Earthsea - Die Saga von Erdsee

To be fair, "The Legend of Earthsea" isn't horrible. It crisply adapts Le Guin's powerful novels in a way that is adequate for a Sci-Fi Movie-of-The-Week. However, it clearly lacks the power of Sci-Fi's more hyped projects, like "Children of Dune" or "Battlestar Galataca". Thus, the results are stacked somewhere between adequate and mediocre.

The main problem with the production lies in that the show's producers evidently see the relation between Le Guin's Earthsea and the landmarks of fantastical fiction that followed it. Most notably, the Rourke School of Wizardry obviously draws a connection to Harry Potter's Hogwarts. (Take note, the first Earthsea book was written in 1968, so there is hardly a chance Le Guin is infringing on any actual Rowling territory). Immediately picking up on this, the movie depicts Jasper, the school rival of the protagonist Ged, as a carbon copy of Draco Malfoy - the blonde aristocrat with a constantly snobbish demeanor. This just isn't how it went in the original novel. In Leguin's "A Wizard of Earthsea", Jasper was one of Ged's friend who eventually outgrew the young wizard, eventually picking on Ged in order to appease the older crowd he hung out with. But "Legend of Earthsea" clearly makes Jasper out to be a clear-cut foil instead of a three dimensional character.

Other changes include making the barbaric Kargs more or less the stereotypical "evil kingdom", complete with an evil king with plans of . . . yes . .. world domination. He actually says "All of Earthsea will be mine!" Please. To paraphrase Le Guin, she wrote about "real people with real problems in imaginary places". The movie clearly undercuts such intentions, making a story that is only devoid of Le Guin's social statements on race and gender roles. In addition, the many original insights that haunted Le Guin's passages only lingers weakly in the frames of this soon-to-be-forgotten bumble.

**

I have been a loyal fan of Ursula K LaGuinn's Earthsea series for years, and when Sci Fi announced they were making a miniseries, needless to say I was excited. And then the movie began... what a bitter disappointment! I had hoped, with the beautiful and excellent work done on Lord of the Rings, that movie makers and script writers were at last going to be true to an author's vision. What a terrible blow then, when Sci Fi aired Part I of Legend of Earthsea. I did not even bother to watch the second half, for I truly couldn't stomach anymore. I guess the writers and producers didn't even bother to read the books... in fact, I think they borrowed a name here, a place there, threw Ursula K LaGuinn's name on it so they couldn't be sued for plagiarism, and said here you go, an epic retelling of a masterpiece! Maybe they should have stuck with science fiction, 'cause they sure do suck at fantasy! If any of you watched this, "movie" and liked it, I urge you to read the true Earthsea Cycle and then decide. As for me, my faith in the skill and talent of the writers hired by Sci Fi has been badly shaken, and may never recover!

I had read Ursula K. LeGuin's response to some statements made by the director and I expected it to be bad. What I saw was horrendous. This is, to my mind, one of the best fantasy series ever written. This adaptation of it only resembles it in the location it was set and the names of the characters.

I have seen a couple of posts to which I must respond:

1) Comparing this to other works such as Dune and The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant miss the mark. While both of those series were great, A Wizard of Earthsea precedes them. Moreover, the best of the series was the last two books, unlike most other most similar series (was it Frank Herbert that said "every good trilogy is five books, at least"?

2) Changing the race of the characters misses an integral part of the statement made by the author. I know she hates it when people read meanings into her works, but given that the book was written in the middle of racial unrest in the '60s a statement was made, intended or otherwise. The "good guys" were the dark skinned peoples and the "bad guys" were the tall, blond white peoples (yes, I know it's no where near that simple, but the basic idea stands).

Two-thirds through last night's show--the first half of EARTHSEA--I muttered to my wife, "This is so bad." She said, "So tomorrow you'll be at the computer typing up your gripes to someone." I looked at her indignantly and said something like, "Ah, why waste my time?" Of course, she was right, so here I am. An Earthsea adaptation is long overdue; I'm just so sad that it was done so shabbily, with such an eye (apparently) toward anticipating what the unimaginative masses would like to see, as opposed to the rich, subtle, mystical world that Ursula Le Guin so beautifully created in her great Earthsea novels. I don't have the heart (or time) to break the mini-series down, bit by bit, to show what's wrong with it. Let's just say that the screenwriters, producers, and director insisted on reshaping a great work of popular art into a cookie cutter shape, substituting clichés for subtleties and an "epic" (read Lord of the Rings) war story for what should have been a personal struggle with good/evil. Worst, I suspect that in Part II, tonight, we're all gonna see Ged, whose little cheek scar only adds to his overall "hotness," smooching a princess (the SMALLVILLE babe). This thing is almost as bland as last month's elections. Mr and Ms. Producers, either do Le Guin justice and tell the story right or don't bother!

What I saw was not Earthsea. This was so loosely based on the first two novels that I am shocked that they could still call it Earthsea. But, I do understand that they can call it whatever they want.

They even went so far as to make Ged his public name and Sparrowhawk his secret name. I guess they felt Sparrowhawk sounded better in echo then Ged.

And who's dumb idea was it to add the evil king? They took out all the cool stuff like the battle with the dragons of pendor and filled with stuff that was never in the book.

After all, what did the foolish author know?

Sci-Fi has once again trashed someone else's work.

I recommend you read Ursula K. Le Guin's comments at this site. http://slate.msn.com/id/2111107/