Myths & Monsters

1/8/18. I love myths and monsters, but for some reason the delivery of the information was not well done. It just seemed a bit all over the place. I stayed with the series because there were good tidbits here and there. But, it could have been done better in a more interesting manner.

This entire show is amazing. There were some info within the show that I didn't even learn in college/high school. Show was set up in a very interesting and fun way. I was not confused or lost at all. Very educational. I let my kids watch this. Awesome, awesome, awesome. I hope there's another season coming soon.

There's a lot to like in this show. The artwork is beautiful, the retellings of myths are delightful, and when Nicholas Day is allowed to just stick to narrating those retellings, he's excellent. Above all, the academics interviewed are fascinating and fun - at least three of them are people I would love to see with their own shows!

But the editing is sloppy, the choice of art to accompany the themes is often confusing (why is a painting of Judith assassinating Holofernes described as about *love*, for goodness' sake?!), I'm bewildered as to why Day is reading, e.g., classical myths out of an apparent 19th century tome, and his script as presenter is awful - cheesy, overly portentous, and often jumping to exactly the kind of easy, stereotypical conclusions about how myths and legends work that the show claims to be correcting. Moral complexities are mentioned but then skirted over and minimised. Interesting historical details that would give context and extra light to the myths are mentioned by the academics but sometimes outright undermined by the presenter script. The shallow, Victorian vibe of the presentation (including its setting) clashes so awkwardly with the modern and beautiful art and the up-to-date brilliance and enthusiasm of the academics.

It's too good a show to be this bad, and that makes it in some ways harder to watch than if it were consistently so weak. I so hope that if there's a second series they try a different approach (but with the same artist(s), and the same interviewees!).

I just want to be at peace knowing that where we came from was epic, the tales and legends written by our ancestors throughout history in the world and understand why all the stories of old have reoccurring patterns throughout most cultures during those time periods.

If it was just all a story or if we truly rose from people/beings who were so unimaginable that they are still being told about today. Imagine what mystery hides behind the tales that where never told, or are older than what our collective generations have been able to retain? I just want to know if there was a time where humanity was great, or it has always been just as it is today. If these stories did not have an impact on the world, then that is an incredibly sad world to be a part of. Humanity as it is today, is great, but in a way that has lost its meaning, it feels as if today we are striving for something so far beyond us and we are going there so systematically fast, but without meaning.

What has changed in us...? I feel that we are chasing after something that has already left leaving us lost, we have never been able to live up to the legends who have left us so we have lost all meaning, because we will never be able to find them again if we stay here any longer. We are chasing after a fable, a legend and that is all they will remain, we have forgotten our old reasons for living, and they have been replaced with something slightly altered. This generation is living in a stage of advancement and we are the front-line fodder, we will see it happen first, but we will never be able to live within in that part of the new advancement in history, one that will be told like one of these tales we look back on now.

Without a doubt I am happy to be alive, without meaning, but happy to be in a time where we have this period of safety, a safety that is like walking on a mirror. If we are careful enough, we will make it to the other side without making a miss-step and falling through. It is baffling to think about and to truly accept that all we are is a steppingstone into a new era, but its bloody exciting to be a part of this fabled tale. I wonder if we will misstep...?

I love folklore and so I possibly expected too much from this title. They try to contextualize myths in erroneously simplified histories - the organization of which is tediously bad.

Most of the time they're featured, the experts fail to provide any actual insight into myths. When they're not spouting awful platitudes - which is possibly the most frustrating part of the show - they summarize only the most surface-level details of a given historical fact or mythology. It almost seems like each episode is deliberately structured to stretch a twenty minute run-time to forty minutes.

That said, both the artwork and the narration are great. With better direction, more information, and less platitudinal babble it could easily be an 8/10.