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Post by tkdco2 on Jan 6, 2016 1:39:31 GMT -6
MTV is premiering the Shannara Chronicles, based on Elfstones of Shannara. Is anyone going to watch?
I'm a little biased as Elfstones of Shannara kinda upset me. I actually enjoyed the book, except for the ending.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2016 3:45:47 GMT -6
I loved the book, actually. Brooks' series was the first fantasy I ever read, at the tender age of ten, and it marked, well, the beginning of *the journey* to me, if you know what I mean. Now, consequently, I was very eager to the pilot this morning - it streams on MTV's homepage, I am not American. Looked not even bad, but it's to "Shannara" what "Legend of the Seeker" was to "The Sword of Truth". - At best, a very free adaptation, at worst, a teenie costume drama. The series is not without its merits, especially with all the flashy iconography that you might have spotted in the trailers already, but an adaptation closer to the books would have been possible, and possibly equally interesting. (Fanboy talking here: Flick, the only POV character from *Sword* to return, is totally wasted, as is the potential of locations like Shady Vale, and Storlock. They make Will the son of Shea, which I find problematic, because it of puts the overall history of the world in a blender. Also, much of the novel is made through prince Ander Elessedil's internal struggle; that is left out, presumably because it's likely MTV's pimpled audience wouldn't be able to relate to it.) The original books usually get a lot of flack because of their obvious proximity to Tolkien, and I personally wonder why they were designed as what they were - *Young Adult* novels that made for an easy entry to the genre. "Elfstones", in particular, is really a treat: A nice spin on an over-trodden genre, and probably one of the very few readable *quest-fantasy* novels outside of Tolkien. Not saying that I'm unbiased here, but mind you that I still rate "The First King of Shannara", and "The Druid of Shannara" (the 1991 novel, not the later one) as two high points of the genre. If you've read my notes on Meleon, I still list "First King" as one of my main influences in fantasy.
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Post by tkdco2 on Jan 6, 2016 3:53:38 GMT -6
I just watched the premier just now. You're right; it was a very free adaptation of the novel. I didn't really care for any of the characters. Maybe I'll watch another episode, but I won't make a point of doing so.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2016 6:33:07 GMT -6
Yeah, me too. Solid, child-oriented TV. - Frankly, I am getting to a point when I feel too old for this kind of stuff. It's not so much that the genre has changed; quite simply, 33-year-old me has different tastes than 13-year-old me. The last fiction TV series I watched and really liked was the US version of "The Killing", and next to that, perhaps BBC's "Hinterland". - I might just not be the right guy for "The Shannara Chronicles", any more.
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Post by Stormcrow on Jan 6, 2016 9:26:42 GMT -6
I've tried several times to read The Sword of Shannara, and stop every time because of the poor writing and obvious reliance on Tolkien.
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Post by tkdco2 on Jan 6, 2016 13:57:14 GMT -6
You guys would really hate Dennis McKiernan's Iron Tower trilogy, which really copies LOTR; the author describes it as an homage to Tolkien.
I do understand how tastes change. Mine changed a long time ago. So my fantasy has little magic, if any. My science fiction is geared towards hard science fiction. Most of the TV shows I watch are mysteries from Europe, and I have to watch them online.
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Post by ritt on Jan 6, 2016 16:47:39 GMT -6
Shannara is what kids read before they move up to the more mature and complex Dragonlance.
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Post by Finarvyn on Jan 7, 2016 4:47:42 GMT -6
I read SWORD OF SHANNARA and enjoyed it even though it had so many Tolkien elements in it, but I couldn't make it through ELFSTONES. I;m not sure if it was the character switch or not, since I kind of liked the characters in the first and never got into those from the sequel. At one point I picked up almost the whole set of Shannara books with the intent of reading them, but I guess I don't like Brooks' writing style or something. Sold all but the original one.
I haven't seen any of the series, but I remember hearing that they were making one and I am hoping that it will be a good viewing experience. I assumed they would start with SWORD, however, and didn't realize they were doing ELFSTONES. I should have guessed since I've seen new reprint copies of ELFSTONES appearing at my local B&N but not a reprint of SWORD.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2016 16:42:31 GMT -6
Shannara is what kids read before they move up to the more mature and complex Dragonlance. Yeah, but is there really anything wrong with that? - The only cardinal sin that Brooks ever committed was that he didn't explicitely label the books as YA fiction; that has, from all I've read about the American publishing industry, historical reasons: Fantasy, for the same reasons that denominated D&D as "probably paganic", was not accepted as suitable material. - Because, y-e-a-h, it was not before Taran sold the black cauldron to the witches that I finally succumbed to temptation, and cried out, in mid-kindergarten: "Hail Satan!" Today, a book like "Sword" would be labelled as "suitable for readers 8-12", and no problem, at all. Criticizing Brooks for previsible plots and simplistic setups is the same level as, what, demanding that sword fights in "Puss in Boots" show blood, IMO: One certainly can go there, but it doesn't make much sense. - In any case, teenage-Me was supremely entertained.
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Post by ritt on Jan 8, 2016 21:15:51 GMT -6
Oh no, nothing wrong with that at all.
I work in education and get exposed to a LOT of YA fiction (Some of it surprisingly good, most of it cynical copycat pablum). If anything Brooks was perhaps too ahead of his time. If the Shannara books had come out five years ago instead of 3+ decades ago we would now be getting a $150 million multiplex blockbuster starring Hollywood's hottest new jailbait instead of a TV series.
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Post by Zenopus on Jan 8, 2016 23:23:34 GMT -6
There's actually a "young adult" version of the Sword the Shannara - just the original novel - that splits it into a trilogy of short books. I saw the first volume in a bookstore last year.
I read SoS in middle school & enjoyed it even after having read Lord of the Rings. I continued with the series for a while but now it's probably been over twenty years now since I read one of them.
Thanks for the heads up on the new series.
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Post by Finarvyn on Jan 10, 2016 17:48:38 GMT -6
Here I go, quoting myself... I assumed they would start with SWORD, however, and didn't realize they were doing ELFSTONES. I should have guessed since I've seen new reprint copies of ELFSTONES appearing at my local B&N but not a reprint of SWORD. I picked up ELFSTONES and I understand now what they did, series-wise, and it makes more sense to me the more I tbink about it. What bothered me the first time I tried to read ELFSTONES was the fact that it was totally different from SWORD. Different era, different characters, different feel. I didn't think it was a good sequel and gave up on it. I see now that ELFSTONES is being marketed as the "first" of the Shannara Chronicles and WISHSONG as the "second" in the series. SWORD is listed as a "before the Chronicles" book. I like this better because it removes the earlier notion that there is a "Shannara Trilogy" and makes ELFSTONES a better start to the series. With this perspective I'm enjoying reading ELFSTONES a lot more, although I'm trying to read while watching NFL playoffs and that is a little distracting.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2016 1:07:27 GMT -6
Hehehe, I disagree, with the fervor of a fanboy. The series plainly gets the feeling of the books wrong, and sort of trying to retroactively make the books into something that they were not feels pretty strange to me. "Shannara" was always about basic, very unpolished concepts; that's why even some of the later books still read pretty well - because the series is so simplistic that it's almost readable out of time. (You cannot really pinpoint to when it was written.) Now, the TV series, with Elfstones as the core story, adds so many new elements - Allanon's love life, magic tattoos, extendable swords, and, ahem, Elven wine tasting parties - that it almost feels like a different thing, entirely. - A Shannara series by the book should look an awful lot like "Robin of Sherwood", IMO, and not like, ugh, "Knights of Badassdom" meets "Hunger Games".
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Jan 18, 2016 21:57:28 GMT -6
I enjoyed the Sword of Shannara but I didn't read anything afterwards. I don't think I could watch any free adaptation of the series. I am trying to brace myself to watch some of "The Last Kingdom" TV drama. Lucky I haven't read more than a chapter or two of Bernard Cornwell's Saxon series, that might be the limit of my free adaptation viewing at the moment.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Jan 21, 2016 12:50:48 GMT -6
Because of this thread I decided to track down an audio-book of The Sword of Shannara. I had read it when it first came out long ago, I admit it is a book I never found myself interested in reading again. I was probably at the right age to enjoy it when I first read it. There weren't many sword & sorcery books available at that time. I had read Fritz Lieber before I read this and The Lord of the Rings, I think I was turned on to Conan shortly after this. I hadn't fully realized its importance to the genre until I read up a little bit about it on Wiki with the Del Rey label and stuff. Wiki The Sword of Shannara Well after listening to a chapter or two I have to admit its awful, yes I guess best labelled as Juvenal fantasy. Does his (Terry Brooks) writing improve in the later books?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2016 3:09:07 GMT -6
"The First King of Shannara", and "The Druid of Shannara" are two high points in the series, as are all the books set in the fictional timeline BEFORE "First King". Nothing otherworldly, but solid, if old-fashioned fantasy. To give you a perspective, I often cite "First King", alongside David Gemmell's "Knights of Dark Renown", as my two favorite books in the genre. - But George-Martin-esque the novels are not, for sure.
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Post by Maximus on Jan 23, 2016 6:50:17 GMT -6
I read the Sword of Shannara years ago, but really couldn't get into it. I've watched the first 3 episodes from the series, and it is very "CWish", reminding me of Arrow and the Flash. Its ok for what it is, an MTV show aimed at a teen/young adult audience. The addition of Manu Bennett and James Remar, who both add an element of seriousness, may save it for me. We'll see what the next show holds.
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Post by tkdco2 on Jan 24, 2016 0:25:38 GMT -6
I only watched the premier, nothing else after that.
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Post by Finarvyn on Jan 24, 2016 6:21:12 GMT -6
My wife, son, and I sat down to watch Shannara and we ended up watching all four of the episodes that are up "on demand." I spent the first few minutes commenting on everything, saying "that's not how the book does it" and finally decided to shut up and watch the thing. We all enjoyed it, even if it's not a true line-by-line translation of the books.
We're looking forward to the next installment.
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Post by xerxez on Jan 27, 2016 2:54:26 GMT -6
I will have to check it out. My Shannara experience was much as I have been reading here--couldn't finish it, though I tried a couple times. The kid who introduced me to D&D was a huge fan and used Flick as a character. tkdco2 mentioned the Iron Tower trilogy, I had forgotten about that one. I read the first book through but it didnt hold me either, largely because it seemed so unoriginal and without a life of its own. I always did love the cover art on the Shannara books though, Hildebrandts I think.
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