Ok I could deal most of the casting except for the fact that everyone was about 20 years to old, but as the show went on I could see what they were up to with this.
Angelica Huston just looks evil and it is clear that they intend to cast her and Morgause (MORGAUSE?!?!) as the villians.
The fact that Authur and Morgaine didn’t recongise each other after they did it really ticked me off. This is one of the driving events in both characters lives in the book. Plus the way Morgaine acted in that scene was totally worng. She should have guided him into bed and the entire morning after bit was cut.
The bit where Gwin wanders on to Avalon was totally remade and really changed the way the characters develop.
I guess I’ll have to watch the rest tonight but I’m not really looking foward to it.
I only caught the last half of it. I was also annoyed that M & A didn’t recognize each other; there was enough of her face visible in the “bed cave” scene that it should have occurred to him immediately when he saw her later – either that or he is the most self-absorbed lover ever
The music also got on my nerves after a while.
BUT – I thought Julianna Margulies was captivating. Very natural, very believable, and she seemed entirely at home in the stylized costuming. Beautiful. She is more than enough to get me to watch the second installment tonight.
A lot of your beefs seem born of the old “book vs. movie” problem, Z. Fortunately for me, I haven’t read it (although I did buy it for my sister a couple of years ago), so I could come to the whole thing without preconceptions.
i did not read the book, so i don’t know anything about anything, but I do know that I am a red blooded American woman and I can say without fear of contradiction that:
This miniseries is running a perfect 6 for 6 on UGLY MEN IN LEADING ROLES
and
Interesting sex scenes are cut woefully short. I know enough about the conception of Arthur to say that that could have been a killer sex scene, and then I get on the edge of my seat for some freaky/sweaty/hunter and the virgin sex and they don’t even show a kiss! Christ.
Thank god jackass had some dominatrices last night
I LOVED it. Yes, some of the scenes were different from the book, but overall the plot is very similiar. For a while, I thought there were going to totally gloss over the whole Arthur and Morgaine doing the dirty, but it did come out eventually. Maybe they just thought having a scene where they’re in bed together and recognize each other would be a bit too shocking for network television? Whatever. They managed to get the idea through just fine.
jarbabyj: I actually commented to Mr. Athena about how great I thought it was that none of the men looked like pansies! They all look like big, strapping dudes, Uther and Gorlois looked just like I would expect kings/dukes to look back then. Lancelot and Arthur are pansy asses, but they’re young, so I figure it fits the roles. I think it would have been way out of place to have some tall, skinny actor play Uther.
'course, I’m biases, since big, muscley, hairy guys make my belly go all butterfly-ey. Yeah, the tall skinny guys are nice to look at, but give me a hairy barrel chested guy, nekkid in bed… OK, time to change the subject…
So far, I like all the leading ladies. Especially Margause. I always thought she was evil in the book, so I don’t mind her being a villian in the movie. Guinevere is insipid and sappy, just like in the book. I always wanted to hit her, and I still want to hit her on TV.
I’m MUCH looking forward to the next part tonight!
Athena! As my many posts on the subject would prove, I’m all about big muscley hairy guys. But not Big Muscley Hairy Guys Who Look Like A Worn Out Phillip Seymour Hoffman Twenty Years From Now. I think it’s because I don’t like beards on anyone but my husband. Egraine’s two love interests in this movie were just…not somebody I’d crawl into bed with.
The two guys rowing the boat to Avalon were the hottest men in the movie.
The kid playing Arthur looks like the Frances from Malcolm in the Middle and the guy playing Lancelot (who should just be the dreamiest hero of them all) is like a stringy haired version of the DJ from Northern Exposure.
The age thing is getting me too, Zebra!. Morgause was 14 at the beginning of the book, and aged to hmm, I think mid-50s, maybe 60s by the end (Morgaine’s trip into Faerie throws the timeline off for me). Joan Allen is great, but she does not look like a 14 year-old girl! At least I’m pretty sure that was Ms. Allen playing Morgause at the very beginning… sure looked like her.
I also think the characterization of Igraine is totally, horribly wrong. Maybe it’s because in the book, you get to “see” more of her thoughts and just experience the character more deeply, but she’s coming off as way more a wuss than she should. Igraine of the book, for instance, essentially told the priest at Tintagel to piss off, despite later taking vows. I’m wondering if they’ll be true to how she felt about those vows in the end… Plus the actress looks nothing like the mental image I’ve had of Igraine for the last 10 years, but that’s gonna happen with any beloved novel.
jarbaby, I missed the whole Arthur conception scene too. And the naked, painted people on deer skins in a cave part that should have been. They mention that it’s Beltaine, but they gloss over what was going on-- it’s a fertility ritual, damnit! There was more going on outside that cave than people dancing merrily around fires! And Morgaine was not clutching the blankets to her chin in fear… hmph.
Still, like Athena, I’m looking forward to part two. It’s not the book, but it’s the same basic story, and I’m enjoying it. My only real problem with it is that some of the things they changed didn’t need to be changed, and I think folks who might otherwise enjoy the hell out of the book might see this and decide not to bother.
Glad it wasn’t just me that was annoyed by the age thing. I kept thinking that too, that Igraine was like 14 when she married Gorlois… and Morgaine was way too happy and cute as a kid.
I enjoyed it though. I figured they’d depart from the storyline a lot, and they sorta have here and there.
Well, I’m one of the ones who hasn’t read the book, so plotline departures can’t bother me. But there is one thing I definitely like. Everyone, followers of the Goddess and Christians alike, get the chance to be mean spirited or good-natured, venal or selfless, really good or really nasty. This is a refreshing change from the way Old Religion vs. New Chrisitianity is usually shown. It’s usually the simple followers of peaceful nature being stomped down by arrogant, bigoted Christians. I even had a pagan friend once comment on this, as she felt it was really patronizing.
Through last night, I was pleasantly surprised; some of the changes (mostly teeny details like, Viviane should have been wearing pants when she rode in, and the guys rowing the boat should be doing it silently!) REALLY bug me, but it’s better than I thought it would be so far. It IS a rather large book, they can’t leave everything in. They haven’t departed from the story as much as I was afraid they might (apart from the whole Arthur recognizing Morgaine bit…arrrrgh, but like Athena said, that might have been a bit much for basic cable).
But I’m weird that way. I can actually forgive major plot changes, if they make sense, more easily than I can forgive the picky stuff. I always thought the priestesses all wore the same outfits for one…and what the heck was that bit with lighting the fire? Also, I thought when Morgaine became a full-blown priestess, she was tossed out ALONE expected to make her way back (or not), and not in the boat with Viviane…that sort of stuff irritates me.
But…I do think the guy playing Lancelot is just gorgeous. ducks Sorry.
I will watch tonight’s installment tomorrow morning on tape. Commercials bug me. And I’m really wondering how they’re going to handle the three-way scene, if they thought incest was a bit much…heh heh.
HBO is also running First Knight this month.
IMHO, Avalon was kind of boring. Kind of like King Arthur for chicks.
Excalibur was a little long but kind of cool. Basically a lot of gritty, muddy knights clamoring around in full metal armor to the sounds of Carmina Burana. Kind of anachronistic though. The Arthur legend is supposed to take place around c.450 AD. I think jousting knights in metal suits were 12-14th century.
First Knight sucked. I hate Richard Gear and he’s totally miscast for a period piece. Plus, they seemed to replace the entire “Arthur sleeps with his sister and their evil offspring threatens Camalot” storyline with some stupid cardboard-villain warlord.
In fairness to the miniseries, they never suggest that Morgause is only 14 at the beginning of the show. They probably had the character start out older to compensate for plot compression (I’m sure this is why the young Morgaine in the series was much older than the toddler who appeared at the beginning of the book) and also so that Joan Allen could play her for the entire series.
That’s a good point, Lamia. I hadn’t thought of it that way but it does make sense.
Have to say, though, that I was disappointed in part two. I won’t do spoilers because TNT is airing it several times in a row and some probably haven’t seen it yet. Objectively, I think it stands pretty well as a miniseries in and of itself, but loving the book as much as I do I was really bugged by a number of the changes they made.
In case anyone’s interested, btw, there’s a new Avalon book out. I think it was completed by Diana Paxson after Zimmer-Bradley died, it’s called “Priestess of Avalon.” I haven’t picked it up yet, though.
Never read the books, but I’m gonna now! I thought the guys were marginally cute, but the women, of course, were da bomb. I’ll be buying this on DVD.
Frankly, I thought this version made a whole heck of a lot more sense than the Authurian legends I already know of (then again, maybe I’ve seen “Excalibur” one time too many!).
I THOUGHT IT SUCKED!! I have read the book a few times, for a long time it was one of my favorites, it got me interested in paganism. I was SOOOOO disappointed in the tv-movie- but then what did I expect? I figured they weren’t going to touch the whole “Christianity is taking over and it’s not a good thing” that was in the book, and they didn’t. They made it seem like Morgaine didn’t want to go to Avalon, when in fact she did. Arthur HAD to be fostered elsewhere because of attempts on his life. What about Kevin Harper? What about Gareth, and his friendship with Lancelet, which makes the confrontation scene where they discover Lancelet and Gwnyhywfar so poignant in the book. What about Morgaine’s time in Faery? What about Niniane, and Nimue? One of the neat things about the book was that sometimes people were cast in a good light, sometimes they were cast in a bad light. In the movie, you know who was Good, and who was Evil, and there was no room for gray areas.
I know, I know, what did I expect- a made-for-tv movie, made by a cable station. I expected a little bit more than just a surface retelling of the book. The scenery was beautiful, the costumes were excellent, but that’s about it. Oh well.
Maybe not if you read the book. Several characters were missing including
Spoiler if you have not read the book
[sub]Kevin the main villian.[/sub]
** End book spoiler alert**
I thought the last half was even worse than the first. I think the big problem was trying to do the book in four hours. Actually four TV hours which is a little less than three hours. They needed about twice the screen time. There should have been a seperate actress to play young Morgause. Yes Morgause was evil but she was evil in that she was plotting to get her son on the throne but she really stayed away from magic and was using old fashion back stabbing and blackmail to get her goals. She did not curse Gwen. Morgaine does not ride around hitting people with a sword. Morgaine does not see Mordred till he is grown. His belief that his mother and father rejected him is his driving motivation. I could go on and on about the things I didn’t like so here is one I did.
I like the little [sub]this is so probably misspelled[/sub] Pieta scene with Morgaine and Authur at the end in the boat. The way she holds him like Mary holding Jesus because Authur is the once and future King is a nice shot.
The plot compression sort of took over in the second part, didn’t it? I didn’t like it as much. On a 1 to 10 scale I think I’d give this thing a 6 overall; the costumes were good (if inaccurate!) and I was pleasantly surprised by how well some of the casting worked. (Julianna Margulies was really good!) Scenery, nice, though there was at least one point where a matte painting looked SO much like a painting that I laughed. Overall, not a bad effort for such a huge book in such a short time on a TV movie budget.
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I could have SWORN that near the end of the book Morgause discusses having somebody feeding Gwenhwyfar some herbal thing to keep her from getting pregnant. So I didn’t have any problem with Morgause doing that. I just don’t see why they made it so OBVIOUS.
