Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #64131 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-08-05
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Box set, Colour, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 5
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 587 minutes

Customer Reviews

finally its being released on dvd!
the first series was awesome and i thought that series 2 couldn't match series 1. i was wrong. having waited nearly a year for the second series, it came and surprised us all - especially the last episode (fans you know what i mean). besides not warming to the very last episode (even though it was fantastic building up to) this series was my favourite one so far of robin hood. i can't wait to finally buy it when its released. if you didn't like the first series then i recommend you watch this series. I wonder what series 3 will have in store in october.

Squeeeeeeeeee!
For those of you who didn't particularly like the first season of this you'll love this one! Far, far better storylines and acting from most of the cast thankfully although Keith Allen is always superb. Best of all, the delightful Richard Armitage is back as Guy of Gisborne - the only reason I continued watching Season 1 *wink*

No spoilers but make sure you have a box of tissues handy for the finale :(

Witty and darker
The second series of the fab BBC production maintained the high production values of the first series.

The first episode of this series seemed a bit over hammed by the character Rose. The over-acting took away slightly from what was a good episode. It was great to see that the humour form the first series had continued through to the second, I particularly liked the Two Ronnies reference "it's goodnight from me, and it's goodnight from him" - a perfect example of the cultural nods given by this witty series.

The humour continues throughout the next few episodes, with `Booby and the Beast' we see an intricate series of traps in the strong room, will Robin be able to successfully rob the war chest? There is technology which seems over elaborate and probably not really feasible, but that's the fun of the series; you don't take it too seriously, it uses modern devices to bring the characters to life. There's jealous tension here when Marion befriends a German buffoon (supposed). The plot twist surrounding Count Friedrich gave the episode an added edge. You knew what was going to happen, the set-up was obvious, but you enjoyed watching everything unfurl. Not the most plausable of episodes - but fun nonetheless.

Childhood is the third episode and at times maybe a little over sentimental. It's always awkward when child actors are involved, sometimes performances are a little wooden and there's always the temptation to have sickly sweet moments. You get both in this, but the show stealing scene goes to the fantastic Richard Armitage as the Guy of Gisbourne walking out to battle Robin in a very fetching suit of armour.

The opening scene of the fourth episode shows an imposter to The Nightwatchman played by Ralf Little. Little gives an okay performance as the chemist hell-bent on social engineering out the weaklings of the human race. Like previous episodes, there is no mystery here for the viewer. All is exposed to us at the beginning so that we can enjoy watching the cat and mouse chase as Robin tries to figure the reason and the cause of the mystery illness for himself.

The second series is less continuous than the first, and instead has independent episodes with strong and numerous story arcs across the episodes. The most well developed is the `Spy in the camp'. Allan-a-Dale has been leaking information to Guy of Gisbourne, resulting in the capture of Henry of Lewes failing. This comes to a head when Robin realises he has a traitor in the midst and pledges to find him/her. Through cunning and luck he manages to do just that. As I've mentioned before, the traitor is no secret to the audience, but as holders of such privileged information we can watch with interest the reactions of the camp when they all considered under suspicion.

So far this series has been a solid one. I don't feel it's quite as strong as the first series, but it is still very good. The production team said they have gone for a darker look, but to be honest, I could only really see this in the appearance of Robin et al. They seem more dishevelled, which is good - it adds to the realism of forest living. This series seemed less plausable that the first, almost like the American Xena: Warrior Princess series - but never quite sinking as low. It has some over-sentimental moments which stand out a bit and sometimes seem a tad cheesy. Performances all round are top notch still, with scene stealing moments from Keith Allen, Richard Armitage, and Jonas Armstrong. There's certainly more character development within Hood's camp, and this is helping to build a pathos between the men (and woman!).

I would have given this series 4 stars, but the finale was fantastic and swayed me into a 5. The last episode is essentially a double episode, and you can clearly see where one would have ended and the next would have began as half is set in the forest and the rest in the Holy Land. I won't discuss this episode any further incase you haven't seen it, but the episode feels epic, and instead of the cheesy sentimentalism of the preceding episodes, it manages to be genuinely very emotional and also captures the darkness the production team were aiming for.