MTV orders Shannara series

0/3

Honestly, Manu Bennet aside I’m not concerned with ever seeing the first ap. My DVR’s refusal to record the show is troubling, though.

Don’t be so hasty - what brand is your DVR? I’m kind of intrigued by a device with an expert system smart enough to recognize when you’re making poor viewing decisions.

Drunken Me: “Hmmmm. ‘Neighbors With Benefits’ looks interesting… Tivo, get a season pass for me!”

Tivo: “No.”

First episode is available for free on iTunes (which can be viewed on Windows PC, Mac, or iOS):

It’s actually not showing up as an Amazon Prime show for me, which is odd, since I’ve heard from multiple people that it’s free on Amazon Prime. I’m in the US in California and I’m assuming you all are in the US, I can’t imagine it’s blocked only in certain parts of the US.

I’m in California, too.

I read these (Magic Kingdom) when they came out - pretty sure I didn’t ever read the whole series, only the first few - but loved them at the time. I should re-read them someday and complete the series…

Pretty much agree with everyone here–especially about how awful the dialogue is–for the most part. The pacing feels a bit rushed as well, I sort of liked the high school drama conflict the show briefly flirted with at the start; a little more time in Elf-land would’ve been fun. The overall look is good too, especially the costumes (with the exception of hot elf princess’ party dress–the hell was that thing?) I could watch more of this and hope that they dial back some of the stupid lines.

Hot Elvish Princess is a decent actress from what I saw, but damn, scary thin.
As to the pilot itself, it was all right but I don’t know if it’ll hold up compared to the glut of good TV coming down the pike.

So I got my DVRT sorted and use a combination of strategic thinking and a telescope to catch the premiere and then recently watched all the episodes I had recorded. This is a riveting, ground breaking fantasy series*.

  • It’s not. Not even close. I mean it is fantasy, sure.

Hey! Don’t you want to know how many more times they can be captured by the same band of rovers???

And they are very rapey rovers to boot!

You guys are making me sooo glad I didn’t put any time into watching this, beyond about half of the two hour pilot.

I’m not necessarily against departure from the source material. The Expanse has already drifted a fair bit, from what I recall, for example, but it sells the world it’s presenting and none of the changes I’ve noticed really fuck with anything essential about the plot, characters or world; they simplify and remix a bit because TV has different narrative priorities and is necessarily more external, but they also bring some pretty cool set design and such to the table so it’s a wash overall. What I sincerely don’t understand is the sort of shit Shannara Chronicles is pulling. They’ve made huge changes that actively undermine characters and introduced all sorts of boring, repetitive and tired drama that severely fucks with the pace of the story to its substantial detriment. The rovers, for example, don’t come along until like, halfway through the book and it’s not this constant back and forth with the elfstones and rescuing/betraying Wil. There’s no horseshit about magic not being real. Allanon doesn’t have some long lost love that could not be. Etc.

Ugh. I guess I don’t need to watch the rest of this now.

Some shows get better as they develop. This is not one of them. This is like the first episode of the 100, but everyone makes increasingly stupid decisions.

Episode 6 spoilers. But you won’t care so it’s ok:

Why sell Elf princess as a generic slave when you’d get so much more in ransom?
How the hell did the rovers happen to be in the same spot (underground) in the forest the good guys were traveling in? They happen to have an extensive underground tunnel network everrrrrywhere??
Not killing the bad guy who’s captured you three times and was going to rape you. I guess they want to save him for episode 7 escape + capture. It’s just a boring recurring villain.
Douchy guards who act more like frat bros.
None of the characters are interesting. Well, they have Indiana Jones’s father and the hot Elf chick. The dialogue is like something out of a high school D&D session. Hey, that’s how they should have improved it, turned up the ham to 11.

I’ve been having fun watching this, I confess. Also, I have yet to see any of it while sober. There is likely a connection.

I gave up after 4 episodes. They kept bouncing back and forth between the same places, and I could not stand to spend another moment with the rover crew. Better ways to spend my time, for sure.

Does every episode need consist of somebody being captured?

I only saw half of the pilot and already very annoyed by the constant and inappropriate music.

Did they mistakenly adapt Wheel of Time?

Wow, just wow! The last two episodes have been incredibly bad. Lets forget the fact that our heroes fall into a massive ravine in the middle of a frozen waste land, survive the fall into a creek about 1ft deep and its like mid summer outside. They trump that with a visit to high school and a rave in a western town. And in case that doesn’t amuse you enough, they throw in D&D and Star Trek for kicks. The show has actually reached that fine pinnacle where its so bad its become worth watching. I just know that there’s probably the most awesome drinking game built into this show, once I figure it out Shannara will be my go to get trashed show.