Fix Square

The TV series is loosely based on the story of Wizard Merlin and King Arthur of Camelot. Shine Producers Julian Murphy and Johnny Caps got the idea from Smallville where the series is about how Clark Kent became Superman. In the series, Arthur is still a prince of Camelot while Merlin is just starting to learn Magic and is still long way to become the greatest wizard in the world. Arthur’s father, Uther is the king and Magic is banned in Camelot. Morgana, Merlin’s arch enemy, is king Uther’s former ward.

Since Magic is banned in Camelot, Merlin has to hide his abilities. There are only a few who knows his abilities. One of these people is Gaius, Merlin’s uncle and Camelot’s court physician. He is also a former sorcerer. The dragon Kilgharrah, is another person who knows about Merlin’s secret. Kilgharrah told Merlin that his and Arthur’s destiny are entwined. He is tasked to watch over Arthur until he becomes the king of Camelot. Lancelot is another person who eventually learned about Merlin’s secret though he has not told anyone about it. In the Arthurian legend, Lancelot would become Arthur’s first knight and would be a rival to Guinevere’s affection.

In the series, Morgana’s Magic is just starting to awaken. Afraid of being discovered, she grew bitter towards King Uther’s and his approach to anything that has anything to do with Magic. She eventually would learn about her sister (Morgause) existence. In the beginning of the third season, she started to plotted the demise of Camelot with the help of Morgause. But their plans failed thanks to Merlin

The series is a refreshing alternative to shows that are based on modern times. Another series which is also based on a medieval like timeline is Legend of the seeker. Unfortunately the series was cancelled. The series is worth the watch since you can’t wait for events to unfold. We do know that the Arthur would eventually become king, Merlin would become a great wizard and Morgana would be the greatest foe of Merlin. But waiting for it to happen is what makes the series fun to watch. Although I hope that they learn from Smallville’s mistake. The problem with that series is that they are making the viewers wait for Clark to eventually fly longer than they should. I hope it doesn’t take a couple more seasons for Merlin to become a great wizard.

The FEU Tamaraws defeated the Ateneo Blue Eagles twice during the elimination round and ended up with the top spot in the ranking before the Final four began. But Ateneo’s championship experience helped them acquire their third straight championship. Only a few schools achieve a three-peat.  Ateneo joins University of the East, University Santo Tomas, Far Eastern University and De la Salle University in the list of schools that have achieved a third straight championship title in the UAAP Basketball games.

Since Ateneo did not win against FEU during the elimination round, the result of the first game of the finals was a surprise. Ateneo won by 23 points with an end game score of 72 to 49. So come Game 2 of the finals, it was expected that the Tamaraws won’t give up that easily. During the first quarter, it seems that FEU was on the right track. They scored 22 points while allowing Ateneo to score only 13 points. The second quarter was a different story. Ateneo rallied and score a total of 17 points while FEU only scored 9 points. FEU still leads by a point when the 1^st half ended.

Both teams did not allow each other to break away in terms of scoring. The quarter ended with a score of 52 to 50 favoring Ateneo. It was a close game but the Blue eagles emerged victorious against the number 1 seat, FEU Tamaraws with a score of 65 to 62. The Tamaraws poor free throw shooting in the fourth quarter cost them the game and the Championship. FEU failed to convert four free throws in the last remaining minutes of the game. Out of the 4 missed free throws, 2 could have tied the game with only a minute remaining in the game.

Buenafe was the top scorer of the game with 23 points. Season MVP Ryan Roose Garcia of FEU was held to only 6 points. Rookie of the year Terrence Romeo, also from FEU, only contributed 2 points the entire game.

I was pretty excited when I first saw the trailer of this film. I had to finish watching the whole animated series in less than a week so that I could enjoy the movie more. I would give an A to the computer graphics, costumes and the location where they filmed the movies. They did a great job in recreating the northern water tribe. But that is the only thing that is good about the film.

The script was abysmal. Shyamalan failed to put the important parts of the animated series into the film. The movie was to fast phase and overall it was a boring film. Those who didn’t watch the animated series might enjoy the movie but most of the people who watched it would find the movie a total wreck.  There are parts of the original animated series which were funny especially due to Sokka’s Jokes. Aang is supposed to be funny. But in the film Aang and Sokka was way too serious. I just don’t know how they would manage to bring in Tuff (the blind earth bender) in the second movie since she is very sarcastic and she is one of the funniest characters in the series.

There was no real emotional attachment to the film. There were really no “wow” moments. I have to admit that the graphics during the fight scene were great but the fight scene itself was boring. Appa is a big part of the animated series and there is supposed to be a strong attachment between him and Aang. But in the movie, it seems that Appa was just another creature that is only use for transportation. I don’t know why Avatar Roku is not in the film. He plays a big part in the first season of the animated series.

They did a poor job with the casting. Avatar is an Asian influence animated series due to martial arts. Some fans of the original series were enraged when the role of the people from the fire nations did not fell to Asian actors and actresses. I have to agree. Since the movie is an adaptation, they should have tried to make it as similar to the original series as possible. And I don’t know why they could pronounced Aang’s name right.

Overall the movie was a big disappointment. This is not a movie that I would enjoy watching over and over again. I am not certain if I will watch the second movie if there would decide to make a movie about the second book of the animated series.