I understand your view. Leaving aside issues of historical accuracy or faithfulness to novels, I am sure that Vikings' fans will tend to value those characters more (for now, at least). It makes sense because Vikings was in its third season around the time Last Kingdom aired.
I watched all of Vikings in the past year and a half or so, and caught up as series 3 was airing. It was indeed very engaging to me, with characters I rooted for and sometimes eventually had to mourn.
However, I feel Vikings really lost its way in the current extended season 4. I was sensing the slow death of the series long before the inevitable death of Ragnar in a Northumbrian pit. His descent into madness was slow and agonising. I have decided I will soon go back and watch a bit of the first episodes of season 1 in order to remind myself how fascinating the character was when this all began.
BTW, in regards to The Last Kingdom and a certain other programme based upon a series of books that TLK is often compared to, I have realised about myself that a pure fantasy story can never mean as much to me, cannot keep me as enthralled, as a book or telly series that has clear roots in our real world, our history. (I actually watched all of season 1 of GoT up to the final episode. Despite the entertaining nature of the production, at that point I realised I just couldn't be bothered anymore to see the season finale.)
All the best!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Derekbd
reply
share
eddiehasskills
8 years ago
Completely understand. I agree about the split season. I hate when shows do this. I remember the Sorpranos doing the same. GOT is actually doing something similar I think. Anyway... TLK I really enjoyed the show. I knew going in it was based on a book and actual events. Vikings is pretty much a fiction based story. So it's difficult to draw a parallel. That being said for my enjoyment. I prefer the Vikings and GOT over them all. But they all GOT, TLK, Vikings are really well done.
reply
share
Ladonia84
8 years ago
Yes, I agree with you. TLK was a great find and it was interesting to see the more accurate battles and events but it just lacks the emotional heart that Vikings has.
I just think the TLK production was low budget and they rushed the story so you didn't have time to get attached to the characters. Like the old Ragnar who adopted Uthred was a great character and they didn't give enough time with that character. In the books his character is explored a lot more and a lot longer. If they had stuck to the book more this show would be on par with Vikings. I hope now that they have bigger production team behind them for season 2 they will get better and actually get to Vikings level.
reply
share
eddiehasskills
8 years ago
My point exactly. Production wise and overall story I gotta go with Vikings.
reply
share
Ladonia84
8 years ago
Production wise and overall story I gotta go with Vikings.
Yes, TLK story line is more straight forward and similar to a lot of warrior coming of age stories while Vikings story line is just so much more complex even when it is baffling you are left contemplating characters and their actions for a long time after each episode.
And even visually Vikings is surreal but authentic at the same time. After watching Vikings so long sometimes when I watch TLK I notice how it still has the movie set feel even though they did a good job trying to make it seem authentic.
reply
share