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Knights of Mayhem

Started by PamJB_66, November 06, 2011, 10:54:00 AM

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Alphonse

They are not knights but rather men at arms. There is a differance, while all knights are trained in arms not all men who can use arms are trained as knights. There is a component of morality that appears well beyond this Charlie character, involved in being a knight...

iain robb

I had not been able to catch an episode until last night, and could endure only 10 minutes of it. I was amazed they could make such a thrilling sport so boring.

It also reminded me in some ways of soccer. Generally speaking, people in the USA don't watch it because they don't understand it. So it baffles me that they would show a jousting match on this show, and not explain the scoring.

Other than those two major and unsurmountable errors, I thought it was pretty good.  :-\

majikah

This was the worst show I have seen in a while. Not only was it incredibly boring, the main character had commentary that was completely wrong. I'm pretty sure other joust troupes don't allow anybody off the lanes to compete in the events, which was what was inferred. I'm pretty sure festival insurance policies forbid that. While working at a Renaissance Festival may not be everyone's first choice of a job, it is one of the few places hanging up a "help wanted" sign for jousters. Not a lot of call for men on horseback pointing at each other with what looks to be balsa wood lances.

I do feel it's inappropriate for Charlie to put down the festival industry in general. It's not like joust tournaments are a big draw outside of renfaires either, the "tournament" depicted in the episode I saw had a LOT of empty seats, it looked like they had tried to spread the viewers out to make it look more crowded.

I'm not sure where this was filmed, but some of the sections had tents in the background, which made it look like a temporary show, an afterthought even. It didn't look like anything ready for prime time, in other words. There are shows that could provide a better backdrop for the images, but they weren't used. It could look professional and interesting, but it failed quite spectacularly.

Also...where are the European jousters, we saw some in England earlier this year that rode fully armored horses, and they didn't even have jeans on under their armor like these guys.

I was so hoping this would be good..oh well. Sorry Charlie, try again.

Rani Zemirah

#33
From what's been said online so far, I gather that it's pretty incredibly expensive to travel internationally with a jousting horse, armor and accoutrements, and a staff of retainers to help with everything, and a lot of the guys on this show are just regular guys who have shown a willingness to get up on a horse and take the hits.  

Unfortunately, it's true that most of them have received no formal training in the classical tenets of knighthood, but they really aren't styling themselves as medieval knights, but simply as heavy armor jousters, who just happen to use the term "Knights" in the name of their team.  There are actually some heavy armor jousting competitors (such as Dustin Stephens and a few others) who have some formal training, and Faire backgrounds, who have been jousting either in theatrical performance troupes or on full contact teams for a while, and these men display the Knight's code of chivalry they were trained in, even when they've been filmed candidly for this show.  Even on Charlie Andrews team there are some who show this behavior naturally, without having any training at all.  

It is unfortunate that Mr. Andrews chooses to display such contempt for the very venue which has given modern day jousting it's audiences for the last half century, or so... and even more so that he seems to want to turn it into the equivalent of a UFC event on horseback, complete with all the trash-talking, back biting and profanity.  I believe it might just be his saving grace that a few of his team members show more courtesy, sportsmanship and outright class than he seems capable of at this time.  I think they would likely be somewhat better off without him in the lead...  
Rani - Fire Goddess

Aut disce... aut discede

angusmacinnes

I saw a commercial last night that next week is the finale for the show.  Jousting is a tough and expensive business at best.  I have not been a fan of the show or of Charlie but he can joust. I just wish they would have had more competitors from around the country and not just the Knights of Mayhem Group.  Maybe History channels Full Metal Joust will be better, if they ever air it.
There are many places where compromise is expected;
LOYALTY is not amongst them.

Lord Clisto of York

It cant come to an end too soon for me. Like I mentioned before, I love full contact since it is what it was, but, there also has to be the entire knightly background and performance to go with it to make it interesting. Not one mans obsession and drama. They are only jousting against each other and not the WORLD so Charlie cant claim world champion except from prior World tourneys. These include jousters from everywhere. I have been to a few and it is fantastic to see different styles and armor compete. So, with that said, I think Charlie in acting like he has and does all the time has actually killed his cause for his so called sponsors and dream. If he would learn the way of the knight and perform it within his jousting, he would have had a better chance. No one likes Bullies and this show was all about promoting one. Shame on Nat Geo for not thinking this thing through as well.

Lord Clisto
Invictus Maneo - I Remain Unvanquished