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Sometimes It Really Happens: THE MISTS OF AVALON

© Elizabeth Burton

Ever since movies were invented and moviemakers started borrowing from literature for their plots, the argument about whether you can faithfully transfer a book or short story to film without terminal injury has raged. Just ask David Lynch.

There have been some fairly successful short-story adaptations over the decades, most of which have gone unnoticed except by we obsessives who actually read the credits. The history of novel-as-film, however, only started looking halfway successful when the films were made for TV. Television, which allows for a four-to-six-hour miniseries, gives the scripter converting a novel a lot more opportunity to include some of what gives a popular novel its appeal.

Last year's adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune on the Sci-Fi Channel, despite it's flaws, is generally accepted as having been a better production than Mr. Lynch's. Of course, there are those who prefer that version and, truth be told, it isn't all that bad provided you don't keep comparing it to the original novel. Stanley Kubrick's version of Stephen King's The Shining is an excellent film, but it's a far cry from King's book, which is what led Mr. King to do his own version--on TV. And, let's face it: would we ever have seen The Stand except on TV?

So, when TNT announced it was making a miniseries of Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon, lungs filled and ceased to pump all over speculative fiction fandom. This is one of those books you either love or hate. There are people who read it over and over, like Tolkien or Asimov; and there are people who have yet to finish it--and aren't in any hurry to do so.

Avalon is a feminist take on the Arthurian legend. Those familiar with the originals know that women, as a gender, don't fare well. They tend to be either unfaithful, disloyal, greedy, adulterous, dishonest or all of the above. Ms. Bradley, however, shows them as the last representatives of a dying faith, desperately trying to save their ancient beliefs and willing to go to any lengths to do so.

The good news is that the TNT production preserves that underlying theme and does it against a background that is startling for it's accuracy. The production values of the four-hour miniseries, which stars Angelica Huston as the Viviane, the Lady of the Lake, and Julianna Margulies as Morgan Le Fay, are exquisitely detailed and show that production designers James Acheson (who also designed the costumes with Carolo Poggioli) and Rodger Maus didn't shirk the research in the development process.