The main sin of this production, as I see it is on the part of the Halmi's (Jr and Sr.) By casting Sam Neil and Miranda Richardson as Merlin and Lady of the Lake, they trick all the fans of the first production of Merlin into believing this film to be a sequel. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is obvious after the first scene dealing with the Lady of the Lake and the Fens People. The Lady is a villain now on the same page as Queen Mab and the classic Morgan Le Fey. At first I thought the Fens People were Saxons, but this turned out not to be the case. They don't even exist in the first production. The Camelot of Merlin's Apprentice is a much darker version than in the first. The heroes are much less heroic and the villains much less evil. All have done evil and All have been wronged in certain ways. There is no black and white...only various shades of gray. Those looking for a classic Arthurian tale will be disappointed. In fact, they will probably be offended by all the modern themes (Environmentalism, Class Warfare/Exploitation... etc.) creeping into this production.
Those Europeans who are thinking that these actors are Americans are fooling themselves. They were all Canadians (oops with one Australian and one Brit)...not an American among them...I know you just can't tell the difference between one North American from another...can you? All in all, I think it was a good production given the much tinier budget than the first. Most of it was probably invested in Sam Neil's and Miranda Richardson's salaries. Stargate fans (SG-1 and Atlantis) and Andromeda fans will probably enjoy this production and recognize many of the alumni from both series. All in all, I enjoyed this Canadian production.
Those Europeans who are thinking that these actors are Americans are fooling themselves. They were all Canadians (oops with one Australian and one Brit)...not an American among them...I know you just can't tell the difference between one North American from another...can you? All in all, I think it was a good production given the much tinier budget than the first. Most of it was probably invested in Sam Neil's and Miranda Richardson's salaries. Stargate fans (SG-1 and Atlantis) and Andromeda fans will probably enjoy this production and recognize many of the alumni from both series. All in all, I enjoyed this Canadian production.