J.M. Diener
The Pendragon Cycle is a six-book series written by Stephen R. Lawhead, which retells the Arthurian legend, setting it firmly in the Celtic culture of the fifth century B.C. It dispenses with a lot of the ick and cruft that has burdened the legend, giving it a strong Christian foundation while allowing for fantastic elements and characters that endure across centuries. And Jeremy Boering is, by his own admission, a fan of that series. As am I. From the day I read the first book (Taliesin) as young man, I dreamed of seeing the books turned into either motion pictures or a miniseries; as did Jeremy Boering, according to his own admission in the production diaries, which are available on YouTube. The characters and events of the Pendragon Cycle are so provocative, so compelling, so well-crafted that the series cries out to be retold in the visual medium. (You can read my review of the book series in the Reading List.)
Alas, Jeremy Boering is no Peter Jackson. Beyond that, “The Pendragon Cycle: The Rise of the Merlin” is Jeremy’s first attempt at telling a fantastic story. And while he does a commendable job, it falls far short of the source material, the first two books of the series, Taliesin and Merlin. It’s better than nothing; but it could have and should have been a whole lot better than it is. I so wish he had taken the time to cut his teeth on something less daunting and come to the series with more experience in storytelling before attempting to visualize this magnificent tale. To be sure, I am grateful that he put his time, money, and effort into this tale and I am exceedingly content to pay the subscription fee to watch the series—indeed, I would pay to purchase the series on Blu-Ray (yes, I’m old school)—but after nearly thirty years of waiting for this to be produced, I am disappointed. Yes, it is a lower budget production; but the casting, acting, cinematography, and production values are very good. Even the writing of the individual episodes is compelling. As the series wore on, I found myself more and more engaged in each episode, excited for how the story would play out, even though I knew it well from my multiple readings of the books. What disappointed me is the way the story was told. It was done in such a way that someone who does not know the books cannot understand the story properly. My wife has not read these books, and she could not really figure out the story without my explaining important missing backstory elements. Let’s break this down a bit more and spoil the story a bit. Those who want to make up their own mind should stop reading now and go watch the series on Daily Wire.
The first two episodes, which tell the story of Charis and Taliesin, are clumsily done. It is obvious that they were cranked out quickly and that the production team had not found their feet yet. It is difficult for even an experienced screenwriter to take an almost 500-page book and distill it down into a two-hour runtime. This attempt was valiant, but woefully incomplete. So many important cultural and character details were lost, like Elphin’s fortunes turning when he finds Taliesin; like why Elphin is a revered war leader and why Magnus Maximus trusts him; like what on earth these druids/bards are and why they have the powers they do; like why Charis falls in love with Taliesin. The Atlantean backstory, which is central to the story, is glossed over with the exciting bull dancing scene; but why Charis, a princess of Atlantis, is bull dancing is never explained, again an important point, which could have been solved in four or five lines of dialog. Jeremy obviously understood the importance of Taliesin’s singing voice, but he’s only given two weak little songs to sing, while his voice should be carrying the whole two episodes. The music is beautiful, but the songs needed a whole other level that was not reached; most likely because the production team did not have a clear vision of what inspiring Celtic music should sound like. In the production diaries Jeremy admits to writing the song on the fly so they had something film. Instead, Jeremy should have hired a musician to write the songs before the filming even began! This would have resulted in the soaring songs needed to make Taliesin’s music as otherworldly as the book describes. And talking about Otherworld, the transition between this world and Otherworld is not clearly delineated, making scenes taking place there unclear and confusing in the storytelling, especially Taliesin’s temptation by Cernunnos. I must admit, the parallel of both Taliesin and Charis rejecting the earth-power offered by Cerunnos/Bel was a neat twist. Sadly, it seems more character development was lavished on the evil Morgian than on the righteous Charis. Charis’s turn to the Christian faith and to Taliesin is abrupt and confusing, again because important backstory is omitted. On the other hand, Annubi’s telling Morgian that true power is killing what you love, makes for a very compelling undercurrent and a beautiful counterpoint to the Christian doctrine of dying for those whom you love. At least the strong Christian themes are played out loud and clear in the story, and I am extremely grateful for that. In my opinion, if they had lavished three episodes on Taliesin and only four on Merlin, it would have made for more understandable viewing.
The situation only gets worse in the following five episodes that showcase Merlin. The biggest issue is that the story is not told sequentially. Unless you know the sequential story by having read the books, the flashbacks to Merlin’s early life make no sense. I understand that Jeremy was trying to make the story compelling and that this flashback-based storytelling is in vogue now, but it did not help comprehension. It would have been far better to tell Merlin’s story in a straight line rather than skipping back and forth. The best episode of the series is “Ganieda”, because it simply tells the story straight through. It doesn’t hop around; it doesn’t present you with concepts that make you wonder why this is happening now. Who are these characters showing up? Why at the beginning of the episode is a child Merlin standing on a floating throne, while in the middle of the episode he’s talking to some king in a city called Maridunum while his supposed ally tries to undermine his efforts in unifying the Cymry? This is the most disappointing part of the series to me. And there was far too much Morgian for my tastes. Jeremy Boering should have stuck to telling the story as the book does, avoiding some of the shortcuts he made, like putting Ygerna in the war camp. The whole battle with Gorlas was pointless, too, because it weakened both the character of both Gorlas and Aurelius by undermining Celtic the generosity and loyalty that Lawhead makes central in the book. The whole point of Morcant is that he is a creep, who doesn’t honor Celtic or Christian values. Gorlas and Tewdrig are his foils in the book. At least they had Merlin sing courage into the men, though the song was pedestrian and lacked the glow that the True Bard of Britain would have built into such a song. Uther encouraging the troops with the song at the battle was a nice touch. Then suddenly we’re at the end with Merlin sticking the Sword of Britain into the stone. Whom did Ygerna marry? What happened to Aurelius? Why is Ygerna offering the sword to Merlin in the circle of kings? Why does Merlin even stick the sword in the stone? More careful crafting with less fighting or perhaps eight episodes could have told that part of the story, which is very important for the Arthurian legend as retold in The Pendragon Cycle.
Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” series is completely understandable on its own, without having to have read the books. That is how “The Pendragon Cycle” series should have been. Alas, it is not. The production values are high. The casting is excellent. Tom Sharp as Merlin and James Arden as Taliesin are absolutely perfect. Rose Reid’s Charis is a touch melancholy for my taste (and don’t get me started about the costumes for the Atlantean females!). Emree Franklin is wonderfully creepy as Morgian. Brett Cooper’s Ganieda has the delightful mix of toughness and tenderness that her character does in the book. I love how Pelleas is played by Alex Laurence-Phillips, and the brotherly tension and interaction between Myles Clohessy as Uther and Finney Cassidy as Aurelius are delightful. The other actors are also mostly very good. The scenery is beautiful and the editing is well done, too. The instrumental music is compelling, if a little repetitive. But not having the needed amazing voices, lyrics, and melodies necessary to make either Taliesin or Merlin the singers that Lawhead describes weakens the tale. Maybe Jeremy Boering should have hired Jorge Rivera-Herrans for the songs and had some of the people cast for “Epic: The Musical” as Taliesin’s and Merlin’s singing voices. All in all, it is a very decent production and definitely worth watching and owning (if that is possible). However, it still falls short enough that I cannot give it the full marks that I would want to. Good job, Jeremy. Just do better when—not if—you tell Arthur’s tale.