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Product Description ------------------- In the wake of King Uther's sudden death, chaos threatens to engulf Britain. When the sorcerer Merlin has visions of a dark future, he installs the young and impetuous Arthur, Uther's unknown son and heir, who has been raised from birth as a commoner. But Arthur's cold and ambitious half sister Morgan will fight him to the bitter end, summoning unnatural forces to cl the crown in this epic battle for control. These are dark times indeed for the new king, with Guinevere being the only shining light in Arthur's harsh world. Faced with profound moral decisions, and the challenge of uniting a kingdom broken by war and steeped in deception, Arthur will be tested beyond imagination. Forget everything you think you know…this is the story of Camelot that has never been told before. .com ---- The story of King Arthur and Ye Olde Round Table has proven sturdy enough to support a variety of cinematic approaches, ranging from the Disneyfied antics of The and the Stone, the action-movie gloss of First Knight, to the gory, hallucinatory mysticism of John Boorman's Excalibur. (To say nothing of that one version with the killer bunny and "ni"-saying knights.) Camelot, the lavishly melodramatic 10-episode television series produced for Starz, attempts to infuse the classic tale with the same mixture of cranked-up sex and violence that made the network's Spartacus such a hoot. Although the deliciously evil supporting cast and gorgeous Irish scenery help keep the show above the level of mere guilty pleasure, the decision to portray its central character as a whisper-thin teen heartthrob (The Twilight Saga's Jamie Campbell Bower) may leave some viewers biting their thumbs. Series creators Michael Hirst (The Tudors) and Chris Chibnall (Torchwood) kick things off at an initially disorienting full gallop, placing country boy Arthur on the throne and under the tutelage of Merlin (Joseph Fiennes) by the middle of the first episode. This streamlining of the main story quickly proves to be a good thing, however, as it allows the show to devote more time to its secondary figures, including a grieving queen (Claire Forlani), an amusingly g-ho Sir Gawain (Clive Standen), a vengeful rival lord (James Purfoy), and Merlin himself, winningly portrayed by Fiennes via a disarming mixture of roof-raising histrionics and ominous whispers. (Much like Game of Thrones, the show depicts magic as a seriously unstable force.) Engaging as all of these characters are, MVP honors go to Morgan le Fay (Casino Royale's Eva Green), Arthur's half-sister with a continent-size yearning for the throne. Purring her words and gliding through the baroque sets in a succession of stylized gowns (that is, when she can be bothered to wear anything at all), Green creates a wonderfully slinky villainess for the ages: a woman scorned who finds a new method of attack whenever her foe turns his back. Arthur's story may give Camelot its foundation, but she keeps the fires burning. --Andrew Wright