King Solomon's Mines was 2004 two-part TV miniseries loosely based on the novel King Solomon's Mines (1885) by H. Rider Haggard and previous film versions. It starred Patrick Swayze as Allan Quatermain and also starred Alison Doody as a made up character called Elizabeth Maitland. This version was kept in a serious tone. However, new characters and radically changed story elements were created for this so it's not faithful to the book at all. For instance, Elizabeth Maitland hires Allan Quatermain to find her father Sam Maitland who has been kidnapped by the Kaukaunas as he had drawn a map to the mines. The Russian Tsar was funding Sam's efforts to locate the mines which in turn introduced four more additional characters, a tracker called McNabb who is an old acquaintance of Quatermain's and three Russians sent by the Tsar. Gagool is young instead of the wizened old woman in the book, she is not evil and she does not betray Quatermain at the end and does not die. There is no great battle where Henry kills Twala played in a duel to the death, instead Quatermain defeats Twala's warrior to allow Umbopa/Ignosi to claim is throne and the tribe kills Twala after he kills Sir Henry. The three would be main characters bear some resemblance to their namesakes, but very little. Captain Good is almost unrecognizable.
Cast
- Patrick Swayze — Allan Quatermain
- Alison Doody — Elizabeth Maitland
- Roy Marsden — Captain Good
- John Standing — Sam Maitland
- Gavin Hood — McNabb
- Sidede Onyulo — Umbopa
- Ian Roberts — Sir Henry
- Nick Boraine — Ivan
- Hakeem Kae-Kazim — Twala
- Lesedi Mogoathle — Gagool
