Bingowings said:

Just look at Ridley's own Robin Hood, the script was thought of a masterpiece (the good King John holding back the vile terrorist Robin) then the suits twitched and it became a vehicle for Russell Crowe's global accent.

I managed to get a copy of the original script, titled simply 'Nottingham'. It really is excellent, would've made a terrific movie. It could've done with a few rewrites, but overall it is very, very good. Such a shame it mutated into such a naff film.

FYI the script isn't about King John as the goodie, but rather the script centres around the Sheriff of Nottingham, investigating a string of murders that may or may not have been done by the Terrorist 'Robin Hood'