The Dragon's Call

Merlin was conceived by Shine Television producers Julian Murphy and Johnny Capps, who had worked together on Hex, a fantasy series produced by Shine for Sky One.[1] The two had enjoyed presenting a "high-concept" show, and wished to do more.[2] The BBC had been interested in broadcasting a drama based on the character of Merlin for some time; a little over a year before the Shine series was initiated, writer and producer Chris Chibnall had been developing a project aimed at a BBC One Sunday night slot, which was ultimately not commissioned.[3] The programme was intended for family entertainment and designed to appeal to a wide audience.[3][4]

As the Arthurian legends do not reflect genuine historical events, not being set in any one singular period in time, the show's creators were more interested in conveying a world that felt "real".[5] Not constrained by historical accuracy, they had many opportunities to build the world in which they set their series; for example, tomatoes were included despite being absent from Europe in the Medieval era, and there was never a dragon in the earliest texts involving Merlin.[6] The series was intended to have an "epic scale" that would have a wide "cross-generational" appeal; films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark were cited as inspiration.[6] Despite this, the creators strived to have smaller moments that the audience could relate to and comedy to lighten the darker tone.[6] A fairy-tale aspect was also incorporated - highlighted in "The Dragon's Call" with the singing and cobwebs - to set the programme apart from others. Beauty and the Beast was an inspiration in this respect.[6] Merlin was also influenced by the US show Smallville, about the early years of Superman; Murphy and Capps said that Smallville helped provide the idea of a "Camelot that existed before its golden age".[1] The creators wanted to show Merlin, Arthur, Gwen and Morgana in their youth, "before they were famous".[5] Murphy and Capps intended for the four young characters and situations to be relatable to young viewers.[5] They also put the characters in unusual positions with respect to their later, well-known roles to make the audience wonder how they would reach those roles; for example, Guinevere, the future Queen of Camelot and wife of Arthur, is a servant with a romantic interest in Merlin.[6] Looking back at "The Dragon's Call", Murphy and Capps felt that it had so much to introduce in terms of world and characters that there was not enough of the main plot of the episode.[6]

"The Dragon's Call" guest-starred Eve Myles, who enjoyed playing the villain.

The producers were aware that they would be casting young actors with little experience in film and television.[5] Hundreds were seen for the part of Merlin, with the part going to 22-year-old Colin Morgan,[1] whom Murphy and Capps felt possessed a broad acting range with good comedic timing and wonder, and who they felt would most importantly be likable to the audience.[6] Bradley James was cast as Prince Arthur, whom the producers saw as a "medieval Prince Harry". They felt that James' sense of comedy balanced the fact that the character was intended to first appear acting like an "idiot".[6] Murphy and Capps had previously worked with James on a pilot, and kept him in the "back of [their] minds" when casting Arthur.[6] Katie McGrath and Angel Coulby, who play Morgana and Gwen respectively, also had little previous professional acting experience.[5] Despite this, it was noted that all four young actors took to their jobs maturely and with energy.[5]

The series also incorporates more experienced and well-known actors. Richard Wilson was cast as Gaius, who was conceived to have a dysfunctional father/son relationship with Merlin. Murphy and Capps had worked with Wilson before and considered him a broad actor with a "warmth" and "humanity" that would fit the character.[6] The voice of the Great Dragon was given to John Hurt; he was offered the part, though the producers did not expect him to accept.[6] The role of King Uther went to veteran actor Anthony Head, who was best known for his role as Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Head had been one of the first choices for the part; Murphy and Capps felt that he was good with "high-concept" worlds.[6] Murphy and Capps had also previously worked with Caroline Faber, who briefly appears as Merlin's mother. The two liked her sense of humanity, though her scene — where Gaius reads her letter — was almost cut from "The Dragon's Call".[6] Eve Myles guest stars in "The Dragon's Call" as the villain Mary Collins and her host body Lady Helen. Murphy and Capps remarked that Myles gave a "big" but "truthful" performance, and really "embraced" being a villain.[6] Myles sang during the filming of the climax, though her voice was replaced with a real operatic soprano in post-production. Composer Rob Lane was given little time to complete the song and, though he was given Old English texts, the lyrics do not make actual sense.[6]

The Château de Pierrefonds in France was used for filming Camelot scenes.

Merlin began production in March 2008;[7] as many as three episodes were filmed at a time, and not necessarily in the correct order.[6] Many scenes in Camelot were filmed in France at the Château de Pierrefonds, which was hand-picked by the production team. Castles in England had been looked at, but they were often in ruins and would require more computer-generated imagery (CGI) effects in post-production.[6] A medieval-era road was built around Pierrefonds for some scenes to give the sense of a town, as the castle was in isolation.[6] The execution scene was one of the first major scenes shot. As the production team had to be able to work with French extras, a bilingual crew was required.[6] The cell Merlin is imprisoned in and the banquet hall at the end were both filmed in English stately homes, with real medieval architecture.[6] Other studio filming took place in Wales.[7] The scene at the camp where Lady Helen stays had to be reshot because the tent was seen as "too Monty Python" and distracting.[6]

Myles' Mary Collins prosthetic took six hours to accomplish, and the shot where she morphs into the younger Lady Helen took seven hours to complete because it required three stages of make-up.[6] Her first performance at the beheading scene was met with applause by the extras; Head requested that he redo his part of the scene because he felt that it was not good enough.[6] Gaius' fall from the balcony was done by a stuntman and filmed with a high-speed camera.[6] The mattress that Merlin magically moves across the floor was achieved with rigging it up to hidden wires and pulleys under the set.[8] The knives Arthur throws were actually shot out of a nitrogen gun; James did throw them in a separate shot, but against a cloth that he still missed.[6] Fake fruit was made for the stocks scene, but it was deemed too fake-looking and was replaced with real tomatoes.[6] The mace fight was originally filmed with plastic maces, but they were not believable as they did not have enough weight. The scene was then shot with real steel maces; it was one of the most complex and hardest scenes to execute.[6] The climax, where the guests all fall asleep and are covered by cobwebs, took many days to complete. The chandelier falling was also considered difficult.[6]

CGI special effects for the series were provided by The Mill.[4] The production team wanted a talking dragon, but they were worried about the lip sync and did not think it would be believable until they saw the first test. The Mill created a software that would read Hurt's facial muscles and incorporated it into the animation.[6] Another concern was that the eyes would not convey the character, but this was corrected by the final version.[6] Additional sound effects, such as the clanging chain, were added to give the creature weight.[6] The knife Mary throws at Arthur was also completely CGI, though the shot of it hitting the chair was real.[6]

The premiere of Merlin received generally mixed reviews. Sam Wollaston of The Guardian was optimistic towards the programme, despite the violent content. He wrote that "Morgan is a very likable young Merlin" and the show "looks splendid — colourful, exciting, and yes, magic".[14] Daniel Martin of the same paper felt that the series had potential, though "The Dragon's Call" had "awful dialogue" and was "a flimsy caper memorable only for centring around the wonderful big-eyed Eve Myles".[15] The Hollywood Reporter reviewer Randee Dawn felt that it would "hurt [the] eyes" of those who were familiar with the Arthurian legends, but "for those new to the legend, this is a fresh, and delightfully color-blind, approach to the tale".[16] Alessandra Stanley, reviewing for The New York Times, was pleased with the diversity of the cast and the chemistry between Morgan and James, though she felt it "would be better if its creators had taken more liberties and shown more imagination in coloring in the background of their young hero's world".[17]

Metro gave the episode three out of five stars, writing that "Colin Morgan makes a likeable boy wizard but there’s a bit too much formula – and not in the magical sense".[18] The review described the episode as a "test of patience" due to Merlin's inability to use magic and the "hideously jaunty, distinctly non-medieval soundtrack".[18] Tom Shales of The Washington Post criticised the "sluggish pace" of the premiere, noting that the episode was only "brightened" by the dragon, though similar creatures were common in the genre and it "lacks personality as well as panache".[19] Shales felt that the series took "the stuff of legend and imagination and makes it dry and commonplace".[19] Den of Geek reviewer Mark Pickavance felt that the episode was "uneven and often very stilted", and failed at introducing both the characters and telling the story of the first meeting of Arthur and Merlin.[13] He was displeased with the deviation from established mythology and the lapses in logic.[13] The Times's AA Gill described Merlin as "bland", writing that it was for "a large untapped audience that yearns for Abercrombie & Fitch drama".[20] Hermione Eyre of The Independent called it "horrible", disliking the "modern" feeling, the "awful" make-up, and commented that "Guinevere looks like a supply teacher".[21]