The Sorcerer's Apprentice poem's story is alluded to in several episodes of the fairy-tale drama "Once Upon a Time", especially in "The Apprentice". A variation of the Dukas piece also plays in certain scenes. The apprentice himself is a recurring character, while the sorcerer is shown to be Merlin. The "Fantasia" version appears in the video game series "Kingdom Hearts", with the sorcerer Yen Sid serving as an adviser to the heroes, teaching Mickey, Sora, and Riku the Keyblade skills needed to guard the universe from his former friend Xehanort's plan. A world based on the "Fantasia" version also appears throughout the series,
The Sorcerer conception as any which has taken form on this modern stage". Later assessments of the opera have often mentioned both the opera's strong and weak points. Audrey Williamson wrote in a 1982 book that the virtues of "The Sorcerer", "in spite of its defects ... justify its place in the repertoire." In 1996, Ian Bradley commented in the introduction to his annotated edition of the Gilbert and Sullivan libretti, "It will certainly be a great pity if it gradually fades away. "The Sorcerer" contains two of W. S. Gilbert's best-drawn characters, the soulful Dr Daly ... and the flashy but