Legend of the Seeker
POSTED BY: singate
UPDATED: Thursday, February 26, 2009 00:17
VIEWED: 4744
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I haven't seen any discussion of the series on this site so I figured I'd give this a whirl. Anyone been watching?
For those who don't know it's a fantasy series based on "The Sword of Truth" novels by Terry Goodkind. So far the TV adaptation has been a mixed bag. Many major plot points have been changed for reasons I cannot explain. I understand why some things can't be done due to budget constraints and certain explicit scenarios aren't suitable for a non cable channel but most of the changes do not fall into either category. The only other real gripe I have is the actor who plays the lead character, Richard Cypher, seems lost at times. I'm only guessing but this must be his first starring role. Lately he seems to be getting more comfortable in the role which bodes well for the series.
The latest episode was the highlight of the series for me. Even though some things were changed they did a great job with what could be considered controversial material. The end of the episode had a significant deviation from the books. I actually like this twist and am looking forward to see what they have planned.
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We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.
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I've tried to watch it a couple times. My main question has been, "Why did they buy the rights to this story if they didn't want to use the story?" The story they're telling could have easily been told with different characters, maybe a few different abilities, and some generic magical objects. Now I'm not saying it's a bad story, it seems like it has merit, but it bears very little resemblance to the books I have read and loved so well. While it's nice to see a show involving magic and women (or at least one woman) who can swordfight and generally kick ass back on the air, I'm having major difficulty getting into it just because I kind of get a jolt every time one of the characters is mentioned by name, because I've had those characters living in my head for so very many years, and it's often odd to see them in these scenarios.
It's an epic story, and definitely would take a series to tell, but I don't think this series is telling it.
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I watched the pilot, and I have to watch my tongue in the sf writers circle, offend no one, but I imagine that he can't be happy with the results. The show lost me about 20 seconds in. Horses can turn.
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Quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
I've tried to watch it a couple times. My main question has been, "Why did they buy the rights to this story if they didn't want to use the story?" The story they're telling could have easily been told with different characters, maybe a few different abilities, and some generic magical objects. Now I'm not saying it's a bad story, it seems like it has merit, but it bears very little resemblance to the books I have read and loved so well. While it's nice to see a show involving magic and women (or at least one woman) who can swordfight and generally kick ass back on the air, I'm having major difficulty getting into it just because I kind of get a jolt every time one of the characters is mentioned by name, because I've had those characters living in my head for so very many years, and it's often odd to see them in these scenarios.
It's an epic story, and definitely would take a series to tell, but I don't think this series is telling it.
Agreed.
I was very excited about this show when I first heard about it as I am a fan of the books, but what they are showing bears little resemblance to the story told in the novels.
I fell off after episode three and have had no interest in watching any more. As PR said, they could have done this as another series without tampering with the characters and setting I have come to know and enjoy. Why screw with an existing world if you had no intention of really using it?
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I watched the first episode, but I am usually busy when it airs, and I do not own tivo. So, that being said, I can only critique the first episode. Watch me do this with no spoilers!
The first half, the opening scene the way they filmed it was beautiful, though nonsensical. The way they filmed it is very reminiscent of LOTR, gorgeous place to film and angles are similar. It comes across as epic (if you check your horse knowledge and common sense at the door). CGI could have been way better and it didnt flow like the rest of the first half. The second half it devolves into something akin to hercules and xena, granted same folks behind it, but gorramit,the first half visually set the bar high, the second half was a total let down visually.
I think the characters are reasonably cast, and I would have liked to see more, just the time it is on sucks for me.
Browncoats are the shiniest folks in the 'verse
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I knew there was going to be trouble when it said that the first episode was taken from the first two books.
Scorsese, being the only director I've seen with the guts to make a direct page-screen parallel said "a movie is about 80 pages of text, than means a minute of screen is rougly a page of text. If you go far from that, you're going to have to start cutting"
Now, sure, it's not an exact science, but you can see where he's coming from, a lot of the text can become visual, and so you can catch up, and cover it. But if you take two books and make them into a TV pilot, then you much have to take a machete to the story.
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I don't see how any of book two was used in the pilot. Maybe they meanst the first 2 chapters of the first book or something, because there was, as far as I can tell, nothing from subsequent books in the pilot.
I lost intyerest after the first couple episodes. I was really hoping for a more serialized approach, a hard-fantasy version ofr Lost or BSG. But when it became clear that it was just another adventure of the week thing, I drifted off.
Surprisingly, it seems that a lot of the changes made to the show, were done at the suggestion of the novelist, Terry Goodkind.
"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."
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I haven't read the books, I just saw the note on the pilot that said it covered the first two books.
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FYI, I do have a section for "Legend of the Seeker" on Shiny Universe if you're interested. It's pretty sparse right now, but once I finish the software, I'll have time to fill it up with stuff.
http://www.shinyuniverse.net/planet.aspx?pid=38
As for the series, I enjoy it more when I try not to think of it in terms of the books. It's not as fun as Xena or Hercules, but it does fill a void left vacant when those series went off the air.\
Haken
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