One thing that was pointed out by a historian that I follow, is that in the first season of The Last Kingdom, they actually used an Eastern European breed of curly coated pig to represent the pigs that would have been found in medieval England that are now extinct. It boggles my mind that someone went to the trouble of making sure the pigs were correct but the costumes, weapons and sets seem to be designed by people whose idea of historical accuracy is a dinner show at Medieval Times.
Yes sometimes it's obvious that it's different people responsible to source things. I always notice animals because that's what I know most about. Poor people using horses to plough in early medieval times for example. I'm like, just google when the horsedrawn plough was invented... Poor people used hoes for a long time even after it was invented because they couldn't afford an ox, and definately not a horse. Or roads, gravel roads with a strip of grass in the middle, that's where the horse or ox is supposed to go, it shouldn't be grass there.
Most of these shows don't actually have historical consultants at all, and don't plan or budget for historical accuracy, so it really just comes down to serendipity if the various parts of your crew are going to have the knowledge and resources to portray history well. So, for example, they call up their animal guy say "pigs for a medieval show" and the animal guy just happens to have these great hairy pigs that they'd sourced for an earlier, higher-budget production... and then they call up their costume guy and he's, like, a fashion design dropout who wouldn't know what to make even if he had the skills and resources to make it--but as it is they gave him $5,000 and asked for 200 costumes, so he really can't do anything BUT rivet together a bunch of pleather scraps.
@Helena Hsson On that particular front, it may be a matter of sourcing. I remember watching the Tudor Farm documentary and they mentioned the oxen they use are the ONLY trained pair of oxen in Britian. AND they came out of retirement to film that show. I'm not sure in other parts of Europe but that might be the cause.
@@bast713 what's funny is that he has some background in medieval combat and is a "history nut" and did a lot of research on the real Rollo, but they basically did little to nothing with that
To be honest Rollo’s total lack of armour could just about be put down to him supposedly being a bursurker, who were supposed to have fought ‘naked’. The producers decided in their wisdom, that that meant shirt off! Now, as a lustfull one cougar, that worked for me, and a great many other female viewers who were obliged to watch along with their chaps, though I well know that ‘naked’ could have been stark naked, though I rather doubt it. Naked was So I have been taught meant without armour or shield. Not so good for the ratings! To be fair th all the actors they have bills to play, and no actor turned down a good, long lasting role. They look to the best, and work hard to become enthusiastic about anything that they can.
So, basically the weapons and jewellery in these shows are a little bit better than the costumes because more of the audience will have seen some examples in a museum. And occasionally a reenactor sneaks onto their sets and wears something that isn't made out of recycled biker jackets. Everybody who loves history loves feeling smug about recognising bad history- it's an integral part of the experience of learning!
I suspect that the costumers are also under more pressure to make the actors look sexy to a modern eye, and then the weapons and jewelery are used to suggest "LOOK, THEY'RE VIKINGS! REALLY!" On some level the belief seems to be that modern audiences can't empathize with people wearing clothes that don't suit the modern vibes, especially if the hair is a style that we wouldn't choose. I would guess that the swords are under less scrutiny. Or maybe I am talking out my ear here, who knows.
Yelling at awful "historical clothing" is half the fun of terribad "historical dramas." Things like, "That's totally polyester" and "what the f*ck is that supposed to be?" and "why can I see 20 zippers in this scene alone?" are excellent to shout at the TV.
@@Sally4th_ I always have fun laughing at bad medicine and hollywood doctors wearing their stethoscopes backwards. (And then have the patient talk while they are listening to their heart and responding. Which is impossible because a through a correctly positioned stethoscope a patient talking is uncomfortably loud and there's a zero percent chance of you still hearing the heartbeat over that.)
Drink every time someone is wearing a corset against the skin. Drink again for every tight-lacing scene. And double shots all around if someone complains about corsets being a painful tool of the patriarchy to keep women down. 🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃☠
Can confirm, we love bad historical dramas! (and not just to mock them, sometimes it's nice to have sewing background noise that's vaguely of the right aesthetic even if accuracy isn't its strength . . . )
"Fine, you want nit-picking? HERE YOU GO." I'm put in mind of the MST3K "Hamlet." "Oh, you want Hamlet? Fine. Oh, BOY are you getting Hamlet. Starchy, pork-filled, German Hamlet. Enjoy! Or don't!" This was, as always, a delight!
My masters thesis could literally be described as nit picking. The sediment I analysed from the Greenlandic Norse settlements was full of Pediculus humanus (the nit or crab louse depending on which part of the body it infests). I now no longer consider any show with Vikings in it as completely historically accurate if the characters don't spend half their screen time scratching vigorously.
Oh my gosh... 😂 After doing several hours of your research, did you get the psychological response I get when seeing ants in action, i.e. feeling like your skin is crawling in sympathy?? 😆
Your channel has made me reevaluate how I dress for the Ren Faire (I live Texas and we have more Faires than re-enactments) and I get to debut my new outfit this weekend! Not entirely accurate to early medieval but it’s hard when it’s 80F out Anyway just saying thank you to your enthusiasm and inspiration! I am having more fun trying to put together accurate outfits than I ever did putting together a fantasy look :)
I'm loving the amount of sass in this video 😂 I enjoy Vikings, with the understanding that it's a fantasy show loosely inspired by history. I appreciate when you talk about either the positives or the problems, because it's always educational.
Another content creator was talking about how AC Valhalla (And basically all modern viking era shows) are being made with how the general public thinks the viking age looked like. It's a shame cause the accurate/actual good stuff you pointed out is really cool and I think would make a good show anyway.
“…if I was put in charge of a Reenactment, which would be a miiiiistaaaaake!” - now I kinda want to see your Patreons club together to fund a reenactment event just to put you in charge of it. 😝
Even my relatives in Scandinavia saw the navigational tools like the sun stones in Vikings and threw their hands up bc it wasn't even the right group using them lol
So Lagertha's tortoise brooches looked fairly familiar to me and so I looked it up and those actually are based off of a real archaeological find. Specifically a type 5 tortoise brooch that was found in Ribe, Denmark.
Even when you're pointing out the positives, the sassiness in which you deliver the compliments is hilarious. I'm also surprised that the show where the gods literally exist and affect the world is the most accurate. Dysgais i rywbeth newydd, doeddwn i ddim yn gwybod y ffaith amdano'r "fuller", diolch am y fideo a'r addysg.
Digging through to find jewels amongst the rocks to bring a positive note is wonderful of you. You find the best there is but deliver it with your signature irreverent sense of humour. Always a pleasure to watch your videos. Take care.
I hate when people complaing about someone "nitpicking"... that's the point of the video. If you didn't want to see your favorite series get nitpicked, then why watch the video in the first place... Like YES JAN WE'RE NITPICKING, THATS THE FUN, THATS THE POINT
I appreciate that you arent just hating on shows like this. Totally get that they are “vaguely inspired by” rather than “totally based on”. Curious what you’d say is the most historically accurate show or movie involving vikings
@@TheWelshViking Really? I watched the trailer for that film. It looked cheesy and I was thinking it was Hollywood fluff! I can’t wait to watch it now! Thanks
@@TheWelshViking 1958 Vikings: I'll never get over the fact that they repoduced the drakkar so faithfully that the taller actors couldn't sit, let alone row properly, so they had to fill in every other oar hole and remove alternating benches for them to sit on.
@@LilyoftheValeyrising he took that movie apart in one of his earlier videos. I can only think it was meant as a joke. Helmets and armour in this movie are not even good from a fantasy perspective imho (except of people wearing some kind of fake chain under their vests), but maybe some other stuff is decent? I´d have to watch it again to really say, though.
I mean, as a swede, I loathe Vikings and The Last Kingdom. But damn it... The arrival of the Great Heathen Army in Vikings, and Ivar challenging the Saxons in the middle of York... They manage in brief moments capture the essence of the Norse threat to christendom, the essence of mythological heroes, that makes you wanna watch maybe one more episode incase they manage to do it one more time. Off course, that means hours of agony and yelling at the TV... But then it happens again, a brief scene that gives you hope... And then it all comes crashing down again
That sword of kings reminds me of the Ulfberht sword. There’s a guy in the American Midwest who made one. Something like he beat it for 12 hours straight - it was a while since I saw the documentary. I made my husband a copy of Uhtred’s shield from the Last kingdom. I read in a historical book somewhere they can be up to 1” thick and 32” across so I made it out of some 1x6 wood planks I had laying around, a boss I bought off Amazon, some rawhide dog bones, and some craft paint. I had to use screws which I will replace later with something more authentic.
I remember one time I was getting fitting for an Elizabethan costume when I was a backup for something, and it was incredibly hard to get on because they had basically tried to stick the under layer, corset and main dress into a single garment, and the wardrobe person dressing me was like wow I have no idea how they did this every day this is so hard to get on and I was like….they didn’t. Then I proceeded to spend the rest of the 40 minute fitting describing how all those pieces would be separate and much easier to get on and also how you would definitely want all those layers during the mini ice age of the Elizabethan era. Long story short, I seem to be discovering that on any one project there seems to be only one person who knows the actual historical costuming and they try to get as much historical stuff in there but are just held back by masses of other people who seem to have no idea.
It's always fun to spot the stands of dark Sitka spruce trees they film under which came over to the UK from the west coast of America during the early 1900s
I heard someone once suggest goldpanning as a name for positive nitpicking, cause nitpicking seems quite negative, and I think it's quite a good name. Also I don't understand how these shows can be so historically inaccurate that it's a challenge to find accuracies lol
Nice to see somebody nålebinding. The blue tunic(?) you said looked odd would be horribly difficult to weave on a warp weighted loom and be nigh on impossible to prevent from snagging on anything that was small and brushed against a sleeve. It would make an excellent winter blanket or, if linen, a towel. Period towels were plain weave so there goes that theory.
As an historical costumer - I totally appreciate where youre coming from. Cant stand Vikings but adore Uhtred, and Norsemen just cracks us up! Its just pure gold. My era of love is Georgian thru to 1950 (yes, broad I know). However to the great unwashed at least these shows have generated interest in history in general to younger generations. Growing up - i was rather obsessed with history, but I was very much alone in that hobby. As much as the costumes in these shows grated on me a lot a friend who had no previous history in Medieval times, or anything very historical at all, these shows has generated a genuine thirst for knowing the historical facts. Weve spend many many hours late at night on messenger chatting about whats correct and whats not, giving her historical context for events in The Last Kingdom, (she had heard of Alfred but thats about it...) whats thought to be known and whats not, and Im not an expert on medieval war items, but clothing I do know enough about to have opinions on it, and you support much of what ive thought - I realised the shows have more value than pure entertainment and maybe we shouldnt get too many sleepless nights over it because ya know...its entertainment that has a budget, at least the actors take the energy to learn to ride. Its other stuff that annoys me, eg the breed of horses does peeve me, but again...availability.
The thing that makes me sad, is that workers at leather warehouses aren't always told what kind of movie they are selecting leather for. They are usually just told the project type (if told at all), animal type, grade, and color. Sometimes they are given input in color selection. They can also pick the same list color from different companies or different dye batches from the same company, which come out differently from the dye process. If the warehouse selectors know that they are selecting for a movie, they may not know what sort of movie they're selecting for. If workers knew that they were selecting leather for a medieval movie, they could pick more accurate pieces. They could also potentially special order or trade with another warehouse something better suited to the movie.
I must say I do this with animal stuff in shows/movies - to this day the only part of the Disney Mary Poppins that drives me bat guano is the American robin in London. And one of the parts that puts Brother Bear over the top great for me is the correct bald eagle call. I think everyone has their nerd button issue with most popular media. And you can enjoy the annoyance in a way.
One thing that I always notice is the prevalence of Harris hawks in everything, regardless of where the show or movie is set. I know why it's done because they're one of the few pack-hunting raptors and are thus easy to train but it does take me out of the immersion when I see one in Anglo-Saxon England.
Norsemen is hysterical...and the women's costumes weren't horrible from my viewpoint. You do your SMUG< you are aloud! Have a great day! I watch Medical shows and scream into my hand quite often! and point and laugh.
Oi! I like the costumes on The Last Kingdom actually, purely from a costume design perspective, they give every character an instantly recognisable silhouette and colour. Why they couldn't do that with existing historical clothing tho is beyond me, they always get 18th century Britain right and Napoleon era stuff, why not medieval. I really love the Anglo-Saxons and Viking age stuff precisely because of the art and the style of the time, to see it depicted as it should be would be a joy, and every time they don't it feels like a wasted opportunity, especially when the show is quite a romp/riot and wildly successful.
I'm going to remember Jimmy's words of wisdom next time I have to sit through one of my children's school concerts. "God loves a tryer" lol great video Jimmy, 🍻 Slàinte Mhath
Ha!! Avaldsnes is actually fairly close to where I live; I've been around there several times ^^ Unfortunately I cannot enter the buildings unless I've already paid and gotten a ticket. Which, I mean, FAIR. My family just tends to be forgetful about this one particular thing, so as a result I've mostly only wandered the outside grounds, every time we decided to go to this village, usually kind of spontaneously. It's still really cool, though! They host an annual viking festival there. There's also a regular non-living viking museum right nearby. I definitely remember being there with my school once. And, recently they have also been excavating a find of a whole building nearby, right next to the really old stone church... it's thought to be the remnants of the house of Harald Hårfagre, possibly? I haven't looked too much into it yet, but that's what I've heard.
Pay no attention of negative people. Your knowledge of the history of the Vikings their clothings, weaponry food and countries where they are from. And we people from other countries appreciate you explaining these to us .
Norsemen uses a lot of real live reenactor extras in backgrounds which was the best decision ever even tho it might be because of budget related issues but still...
I appreciate your undiluted information regardless of whether it is to point out the positive or negative aspects. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and opinions.
All the garnets on the sword furniture are a Northern German thing that shows up in Britain (England?) with the Saxons, can’t remember if it’s trade or migration. But they’re fancy wear for the very rich, not what you take to war. So, actual thing, but not Viking. Over there, from elsewhere. The garnets are from Eastern Europe. Sorry, my books on this were eaten by Hurricane Katrina but in a world of few gems like Europe garnets were a gold plated Maserati.
I have to admit that I have only seen one episode of each of these shows. Last Kingdom and Vikings were just too violent for the emotional place I’d fallen into at the time. Norsemen had me laughing until I had an asthma attack and ended up in the ER.
Another great video. I can’t help but chuckle at my ignorance when I first started watching these shows prior to my interest in historical fashion. On the one hand, I can see why they use the aesthetics they do, but on the other hand, it really doesn’t help teach historical accuracy. However, us nerds who are fascinated by this stuff will find our way to the truth. Norsemen is hilarious 😂. Blessed be Brother.
Haha, loving this video Jimmy (had to comment before even finishing). You're being easier on them than I thought you'd be, and after your comments on the apron dress costume I feel TONS better about my viking inspired larp kit that I'm making. It doesnt need to be historically accurate for my purposes but I already feel like I'm doing a better job than the costume designers 😂
Thank you for honesty Jimmy! It does indeed feel nice to be smug sometimes. Until you get hoisted on your own petard, and then you feel like an ass lol.
Thanks for this Jimmy!! Love your expertise in these matters, I watch the shows but I’m never sure how much accuracy I’m seeing!! So glad you like Kirk Douglas in his prime as a Viking, ha!! 😁
In Vikings Valhalla, i found 5 accurate-enough background characters. (I was literally doing the leo dacap pointing meme) You mentioned the guy with turn shoes may be a reenactor, perhaps they had a few as well
From my other half, who has done props on Hollywood movies: "Better than Hollywood? That's not hard. A specialist will ALWAYS be better at their specific thing than someone from props. They have time to get good at something specific, whereas a props team has to be at least mediocre at Everything. I just wish we could work with specialists more."
Another thing that bothers me is those shiny polished steel shieldbosses. No one would keep polishin their shieldboss multiple times a day to prevent it from rust in a country that is known for moist, and rust. Painting the shieldboss would have been normal. A sword is polished, a bit of oil or wax or pigfat would have kept it from rusting.
If it makes you feel better someone kept going on at me even though I had actually said I enjoyed Last Kingdom but because I called it Mindless I set off their Reeeeeee!
Any recommendations for sources on archaeological typology of shield fittings specific to Vikingtid? I only ever worked on earlier shields from Germanic Iron Age, but the few I worked on had iron rims. And now I'm curious if I was working on incredible outliers for Germanic round shields in general, or if rim material preference changes through time.
Great comments, and helpfull for many. Good thing not to talk about some of them biker tattoos. I miss lots of great knitted clothing. That is a very old custom besides weaving clothes. Knitted pieces from way before known viking era has been found.
I absolutely love this, I'm glad you did a what's good episode. Was definitely still a what's wrong. They did okay on weapons and jewelry. Thank you, Jimmy! I really needed this. ❤
IIRC in season 1 lagertha was actually wearing brooches with an apron dress or apron looking thing (questionably constructed but an apron nonetheless) with a single string of glass beads.
Glad you enjoyed doing this one. Sorry if you felt that I was "nitpicking" you personally. It was really more about the fact that I've never seen anyone do this. Love you videos.
I don't follow these shows but watching the images I'm sure all those modern set-in sleeves would jar me right out of the storylines... The woman with the apron dress seems to wear a storebought t-shirt under her dress. Well done Jimmy on finding the ok-ish elements of the shows.
The thing is that by basically using generic fantasy names instead of actual place names, historical characters and events would make these shows decent fantasy shows. While one could still discuss why they would prefer leather over mail (look at the Rohirrim, they look awesome in their armor) it's still forgivable and clothing styles get a lot less distracting as long as they are at least plausible to be achievable with medieval technology and mixing existing historical styles can make for awesome new looks if it's done right.
One thing that was pointed out by a historian that I follow, is that in the first season of The Last Kingdom, they actually used an Eastern European breed of curly coated pig to represent the pigs that would have been found in medieval England that are now extinct. It boggles my mind that someone went to the trouble of making sure the pigs were correct but the costumes, weapons and sets seem to be designed by people whose idea of historical accuracy is a dinner show at Medieval Times.
Yes sometimes it's obvious that it's different people responsible to source things. I always notice animals because that's what I know most about. Poor people using horses to plough in early medieval times for example. I'm like, just google when the horsedrawn plough was invented... Poor people used hoes for a long time even after it was invented because they couldn't afford an ox, and definately not a horse.
Or roads, gravel roads with a strip of grass in the middle, that's where the horse or ox is supposed to go, it shouldn't be grass there.
Most of these shows don't actually have historical consultants at all, and don't plan or budget for historical accuracy, so it really just comes down to serendipity if the various parts of your crew are going to have the knowledge and resources to portray history well. So, for example, they call up their animal guy say "pigs for a medieval show" and the animal guy just happens to have these great hairy pigs that they'd sourced for an earlier, higher-budget production... and then they call up their costume guy and he's, like, a fashion design dropout who wouldn't know what to make even if he had the skills and resources to make it--but as it is they gave him $5,000 and asked for 200 costumes, so he really can't do anything BUT rivet together a bunch of pleather scraps.
What not that 1st Season filmed in Prague?
@@MrSinclairn outside Budapest.
@Helena Hsson On that particular front, it may be a matter of sourcing. I remember watching the Tudor Farm documentary and they mentioned the oxen they use are the ONLY trained pair of oxen in Britian. AND they came out of retirement to film that show.
I'm not sure in other parts of Europe but that might be the cause.
Rollo was wearing invisible armor. Better known as plot armor.
😂 Let's be honest. Rollo's costume was showing off that Clive Standen spends time at the gym and is athletic.
@@bast713 what's funny is that he has some background in medieval combat and is a "history nut" and did a lot of research on the real Rollo, but they basically did little to nothing with that
I laughed too hard!!!
His battle strategy is to dazzle his opponents with his exposed nips.
To be honest Rollo’s total lack of armour could just about be put down to him supposedly being a bursurker, who were supposed to have fought ‘naked’. The producers decided in their wisdom, that that meant shirt off! Now, as a lustfull one cougar, that worked for me, and a great many other female viewers who were obliged to watch along with their chaps, though I well know that ‘naked’ could have been stark naked, though I rather doubt it. Naked was So I have been taught meant without armour or shield. Not so good for the ratings! To be fair th all the actors they have bills to play, and no actor turned down a good, long lasting role. They look to the best, and work hard to become enthusiastic about anything that they can.
So, basically the weapons and jewellery in these shows are a little bit better than the costumes because more of the audience will have seen some examples in a museum. And occasionally a reenactor sneaks onto their sets and wears something that isn't made out of recycled biker jackets. Everybody who loves history loves feeling smug about recognising bad history- it's an integral part of the experience of learning!
I suspect that the costumers are also under more pressure to make the actors look sexy to a modern eye, and then the weapons and jewelery are used to suggest "LOOK, THEY'RE VIKINGS! REALLY!"
On some level the belief seems to be that modern audiences can't empathize with people wearing clothes that don't suit the modern vibes, especially if the hair is a style that we wouldn't choose. I would guess that the swords are under less scrutiny. Or maybe I am talking out my ear here, who knows.
Yelling at awful "historical clothing" is half the fun of terribad "historical dramas." Things like, "That's totally polyester" and "what the f*ck is that supposed to be?" and "why can I see 20 zippers in this scene alone?" are excellent to shout at the TV.
It's practically a requirement.
Don't forget about watch tan on wrist and modern belt with obviously spray painted "historic" buckle
Lol, I do the same with the "science" in disaster movies and science fiction. It's a guilty pleasure :D
@@Sally4th_ I always have fun laughing at bad medicine and hollywood doctors wearing their stethoscopes backwards. (And then have the patient talk while they are listening to their heart and responding. Which is impossible because a through a correctly positioned stethoscope a patient talking is uncomfortably loud and there's a zero percent chance of you still hearing the heartbeat over that.)
Drink every time someone is wearing a corset against the skin. Drink again for every tight-lacing scene. And double shots all around if someone complains about corsets being a painful tool of the patriarchy to keep women down. 🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃☠
Can confirm, we love bad historical dramas! (and not just to mock them, sometimes it's nice to have sewing background noise that's vaguely of the right aesthetic even if accuracy isn't its strength . . . )
Yes! I agree!
I'm delighted to know that's not just me with the vaguely appropriate sewing background noise!
This is the exact reason I sat through all of Reign.
Same! I love turning shows into radio dramas for sewing.
Sewing background noise that looks okay in your peripheral 😂😂
"Fine, you want nit-picking? HERE YOU GO." I'm put in mind of the MST3K "Hamlet." "Oh, you want Hamlet? Fine. Oh, BOY are you getting Hamlet. Starchy, pork-filled, German Hamlet. Enjoy! Or don't!" This was, as always, a delight!
People thought you were nitpicking ? You could choose any *frame* from the shows and it would be hard to find something accurate
My masters thesis could literally be described as nit picking. The sediment I analysed from the Greenlandic Norse settlements was full of Pediculus humanus (the nit or crab louse depending on which part of the body it infests). I now no longer consider any show with Vikings in it as completely historically accurate if the characters don't spend half their screen time scratching vigorously.
I love this so much!!!!
Oh my gosh... 😂 After doing several hours of your research, did you get the psychological response I get when seeing ants in action, i.e. feeling like your skin is crawling in sympathy?? 😆
@@anna_in_aotearoa3166 Definitely! Parasitology lectures were the worst - people would be squirming in their seat within 5 minutes!
LOL, I love how you found positive things to say while still actually making sure that everybody understands that most of the things are really wrong
IIRC, Norsemen used actual reenactors for extras. So that Drum Man is probably definitely wearing turn shoes.
Ooh, this makes so much sense
Your channel has made me reevaluate how I dress for the Ren Faire (I live Texas and we have more Faires than re-enactments) and I get to debut my new outfit this weekend! Not entirely accurate to early medieval but it’s hard when it’s 80F out
Anyway just saying thank you to your enthusiasm and inspiration! I am having more fun trying to put together accurate outfits than I ever did putting together a fantasy look :)
linen makes it tolerable in 80+ degrees that's why people wore it for centuries before the cotton gin was created. its easy to grow and lasts longer
@@HosCreates yea I ended up with a lot of linen and barely any wool :)
I'm loving the amount of sass in this video 😂
I enjoy Vikings, with the understanding that it's a fantasy show loosely inspired by history. I appreciate when you talk about either the positives or the problems, because it's always educational.
Another content creator was talking about how AC Valhalla (And basically all modern viking era shows) are being made with how the general public thinks the viking age looked like. It's a shame cause the accurate/actual good stuff you pointed out is really cool and I think would make a good show anyway.
Aww Jimmy honestly you always highlight this stuff as well as pointing out the faults. Bless you
Posting a video at half past midnight? Get to bed, young man.
Thank you for being so positive.
“…if I was put in charge of a Reenactment, which would be a miiiiistaaaaake!” - now I kinda want to see your Patreons club together to fund a reenactment event just to put you in charge of it. 😝
Same ! Wild Welshman going bizerk !
Even my relatives in Scandinavia saw the navigational tools like the sun stones in Vikings and threw their hands up bc it wasn't even the right group using them lol
So Lagertha's tortoise brooches looked fairly familiar to me and so I looked it up and those actually are based off of a real archaeological find. Specifically a type 5 tortoise brooch that was found in Ribe, Denmark.
Even when you're pointing out the positives, the sassiness in which you deliver the compliments is hilarious.
I'm also surprised that the show where the gods literally exist and affect the world is the most accurate.
Dysgais i rywbeth newydd, doeddwn i ddim yn gwybod y ffaith amdano'r "fuller", diolch am y fideo a'r addysg.
Digging through to find jewels amongst the rocks to bring a positive note is wonderful of you. You find the best there is but deliver it with your signature irreverent sense of humour. Always a pleasure to watch your videos. Take care.
These days I've started checking out the extras to see if I can spot the re-enactors 🐨🇦🇺
I hate when people complaing about someone "nitpicking"... that's the point of the video. If you didn't want to see your favorite series get nitpicked, then why watch the video in the first place... Like YES JAN WE'RE NITPICKING, THATS THE FUN, THATS THE POINT
I appreciate that you arent just hating on shows like this. Totally get that they are “vaguely inspired by” rather than “totally based on”. Curious what you’d say is the most historically accurate show or movie involving vikings
The 1958 Vikings starring Kirk Douglas, probably!
I’ll check it out. Many thanks!
@@TheWelshViking Really? I watched the trailer for that film. It looked cheesy and I was thinking it was Hollywood fluff! I can’t wait to watch it now! Thanks
@@TheWelshViking 1958 Vikings: I'll never get over the fact that they repoduced the drakkar so faithfully that the taller actors couldn't sit, let alone row properly, so they had to fill in every other oar hole and remove alternating benches for them to sit on.
@@LilyoftheValeyrising he took that movie apart in one of his earlier videos. I can only think it was meant as a joke. Helmets and armour in this movie are not even good from a fantasy perspective imho (except of people wearing some kind of fake chain under their vests), but maybe some other stuff is decent? I´d have to watch it again to really say, though.
I mean, as a swede, I loathe Vikings and The Last Kingdom. But damn it... The arrival of the Great Heathen Army in Vikings, and Ivar challenging the Saxons in the middle of York... They manage in brief moments capture the essence of the Norse threat to christendom, the essence of mythological heroes, that makes you wanna watch maybe one more episode incase they manage to do it one more time. Off course, that means hours of agony and yelling at the TV... But then it happens again, a brief scene that gives you hope... And then it all comes crashing down again
"Which would be a MISTAAAAAAAKE!" Oh, same, love, same.
That sword of kings reminds me of the Ulfberht sword. There’s a guy in the American Midwest who made one. Something like he beat it for 12 hours straight - it was a while since I saw the documentary.
I made my husband a copy of Uhtred’s shield from the Last kingdom. I read in a historical book somewhere they can be up to 1” thick and 32” across so I made it out of some 1x6 wood planks I had laying around, a boss I bought off Amazon, some rawhide dog bones, and some craft paint. I had to use screws which I will replace later with something more authentic.
not a minute in before i'm clutching my heart and cackling. you are such an entire blessing, Jimmie
I remember one time I was getting fitting for an Elizabethan costume when I was a backup for something, and it was incredibly hard to get on because they had basically tried to stick the under layer, corset and main dress into a single garment, and the wardrobe person dressing me was like wow I have no idea how they did this every day this is so hard to get on and I was like….they didn’t. Then I proceeded to spend the rest of the 40 minute fitting describing how all those pieces would be separate and much easier to get on and also how you would definitely want all those layers during the mini ice age of the Elizabethan era. Long story short, I seem to be discovering that on any one project there seems to be only one person who knows the actual historical costuming and they try to get as much historical stuff in there but are just held back by masses of other people who seem to have no idea.
And, the budget...I'm sure they don't get unlimited funding for the wardrobe department.
It's always fun to spot the stands of dark Sitka spruce trees they film under which came over to the UK from the west coast of America during the early 1900s
That's interesting. I'd like to know more about historically accurate tree species.
I heard someone once suggest goldpanning as a name for positive nitpicking, cause nitpicking seems quite negative, and I think it's quite a good name.
Also I don't understand how these shows can be so historically inaccurate that it's a challenge to find accuracies lol
I like the term goldpanning for it! Let's make it a thing.
Nice to see somebody nålebinding.
The blue tunic(?) you said looked odd would be horribly difficult to weave on a warp weighted loom and be nigh on impossible to prevent from snagging on anything that was small and brushed against a sleeve. It would make an excellent winter blanket or, if linen, a towel. Period towels were plain weave so there goes that theory.
If those iron-looking spears from "Vikings" aren't actually iron, then are they merely . . . . . .
. . . . . . "IRON-IC"!? 😎
The guy in norsemen holding the drum is indeed a reenactor from the local group i'm in 😁
Aha! Excellent!
Some viewers: Why are you nitpicking AAAAAAAA
Jimmy: IS THAT A FUCKING CHALLENGE
And here comes the video 😅😂😏
In a screen shot with 8 actors, «there 2 things rigth in this shot». LMAO!
As an historical costumer - I totally appreciate where youre coming from. Cant stand Vikings but adore Uhtred, and Norsemen just cracks us up! Its just pure gold. My era of love is Georgian thru to 1950 (yes, broad I know). However to the great unwashed at least these shows have generated interest in history in general to younger generations. Growing up - i was rather obsessed with history, but I was very much alone in that hobby. As much as the costumes in these shows grated on me a lot a friend who had no previous history in Medieval times, or anything very historical at all, these shows has generated a genuine thirst for knowing the historical facts. Weve spend many many hours late at night on messenger chatting about whats correct and whats not, giving her historical context for events in The Last Kingdom, (she had heard of Alfred but thats about it...) whats thought to be known and whats not, and Im not an expert on medieval war items, but clothing I do know enough about to have opinions on it, and you support much of what ive thought - I realised the shows have more value than pure entertainment and maybe we shouldnt get too many sleepless nights over it because ya know...its entertainment that has a budget, at least the actors take the energy to learn to ride. Its other stuff that annoys me, eg the breed of horses does peeve me, but again...availability.
Shady nitpicking is what I LOVE about your videos.
The apron dress reminds me of some dungaree dresses I've seen, both the closures and the overall style.
My word is that a Heron Armoury sword?! Jimmy knows where to purchase his blades!!
Ooh, good eyes there, bread!
The thing that makes me sad, is that workers at leather warehouses aren't always told what kind of movie they are selecting leather for. They are usually just told the project type (if told at all), animal type, grade, and color. Sometimes they are given input in color selection. They can also pick the same list color from different companies or different dye batches from the same company, which come out differently from the dye process. If the warehouse selectors know that they are selecting for a movie, they may not know what sort of movie they're selecting for. If workers knew that they were selecting leather for a medieval movie, they could pick more accurate pieces. They could also potentially special order or trade with another warehouse something better suited to the movie.
You hit it out of the park on this presentation Jimmy! Outstanding. I enjoyed your analysis of these shows. Bravo
I'm glad you had fun with this :)
I must say I do this with animal stuff in shows/movies - to this day the only part of the Disney Mary Poppins that drives me bat guano is the American robin in London. And one of the parts that puts Brother Bear over the top great for me is the correct bald eagle call. I think everyone has their nerd button issue with most popular media. And you can enjoy the annoyance in a way.
One thing that I always notice is the prevalence of Harris hawks in everything, regardless of where the show or movie is set. I know why it's done because they're one of the few pack-hunting raptors and are thus easy to train but it does take me out of the immersion when I see one in Anglo-Saxon England.
I will try this approach in future. Maybe it will make me look like a nicer person to my wife and friends.
Thank you Jimmy!
I love your nitpicking ! I learn lots !
Norsemen is hysterical...and the women's costumes weren't horrible from my viewpoint. You do your SMUG< you are aloud! Have a great day! I watch Medical shows and scream into my hand quite often! and point and laugh.
Oi! I like the costumes on The Last Kingdom actually, purely from a costume design perspective, they give every character an instantly recognisable silhouette and colour.
Why they couldn't do that with existing historical clothing tho is beyond me, they always get 18th century Britain right and Napoleon era stuff, why not medieval.
I really love the Anglo-Saxons and Viking age stuff precisely because of the art and the style of the time, to see it depicted as it should be would be a joy, and every time they don't it feels like a wasted opportunity, especially when the show is quite a romp/riot and wildly successful.
I always enjoy your videos Jimmy. Thank you for doing this.
check out EL Cid on Prime, they're actually wearing proper maile and generally coifs with a period accurate helmet on top!!! wow!!!!
"Dear Mario that's what I'm a minor" - Excellent work on those subtitles, RUclips!
I'm going to remember Jimmy's words of wisdom next time I have to sit through one of my children's school concerts. "God loves a tryer" lol great video Jimmy, 🍻 Slàinte Mhath
Snarky Jimmy is best Jimmy 🤣
"Which would be a mistAAAAAKE"
Oh Jimmy I love you
Yay for someone actually doing their job!
Ha!! Avaldsnes is actually fairly close to where I live; I've been around there several times ^^
Unfortunately I cannot enter the buildings unless I've already paid and gotten a ticket. Which, I mean, FAIR. My family just tends to be forgetful about this one particular thing, so as a result I've mostly only wandered the outside grounds, every time we decided to go to this village, usually kind of spontaneously. It's still really cool, though! They host an annual viking festival there.
There's also a regular non-living viking museum right nearby. I definitely remember being there with my school once.
And, recently they have also been excavating a find of a whole building nearby, right next to the really old stone church... it's thought to be the remnants of the house of Harald Hårfagre, possibly?
I haven't looked too much into it yet, but that's what I've heard.
Pay no attention of negative people. Your knowledge of the history of the Vikings their clothings, weaponry food and countries where they are from. And we people from other countries appreciate you explaining these to us .
Norsemen uses a lot of real live reenactor extras in backgrounds which was the best decision ever even tho it might be because of budget related issues but still...
I appreciate your undiluted information regardless of whether it is to point out the positive or negative aspects. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and opinions.
I lost it at "condom hat." Crying.😂🤣
All the garnets on the sword furniture are a Northern German thing that shows up in Britain (England?) with the Saxons, can’t remember if it’s trade or migration. But they’re fancy wear for the very rich, not what you take to war. So, actual thing, but not Viking. Over there, from elsewhere. The garnets are from Eastern Europe.
Sorry, my books on this were eaten by Hurricane Katrina but in a world of few gems like Europe garnets were a gold plated Maserati.
And they absolutely 1000% look nothing like this!
Sucks about your books, I'm so sorry to hear that :(
Thank you Jimmy, amusing and informative as always
I have to admit that I have only seen one episode of each of these shows. Last Kingdom and Vikings were just too violent for the emotional place I’d fallen into at the time. Norsemen had me laughing until I had an asthma attack and ended up in the ER.
Dang. Hope you're better now ? Tape an inhaler to your remote ! ;)
The norwegen accent in norsemen is lovely it sound compleetely like they speek norwegen - just in english. A show really worth seeing🇩🇰🇳🇴
Well Jimmy, the Welsh Viking, YOU my love are officially one of my muses
That title page .. I laughed out loud! - That was EVERYTHING
Another great video. I can’t help but chuckle at my ignorance when I first started watching these shows prior to my interest in historical fashion. On the one hand, I can see why they use the aesthetics they do, but on the other hand, it really doesn’t help teach historical accuracy. However, us nerds who are fascinated by this stuff will find our way to the truth. Norsemen is hilarious 😂. Blessed be Brother.
Love your smug mode Jimmy
I think "depricktion" is more of a description of what you can DO with one of those axes.
You love to see the one person working costume and adornment department who’s making an effort to include a little bit of history
You're such a joy to watch, Jimmy! You make me giggle with your antics. 😂😂
Haha, loving this video Jimmy (had to comment before even finishing). You're being easier on them than I thought you'd be, and after your comments on the apron dress costume I feel TONS better about my viking inspired larp kit that I'm making. It doesnt need to be historically accurate for my purposes but I already feel like I'm doing a better job than the costume designers 😂
4:40 don’t you mean bLoOd gRoOvE?
Also, you know what would make the costumes in all of these shows about 5% better? More winnegas.
Blœd gröove!
Ooh, yes! The sexiest of garments
You do you. Thanks for all your work
Thank you for honesty Jimmy! It does indeed feel nice to be smug sometimes. Until you get hoisted on your own petard, and then you feel like an ass lol.
I haven’t seen any of these shows but enjoyed your videos about them. I’m a good year or ten behind on tv shows and movies!
Thank you, Jimmy, this is absolutely wonderful.
The costuming crew actually tangents the reenactment world quite heavily, and so do the extras. O the shoes might be the extras own proper turnshoes
Alternative title: Jimmy plays "Where's the reenactor?"
Wait... does that sword from "Vikings" say "Sword of Kings" in *runeglish?*
OMG IT DOES AS WELL
Thanks for this Jimmy!!
Love your expertise in these matters, I watch the shows but I’m never sure how much accuracy I’m seeing!!
So glad you like Kirk Douglas in his prime as a Viking, ha!! 😁
In Vikings Valhalla, i found 5 accurate-enough background characters. (I was literally doing the leo dacap pointing meme) You mentioned the guy with turn shoes may be a reenactor, perhaps they had a few as well
Damning with faint praise! Also, I think that jeweled sword had faceted stones.
From my other half, who has done props on Hollywood movies: "Better than Hollywood? That's not hard. A specialist will ALWAYS be better at their specific thing than someone from props. They have time to get good at something specific, whereas a props team has to be at least mediocre at Everything. I just wish we could work with specialists more."
"Hilt lump bumpies" - is that a new technical term? ;) Interesting video!
Another thing that bothers me is those shiny polished steel shieldbosses. No one would keep polishin their shieldboss multiple times a day to prevent it from rust in a country that is known for moist, and rust. Painting the shieldboss would have been normal. A sword is polished, a bit of oil or wax or pigfat would have kept it from rusting.
If it makes you feel better someone kept going on at me even though I had actually said I enjoyed Last Kingdom but because I called it Mindless I set off their Reeeeeee!
that woman in the apron dress with straps that buckled on? I'm pretty sure her "shift" is just a long sleeve tee shirt.
I am a half member of the Avaldsnes viking group, great bunch and lovely place to visit.
Any recommendations for sources on archaeological typology of shield fittings specific to Vikingtid? I only ever worked on earlier shields from Germanic Iron Age, but the few I worked on had iron rims. And now I'm curious if I was working on incredible outliers for Germanic round shields in general, or if rim material preference changes through time.
Great comments, and helpfull for many. Good thing not to talk about some of them biker tattoos. I miss lots of great knitted clothing. That is a very old custom besides weaving clothes. Knitted pieces from way before known viking era has been found.
I absolutely love this, I'm glad you did a what's good episode. Was definitely still a what's wrong. They did okay on weapons and jewelry. Thank you, Jimmy! I really needed this. ❤
IIRC in season 1 lagertha was actually wearing brooches with an apron dress or apron looking thing (questionably constructed but an apron nonetheless) with a single string of glass beads.
Glad you enjoyed doing this one. Sorry if you felt that I was "nitpicking" you personally. It was really more about the fact that I've never seen anyone do this. Love you videos.
It's fun to be able to get the ego boost while also showing what you know someone did or at least tried, to get right. Thanks Jimmy.
I don't follow these shows but watching the images I'm sure all those modern set-in sleeves would jar me right out of the storylines... The woman with the apron dress seems to wear a storebought t-shirt under her dress. Well done Jimmy on finding the ok-ish elements of the shows.
Did the Crafty Celts do the brooch? They seem to have done a lot of the film work.
Thank you for mentioning Norsemen! I adore that show and also wished they would have been given a fourth season.
The thing is that by basically using generic fantasy names instead of actual place names, historical characters and events would make these shows decent fantasy shows. While one could still discuss why they would prefer leather over mail (look at the Rohirrim, they look awesome in their armor) it's still forgivable and clothing styles get a lot less distracting as long as they are at least plausible to be achievable with medieval technology and mixing existing historical styles can make for awesome new looks if it's done right.
I love your sword. I see that it's a heron, I have a heron too. The greatest reenactment swords out there in my opinion. Great Video as always! 👍
I love Vikings and Norsemen so much, and I also love nitpicking at them! The last kingdom I cant stand for the writing.