The epic tales of King Arthur and the mysterious, powerful wizard Merlin have been brought to the small screen countless times, but in 1998, Hallmark decided we all needed a three-hour-plus version. Because nothing screams “ancient, wild pagan sorcery” like a two-night event on network television. Now available to everyone on Prime. This is the story of Merlin, not just Arthur, so prepare for an origin story full of confusing British royalty, a ridiculously evil fairy queen, and a lot of questionable early CGI. It’s a sweeping drama about the battle between the old magic and the new, boring Christianity, with a star-studded cast of recognizable faces proving that a lot of famous people can still manage to look awkward in chainmail and poorly dyed wigs.
If you like your fantasy served up with a thick side of melodrama and a wizard who spends half the film trying to be an ethical Boy Scout, then settle in. This miniseries is a long, winding road from the mythical conception of Merlin all the way through the predictable downfall of Camelot. You’ll see dragons, griffins, and a gnome played by a famous Saturday Night Live comedian. Yes, you read that right. I promise you, I’m not making that up. It’s a massive, expensive project that tries to jam a millennium of folklore into one sitting, and as a result, it often feels less like an epic journey and more like a rushed, very pretty term paper. Now, let an old man tell you what’s wrong with this picture.
Review by Ben Dover
I went into this thing expecting fire and brimstone, powerful sorcery, and the kind of dark, gritty medieval atmosphere that makes you feel like you need a bath just watching it. What I got was a Hallmark movie with a budget. Now, don’t get me wrong, Sam Neill as Merlin is a pretty decent choice. He’s got that worn-down, “I’ve seen too much, and now I just want a nap” look that a world-weary wizard should have. The problem isn’t him; the problem is the script, which makes Merlin spend most of his life doing the moral equivalent of filing his taxes, trying to avoid using magic because he’s got this stupid oath. He’s a wizard! That’s like hiring a plumber who refuses to touch water.
The main villain, Queen Mab (played by a wonderfully theatrical Miranda Richardson, who also doubles up as the Lady of the Lake, saving the producers a few bucks, I suppose), is actually the best part. She’s deliciously over-the-top, a vengeful drama queen throwing tantrums because the masses are trading in their nature worship for sermons. Her whole creation of Merlin to save “The Old Ways” is a solid idea, but it’s undermined by the fact that the ‘Old Ways’ are represented mostly by her being an absolute menace. And speaking of menaces, how in the world did they think Martin Short as the comic-relief gnome “Frik” was a good idea? It’s completely jarring. Every time he showed up, I wanted to throw my slipper at the screen. We’re talking King Arthur, not some kid’s Saturday morning cartoon.
The plot meanders through all the standard Arthurian stuff—Uther’s lust, the sword in the stone, Lancelot and Guinevere’s scandalous affair—but it does it all with the emotional depth of a puddle. They try to give it a fresh spin by focusing on Merlin’s humanity and his complicated love life, but honestly, all the relationship drama just slows down the dragons and the sword fights, which is what I’m here for. It’s too long, too sappy at times, and wastes too much time on characters that are either too young and boring (Arthur) or too old and annoying (Morgan Le Fay, who is played by Helena Bonham Carter but is a shadow of the villain she should be).
Back to the writing, the exposition in this movie is maddening. Everyone says exactly what they’re thinking (sometimes even when there’s no one around to hear them) and in case you should happen to miss the obvious, it’s said to you in speech, underlined with pantomime gestures and then repeated in a voiceover narration. WE GET IT.
In the end, it’s not terrible, but it commits the cardinal sin of fantasy: it’s often dull. It’s a big, beautiful mess that takes itself far too seriously while simultaneously shoehorning in slapstick comedy. It has some great ideas, some brilliant casting, and then it squanders it all by trying to be everything to everyone. It’s the kind of movie you appreciate for the effort but forget entirely by the time the next sword-and-sorcery epic rolls around. They tried to be epic, but they ended up just being… long.
The Players
- Sam Neill as Merlin: The wizard who hates magic. Neill manages to bring a believable mix of intelligence and regret to the role, even when the script makes him look like an absolute nincompoop.
- Miranda Richardson as Queen Mab / Lady of the Lake: Mab is the villainous Fairy Queen clinging to the old ways. Richardson is perfectly wicked, and she does a great job pulling double duty. Probably deserved a bigger paycheck for carrying the villainy of the entire production.
- Isabella Rossellini as Nimue: Merlin’s love interest, who, let’s be honest, is mostly there to suffer so Merlin has a reason to be mad at Queen Mab. A very pretty reason, though.
- Martin Short as Frik: Queen Mab’s gnome servant. He’s the comic relief that nobody asked for. It’s like putting a clown nose on a medieval helmet.
- Helena Bonham Carter as Morgan Le Fay: Arthur’s manipulative half-sister. She’s supposed to be menacing, but her chemistry with Frik is weirder than a rubber chicken at a royal wedding.
- Rutger Hauer as King Vortigern: A cruel king with an excellent evil laugh.
- Paul Curran as King Arthur: The legendary King, who comes across as a bit of a well-meaning stiff.
Special Effects and Music
The Special Effects are a perfect example of late-90s television CGI. When they’re subtle, like a little magical spark or a transformation, they are fine. But when they go for the big stuff—like the giant dragon fighting the two smaller dragons, or the truly pitiful looking griffins—it looks like a PlayStation game demo. The massive dragon scene is a particular highlight of disappointment. You can practically see the pixels. Given the $30 million budget, you’d think they could spring for a few better animators, but hey, it was 1998. We were all still impressed by the ‘new’ digital look, which now just looks dusty and cheap.
It also tends to go from great stagework and acting to Monty Python randomly which is quite jarring at times.
The score, composed by Trevor Jones, is, ironically, much better than the visuals it accompanies. It’s sweeping, dramatic, and everything you’d expect from an epic fantasy. It’s full of Celtic influences and big orchestral swells that actually manage to inject a sense of grandeur into scenes that don’t deserve it. The music tries to tell you you’re watching Lawrence of Arabia, while the visuals scream “budget holiday pageant.”
My Official Rating
★★½ (2.5 out of 5 Stars)
It’s passable. It’s a fine way to spend three hours if you’ve run out of all other programming, but I wouldn’t call it ‘magic’ and anyone who thinks differently has a hamster for a mother and their father smells of elderberries!
Complete Synopsis and Plot Breakdown
The miniseries is framed by an elderly Merlin (Sam Neill) recounting his life story. He begins with his own creation by the powerful, ancient, and deeply bitter Queen Mab (Miranda Richardson), the goddess of the Old Ways. Mab fears her power is fading due to the rise of Christianity and intends for Merlin to be her champion to bring humanity back to pagan worship. However, Merlin is raised by a Christian woman, Ambrosia, and grows up with a distaste for Mab’s manipulative, cruel magic, swearing an oath never to use it for evil.
His refusal to help Mab leads him to ally with various human kings, most notably assisting Uther Pendragon in defeating the tyrannical King Vortigern. Merlin uses magic—against his better judgment and oath—to help Uther, notably by shapeshifting him so he can seduce the beautiful Igraine, wife of the Duke of Cornwall. Merlin’s price for this deeply questionable act is guardianship of the resulting child, who will be King Arthur. He also hides the legendary sword Excalibur in the Rock of Ages until a worthy king can pull it out.
The second half of the series focuses on the rise and fall of King Arthur (Paul Curran), who pulls Excalibur from the stone and establishes Camelot. Merlin, acting as his teacher and advisor, tries to keep Arthur on an ethical path, but he’s constantly undermined by Mab, who works through new agents. Her main protégé becomes Mordred (Jason Done), the product of Arthur’s incestuous tryst with his conniving half-sister, Morgan Le Fay (Helena Bonham Carter), a scheme orchestrated by Mab. While Arthur struggles with the great issues of his reign—including the affair between his wife Guinevere and his best knight Lancelot—Merlin is distracted by the tragic fate of his own true love, Nimue (Isabella Rossellini), whom Mab has horribly scarred and trapped. Ultimately, Mab and Mordred succeed in bringing war to Camelot. Merlin, losing all his loved ones, confronts Mab in a final magical duel. He can’t defeat her with magic, but he defeats her by convincing Arthur’s people to forget her, literally making her fade away due to lack of belief. Arthur dies, Excalibur is returned to the Lady of the Lake, and an aged, broken Merlin finds his peace, eventually reuniting with Nimue. A very long and depressing way to get to “and then everyone died.”
5 Famous Quotes from Merlin (1998)
- “I was his tutor. I didn’t teach him magic. I taught him ethics and morals. It is much more difficult, believe me.” – Merlin
- “My sister was right about one thing. When we are forgotten, we cease to exist.” – The Lady of the Lake
- “A reputation is like glass, once cracked it can never be repaired.” – Merlin
- “You’ve been sliding down the ladder of success so quickly these last few years you must have got splinters in your backside.” – Merlin (to Frik, on Mab’s failing power)
- “Only one tear was shed for Vortigern, and his pride had cast it away. He paid for it with his life.” – Merlin
5 Notes and Interesting Facts
- Big Budget for TV: The miniseries had a reported budget of $30 million, which was huge for a television production at the time and made it one of the most expensive TV movies ever made.
- Double Duty: Actress Miranda Richardson played both the villainous Queen Mab and her sister, the benevolent Lady of the Lake. This saved the producers money, but also made for a confusing family dynamic.
- Martin Short’s Role: Comedian Martin Short was cast as the gnome Frik to provide comic relief, a choice that sharply divided viewers and critics due to the shift in tone.
- Sequel: The miniseries spawned a 2006 sequel, Merlin’s Apprentice, where Sam Neill returned as an older Merlin who takes a young man under his wing to search for the Holy Grail.
- Historical Setting Twist: The miniseries significantly deviates from traditional Arthurian legend by introducing Queen Mab as the primary antagonist and giving Merlin a direct backstory of being created by a pagan goddess to fight the rising Christian faith.
Photos
Trailer
Reviewer Notes: (You can ignore these, but we always try to place them when available.)
Much of the CGI does not hold up, the dragon fire, the bleeding out on the snow etc really date this, however, credit where it’s due, it is 1998 Made for television.
It feels too long by half would have been a lot better at a tight 2 hours.
Some true adult themes here with Incest, violence, and religious fights etc.
Merlin places Excaliber! in the stone.
Talking horse huh.
Martin Short needs a haircut 🙂
There are for sure some beautiful horseback riding scenes in this movie.
OK incest baby no stabbing Merlin
Sir Lancelot because he got Lanced… a lot. That’s the connection they made in their continual attempts to be Monty Python.
This might be my biggest issue, this movie does not know what it wants to be at times, epic or comedy. You can have some light comedic touches in an epic but some of this is hit you over the head comedy which does not fit the feel of the rest of the movie.
Aw the old Frik and Merlin team up buddy comedy we have wanted is how we are going to end this.
OK weird choice at the end frik and merlin talk and frik says he was lying, leaving stuff out. ???
happy ending… The end of magic
Sam Neill is rather good as Merlin but he is outacted by Martin Short and Miranda Richardson. Merlin’s magic never rises above hand tricks, while Mab and Frick are doing wild, imaginative thingies all over the place. Sam simply isn’t given enough to actually do rather than talk talk talk. It’s a plot hole that makes Merlin not such a mighty wizard, he just talks people into stuff.
The biggest draw of ‘Merlin’ is seeing Sam Neill, Rutger Hauer, Miranda Richardson, Helena Bonham Carter, Martin Short, and even a young Lena Headey, all taking part in this single, lengthy TV fantasy movie. The acting is nothing short of breathtaking at times. The writing… not so much.
It’s so hard rating old movies like this there’s some great stuff here, the CGI and some of the choices (like when they actually fast forward to make people move fast) really detracts though. It goes from great stage work to Monty Python randomly and is a little unsettling when it does so.
Back to the writing, the exposition in this movie is maddening. Everyone says exactly what they’re thinking (sometimes even when there’s no one around to hear them) and in case you should happen to miss the obvious, it’s said to you in speech, underlined with pantomime gestures and then repeated in a voiceover narration. WE GET IT.
I sort of see Queen Mab as an allegory for Satan and also Merlin is a Christ-figure (no human father) that does not add to it for me, but for some it might.