A word of warning: if you are a fan of Ursula K. Le Guin's books, you might want to make plans for tonight that do not involve a television set. If you have no idea who Le Guin is, on the other hand, you might find sword and sorcery miniseries Earthsea (ATV, today at 9pm, concludes next Sunday) mildly enjoyable in places - although it will probably leave you feeling rather short-changed.
Making a film of a much-loved classic book is always a risky endeavour and there have been several adaptations from the fantasy genre recently: the incredibly successful The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the less popular The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, to name two. Judging by the number of disappointed Le Guin fans who have posted their grievances on the internet, though, Earthsea, directed by journeyman television director Robert Lieberman, may well have been a mistake.
The first book in the Earthsea quartet, A Wizard of Earthsea, was published in 1968 and the stories proved immensely popular, never having been out of print since. The miniseries, made for the US-based Sci-Fi Channel in 2004, is based on the first two volumes - 'loosely', says Le Guin. 'It's full of scenes from the story, arranged differently, in an entirely different plot, so that they make no sense.'
Even the colour of the characters, she says, is wrong. 'My protagonist is Ged, a boy with red-brown skin. In the film, he's a petulant white kid.' Le Guin's article, A Whitewashed Earthsea: How the Sci-Fi Channel Wrecked My Books, can be found at online news and culture magazine Slate.com.
At least the show's plot is suitably fantastical. Protected by high priestess Thar (Isabella Rossellini; Blue Velvet), the Amulet of Peace has insured harmony between humans and dragons on the islands of Earthsea for centuries. All is well until the amulet is broken in two and one of its pieces goes missing, leaving the archipelago vulnerable to evil forces. The only hope for Earthsea is an impetuous young lad named Ged (Shawn Ashmore; X-Men trilogy), a blacksmith's son who discovers he possesses magical powers and must master them to save Earthsea from destruction.
It all sounds promising, but the result is bland - one can't help making comparisons with the depth, scope and magic of The Lord of the Rings even though one probably shouldn't, this being a miniseries - and the acting patchy. The bored, world-weary outlook of evil King Tygath (Sebastian Roche; Odyssey 5) is thoroughly entertaining, for example, although I'm not sure it's meant to be.