Treasure in, Garbage Out. This can hardly be called an adaptation of the novel, as the miniseries has almost nothing in common with the books except a few - not all - of the names. The story has not been changed, but discarded, and a hackneyed Swords & Sorcery 'epic' put in its stead. Ged's solitary search for understanding is replaced by a buddy flick, with Vetch now providing comic relief. In a curiously inconsistent approach to political correctness, women are introduced to Roke, but the black characters are played by white actors, with only one notable exception. (Yes, Ged, Vetch, Jasper, Nemmerle - excuse me, 'Archmagus' - were all black in the books.) Heck, even the Shadow isn't a shadow anymore. Any resemblance to the book is strictly for market appeal.<br /><br />As a movie/miniseries, it fails. The dialogue is laughable, the acting generally wooden, the special effects not up to the grand effect desired. This would-be LOTR/Harry Potter comes across more as Dungeons and Dragons. Glover mails in his lines, Ashmore fails to achieve the depth of character necessary to make the audience feel the change before and after the incident on Roke Knoll, Calvert turns Kossil into another tiresome scheming vixen; Roche at least has fun with the only role with no counterpart in the novels, and he hams it up royally.<br /><br />It's simply amazing that the script ever got greenlighted.