Merlin

The Dragon's Call:  Season 1, Episode 1, written by: Julian Jones

     This is the first episode in the wonderful and magnificent series, Merlin. It all starts with a young Merlin traveling to Camelot.  When Merlin first arrives, he sees a witch being persecuted by King Uther, who tells everyone that magic has been outlawed. Uh-Oh, this is terrible news for Merlin! The witch being persecuted suddenly escapes, promising to take her revenge. Merlin then finds his mother's friend, Gaius, who he will be living with, and Merlin accidentally reveals to Gaius that he has magic. This is very bad because Gaius is the king's physician and Merlin is now his assistant. While Merlin is running an errand for Gaius, he sees a knight picking on a peasant. Merlin threatens this knight, which makes me embarrassed for him because I know he can't use magic and he is a thin stick of a boy. Obviously, this knight turns out to be Prince Arthur. Merlin is put in the stocks for threatening Arthur and there he meets Guinevere. A few days later, the witch, disguised as a queen, comes to Camelot, bent on destroying Uther by killing Arthur. Meanwhile, Merlin hears someone calling his name.  He sets out to find the voice, and soon discovers that the voice belongs to a dragon. The dragon reveals to Merlin his destiny – that he is bound to Arthur and that he must keep Arthur safe. Merlin hates Arthur, so this may be a problem. In the meantime, Merlin becomes very suspicious of this "queen" and closely monitors Arthur at a banquet. When Uther invites the "queen" to sing, she rises but instead of singing, she casts a spell that makes everyone but Merlin sleep. Merlin stops the witch mid-spell and everyone wakes up. In one last desperate attempt at murder the queen hurls her dagger at Arthur, but Merlin pulls him out of the way at the last second. King Uther, thrilled that Merlin has saved his son, gives Merlin a job in the castle as Arthur's servant. This is awesome because even thought, at first Merlin and Arthur hate each other, they become best friends -- and it's adorable!