Tomes and Illusions · Legacy archive
The Shannara Chronicles
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The Shannara Chronicles
#1So between house work, writing, and goofing off on the computer (rainy vacation day, ugh) I pulled up MTV's The Shannara Chronicles on Netflix. I was surprised to see it on there, and decided to watch it in the background. I have to say it surprised me quite a lot.
The costumes were quite good, and the ladies of the show looked nice, and pro/con it stayed PG.
The set building, and use of sets was also excellent, and looked strangely on par with feature films. There was CG backgrounds in places, but the graphic guys did a decent job of it, and I didn't hate it, and I hate CGI.
The monster design wasn't great, but it did a passable job.
The screenery was fantastic, most people tend to overlook that the series of books were post-apoc fantasy, and there are plenty of scenes where the characters are passing through the ruins of our world.
Casting was good, I found myself interested in the characters, and concerned about them. I read the books a loooong time ago and couldn't remember who lived, died, etc.
The make-up department hit it out of the park with their work. The elves were their own, not trying to ape Tolkien's shining elves. They were grundgy and unshaven, and not up for taking shit off of anyone, certainly not humans.
The bad guys were bad, make-up was on point, and the use of sound and camera effects really conveyed that the Dag Modra wasn't just a baddie, but was a MAJOR baddie. Also, the bad guys used their own language, and it was subtitled. Bonus points for that.
I was quite floored by what a fucking fantastic job MTV did producing an epic fantasy. It probably didn't hurt that Jon Favreau was helming itc. Manu Bennett simply kills the role of Allanon, but he has some legit film credits, including playing Azog in two of the Hobbit movies, Slade Wilson in Arrow, the Spartacus series, and even a one shot role on Xena, Warrior Princess. I'm impressed.
It has somewhat rekindled my interest in fantasy, and faith in the genre -
Re: The Shannara Chronicles
#2I've been watching with my wife. While I'm not quite as positive as you, we are enjoying it. I was actually really annoyed they made the post-apoc so blatant. Now, I read the first three books ages ago and none since then, but I remember that being a pretty big reveal late in the first book.
The dialog can get pretty bad, pulls me from the moment.
Agree about the monsters.
Agree about Allanon. Good actor to play him. Kept thinking the Elf King should threaten to kill all the elves with an Axe, though. :D
I was over the sexual tension between the cute young things the minute it started. Hamfisted handling of that.
But overall, still enjoying it. I've certainly seen worse TV and worse fantasy. -
Re: The Shannara Chronicles
#3Now they are really televising and movie-ising all these books. Read the books (the original series anyway) and must say that I'm not a real fan. Don't hate it but don't love it either, a bit lukewarm is how I call it. Anyway, a bit sidetrack to original post by Scras but feel like idle chat. -
Re: The Shannara Chronicles
#4It kinda made me happy because the big fantasy thing now, Game of Thrones, I can't particularly stand -
Re: The Shannara Chronicles
#5I think adaption of books for TV/movies in the majority of cases always make the story lose flavour. Luckily, LoR movie (just LoR, not Hobbit) is passable for me but I still prefer the book though I'm aware that there are people who take the opposite view to me. So I can sympathise.
Personally, I haven't read GoT and don't intend to, same with Harry Potter. The former cos I remember Strolenati are divided on whether it's a good series or not (I vaguely remember a forum thread on GoT and someone said that he/she doesn't know the author manages to say nothing for like 10 Chaps or sth, or is this Robert Jordan and his ultra long series? I might have mixed up between the two) but mainly cos it's dark fantasy which is not my normal cup of tea. Don't like Harry Potter since saw movie of the first book and I don't really like the underlying world that reminds me of witchery (I'm an avid fan of fantasy but just happens to not like witchery) and plus I don't really like fantasy series pitched at younger audiences than full adults. I do read YA once in a while and there are one specific set of YA series that I like due to the underlying world and the set of protagonists in the starting series but that's it in terms of my appreciation of YA fantasy. HP is supposedly YA but the first movie felt like it could be for primary school kids so I felt like it's pitched at a level 'too young' for my taste. So never thought it it's worth my while to pick up the series in first place even though later I read sth about the series turning into for adult later on.
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Re: The Shannara Chronicles
#6
It kinda made me happy because the big fantasy thing now, Game of Thrones, I can't particularly stand
We're on the same page here. Not a GoT fan at all (which is too bad because before George RR Martin starting typing incest fantasies with one hand, he wrote some amazing science fiction and created the Wild Cards series).
Back to Shannara, not done with the season yet, but I find myself increasingly annoyed at the emphasis on the post-apoc stuff. Now, it's been approximately 3 decades since I read The Sword (and The Elfstones and The Wishsong) of Shannara, so maybe I don't remember so well, but it's supposed to be... not post-apocalyptic, but fantasy built centuries after an apocalypse, with only the barest remnants. And at one point the elf king mentions it's been "hundreds of thousands of years." There should not be so much stuff laying around. It's annoying. It pulls me out of the moment.
It's all a bit too MTV for me. Still watching, but not loving. Liking, sorta. -
Re: The Shannara Chronicles
#7From watching Life After People, and eyeballing the wreckage of the apocalypse, it was somewhere between one to three centuries in the past. Some areas are much younger but I could argue isolation protecting them. -
Re: The Shannara Chronicles
#8I actually find the TV show better than most of the books. If you watched this independent of the book series, you would be happier. If you read all the books, in my opinion, then you would see that the series is restarting... it only echos the some of the book series. Still the series has a lot going for it.
And yes, there is a pinterest board for this
https://www.pinterest.com/moonhunter88/fandom-shannara-chronicles/ -
Re: The Shannara Chronicles
#9I was really wary when I saw this come out. MTV and Shannara seem an unlikely pairing. I haven't read the books since high school, but if it gets Scras approval, I'll Netflix it. -
Re: The Shannara Chronicles
#10Maybe wary was the right stance. I tried to watch this based on Scras's recommendation, I think I made it through two episodes. I thought the show lacked a sense of humor, the dialog was over dramatic and not very conversational, and the characters lacked any charm or presence. At least until the Merlin/obi wan character shows up to lead the rag tag group of attractive young misfits on quest to destroy evil. That guy (last human) wizard or something) had presence but his character's line were written and delivered so over the top that it made wish for Nick Cage. I finally realized this wasn't for grown ups when right after his introduction the wizard guy started contorting his face and screaming while wind and light swirled around him (you know...Magic). I was out. My wife made it farther though, she found entertaining enough to have on in the background, but not interesting enough to distract from work or keep her up. The show did look cool though and I thought the opening credits were neat. -
Re: The Shannara Chronicles
#11
Nice to hear two sides of it. If I have a free evening I'll throw it on and see how it takes.
Maybe wary was the right stance. I tried to watch this based on Scras's recommendation, I think I made it through two episodes. I thought the show lacked a sense of humor, the dialog was over dramatic and not very conversational, and the characters lacked any charm or presence. At least until the Merlin/obi wan character shows up to lead the rag tag group of attractive young misfits on quest to destroy evil. That guy (last human) wizard or something) had presence but his character's line were written and delivered so over the top that it made wish for Nick Cage. I finally realized this wasn't for grown ups when right after his introduction the wizard guy started contorting his face and screaming while wind and light swirled around him (you know...Magic). I was out. My wife made it farther though, she found entertaining enough to have on in the background, but not interesting enough to distract from work or keep her up. The show did look cool though and I thought the opening credits were neat.