Elvenquest: The Journey So Far: Series 1,2,3 and 4

A mere five years after BBC Audio released the first series of this surprisingly enjoyable sword and sorcery spoof on CD, they've finally deigned to release the second, third and fourth series as well - though being the BBC, the UK's reigning kings of the double-dip, you'll have to buy series one again to get them since they've only released them in a four series set. Well, if it worked for Doctor Who and Hancock's Half Hour...Sword and sorcery fantasy is often such an inherently absurd genre that it's hard to parody successfully - it can be hard to top the silliness of some genre efforts, and earlier radio spoofs like Hordes of the Things had difficulty finding a tone that worked consistently over four episodes, so spread over six episodes per series ElvenQuest has an even bigger mountain to climb. Surprisingly it manages to pull it off rather beautifully, helped immensely by its premise - a cynical fantasy writer is transported to a generic cliché-filled fantasy world in need of a saviour - which allows it to have a jaded voice if not quite outside the plot at least slightly to the side pointing out the predictability and absurdity of the plot. Not that Stephen Mangan's just-in-it-for-the-money writer with a healthy contempt for both the genre and its fans is the chosen one - that's his dog, transformed into a human but retaining his canine characteristics and perspective (at one point he's inconsolable over the death of a friend until someone throws him a stick to chase and he's immediately overjoyed again!). The quipsters are a typical band of irony-free stereotypes (heroic warrior princess, brave-but-monumentally-idiotic noble elf, obnoxious Scottish dwarf who provides endless gay double-entendres) going through the usual hoops that every other fantasy quest insists on, but the character interplay is fun and Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto's script consistently funny. But best of all are the double-act of Alistair McGowan's Dark Lord looking to reinvent the whole evil overlord thing in a more user-friendly fashion (something Kevin Eldon's sadistic underling never quite gets to grasp), with less than desired results that play on how reality and common sense really don't belong in this kind of genre. The presence of a studio audience is initially a bit of a problem, but most of the laughs seem well earned rather than canned and it does genuinely seem to inspire the performers to get the most out of the material.The first series ends with a major cliffhanger that's followed through in a rather lazy fashion, to put it mildly, serving merely to push the reset button so the quest can continue as Lord Darkness returns from our world without the Sword of Asnagar or his immortality and finds his age ("Let's say in the 40,000s") catching up on him. And it becomes increasingly apparent over the subsequent three series that this will be an endless quest as it settles into a formulaic episodic routine where the questers will follow one clue to the sword's location which will lead them into more fantasy and mythology-based mishaps that are resolved in half an hour with them no nearer their objective. Some of them are inspired - the Cursed Buffet Table of Temptation that traps wavering dieters in a cave whose entrance is too small for them to ever get out of, a visit to the underworld to consult Penthiselea's nagging mother, John Sessions' Tony Blair-like White Wizard - some are silly - Sanjeev Bhaskar's Elvis-like king with designs on Sophie Winkleman's warrior princess - and some in the fourth season skirt perilously close to the lower half of the barrel ideaswise - the questers finding themselves in Trollditz prison camp or acting as hired guns to save a Mexican (sorry, Mexigaroth) village from bandits - Dean the Dwarf's single-entendres increasingly make the 70s Carry On films look subtle, while Lord Darkness seems so half-hearted about stopping the questers and so easily sidetracked by his own crises of confidence or occasional can't-be-bothered apathy that he frequently lets our heroes go when he has them in his grasp, but it's more than funny enough for you to want to follow it through another series or four.

I'm into fantasy fiction so I thought this would be something good to listen to as I find it hard to get to sleep, I was right but each series is short.

Firstly, the packaging - it's a real pain having 12 cd's in a stack with nowhere to hold those you have listened to whilst you dig out the next one. Zero score for whoever thought that up.Next, the quest - an elf. a warrior princess, a smelly dwarf, a human and his dog in human form (the Chosen One ), in a mighty search for a magical sword to overcome the lord of darkness and his cohort in order to save all life from evil. In the first series we get to know the characters and find out who's an idiot, who's brave, the cynic, the dog, Dean (dwarf) and the evil ones. It's funny, witty and highly entertaining but I found it starting to wear a bit thin by the time I got to the fourth series. Throughout series two to four each episode is practically independent of all the others and they can easily be listened to in any order. I felt the writers lost the overall storyline that it began with, be it ever so faintly present, and I was thoroughly disappointed that no-one got to keep hold of that stupid sword. I really wanted the bad guys to win!

This is brilliant. Perfect spoof of lord of the rings mixed with other fake folklore/sacred quest books. Don’t get me wrong, I love many of those books/films/series. There is nothing mean or derogatory in this, it is for fans of the genre not mockers. Very funny, great characters, I want another series.

thoroughly entertaining: well scripted, well cast and well acted. A refreshingly tongue-in-cheek take on the genre

Took a chance on this when looking for new Audiobooks to brighten up my daily commute. How did I miss this series before now! Why is Elvenquest not better known? Brilliantly written and performed and very, very funny.

Funny. funny, funny. Loved by my teenagers (15 and 18) as much as by me (53). Great spoof of the fantasy genr (which i am a fan of aswell). Well written and suberbly acted.

My friend loved ElvenQuest, it was a present for his birthday. Very funny and it makes long car journeys very enjoyable.