mordred through time (movies, tv shows, opera and musicals)
Part 3: From 2002 to 2010
Other Parts:
Part 1: From 1949 to 1981 -> here
Part 2: From 1982 to 2002 -> here
Part 4: From 2014 to 2017
Part 5: From 2018 to 2023
Complete list of part 2 media with extra information and some of my thoughs regarding the evolution of Mordred’s role is under cut.
In part 2 I talked a bit about how in movie adaptations (since Excalibur 1981) Morgause disappears and Morgana takes her role as Mordred's mother. Here I wanted to note how we actually have a very big gap of Mordred movies in the 2000s. Most of the media in this video are recordings of musicals or opera or tv shows.
Another small point is that we have here the second instance of Mordred in a romantic relationship (the first instance being Mordred and his lady in "Sword of Lancelot") in Merlin BBC, where his love for Kara is a central part of his character development. The third and only other instance will be in a webseries (in part 4!).
2002 Merlin the Return: Craig Sheffer plays an over the top extremely evil Mordred in this tv movie. He is still Morgana's son, and he is the main antagonist (and a wizard). The movie is - an experience. It mainly focus on modern day characters meeting time travelling Arthur and Merlin.
2003 Gary Hughes' album "Once and future king": The song is "The Hard Way", one of the two songs sung by Mordred (the other being "Demon Down"). This album (divided in two parts) has a total of 20 songs sung by different artists each interpreting an arthurian character. It is an interesting narrative musical that follows the rise and fall of Arthur. We do not know if Mordred is Arthur's son.
2003 recording of Albeniz's "Merlin" opera: This is a 1902 opera that is rarely performed nowadays. This recording is the only available dvd of it, and Mordred (a baritone) is played by Àngel Òdena. Mordred is the main antagonist alongside his mother Morgana.
2003 Camelot, Papermill Playhouse: I was lucky enough to have some bootlegs videos of Camelot performances so I decided to put them as well. It is pretty interesting to see how Mordred's "The Seven Deadly Virtues" and "Fie on Goodness!" gets campier, more comedici and sillier! Here Mordred is played by Barrett Foa.
2005 Camelot, Bad Hersfeld (Germany): Another recording of the Broadway musical, here fully translated in German! This is the website of the open air event. Unfortunately I could not find the name of the actor.
2008 Camelot (Live from Lincoln Center): Live from Lincoln Center used to be a tv series dedicated to filming and sharing musicals and performances. This is thus another Camelot musical adaptation. Bobby Steggert (who is now a therapist!!) played an over the top, super-campy, queer coded Mordred! This is probably the first time we have a Mordred that is so obviously queer coded in his presentation.
2008 Merlin (BBC): This 5 seasons tv show was extremely popular, so much it led to the rise of a bunch of arthurian tv movies that were probably trying to ride "Merlin"'s popularity. The show is episodic-like, slightly comedic, and focuses on Merlin and Arthur. Mordred appears as a child (not related to Arthur or Morgana) at the end of Season 1 and he was portrayed by Asa Butterfield (not in video). Then he returned as an adult in Season 5, potrayed by Alexander Vlahos. This is another instance of a sympathetic Mordred. While he ends up being a villain and finding an alliance with Morgana, the show makes a point to explain his reasons. At this point this is the second time we see a sympathetic (but still villanous) Mordred on tv.
Interestingly this is also the second time we see a Mordred who is in a happy romantic relationship (there are only three instances, it seems, in all media!), as Mordred is in love with a woman named Kara.
2009 Merlin and the Book of Beasts: This is a fantasy tv movie that focus on Merlin helping Arthur's daughter reclaim Camelot. It features a baffling performance from Merlin's actor (not sure what the director or the actor himself was thinking), and a villain called Arkadian who is supposed to be Mordred and Arthur's son. Here we go back to the role of extremely evil Mordred, and Arkadian also kidnaps his half-sister to marry her and continue the Pendragon dynasty. Mordred (Arkadian) is played by Jim Thorburn.
2010 Avalon High: This is a tv Disney channel movie adaptation of Meg Cabot's novel by the same title. The movie butchers the main story of the novel and tries to surprise its viewers by changing the character's arthurian selves. The protagonist Allie is now King Arthur's reincarnation (instead of the Lady of the Lake), and William (her love interest) is... unknown character instead of being King Arthur. The novel has William's half brother as Mordred, but the movie changes that and now it is the teacher (Mr. Moore) who is revealed to be Mordred, while Marco is just a misdirection. Mr. Moore is played by Steve Valentine.
2010 Merlin and Arthur the Lion King: Continuing our journey into sympathetic Mordreds, we have another one here! This movie is one in a series of tv movies/dvd movies by variation of "Arthur" and "Merlin" in the title. My personal theory is that the hope is that people would find the movie by googling for more popular media (ex. "Merlin 2008 BBC", "King Arthur 2004"). In this animated kids movie, Mordred is a kitten and one of Arthur's friends. He first works with Morgana to stop Arthur from becoming king, but then ends up deciding he does not want to betray his friend anymore. This might be one of the few iterations of a completely redeemed Mordred in movies/tv!
Extra note: 2003 is also the year Heather Dale (singer) released her album "May Queen" which has one song that in my opinion seemed to be sung by Mordred or to Mordred: "Crashing Down". Because it is not certain but only my interpretation I did not add it.
In the same album we also have "War Between Brothers" which reference to Mordred (sung by an external narrator). A previous album ("The trials of Lancelot" in 2000) also contains the famous song "Mordred's Lullaby" which is sung by Morgana to Mordred.
Suite Española no. 1 (arr. for guitar) (Isaac Albéniz):
1 Submission
it's sun-kissed, it's vibrant, it's passionate. this suite contains the exuberant 'asturias'. also, have i told you that albéniz and segovia combined is sheer heaven?
@cimoguitar performed an amazing program of Spanish and Brazilian music at @incarnationsf on Sat Jan 25. Music of #albeniz #villalobos #leobrouwer and more #guitar #guitarist #classicalguitar #sanfrancisco #sunsetdistrict #episcopalchurch #episcopal #episcopalian #classicalmusic (at The Episcopal Church of the Incarnation) https://www.instagram.com/p/B7xmbUgBm8b/?igshid=9e78j760rv51
"VIRTUOSO"—six masterpieces of classical music arranged by Candyboy
“VIRTUOSO”—six masterpieces of classical music arranged by Candyboy
“VIRTUOSO”; six masterpieces of classical music arranged by Candyboy. Discovering classical authors Paganini, Rimsky-Korsakov, Dyens, Albeniz, Barrios, and Wallace through Candyboy‘s bombastic guitar. The first extract is “The Flight of Bumblebee”. “I love the figure of Bumblebee as insect. I admire the ability of bees to turn pollen into honey. It is the transformation in esoteric term. The…
