What did you guys think of this series? I thought it was okay, certainly better than the D&D movies, although the acting was still pretty lame. The story had a lot of potential, but it seemed a little mishandled. I liked the late Roman/Dark Ages backdrop with mild sorcery...nice longship scenes and okay battle sequences. The actor for the main character, the blacksmith dragon slayer, was in my opinion, the low point of the series. I also didn't care for the implied "social" lesson in how wealth and power corrupts, but perhaps I'm just being too harsh. Max von Sydow was the high point....the queen of Iceland was okay too, but the king and the stereotypical scarred evil advisor were just a bit too cliche'.
For a Sci-Fi channel miniseries, it was pretty good overall, IMO. Not as good as Dune, but watchable (once).
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I'm actually fairly well versed in the Wagnar-ian opera that the movie was based on. Das Rheingold. I get the feeling that they assumed that viewers would have a little background on the story, and glossed over some details. Still...it was a better movie than dragon storm or that other one with the dragons in the lab complex (so bad I can't even remember the name)
The forgetable pile of crap you was refering was Dragon fighter.
I love B-Movies (I'm not saying they aren't crap, but I loves them just the same.) I thought the Dark Kingdom movies were a pretty solid way of trying to explain "basic" D&D to newbies, personally. At least, way better than the D&D movies: the first just sucks, and Wrath of the Dragon God is a little too complex for a newbie to get without missing important basics.
I did a movie night for a few new players, watched the Darkest Nights, then Wrath of the Dragon God, and explain the last as just how far and how wild it can go. Worked pretty well, and all three are solid players now.