Merlin The Series
by Mel Kientz

Every magician worth his or her pixey-dust knows the story of Merlin, the great magician of the Arthurian romances. If you have somehow escaped this principal figure of our entertainment art form, I would direct you to the writings of T.H. White (1906-1964) and his 1939 masterwork, The Once and Future King. Within these pages was another smaller abridged work later completed and turned into a stand alone book, the original manuscript of which now resides in the Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas in Austin. The finished work was finally published in 1958 and called The Book of Merlyn. Please note the spelling. (read more)

This month, there is plenty of magic news emanating from Great Britain.  Paul Stone's Tribute to Siegfried and Roy at the Palladium, Master Magician Trevor Lewis becomes the President of the British Ring of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the great Ali Bongo assumes the Presidency of the United Kingdom's famed Magic Circle. Legendary magicians all and now the BBC brings Merlin to life as a television series.

"We forget that Merlin at some point was a young guy, finding his place in the world," explains Colin Morgan, who plays the young magician in the new BBC One drama.

This is the point of the series. There is plenty of dramatic conflict between the Man That Would Be King, played by Bradley James and the young Merlin. Throw in a measure of Arthurian legend including Morgana (Katie McGarth), the heart throb Guinevere (Angel Coulby), Lancelot (Santiago Cabrera), the mystical Excalibur Sword and you have a rich tapestry for co-creator, Johnny Capps and crew to weave a compelling story.

"It's really good fun to take the classic legends and say how they began" Capps said in a BBC PR release.

This is the same path that Gregory Maguire has taken with his writings Wicked and Son of a Witch in looking at the beginnings of The Wizard of Oz.

While this program is only available, at present, in Great Britain, you can take a look at what the production company is up to by visiting their web site (click here).  This is a pretty slick site and makes me want to see the complete series. The BBC may want to amend their current business model (after those of major networks here in the United States) and include the complete series episodes on their web site. Alas, until it is sold here to PBS or elsewhere in the world I am afraid the rest of us non-British residents will all need to wait to see this venture.