Vikings - History Channel

Wes R said:
Is this thing even historically accurate? From the season 2 teaser it looks like it wants to be Game of Thrones. Give me a good documentary anytime. Seems like they moved all the other shows to H2 and left history channel for reality and this.
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I've not watched this season at all and didn't even finish last season, but if what I saw is any indication...

...then, no. The show is DEFINITELY NOT historically accurate.
 
Heaps of liberties are taken. That said, one famous historical Viking is said to be the son of Ragnar, and I suspect it will be the child that Ragnar's girlfriend is currently carrying.
 
SmilingOtter said:
Heaps of liberties are taken. That said, one famous historical Viking is said to be the son of Ragnar, and I suspect it will be the child that Ragnar's girlfriend is currently carrying.
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My gripes about the historical inaccuracy were threefold.

1. The depiction of Viking government as autocratic rather than council-based, which, in turn, had an impact on the depictions of Viking law. They changed this SOLELY to show a traditional "medieval" power struggle between a lord and an upstart, and it was just crap. Total crap.

2. The mixing up of VERIFIABLE dates in history, like the raid on Lindisfarne and the ages of King Aella of Northumbria and Ragnar, both in relation to that, and in relation to each other. Again, done just so they could show some particular moment in history, and to create more "villains vs. heroes" drama.

3. The apparent ignorance of the existence of the British Isles by the Vikings. The Vikings were WELL aware of the existence of the British Isles, particularly when Ragnar was alive, HAVING ALREADY RAIDED LINDISFARNE WHEN RAGNAR WOULD HAVE BEEN A BABY. Again, done PURELY to create a sense of "Oh look! Intrepid Viking explorers!"


My complaints about these issues are that they are gross deviations from history, done purely to create the most rote form of drama, and -- more importantly -- they're totally unnecessary to create an interesting story. I don't mind that they establish some fictional enmity between Ragnar and the local Jarl, but they were just lazy in depicting the mechanisms by which that play out as essentially due to tyrannical autocracy rather than, say, manipulation of the local democratic/council institutions (the Thing). I mean, come on. House of Cards is wildly successful. Surely you can write a story -- even set in the Dark Ages -- that depicts similar machinations AND which shines an interesting light on Viking culture. Same with the rivalry between Aella and Ragnar. Although it existed, there's no reason why you have to make Ragnar the young upstart. You could also show a different random raid on a monastery (they did continue for quite a while) even without it being THE raid recorded in the historical record. And there's just no reason to show Ragnar as both an explorer and a warrior. There's plenty of drama involved in making the crossing from Scandinavia to the British Isles in longships without resorting to "And these are the first Vikings to EVER LAND!!" nonsense. Hell, make it so that Floki is simply unsure of the precise passage and none of Ragnar's guys have ever gone raiding to the British Isles so it's all new TO THEM, rather than TO ALL VIKING CULTURE.

Simple things like this would preserve the historical accuracy of the show, while still making things interesting and exciting, but the show was too busy being lazy and stupid to do that. I don't care if their clothes don't look perfectly right, or if the rudder is on the wrong side of the longship or whatever. What I care about is that the show just...couldn't be arsed to bother writing anything by a paint-by-numbers medieval drama and then shoved that -- historical inaccuracies be damned -- into a Viking setting because it assumes its audience is a bunch of morons with zero interest in history.
 
And now...lets talk about vikings and america! How do you guys feel about that story? Ive never actually discussed it with anyone cross the pond...
Dan,Whats the opinion over there? BS or accepted facts?

By the way,Wouldnt mind having a beer and talk history some day :) Its just the distance thats an issue...
 
swede said:
And now...lets talk about vikings and america! How do you guys feel about that story? Ive never actually discussed it with anyone cross the pond...
Dan,Whats the opinion over there? BS or accepted facts?

By the way,Wouldnt mind having a beer and talk history some day :) Its just the distance thats an issue...
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Ha, absolutely! If you're ever in Philadelphia...

Honestly, I don't know what the opinion is. The people I know who know anything about Viking history think it's ridiculously done, but typical of American TV and film. The people who don't, I think, just view it as an entertaining story and aren't that bothered that it isn't historically accurate.

I mean, there was the 1950s film "The Vikings" which is also very loosely based on Ragnar Lothbrok and Ivar the Boneless (but not on his other sons), but nobody really takes that seriously as an attempt at putting history on the screen any more than they take Ben-Hur to be a documentary. It's fiction, and they know it.

I think the real issue is that this is being put on TV here by the HISTORY CHANNEL, where you would think they'd give a fig about historical accuracy. Except, they don't, because they'd rather show made-up history and boring reality TV.

It was bad enough when the History channel hadn't apparently heard of any historical period outside of America's involvement in WWII, but now they've abandoned even that.
 
I was there 2 years ago...damn :) Saw the "bell"
Bought a gift for my son in that same giftshop where Nic Cage hangs out in National treasure
Well,Im thinking about all the historybooks that no one seems to be willing to rewrite (story about who discovered america first)
I really dont care but i do think its cool that theres proof of vikings visiting north america at some time and even more cool to imagine sailing with longboats for that kind of distance...damn! Last week i read an article about some viking massgrave found on an island outside estonia dated long before known viking history! Been said to change the whole timeline...very interesting! There were some 20-30 vikings buried in longboats with severe battlewounds and a load of weapons....
 
No question -- the Vikings got around! Sadly, this show is less interested in that, and more interested in the usual hero vs. villain stuff.
 
I feel sad that real Viking history vas not good enough for film makers. Real history would have been much more entertaining and interresting! Film makers just did not do their homework. Now this series is a mess. Real Viking sosiety (very modern and democratic!) would have been interresting to see, instead of this version.
Costume designer claims that clother are based to real finds. Unfortunately this is not true at all. Vikings used fine colourfull fabrics, decorated weapons and very spesific jewelry. Most jewelry used in show are actually North African (tuareg or moroccan) or from Central Asia. There would have been great selection of museum quality replicas of real Viking jewelry, but costume designers wanted to go cheap way.
 
Ok, I'll restart this...

Season 3 is off to a good start. Floki continues to have issues, Princess Nympho's uncle deserved what he got if he's the one who came up with that battle plan. Oh well, live and learn. (Or don't and don't.)

I ask a favor. If someone could post a good screencap of Athelstan's cross - the one the King of Wessex returned to him - I'd appreciate it. It looks like chainmaille, which is a hobby of mine.
 
I am totally in awe of the King of Wessex's ability to run a good con. Even Lagaertha who's usually got a pretty good bull**** meter seems to be buying in.
 
Vikings Season 5 premier was so good! I'm really intrigued by the new character, Bishop Heahmund....(Jonathan Rhys Meyers was so good in Tudors!) All the character build-ups are going strong and the rifts between Ragnar's sons are becoming explosive. I can't wait to see how Alfred becomes 'Great', also!

So Floki lands in a new place.....I'm guessing Iceland, since it's volcanic? This ought to be interesting also!

This is such a dynamic and gorgeous show!!!
 
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Is Per Fredrik Pellek Aasly starting in season 5 or season 6? He's the only thing I'm interested in for it.
 
annanake said:
Don't know , there in the Fifth season now . they are not on Netflix so they must have a deal with Hulu if there not on Amazon by now ?!????
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The latest they have on Amazon Prime is Season 4. So I guess it'll be a while 'til they get Season 5.

Vikings is better than Game of Thrones. It's a real-life Game of Thrones, in many ways.

Oh well. Thanks.
 
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