Doctor Who historical ficathon

This is a great ficathon idea. dw_historical: "Whovian time-travel stories with a historical focus/background".

Working through the Hartnell episodes this year has brought home just how well historicals suit the show, and yet the programme seemed to lose faith in them. So there should be more.

Rules and guidelines here.

Prompting till October 31st, after which you can start claiming prompts. Story posting between Nov 2nd and Dec 6th.

Minimum 500 words (and the stories don't have to include aliens).

Merlin

Contains sort-of spoilers for this week's episode - but, really, are you watching it for the plot? Are you even still watching it?

***

To my absolute delight, all of the Merlin fanfiction at ff.net appears to have been posted since this week's super-slashy episode (in which Merlin DRINKS THE POISONED CHALICE meant for Arthur then SWEATS PALELY IN BED while Arthur RISKS HIS LIFE AND THE WRATH OF HIS FATHER to bring back a single flower needed to make the antidote and, in between times, they exchange BARBED COMMENTS THAT SERVE ONLY TO SHOW THEIR SPESHUL BOND. (I tried to do the text equivalent of: "We don't need this, it's only plot" for you there.)

Here at Castle Altariel we are rather loving Merlin. I'll leave mraltariel to justify his ways to you, but I myself like it for several reasons. First of all, it reminds me of one of my most beloved TV shows, Jim Henson's The Storyteller, not least because of John Hurt. I like the unspecified historical setting, and I'm interested at the total absence of religion from that setting.

Visually, it obviously owes a lot to the LotR films (particularly the music, which is gorgeous), but also in the colour palette. However, because this is TV, the colours are warmer and more intimate. It's lovely to look at. This gives me hope that one day LotR will be done on telly and therefore the BEST STORY EVER will appear in the HIGHEST ART FORM MAN HAS CREATED.

The lad playing Merlin is a cutie. Bless. The lad playing Arthur is giving integrity to the part of the prince, which I think is quite tricky to do these days (the actors playing Caspian and Peter in Prince Caspian couldn't do it). And Anthony Head is sternly brilliant and totally authentic in every one of his scenes.

I think it has some scripting and plotting issues to smooth over, but all in all, a jolly good show, lads and lasses, and let's see more of it.