Erik The Viking

Erik The Viking

Eric The Viking, Terry Jones' swashbuckling adventure is a bit of a mess! It's a nice mess, with a wonderful supporting cast, a fully believable snow, slush & mud hovel of a Viking village, some pretty neat late-1980s special effects and a great "message"...but that's about it.

The chances are that you may not even have heard of it as it was a box-office flop, however, once you can get past the hurdles, Eric The Viking is frequently a lot of fun and an informative History lesson, as well. So, I do guardedly recommend that you give it a peek as, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Erik The Viking trailer

Jones had wanted to create "a funny fantasy adventure film" and like Terry Gilliam's The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen, it was all of those things...but like Munchausen, it never seems to gel because of two main problems:

1 The script, which, in attempting to be swashbuckling with humor a la Indiana Jones is castrated by the "unbelievability" of Monty Python humor.

You see, Indiana Jones wisecracks the way James Bond wisecracks, with humor usually being a punchline, a release valve for the action, action of this world. Monty Python, on the other hand, channels bizarre humor from its own abstract universe and Python-like characters are usually intangible and pretty uncomfortable within the real world.

2 The casting. Both hero Erik (Tim Robbins) & villain, Halfa The Bad (John Cleese), though both reasonably big office draws at the time, are horribly miscast. It's not that they act badly, it's just that they epitomise the problems inherent within the script, which are that "...I don't really believe this...".

That being said, Eric The Viking certainly has an interesting premise, being:

"...How can the male energy, which so easily devolves, in a Viking's case, into rape and pillage, be uplifted into a Spiritual quest that returns Harmony to the world?..."

Jones provides an answer that many men will find er...disturbing, which is:

To listen to women.

Oh, we can get more complex and say:

left-hand brain -v- right hand brain
male characteristics -v- female characteristics etc. etc.

...but in Erik the Viking, his course is plotted by meeting 3 women.

The first is Helga, a woman who he is supposed to rape during a Viking raid and with whom he would rather have a connection with before they go to the next level.

Unfortunately Erik inadvertantly kills her while attempting to save her from rape by some other vikings. Upon returning to his village, Erik realises that his bloodthirsty lifestyle will only continue unless he seeks advice as to how to end his cruel fate.

He then looks to the second important woman, the sorceress Freya (Eartha Kitt), who tells him that he's living in the age of Ragna Roc, where Themlyn the Wolf has swallowed the sun. In order to end this era, he must travel to High Brazil, (the Celtic Mythology version of Atlantis) and find The Horn Resounding, which he must blow 3 times:

Once to get to Asgard, the edge of the world
Once when he gets there to awaken the Gods and having done that &
Once to bring him home

After many trials, Erik & crew reach Asgard and there he meets Ord (Imogen Stubbs), the third important woman in his life, a sweet, promiscuous princess, who begins to teach Erik about Love rather than Obsession, which he obviously feels for Helga.

Eric The Viking DVD

"...One of the things I love about the Python movies and off-shoots is that...the costumes, sets and everything are really top notch. It's this solemn setting that makes you almost forget you're watching a comedy and then someone makes a joke and it makes it even more funny!..." Amazon UK reviewer E. Griffiths

So, there you have it. Erik The Viking has grand designs, some wonderful moments but is unfortunately an opportunity lost. See how important a good script editor is?

N.B. The version being offered for sale in the USA in the Director's son's edit, re-edited by Jones' son, Bill and some 15 minutes have been cut from the version that I have. Here's director Terry Jones explaining why there's a new cut of Erik The Viking

Terry also adapted the script to create a book for older children published as The Saga Of Erik The Viking (with illustrations by Michael Foreman).

Terry Jones: The Saga Of Erik The Viking

"...I don't know what I expected to find within, but the impulse buy was worth it. The illustrations are lovely, and the stories are filled with meaning that you will carry with you always. The tales weave into each another to make on big journey. Each ends up with a moral, therefore making it important for children AND adults to read..." Amazon reviewer Killerkimmy