The Shannara Chronicles
- Thread starter Sparkle Fabulosa
- Start date
See post #67.
I haven't read beyond the second book, but I do know there is a modern, at least when it was written, miniseries that deals with the events that started things on the path that leads to the Shannara world. It's called The Word and The Void trilogy and it consists of Running with The Demon, A Knight of the Word and Angel Fire East.
I wonder who would win in a knock-down-drag-out fight: Amberle or Eretria?
I'm liking the costumes and the show has kept my interest. I think I will be picking up the book(s) in the future, it seems like there is more than what is portrayed in the show (as with all books to tv adaptations).
^ Yeah, the costumes are great. I like Amberle's the best!
I've seen episode 3 now, and I'm still not finding myself all that engaged by the actors, characters, or situations. The relationships seem to be operating on a very simplistic level, either juvenile ogling of unclothed bodies or petty hostility and hatred. And the violence is way too graphic for my tastes.
I'm also concerned that Millar and Gough are repeating their Smallville tendency to focus on a hero who's defined mainly by his profound reluctance to be a hero instead of just an unassuming farmboy. They forced Clark Kent into an increasingly tedious rut for seven years before they finally left the show and freed his successors to have him actually start wanting to be a superhero. Maybe the plot of the books will require Wil to step up more, but I'm not encouraged by what I'm seeing so far. And the actor is probably the dullest of the three young leads.
Why does a tree have a door in it? And why do they keep pronouncing Eretria's name like "Eritrea"?
I'm also concerned that Millar and Gough are repeating their Smallville tendency to focus on a hero who's defined mainly by his profound reluctance to be a hero instead of just an unassuming farmboy. They forced Clark Kent into an increasingly tedious rut for seven years before they finally left the show and freed his successors to have him actually start wanting to be a superhero. Maybe the plot of the books will require Wil to step up more, but I'm not encouraged by what I'm seeing so far. And the actor is probably the dullest of the three young leads.
Why does a tree have a door in it? And why do they keep pronouncing Eretria's name like "Eritrea"?
Wil is pretty boring but everyone else is great. I just focus on them.
It's a magic tree. Of course it has a door.
It's a magic tree. Of course it has a door.
I'm afraid they don't do much for me either. There are moments when I find Poppy Drayton almost interesting and rather beautiful, but there's a blandness to her that she just doesn't quite manage to transcend. And nobody else really stands out for me besides Manu Bennett and John Rhys-Davies -- and Bennett is less interesting as a hero than he was as a villain on Arrow.
Maybe, but I was expecting something more organic-looking, like something that was part of the grain of the wood. This was more like a door in a building that the tree had grown over and around. There actually seemed to be carved stone blocks making up the door frame.
I wonder if she'll fight Darth Vader and discover her own face in his helmet...
Sooo, Elven council must decide if the last remaining chosen (the only person that can do the quest) should be allowed to go on the quest to save the tree. What exactly was the other option? What did they have to lose by letting her try? Even if they didn't believe in magic, how would they be any worse off?
To compound on this, the tree had to approve of Amberle, so why bother with the council to begin with?
The entire scene with the council could have been boiled down to "what have we got to lose?"
To compound on this, the tree had to approve of Amberle, so why bother with the council to begin with?
The entire scene with the council could have been boiled down to "what have we got to lose?"
Timelines are really messed up in this show. The lake where Wil dives in still had some old car(?) parts that should have been corroded away already, unless there is some magic anti-corrosion agent in the water, and in the air.
According to some timelines I found it should be about 2050 years since the apocalypse that destroys the present world. Pretty much all the metal should be corroded away or been buried in the ground since then.
Adding stuff like that doesnt really add anything to the show.
According to some timelines I found it should be about 2050 years since the apocalypse that destroys the present world. Pretty much all the metal should be corroded away or been buried in the ground since then.
Adding stuff like that doesnt really add anything to the show.
Wil's reluctance to be a hero predates Smallville by more than decade. And really since the elfstones were thought to have been only stones and Wil a mere halfling from Shady Vade makes his heroism all more incredible. And since Terry Brooks is producer of the show the names are pronounced the way he meant them to be.
Well, it's hardly unprecedented for works of fiction set in the far post-apocalyptic future to ignore things like corrosion and sedimentation and to portray human artifacts surviving far longer than they realistically would. For instance, Planet of the Apes is set about 2000 years post-apocalypse, roughly the same era as this show, yet the (spoiler alert) Statue of Liberty is still partially intact.
Me too. The only reason I noticed was cause I think she was the only one who kept changing clothes!
I think the people did not believe in magic or demons as it was all folktales to them now. They were more concerned with Amberle abandoning her post as a chosen one. It took 'some' convincing that the dying tree would continue to release more demons into the world unless they save it. (re-plant it). Thus needing the council to reinstate her as a 'chosen one' and allow her to go on the quest.
It is kind of odd to see a fantasy world whose denizens don't believe that magic exists. You don't get that often in high-fantasy alternative-world fiction. It's more common in urban fantasy or horror, something in a "real world" present-day setting where magic is hidden behind the scenes, a la The Dresden Files or The Librarians.
Shannara isn't your traditional High Fantasy series; it's as much Urban/Contemporary Fantasy and Dystopian Science Fiction as it is High Fantasy, and always has been.
