Wow...some of you are going to have a tough time if you watch that, "Sea Patrol" series that I 'm promoting in a different thread. You gotta be able to speak Australian, mate.
Seriously, I don't have trouble with, The Vikings show when I watch. I also read Bernard Cornwell's series about a Viking nobleman who serves King Alfred the Great, while longing to regain his Earldom, seized by an evil uncle. This guy's family were Danes.
It bothered me that the author kept referring to his long and short swords. No mention of the scramasax. Finally, I think he let it slip that the short sword is a long scram. I'm sure he wears a shorter one as a dagger and general utility knife.
It helps with these shows if you research real Viking weapons and "see" them in the books and TV shows. It really bugs me if a show can't get period swords right.
One thing I hated about, "Xena" was the sloppy sword depiction. But the same producers made, "The Lost World", where they did use correct Roman swords in a couple of suitable episodes. "The Lost World" had better actors and more expensive props and sets, and I think had better weapons advisors. A few of the stars were guests on, "Xena", like Rachel Blakely, and Lara Cox guested on their other show, "Beastmaster", about which little else good can be said.
I'm as old as some of you, but have retained excellent hearing and I have a keen ear for accents and can usually cope. I didn't realize how many here seem to require hearing aids. I bet that is a nuisance when listening to TV.
As for subtitles, when I see a film like, "Juana La Loca", I hear the Castilian Spanish, and read the English sub-titles. (Also available with French ST's). I notice that the ST's usually just summarize the words. I think the same was true for the German spoken in, "Battle of Britain."
BTW, if you haven't seen, "Juana la Loca" (Crazy Joan), sold in the US as Mad Love, do. It was Spain's entry in the Academy Awards the year it appeared and won Best Foreign Film. It depicts the romance and eventual ruin of the marriage between the daughter of Isabel and Ferdinand of Castile and the Archduke of Burgundy (?) Superb cast , lavish period pageantry. I like sweeping historical epics, and it qualifies. I liked it so well in rental that I bought the DVD.
I'm guessing that if you watch, "The Vikings", you may like other historical dramas.
