Merlin 

The legendary wizard tells his story of his war against Queen Mab of the Sidhe and his creation of Camelot.

Stars:

Sam Neill, Helena Bonham Carter, John Gielgud

Nominated for 4 Golden Globes. Another 19 wins & 24 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Sam Neill	...	Merlin 2 episodes, 1998
Helena Bonham Carter	...	Morgan Le Fey 2 episodes, 1998
John Gielgud	...	King Constant 2 episodes, 1998
Rutger Hauer	...	King Vortigern 2 episodes, 1998
James Earl Jones	...	Mountain King 2 episodes, 1998
Miranda Richardson	...	Lady of the Lake / ... 2 episodes, 1998
Isabella Rossellini	...	Nimue 2 episodes, 1998
Martin Short	...	Frik 2 episodes, 1998
Paul Curran	...	Arthur 2 episodes, 1998
Lena Headey	...	Guinevere 2 episodes, 1998
Jeremy Sheffield	...	Lancelot 2 episodes, 1998
Mark Jax	...	Uther 2 episodes, 1998
John McEnery	...	Lord Ardente 2 episodes, 1998
Thomas Lockyer	...	Cornwall 2 episodes, 1998
Jason Done	...	Mordred 2 episodes, 1998
Billie Whitelaw	...	Ambrosia 2 episodes, 1998
Daniel Brocklebank	...	Young Merlin 2 episodes, 1998
Agnieszka Koson	...	Young Nimue 2 episodes, 1998
Emma Lewis	...	Elissa 2 episodes, 1998
Justin Girdler	...	Young Galahad 2 episodes, 1998
Roger Ashton-Griffiths	...	Sir Boris 2 episodes, 1998
Nicholas Clay	...	Lord Leo 2 episodes, 1998
Sebastian Roché	...	Gawin 2 episodes, 1998
Rachel de Thame	...	Lady Igraine 2 episodes, 1998
John Turner	...	Lord Lot 2 episodes, 1998
Keith Baxter	...	Sir Hector 2 episodes, 1998
Janine Eser	...	Lady Elaine 2 episodes, 1998
Peter Woodthorpe	...	Soothsayer 2 episodes, 1998
Robert Addie	...	Sir Gilbert 2 episodes, 1998
Nickolas Grace	...	Sir Egbert 2 episodes, 1998
Peter Benson	...	1st Architect 2 episodes, 1998
John Tordoff	...	New Architect 2 episodes, 1998
Timothy Bateson	...	Father Abbot 2 episodes, 1998
Alice Hamilton	...	Young Morgan 2 episodes, 1998
Peter Eyre	...	Chief Physician 2 episodes, 1998
Vernon Dobtcheff	...	1st Physician 2 episodes, 1998
Peter Bayliss	...	2nd Physician 2 episodes, 1998
Talula Sheppard	...	Lady Friend 2 episodes, 1998

Storyline

The legend of King Arthur, this time, from the perspective of the King's Wizard, Merlin. Merlin is a creature born of pagan magic, living in a world converting to Christianity. Merlin is beside Arthur as he gains Excalibur, builds Camelot and is betrayed by his wife, Guinevere. Merlin and Arthur are both menaced by the plots of Morgan Le Fey, her son by Arthur, Mordred, and their cohorts. Through it all, Merlin tries to keep Arthur from the destructive path set by fate.

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Plot Keywords:

sir lancelot du lac character | morgana character | sir mordred character | merlin character | sir gawain character | 

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Taglines:

Imagine a world where dreams come true...and magic is real.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 April 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Merlin

Filming Locations:

Anglesey, Wales, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

RHI Entertainment,Hallmark Entertainment,NBC Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

182 min 90 min (2 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Billie Whitelaw, playing Ambrosia who raises young Merlin, also starred in The Omen as nanny to young Damien, who grew up to be played by Sam Neill in the third of The Omen trilogy, The Final Conflict.

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Goofs

Every actor playing Merlin at different life stages has a different eye color. Baby Merlin has dark brown eyes; teen Merlin has unnaturally bright blue ones; adult Merlin has normal blue; and elderly Merlin has brown again.

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Quotes

Nimue: To be closer to my God.
Merlin: The closer you are to him, the farther you are from me.

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Connections

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: Matthew Broderick/Natalie Merchant (1998)

User Reviews

Can you say Average

If you are deciding whether to watch "Merlin", my advice would be to ignore all the extreme comments in this section; some would have you believe that this is the worst movie ever and others that it is a film masterpiece. The fact is that it is a well executed but philosophically shallow (family friendly) telling of the traditional version of the Arthurian legends; with some alterations. As you can probably tell from the title, this story is more focused on Merlin than on Camelot and King Arthur. If you ever wondered what it would be like to see William Shatner play a medieval wizard, you can find a close approximation in the way Sam Neill plays Merlin. This is not as bad as it sounds because Neill is intrinsically more likable than Shatner and because ham acting is necessary in his scenes with Miranda Richardson, who gives her usual dominating performance as both Queen Mab and her sister-the Lady of the Lake. Isabella Rossellini plays Neill's love interest, she looks amazingly young considering her high mileage and the viewer has a lot of time to reflect on her age/appearance because her character is staggeringly boring.

Martin Short and Helena Bonham Carter are very effective in comic relief. And comic relief is the real strength of this production as the dialogue of the villains is often intentionally very amusing (don't want to scare the family too much). Unfortunately this makes Mab and her two allies far more likable than any of the other characters.

While "Merlin" is far superior to 2004's "King Arthur", it is not even remotely in the class of John Boorman's "Excalibur". "Excalibur" is obviously a much better looking film but it is also a much more ambitious film philosophically. And "Excalibur" does not have the plot holes that draw attention to "Merlin's" moronically contrived storyline. Basically "Merlin" is dumbed down enough to make good family viewing but has enough intentionally funny performances and subtly humorous dialogue to entertain more sophisticated viewers.