Legend of the Seeker

[such_heights]

Legend of the Seeker has come to the UK, and I thought I would give it a whirl!

Oh man. Talk about clunky exposition central! I swear, every cliche for high fantasy ever. Primarily Merlin meets LotR, I thought.

... It was great. :D

It's funny, everything I know about this show I know from watching hollywoodgrrl's vids, so I kept thinking 'ooh, that's the shot from Ladies with Pretty Hair!' etc. Good times.

Anyway, I don't have much of intelligence or note to say apart from that I enjoyed it enough to want to watch the next episode. Oh, and the show is seriously pretty to look at. And Kahlan is AWESOME.

Comments

[heather11483.livejournal.com]

Merlin meets LotR is the best description ever LOL.

I love it, though -- it's bad but not the kind of bad that stops me from watching. It's gorgeous to look at, and I heart Kahlan so much, and it actually does kind of hit its stride a third of the way through the series. Much like Merlin, LOL.

[such_heights]

I'm glad to hear it picks up! I'm guessing it gets a bit less stilted, certainly, you can tell the actors are good for a little more than "but this is your DESTINY, Richard!" for a whole series.

[wildestranger.livejournal.com]

When is it on, and where?

[such_heights]

If you get Sci Fi, they're showing double bills on Thursdays at 8.

[kalichan.livejournal.com]

I've been avoiding it because I find the source-book to be so damn offensive. But! since tv isn't known for, ah, adapting things authentically, maybe I will enjoy it? *considers watching*

[such_heights]

I don't know anything about the book, what were the problems with it? I haven't really been able to make a Fail assessment on the show as yet, but so far it hasn't been totally awful. Heavy on the white dudes in the way that this genre so often is, and I'm kind of o.O at Kahlan's zomg evil power over men, but I'll see how it goes!

[kalichan.livejournal.com]

I liked the first book okay... fairly genero-doorstopper fantasy, you know, with a fairly intense s&m component and a hell of a lot of rape, but you know, I'm okay with s&m, and thought it added an interesting note to what was otherwise a fairly average story.

Then I read the second book. It was sort of like the first, only more so. As the series progressed it turned into an Ayn Rand-ist rightwing "I support the war on terror" and "COMMUNISM/SOCIALISM/PINKO LEFTWING SCUM are, well, scum!" and this insane, misogynist, crazed, *fail-ful screed. Like the whole point is Richard & Kahlan fight/convert the evil people who *gasp* think helping other people is good! Along the way, they kill a few kids, and start a bunch of wars. And yes, never forget the evil chicken.

You can see a list of some of the absurdity here (http://sandstormreviews.blogspot.com/2006/08/goodkind-parodies.html#yeard)

Goodkind also hates that people call his novels "fantasy" novels... he thinks they are high end literature (which, he clearly believes that fantasy novels are not.) The fact that they involve a magic sword, magic powers, and oh yes, a dragon, seems not to phase him.

OHAI THERE, I seem to have written a novel-length answer. Sorry!

[such_heights]

*reads the link* What the everloving fuck is that? Good Lord.

Thanks for the heads-up! I shall keep an eye out for some of that in the show, but I suspect that it's not going to be quite so - well, insane.

[munditia.livejournal.com]

Heh. I was just about to link you to the very same blogpost.

Until recently, however, I had no idea that Legend of the Seeker is very loosely based on Terry Goodkind. According to what I have heard through the grapevine, the screenwriters are more or less determined to mostly ignore the rest of Goodkind's novels in the future. Which is, IHMO, a good thing because LOTS sounds exactly like some cheesy fantasy I might enjoy (once I finally managed to get around to Merlin, that is).

Skeevy rape fantasies? Not so much.

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

I kept hearing about this show but had no idea it was based on Terry Goodkind's books until recently. Now I'm all curious, because lots of people seem to be enjoying the show, which is a *huge* surprise to me. (The books are awful. Don't read them if you are enjoying the show. AWFUL. Horribly misogynist and offensive and derivative, and the author is a clumsy Ayn Rand wannabe so they are also philosophically and politically nonsensical in every way.)

I just hope the series has the evil chicken (http://news.ansible.co.uk/a233supp.html#01) in it eventually. It wouldn't be a Terry Goodkind adaptation without the chicken who is evil incarnate.

[such_heights]

Yeah, it certainly sounds like they've made a few changes! There's been one chicken so far, but she was a nice chicken. I am certainly hopeful that there will be an evil chicken eventually, because that's hilarious.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_xanthia/]

Okay, so, I find that I HATE the tv series. Like, seriously. The books themselves are awesome. Well... okay, not perfect, no, and I'd give it a rating of NC-17 for graphic violence, and scenes that may disturb some people. (I don't know where ignipipes gets that the series is misogynistic, I really don't, since I find it is one of the best fantasy series out there with strong, capable women who fight and lead and Kahlan is just ten million kinds of awesome, but hey. Opinions differ.) I recently had a friend snap at me because he emailed me asking about Legend of the Seeker since the quote of the Wizard's First Rule is my email signature, and I made the mistake of being too spoilerific in my rant. Well, excuse me.

Anyhow, while the books do contain an awful lot of killing and raping (and almost raping, which is really annoying as it happens in all eleven books), I mostly found them entertaining and Richard is quite funny and amazing. Kahlan kicks ass, and the Mord-Sith are actually pretty cool, despite their weird and horrific origins. Admittedly the last few books tend to get a bit preachy and repetitive in the whole "Imperial Order is so very evil" because it's not like we haven't been following the series from the beginning and didn't catch that. I still say the books beat the tv series, any day.

[such_heights]

The show and the books certainly sound like two very different beasts! Looks like the TV series might be more my thing.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_xanthia/]

Admittedly, the books may seem awful cracked. But then, so is a lot of fanfic out there on the 'nets, like darkfic wherein hot sex involves getting disembowelled with a spoon. (http://community.livejournal.com/metaquotes/7222266.html) So, you know... maybe not your cup of tea, but they're not that bad. Honest.

[such_heights]

... OH GOD I HAD NEARLY ERASED THAT FROM MY BRAIN. D:

[http://users.livejournal.com/_xanthia/]

I couldn't stop myself from reading the comments, but the amount of 'shocked' icons kinda almost made it worth it. Almost.

[hollywoodgrrl.livejournal.com]

Eeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!! SHOW!!!! Omg I'm so excited that you're watching it! Just wait till ep 8! AND FORGET ABOUT THE BOOKS. The show is the real canon because they take the shite from the books and MAKE IT BETTER. Also, focus all your attention on Kahlan because she's the real star of the show. :P