Merlin's Apprentice

[broberfett]

Did they even watch the first one? I think this is from the producers that brought us Flash Gordon the tv series. They don't seem to know the difference between Queen Maab and the Lady of the Lake. It was the same actress playing both parts originally, but she had blonde hair when she was the Lady and black as Maab. There is also a lack of any kind of upper echelon actors (I mean at least to the level of the first one. We get the Vancouver special). I'm about half way through.

 

[DWF]

It was a bit of a letdown after the first one and I saw them back to back on DVD, the lack of budget at the end really showed sadly.

 

[Immolatus]

I haven't seen it yet. so it's not worth it?

 

[broberfett]

I finished it. It was not worth it. Sam Neil is barely in the second half which really makes it suffer. I kept expecting a stargate team to come over the hill at some point.

 

[Christopher]

Did they even watch the first one? I think this is from the producers that brought us Flash Gordon the tv series.

Yes, the FG series and this miniseries were both from the Halmis, the same producers who made the original Sam Neill Merlin miniseries and countless other fantasy/SF miniseries over the past decade or two. If you're implying that this miniseries was made by people unconnected with the original miniseries, you're in error.

 

[broberfett]

Did they even watch the first one? I think this is from the producers that brought us Flash Gordon the tv series.

Yes, the FG series and this miniseries were both from the Halmis, the same producers who made the original Sam Neill Merlin miniseries and countless other fantasy/SF miniseries over the past decade or two. If you're implying that this miniseries was made by people unconnected with the original miniseries, you're in error.

No, I was mentioning them to link their quality work on Flash Gordon the series with their same quality level of work on Merlin's Apprentice. I don't think they really even remembered the first one except that Sam Neill was in it.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I got the impression that it was not originally written as a sequel to the first miniseries. But as another of many different takes on Merlin and the Arthurian legends over the years. With the casting of Sam Neill and Miranda Richardson it was advertised as one. Because other then Neill wearing the same costume there is no real continuity between the two miniseries. Other than both are based on the same source legends. The original miniseries covered Merlin's whole life. There was no way of making a legitimate sequel. This seemed as a cheap way of capitalizing on its popularity.

 

[broberfett]

I got the impression that it was not originally written as a sequel to the first miniseries. But as another of many different takes on Merlin and the Arthurian legends over the years. With the casting of Sam Neill and Miranda Richardson it was advertised as one. Because other then Neill wearing the same costume there is no real continuity between the two miniseries. Other than both are based on the same source legends. The original miniseries covered Merlin's whole life. There was no way of making a legitimate sequel. This seemed as a cheap way of capitalizing on its popularity.

Emphasis on the cheap.

 

[Dick Whitman]

The output of Halmi Productions is wildly inconsistent. Depending on the network and on how big their budgets are. In the early to mid 90s Jim Henson's Creature Shop did their special effects not anymore.