Most of us remember the image of Merlin the Magician from the movies we saw and the books we read as kids.
Merlin was the guy whose white beard was almost as long as the flowing robe he wore. And he always seemed to be whispering advice into the ear of King Arthur.The old sorcerer was depicted in a variety of ways. In some versions, he was a power-hungry schemer secretly in league with Arthur's enemies who wanted to take over Camelot. In other interpretations, Merlin was a kindly fellow whose real magic was his wisdom.
Just who was this fellow anyway?
You can find out the answer and much more in the sweeping four-hour miniseries "Merlin," premiering tonight at 8 p.m. MDT on Ch. 5 and concluding Monday at the same time. At last, here is the "real" story of the great wizard, at least as far as executive producer Robert Halmi Sr. is concerned. And who can argue with the man who gave us the two Emmy-winning miniseries, "Gulliver's Travels" (1996) and "The Odyssey" (1997)?
All the legends of childhood come to life in this visually stunning tale that will please anyone who dreams of the days when knight-hood was in flower. Not only Merlin, but Arthur, Morgan Le Fey, Lancelot, Guinevere, Galahad and the rest are here.
Halmi and company assembled an impressive cast. Sam Neill is most effective in the title role, giving Merlin a low-key yet lordly per-son-ality. No matter what storms arise, it is Merlin who remains calm while others are on the verge of panic.
The beautiful Isabella Rossellini is Nimue, Merlin's lifelong love.
Miranda Richardson, in a dual role, plays the wicked Queen Mab and her sister, the Lady of the Lake. Rutger Hauer is the ruthless Lord Vortigern. James Earl Jones provides the voice of the Mountain King. John Gielgud has a cameo as King Constant, who loses his head early in Part One.
The actor who particularly shines is Martin Short, who portrays Frik, Mab's always-eager assistant. Frik can change from jester-like clown to handsome dashing swordsman. Short's enthusiasm for the role pumps an extra dose of energy into the entire production.
One bit of miscasting is Paul Curran as Arthur. Although the years pass, Curran's Arthur never seems more than a wide-eyed innocent. Even the addition of a beard in the latter scenes of Part Two do little to mature Arthur's appearance.
But this is Merlin's story, not Arthur's.
The miniseries begins in England long before anyone ever dreamed of the Round Table. The countryside is awash with blood from civil war.
But in at least one part of the isle, deep inside a mysterious forest, the scene is quite different.
It is a place where fairies sail through the air like fireflies on a summer night and great monsters rise from the ground with all the fury of a new-born volcano.
Magic is the norm and none possess more mystical powers than Queen Mab, who oversees this enchanted land.
At least that's the way it has always been, but because of the war and the rise of Christianity things are changing. As people turn to this new religion, Mab is worried that the "Old Ways" might one day vanish.
"If they stop believing in us, we will disappear," Mab says in her eerie, raspy voice. Mab vows to create a champion who will save Britain and bring about a revival of the "Old Ways." She gestures over a multi-colored crystal and thus is born the baby Merlin.
After Mab allows his mother to die, Merlin is put in the care of Ambrosia, who is to raise the youngster until he is old enough to learn about the powers at his command. When he reaches young man-hood, Merlin is summoned to Mab's lair for training .
But things don't quite work out the way the queen has planned. Turned off by Mab's treacherous nature, Merlin vows to use his magic to defeat the queen and end the "Old Ways" forever.
One weapon he plans to use in the fight is to see that England gets a kind and just king. Merlin, sacrificing his love for the lady Nimue, befriends a young Arthur and spends several years teaching him the benefits of goodness. By the time Arthur pulls Excaliber from its ancient rock, he is ready for the task - or so it seems.
What follows is an epic struggle between good and evil, fought along an adventurous path filled with heroic deeds, sexual betrayal and bloody battles.
And in the process we discover that Camelot was not quite the Utopian paradise many have long believed.
But then, the whole story is told by Merlin himself - and as he says toward the end of the film, he might have left out "a detail or two."