The Mists of Avalon has long been one of my favorite novels. I don’t think anything else Bradley ever did matched it, although The Catch Trap came pretty close. I figure that even if the show doesn’t capture but a small fraction of the brilliance of that book it’ll still be worthwhile.
Tomorrow I’m breaking out the VCR, making chicken and onion pizza, and watching it with assorted beings who love the book just as much as I do. Anyone else planning on it?
Oooh, anticipation.
Ooo! Thanks for reminding me, andygirl! We have Teveo set to record it, but I wanna watch too.
Hella good book.
Been drooling for it since they started running the ads this winter.
They’re making a movie about those books? Just the one, or all of 'em? Been a while since I read them, but I remember loving every moment. I’ve not heard of the movie yet, but once I do I’m sure to see it.
Ok I just read the book because Mrs. Zebra says it’s her favorite. I liked the book but in the reviews of the mini-series I’m seeing them talk about the battles. And I see battles in preview ads on TV. Ummmm no battles in the book IIRC. Plus I have read that Balin (or Bilan or was it Baloo?) anyway does not kill Vivian but someone else does.
I’m worried about the mini series myself.
I’ve got to admit that I’m with Zebra on this one… I’m worried about the mini-series. Mists of Avalon has long been one of my favorite books, and when I heard they were making a movie of it, I was excited. But then I heard they’d cast Julianna Margulies as Morgaine, and my heart sank. Not that I have anything against the actress, but, for one, she’s too TALL to play Morgaine. She’s supposed to be of the fairy people and her lack of height is mentioned in the book, IIRC. Also, Morgaine is not one that would normally be called “pretty”. I always thought that Julianna Marguiles was to lovely to play Morgaine. (Though, I did see the TV Guide pictures and it looks like the plained her down a lot…)
I’m going to tape and I’m going to watch, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m still very skeptical.
I’ve been looking forward to this, and badgering friends to tune in, for months. It’s one of my favorite books ever.
FWIW, I know a woman who somehow got to see an advance screening and she loved it. Also FWIW, she’s Wiccan (she runs the group I’m taking classes with) and is thrilled with the pro-Pagan themes. Says they did cut some things, most notably the Grail quest, but she was very pleased overall.
TruePisces, the height thing struck me even more with Angelica Houston. Vivianne is supposed to be tiny! Much is made of how she manages to impress/intimidate people despite being very small. Angelica Houston can certainly do queenly and stern, but tiny she isn’t. I’m also curious about how much of the earlier lives of the characters will be included… Joan Allen looks fine for the older Morgause, but I kind of want to see the younger version too. And I always liked Igraine, hoping she doesn’t get reduced to a cameo.
Some of the things I’m wondering about are probably on the official site TNT has up, but I usually avoid sites like that because I like to be surprised… it does have cool music, though.
Can’t Wait. Loved the novel, and plan on taping it on tv.
Along with TruePisces though, I’m a bit skeptical.
I am ALWAYS skeptical of adaptations of books, but I love this book, so I’ll definitely be watching!
I must go look and find out what time it’s on…
I’ve loved this book since I first read it at 17. I’ve read it many more time since then.
Like Cranky I’ve been looking forward to the mini-series, but I have to say that I’m not too sure I’m going to enjoy it. I’ll watch it anyway though 
I’m in the skeptical camp, too, but I can’t say I’m not excited. MoA has to be my favorite book; I’ve read it and read it and I’m on my third copy now.
My hubby has kindly made plans to GET THE HELL OUT and take my son with him,lol, so I can watch in peace.
I agree on the mis-casting thing. Anjelica Houston is fab, but she’s too durned tall to be Vivianne. And Marguiles is too tall and too pretty. Also, I have been to the TNT site, and Mordred looks nothing like I thought he would. Ditto for Gorlois and Uther.
I too am hoping they don’t skim over the character’s early lives. Some of the most important scenes in the book take place when Morgaine is very young. i will be dissapointed if we miss them.
Anyway, these book-to-tv miniseries things are always bittersweet. Its fun to get to see your favorite characters come to life, but they can’t always match the cast from my (or your) mind. Still, I will be glued to the set.
BTW, if you go to the TNT site, you can get a pretty nifty screensaver with scenes from the series.
Two words that should strike fear in the hards of Mists of Avalon lovers: TV Movie.
Think about it, when was the last time a good one was not on HBO?
I received the book as an odd gift from an ex about five years ago and read about 10 pages of it. Not for me. So, no, I’m not looking forward to the TV Movie of it
The funky thing about Mists of Avalon is that the female protagonist, whose name I’ve long forgotten, winds up being just as much a pawn as if she’d been a serf in medieval England as it really was. I found that profoundly depressing. As I was reading, my eventual reaction was that if this was the feminist alternative take on the Arthurian legend, then why bother?
You want something worthwhile by MZB, try Firebrand - the Trojan War from Kassandra’s POV. Much better story, IMO.
You know what? I read this back in my Arthurian phase, and while a good story, I have to say I didn’t care for it. I didn’t like that they made Guinevere out to be a whining, wimpy little Fundy-type prude.
I’ll probably end up seeing it Friday night when it’s re-run in one sitting. And I think it will be less than great.
The first time I read the book (14-15 years ago?) I don’t know if I ever finished. As far as I was concerned, the story was over a good hundred pages before Bradley stopped writing, though everything up to that point had been pretty good. I slowly skimmed through at least some of those pages - but don’t remember whether I finished the book.
I just re-read it about 3 weeks ago, so that I would remember what the book said before I saw the movie. And I was even less impressed. To me, the book failed to live up to it’s hype. Good, yes, great, no, “feminist,” hardly. (And if so, I cry for feminism)
I’ve got to agree with you here–it’s not my favorite modern adaptation. For a book that was supposedly so feminist, the women are awfully unappealing, and Gwyhwyvar is positively insulting. However, I’m still in my Arthurian phase, to some extent, and I do own a copy of it. I just don’t re-read it much, unlike Mary Stuart or Gillian Bradshaw or…well, there’s a pretty long list.
But I have no doubts that the TV version will disappoint fans–what I’ve read here would seem to indicate that the producers aren’t paying very close attention to the book, or the reasons it’s so popular. Par for the course, and bound to be disappointing for the book’s many fans.
Try Sharan Newman’s Guinevere trilogy.
MUCH better. More interesting. Guinevere is more of a head-in-the-clouds girl who really doesn’t pay too much attention to stuff around her-she’s not stupid, just sort of a day dreamer, but she also learns to stand up for herself, and it’s just a much more interesting read.
For something more serious, try the Persia Wooley trilogy, “Child of the Northern Spring”, “Queen of the Summer Stars” and “Guinevere: the Legend in Autumn.”
Agreed that Gwen comes out pretty flat and that men and Christianity pretty much take it up the ass without lube.
I’m not sure if I can even define why I enjoy that book so much. It’s just one of those books that I never get sick of.
I thought the first part was quite excellent. They did gloss over a bit, but that’s only to be expected. And I though the change regarding the Beltane rites worked pretty well within their context.
Oh, and the costumes. Drool.
I’ve read The Mists of Avalon twice and loved it both times. Been primed for this show all year!
As for MZB not making it feminist enough, I have to give credit to her for being first and foremost an artist, a literary craftswoman—not a propagandist. She did not write tracts of feminist ideology, she crafted well-wrought tales replete with human depth. Her characters are all flawed and believable—each one is a real human being drawn from life. Viviane, for example, is a figure of awe and tremendous reverence. And yet she makes missteps sometimes, her head swayed by power, as even the best leaders often are. Morgaine is a sympathetic character because she royally screws up just about everything she ever does in her life, often through no fault of her own. And yet she is a survivor. Even Gorlois, rotten as he is, is not completely devoid of humanity. Admitted that Gwenhwyfar came out as more a parody than a real person; as she herself would say, “That was not well done. And I like it not, madame.”
MZB did a great job of conveying the courtly manner of speech of the medieval upper classes, through the medium of modern English, without obvious archaisms. It takes considerable skill to write like that, you know.
The feminism in her books is not an ideology, but a point of view. No artist can create good art using ideology. For MZB, the story and the characters are all. She gave us a magnificent sense of the pathos and tragedy of the Goddess religion slowly slipping away from this world and being replaced by Christianity. When the Saxons convert to Christianity and accept becoming civilized, you know that even though this means the success of Arthur’s life’s work, still the coarseness of these fellows spells the end of the world that gave Arthur his power and majesty. MZB shows even the unsympathetic characters as human with their own hopes and dreams. The strong women characters, although heroines, are not idealized but flawed like real humans.
Juilanna Margulies turned out amazingly close to the way I’d always visualized Morgaine, except not petite enough. Although I’d always visualized Bonnie Raitt as Morgause, Joan Allen is reasonably close. Too bad I don’t have the cable package with TNT; Mrs. Mojo got a friend to tape it for us. It’s extremely rare that a movie could ever equal or surpass the literary experience. I take that into account so as not to set myself up for disappointment. Now let me go and watch it.
I saw both parts on TNT and am still haunted by it.
First off, it’s beautifully shot. Maybe a few too many scenes of Morgaine gliding through the Lake, but it has an eerie sort of loveliness about that sticks with you. And the Pagan Ritual scene? Almost makes you think sleeping with your brother could be a good idea. Liked the symbolism, not overdone. I’m not a pagan or a Christian, so I didn’t particularily care one way or another about which would triumph. Though I did think the ending pointed out some very true things about Virgin Mary worship. The final battle scene, with Arthur up agaisnt a wall, leading the remnants of his Camelot into a hopeless fight agaisnt the Saxons, with Lancelot rejoining them, and Morgaine struggling to reach Arthur and Mordred before it’s too late, broke my heart. As did Mordred’s death, with Morgaine and Arthur finally together again, as brother and sister, father and mother.
I’ll confess: I didn’t like the book. Thought it was overwroght, and that the story was over about a hundred pages before the book was. But this trims it down to the nit-grit, omitts much of the filler that just goes on-and-on, and remained very effecting.
I actually started bawling at the end, which is something I’ve only done for maybe three other movies. I taped both parts on the same videocassette I have “Gladiator” on, so I can revisit it later.