the 1450s. Perhaps they have recycled them from other dramas. I think the real D’Artagnan was killed at a siege in the Franco-Dutch Wars about 1673.
Real D’Artagnan??? I thought the whole thing was made up by Alexanre Dumas?? Hence it being a novel by him.
They’ve completely retconned Dogtanian. This is an outrage!
dogtanian and the muskehounds is obviously the definitive version.
yeah, I used to watch that as a kid too…. haha Great days!
I wish I didn’t have to pay a licence fee.
Cast looks good, production values look good. Will the show be any good? Who knows? What I certainly won’t do is write it off without giving it a chance first … unlike some ..
But there are news around guys that are really noteworthy, I dare to say there is a movie imminent to end all movies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72RqpItxd8M
Oh yeah! Everyone needs to watch this for there life to be complete! lol
Front page is calling 🙂
Cmon brother Lloyd ! The indie world will be a better place if you frontpage this gem.
I must see this.
That’s funny right there….. I don’t care who you are…..LMAO
I’m not looking forward to it. When I was young after watching something like this I would fasion a sword from an old stick and spend my day sword fighting with my mates. I can’t see tbe wife wanting to play 🙁
Am I the only one who find it ironic the trailer opens with “Original British Drama” when it’s based on a French novel about French dudes in France?
For me there still hasn’t been one to top the Michael York movies…
And where’s all the lace and frills? This reeks of a badly done modernization.
You’re not the only one… And I’m a frenchman. And I’ve read the books (yes, both of them… “Les Trois Mousquetaires” and “Vingt Ans Après”).
Holy merde. I see this looks like dark leather and baroque-steampunk with trendy scruffy actors wearing styled haircuts and open collars. There’ll be plenty of steamy sex scenes just like the Tudors, and perhaps some gay innuendo too, I bet.
Please just shoot me now…
I am withholding judgement until I see the beast – I remember tentatively sitting down to watch the first broadcast of Sherlock thinking ‘This is either going to be great or bloody awful’. Well, it was not awful. So, no speculation (however well founded), just watch and see.
Oh and not forgetting the token subtly porky one , but not quite porky enough to put any of the ladies off him in any serious way.
Ah, the sneering superiority of the internet. Let’s see how many ways we can prove something will be crap without actually having watched it, to prove what intellectual giants we are.
This may well be awful, but I won’t know that until AFTER I’VE WATCHED IT.
Well, I don’t think it’ll be awful… not any more awful than any other action film with costumes. I quite like those, in fact. I do take issue, however, at it being labeled “an original british drama”…
I can understand the objection, but the BBC seem to be sticking that on all of their trails at the moment. I think it’s more to signify that the programme is made in Britain and isn’t some US import.
Oh, lovely…