Robin of Sherwood

Robin of Sherwood was a British television series that mixed realistic settings -- for instance, they filmed in a real medieval castle for castle scenes, putting workmen near the crumbling walls to make it look like the castle was still being built -- with a magical background. 
In this version of the Robin Hood tale, Robin was called by Herne the Hunter, a local god, to be his "son" and protect the local people. While the setting itself is medieval Christian, down to a local corrupt bishop, Robin himself is clearly pagan once he swears fealty to Herne. 
This was the first version to include a Saracen, Nasir, as part of Robin's band. 
Their adventures ranged from traditional things like the archery contest where the Sheriff of Nottingham (Robert de Rainault, in this version) intended to trap Robin to battling mind-controlling sorcerors.
== The Two Robins ==
The first two series starred Michael Praed as Robin of Loxley, a free Saxon peasant who became Robin Hood to help free his people from tyranny. During the second series, Praed got tapped for an acting gig in America, and wanted to leave the show. The series ended with his death.
Rather than cancel the series, TPTB went for a different actor, Jason Connery, for the third series. Connery played Robert of Huntingdon, the son of a local earl who heard Herne's call and went to the forest to take on the mantle of Robin Hood -- thus neatly accounting for the two different origin stories in the Robin Hood mythos. Robert turns out to the the half-brother of Guy of Gisburne.
==The Return of Robin of Sherwood==
Robin of Sherwood broke new ground when it was first broadcast in 1984, and thirty years on the series is still many people’s favourite telling of the legend – all thanks to the genius of its creator and writer, Richard ‘Kip’ Carpenter. When the series ended, Kip tried for years to revive it, even writing a feature-length script that followed on from the end of the series, called The Knights of the Apocalypse.
Richard Carpenter died in 2012, but his long-cherished project continued; the original cast of the series – including Ray Winstone, Jason Connery, Clive Mantle, Judi Trott, Nikolas Grace, Mark Ryan and Phil Rose – got back together to record a one-off audio adaptation of The Knights of the Apocalypse. The audio drama was to be released in early 2016, and all profits raised were to have gone to Kip’s favourite charities – The Sherwood Forest Trust Sherwood Forest Trust website and The British Red Cross The British Red Cross website 
==Robin of Sherwood Fandom ==
The fandom is still active nearly 30 years after the show went off the air, producing fic, art, icons, and vids. 
It has a fan club, Robin of Sherwood Online.
One of the primary online sources for the fanfic is the Robin of Sherwood Fanfic Archive, which hosts fanfic (gen and slash); links to some vids; links to multiple RoS sites, including individual authors; has an "RoS Anachronism Guide"; and in 2009 started up a sister Livejournal community for discussion and fic challenges called RoS Fic Forum.
===Characters===
* Robin of Loxley
* Guy of Gisborne
* Robert of Huntingdon (Sheriff of Nottingham)
* Nasir
* Maid Marion
* Will Scarlet
* Little John
* Friar Tuck
* Philip Mark
===Pairings===
* Robin/Marion
* Robert/Guy
* Guy/Allan
* Guy/Marian
===Fandom History Timeline===
A fandom history timeline has been compiled by the Spirit of Sherwood fan club and can be found at www.robinofsherwood.org.
=== Robin of Sherwood Fandom's Relationship to TPTB===
The show's creator, Richard "Kip" Carpenter was an occasional (though lengthy!) contributor to the letterzine Cousins, something that had to have to been on the minds of fans as they communicated with each other.
At least one letterzine reader backtracked on a previously stated opinion after learning Kip read and responded, writing, "I never thought that my flaky meanderings would be read by the Source Himself! I'm so embarrassed!" 
There was much mention of "what Kip requests" and that carried over to what kind of fanfic could be written, specifically slash, the big Robin of Sherwood no-no. More than one letter in Cousins mentioned that the universe of Robin of Sherwood belonged to its creator and that its fans needed to always keep that in mind; many, many letters in that letterzine discussed how to write the characters, in relation to its creator's desires. 
Fans also sent Carpenter copies of the zines they had created. A 1990 comment from Carpenter: 
In the 1992 editorial for Albion #6 (which also included a Robin of Sherwood poem by Carpenter that was a winner of a Major Oak fanwork award), fans expressed their appreciation: 
===Robin of Sherwood Fandom and Slash===
RoS zine fiction is almost exclusively gen or non-explicit het as the creator of the show, Kip Carpenter, specifically requested people not slash the main characters. Most fans went along with this request.
From a submission request for Robin of Sherwood: The Early Years: 
Many comments regarding slash in letterzines were along the lines that slash was boring, disrespectful, stupid, and basically badly written soft porn. A few fans commented that slash was a matter of reality in other fandoms, but thankfully not Robin of Sherwood. A few fans spoke up, saying it was fine for other people, just not themselves, and that if you didn't like it, don't read it. see Herne's Stepchildren for some of these comments 
A fan wrote: 
Another fan wrote: 
From a fan in 1993: 
For much more on this topic, see Robin of Sherwood Fandom and Slash Fanworks.
==Fanworks==
=== Zines ===
See :Category:Robin of Sherwood Zines.
=== Fanart ===
* Ambersky's World, fanart by several artists including Ebe, Morgwyn, and Ambersky
=== Filks ===
*Bright Forest: Songs about Robin of Sherwood
*Rhiannon's Wheel
=== Vids ===
* Collection of vids on the Robin of Sherwood Fanfic Archive
==Fan Awards==
* Major Oak Awards, run by the Spirit of Sherwood fanclub, for excellence in fanfic and fanart, focusing on zines.
* Silver Arrow Awards, given at Merries Weekend, which was sponsored by Robin of Sherwood North American Branch, for fanzine writers, editors and artists.
== Conventions ==
* Dimensional Gate (1987)
* Scorpio - Robin of Sherwood actors, along with actors from Blake's 7 in Chicago, ILL (1983-1989)
* Silver Arrow, an annual U.K. convention held till the show's 20th anniversary in 2003
* Legend (Robin of Sherwood convention), the successor annual con to Silver Arrow, also in the U.K. (con homepage). The con is possibly defunct after 2008.
* Herne's Con (1989-1991)
* Weekend in Sherwood, put on by the Spirit of Sherwood fanclub, held irregularly. There have been 9 weekends to date: the first was in 1992, the most recent in 2005.Spirit of Sherwood's "Weekend in Sherwood" page. Includes programming info, contact info, pictures. Accessed August 14, 2009.
* The Hooded Man - the biggest UK convention there has been, the largest attendance and the most guests from cast and crew of the show. It was a celebration of the 30th anniversary in 2014 and is now running bi-annually. It is run by Hooded Man Events and had the distinction of being the first time ever that both Robins (Michael Pread and Jason Connery) were on stage together. -- The Hooded Man Events
==Mailing Lists==
* Robin Of Sherwood Chat and Fic archive link "Robin Of Sherwood has been a rather obscure fandom so I thought I would shine a light on it....anything, discussion and fiction is welcome. General, hetero and slash fiction is welcome. The stories posted to this list will be posted on WWOMB unless you make a 'DO NOT POST' notation."
== Lists & Communities ==
* RoS Fic Forum (LJ comm; discussion and fic challenges)
* Green Man of Sherwood (LJ comm; news, fic, art, vids)
* Heart of Sherwood (Yahoo group; ongoing storytelling RPG)
* Robin of Sherwood Yahoo Group
* Tales of Sherwood Forest, the online version of the original paper zine. On Yahoo groups.
* Robin of Sherwood PL Polish-langauge Yahoo group for discussing RoS.
* Spirit of Sherwood Fan Club page on Facebook
* Hooded Man Events (Hooded Man Events page on Facebook)
* The Knights Of The Apocalypse ('Robin of Sherwood: The Knights Of The Apocalypse' page on Facebook)
* Nothing's Forgotten (A Robin of Sherwood fandom forum for both fandom-related and offtopic discussions, founded in 2015)
* Wolfsheads mailing list.
== Fanclubs ==
* Spirit of Sherwood, the official RoS fanclub, founded in 1990.Spirit of Sherwood home page, accessed August 14, 2009.
* Robin of Sherwood North American Branch
* The Children of Herne
== Archives ==
* Robin of Sherwood Fanfic Archive
* Robin of Sherwood Fanfiction by Leiasky (Geocities link; this is the Wayback version). Warning: site plays music automatically when it loads (even on the Wayback version). Scroll down to stop the player.
==References==
Category:Robin of Sherwood