The Saga of Erik the Viking

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Ebert, Roger (27 October 1989). "Erik the Viking movie review & film summary (1989)". Chicago Sun-Times . Retrieved 22 January 2020. Chris Willman of the Los Angeles Times gave it a negative review, and called it "A stillborn comedy in which minutes sometimes mysteriously go by between even attempted gags, and in which virtually no comic scene works up to any kind of viable punch line or payoff." [4] Box office [ edit ] Erik's crew prepare to escape in their ship with Aud and the Horn safely aboard. Arnulf refuses to join them, denying that the island is sinking, up to the very moment he and the other islanders are swallowed by the waves. Aud, who witnessed Snorri's murder and was able to recover the mouthpiece, sounds the first note on the Horn. The ship is propelled over the edge of the flat Earth and into space, where it comes to rest upon the plane of Asgard. Erik sounds the second note to awaken the gods, and he and his crew climb a path made of stars to approach the great Hall of Valhalla. Jones, Terry (1989). Erik the Viking: the Screenplay. New York: Applause Theatre Book Publishers. ISBN 1-55783-054-1.

SAGA - which means the author, Terry Jones (yes, one of the great Monty Python), has written this in the style of the old Icelandic tales with short episodic chapters that form one overarching story. The exact ethnic composition of the Viking armies is unknown in particular cases, but the Vikings’ expansion in the Baltic lands and in Russia can reasonably be attributed to the Swedes. Elsewhere, the nonmilitary colonization of the Orkney Islands, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland was clearly accomplished by the Norwegians. EnglandErik learns from the wise woman Freya that Fenrir the wolf has swallowed the sun, plunging the world into the age of Ragnarök. Erik resolves to travel to Asgard to petition the gods to end Ragnarök. Freya informs him that to do so he must seek the Horn Resounding in the land of Hy-Brasil. The first note blown upon the Horn will take Erik and his crew to Asgard, the second will awaken the gods, and the third will bring the crew home. Erik sets out with a crew of all ages and professions from his village, including Harald, a Christian missionary who does not believe the myths. When I was ten I lived in Europe. I dreamed of living on a sailing vessel with vikings. My grandest hope would be to row an oar for a chief, or run afoul of spirits and dragons while voyaging to the end of the world. The land was young and every breath I would take would yield to myth. Erik the Viking is a 1989 British comedy- fantasy film written and directed by Terry Jones. The film was inspired by Jones's children's book The Saga of Erik the Viking (1983), but the plot is completely different. Jones also appears in the film as King Arnulf. [4] [5] Plot [ edit ] a b Willman, Chris (1 November 1989). " 'Viking' Fumbles With Too Few Laughs". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 10 October 2020. Principal photography took place at Shepperton Studios in England. Some footage of Erik's village and environments was shot in Norway, while the Hy-Brasil sequence was filmed in Malta. Artwork was made by Tolkien artist Alan Lee. The music score was composed by Neil Innes.

Viking, member of the Scandinavian seafaring warriors who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the 9th to the 11th century and whose disruptive influence profoundly affected European history. These pagan Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish warriors were probably prompted to undertake their raids by a combination of factors ranging from overpopulation at home to the relative helplessness of victims abroad.Erik and the crew encounter old friends and enemies slain in battle. The gods are revealed to be petulant children who have no interest in answering mortal prayers. Harald the missionary sees neither hall, nor ghosts or gods, and passes intangibly through its walls due to his Christianity. Odin persuades Fenrir to spit out the sun, but tells Erik that the end of Ragnarök will not bring peace to the world. Odin then informs Erik that he and his crew cannot return home. Nor may they remain in Valhalla, since they were not slain in battle; instead they are to be cast into the fiery Pit of Hel. Some of the crew who died earlier in the adventure attempt to save them, but even as they are drawn into the Pit, they hear the Horn Resounding's third note, blown by Harald, who had returned to the ship, which flings them clear. Erik, a young Viking, discovers that he has no taste for rape and pillage, and suffers guilt over the death of an innocent woman, Helga. The illustrations are interesting, if not exactly memorable, and they do what they are supposed to do. Jones's prose is highly readable and does evoke the motifs and style of Norse literature, or at least what we perhaps expect it to be. There are also some entertaining 'adult' moments (e.g. Erik playing chess with Death a la Bergmann's 'Seventh Seal').