Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

A Non-Review by Professor Popinjay

(2006)

Just a couple days ago I wrote about Merlin: The Return (2000), a stand-alone film despite its title implying otherwise. It has NOTHING to do with ANYTHING else aside from stupidly being boxed and sold in a collection of other titles that happen to also be related to a guy named Merlin. My grandfather’s name was Merlin. I’m surprised the box set didn’t have our home videos in with the other Merlin films. Throw the Misadventures of Merlin Jones in there too why not!?!

Well Merlin’s Apprentice IS actually connected to another Merlin property. The 1998 Merlin series had quite the cast and seems to be a quality production.

It had Sam Neill as Merlin, Miranda Richardson as Queen Mab and the Lady of the Lake, Helena Bonham Carter as Morgan le Fay, Isabella Rossellini as Nimue, and Martin Short as Frik.

I’ve not seen the series but I confess,  after learning who was in it and having enjoyed Merlin’s Apprentice, sequel to the series, I’m more than intrigued.

I encountered this installment packed in with six other films I’ve been frantically Non-reviewing over the past two weeks. Most were low budget “fantasy” films, mom-and-pop productions I’m fairly certain no one has seen. Though the other Merlin film “Merlin: The Return” got the How Did This Get Made podcast treatment.

If you’ve not listened to HDTGM oh you simply must. Very funny! The title kind of makes it sound like a documentary where they discuss aspects of how a film was made but NO! They are asking incredulously “how HOW in the world did this crap come to be?” Maybe “Why would anyone think this film would be a good idea?” would have been a better title but it doesn’t flow as well. Either way, it’s fun. It features Paul Sheer, June Dian Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas. Love ‘em!

But I digress. Merlin’s Apprentice was decent! Quite decent! They clearly had a hefty budget. Sam Niel was there as Merlin, passing the torch. The new kid was likeable.

Megan Ory plays Bry, a girl masquerading as a boy, in kind of an Eowyn of Rohan scenario. The guise isn’t overly effective on the audience because even with the dirt on her face and purposefully out-set jaw, she remains a very pretty person. This leads to a funny situation though.

The Apprentice, realizing Bry is attacking him for reasons, quickly casts a spell, saying “You like me!”

Bry, being, in actuality, a heterosexual biological female, ends up kissing the apprentice instead of attacking him to which he exclaims, “Oh! You like me ALOT!”

Bry even starts taking things even further, cuing the Apprentice to very nobly break the spell. Good for him. However she’s left wondering why her clothes are partly off and (even more concerning to her) it’s clear the apprentice now knows her secret. Swearing to keep that secret starts a beautiful friendship.

The plot was super interesting.The story starts decades after Arthur’s reign and successive kings have been doing the best they can with what they have. Prosperity and peace were prevalent thanks, supposedly, to the presence of THE holy grail which remained in the castle. Chaos and fear strikes one day however when the grail just explodes. Somehow it’s understood that the grail’s disappearance was the very will of the grail itself and it did so due to the grave corruption that had begun to plague Camelot over time.

It’s believed the grail can be restored if this corruption can be exposed and dealt with properly. The big mystery is who or what is this source of corruption. Could it be the king’s lust for power? Could it be something the thief-turned-apprentice is hiding. Could it be the granddaughter of Sir Gawain in an unapproved relationship while she is betrothed to another? The accusations are plentiful, the misplaced shame and fear are rampant. The question was quite compelling and the answer was genuinely surprising!

Originally presented as a miniseries, Merlin’s Apprentice makes for a hefty three hour movie with plenty going on. It has the stamp of story points that might have been fleshed out considerably had this been a full series but I personally didn’t ever feel like things were rushed. It proves to be a good finale to the 1998 Merlin series, at least from the perspective of a person who hasn’t seen the 1998 Merlin series.

I’ll definitely be on a quest to find that first series now. Come, Patsy! Let us be on our journey!

Box art!

Also, check out this boxart trying to ripoff Harry Potter!