I never read the Earthsea books so I enjoyed the miniseries (mostly for Peter wingfield) but I sympathize with the fear of bad adaptations of books. If I've loved a book, chances are I won't like the show. I still rant about some stupid Oz movie that was supposed to be an adaptation of one of the later books and was so completely off.

On the other hand, I've enjoyed every syfy miniseries I've seen--there are a couple coming this winter I'm really looking forward to, this being one--and most of their tv shows. Why they make crap movies is beyond me.