The Shannara Chronicles tv series preview

Based on the popular Terry Brooks sci-fantasy books. If done well this one has the potential of becoming the next 'Game of Thrones' (Brooks published his first Shannara book in 1977 and the books have legions of followers)


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The Shannara Chronicles (Episodes 1 & 2) I just finished watching the first two episodes of season one of this top notch MTV adaptation of the beloved Terry Brooks novels and here is my verdict: I loved it. While not a perfect show it is head and shoulders better than most of what is shown on tv right now passing as fantasy or science fiction. The series strengths are its production values, awesome sets, great costumes and make-up, top notch big production special effects and spectacular landscapes shots. The show moves at a fast pace so occasionally you might have a hard time grabbing some of the plot details because of this. This fast pace while great for an adventure like this, also becomes detrimental to character development, one of the series weakness so far, as we don't have enough time to know more or care for that matter about some of the characters. The story is set in Earth 2000 years after the Great War that destroyed mankind, No one knows anything about any history prior the Great wars. Humans mutated into trolls, dwarfs and gnomes. Elves, who were hidden for a long time surface and the predominant species. Yes, there are some humans left too. An evil demon sorcerer awakens and is waiting for his army of demons to be freed from their magical prison represented by the leaves of the magical ancient tree. The tree is dying and its leaves are falling and burning which means that an evil spirit is released upon each leave that falls. To stop this evil forces a powerful druid sorcerer recruits a young half-breed elf along with an elven princess on a quest to save their people from extermination. Yes, if feels little derivative from Lord of The Rings as well as Star wars, but it doesn't feel like they are stealing from those sources, but inspired by them instead. The second episode ended in a on-the-edge-of-your-seat cliffhanger and I can't wait for the next episode. 8/10

you can watch the first two episodes on youtube in HD here:

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:wack:

 

I read several of the books a long, long time ago. Terry Brooks ripped off several of the themes of Tolkien just like almost all Fantasy writers of that era, but he was the best at doing it. His was the closest approximation to the density and detail of the world creating that Tolkien did in "Lord Of The Rings", along with the quality of writing to back it up. He was definitely not a hack.

As for the series, I'll keep watching for at least a couple more episodes but I'm a bit disappointed so far. It's got some promising elements, but I'm intensely annoyed at the "Young Adultification" of what I've seen so far. They've turned a "Lord Of The Rings" type vehicle into a mash-up of "The Hunger Games, Percy Jackson, Insurgent and the most juvenile elements of The Hobbit". I should have expected as much, with it being broadcast by MTV.

I'll keep watching and hoping it improves as situations in the storyline grow more dire, and they can possibly drop these bullshit tween angles they've inserted into the pilot.

 

I have not read the books, but I too saw the obvious "Insurgent" & YA angle into it. Its MTV after all, but I am okay with it.

 

Hit nail on the head, right there...

 

I am addicted to this show no so much because of its plot (its okay and sometimes meh), but just because I can't take my eyes of Spanish babe Ivana Baquero. You know her. She was the girl in Guillermo Del Toro's Pam's Labyrinth, but she has blossomed into a gorgeous sexy 21 year old. :hump:

Ivana Baquero

 

I kept watching up to the 5th episode hoping it would get better and gave up on it. Ended up being pretty trash.

 

I missed episode 5, but watched all the others. yeah, the show could be better, but I think that this is exactly what MTV asked the producers to deliver: LOTR-Lite with a YA Twilight/Divergent angle. At least this time is two babes taking turns to screw with the half-elf dude, so I am not making a stinker about it. ::

 

They would have definitely tried to flip this crap into a three movie deal if not for the fact that movie fans have stopped supporting every talking animal fantasy film based on a best seller.

 

:scratcher: There are no talking animals in Shannara. But hey, 'The Jungle Book' (only one human and tons of talking animals) opens on April 15.

I finished watching 'The Shannara Chronicles' and surprisingly this story basically finished in the last episode with only one loose end as a hook up for a sequel, but if there is no season 2, this season's plot ended here. So that was good. Not a great show, but decent enough to watch once.