The Chronicles of Shannara Review
The series begins with the Ellcrys tree, which has held back the demon world for centuries, dying, and a band of people trying to find the magic to stop its death. The series begins with the second book in the original Shannara trilogy and no secret that Shannara is Earth far in the future. (Not sure why they didn’t begin with the first book. And it’s not until subsequent books that we learn this is actually Earth.)
I was terrified when I heard MTV was doing a series based on my favorite series. MTV? Really? But so far, after watching the first episode, I’m happy to say I’m enjoying it.
The main plot points of the show are accurate. They are following The Elf Stones of Shannara. However, the details have been altered to fit the younger, MTV demographic. The show contains a thousand times more angst that the entire series put together, but that’s to be expected.
The first episode moved at a breakneck speed. It sprinted forward over many scenes, probably just to bring the main characters altogether at the end. Now, maybe that’s the only way the MTV crowd can handle it, but I do hope they slow down and focus more on character development and at a leisurely pace. (Because at the current pace, they’ll burn through all the books in the first season.)
For a television show, the special effects and makeup are both top notch. MTV certainly poured some money into the series.
And hopefully it will encourage people to read the books, because they are awesome!
Some cool things happening with RiffTrax!
Just hit play on your phone or tablet and the app listens for the movie and automatically syncs everything, and keeps it synced. It will work with your TV, computer, DVDs, Blu-rays, Netflix, Amazon Video and other streams. The beta app is completely FREE, AND has all six Star Wars movies pre-loaded into it for FREE for you to try out! (That will be the ONLY way I can watch those prequels ever again!)
The Best of RiffTrax Live will be rebroadcasting two of its movies. Starship Troopers is on January 14 and The Room is on January 28. If you’ve never seen RiffTrax on the big screen, now is the time to catch it.
Geek News
Legends of Tomorrow is the next DC series, taking a few characters from The Flash and Arrow, adding some new ones, and mixing them together for a superhero team. Premiers January 21.
The much anticipated X-Files miniseries premiers January 24, and creator Chris Carter promises we’ll get everything we loved about the original series.
Season six of Game of Thrones starts on April 24 – mark your calendars now.
JoBlo featured a list of Top Ten Greatest Movie Teasers of All Time. (And yes, I have seen all of the movies, more than once!)
TNT nixed the live-action Teen Titans series. (Damn you TNT!)
And Netflix announced season two of DareDevil will begin on March 18, and they released a trailer for the critically acclaimed show:
The winner of the IWSG Anthology Contest, L.G. Keltner, is a guest today at the Insecure Writer’s Support Group with some awesome information and tips about anthologies.
Our very own Anti-A to Z Spokesperson, Gary at Klahanie, actually promote the IWSG last week! Of course, that might be because he thinks it stands for I Was Seeking Gary…
The second book comes out in March and the third in May.
Book Goodies now allows authors fill out an interview form that is posted on their site, and afterwards, books can be added. My interview is HERE.
The Lost and Found: Valentine’s Edition blogfest takes place February 1. For details and to sign up, go HERE.
Version Sacrifice results, featuring the song Dead Souls:
Nine Inch Nails – 10
Joy Division – 10
My vote for NIN gave us a tie!
All of these ‘fantasy’ movies (two with horror elements) take place mostly in a forest. Name the movie from the cryptic description.
1 – The first in a series that should’ve been seven films, the adventure begins in the snowy winter woods. 2005
2 – A trip to this forest turned out to be a game to feed an ancient beast. 2011
3 – This fable involved a tower and naïve young woman who wants to explore the world. 2010
4 – This epic tale has man joining a dozen others to battle a mysterious enemy that descends from a mountain lair. 1999
5 – The first of three films has an unlikely hero setting off with a group of dwarves. 2012
Answers Monday!
Anyone else watching the Chronicles of Shannara? Ready for some RiffTrax fun? Any January series catch your attention? Think the new X-Files will be a good as promised? Want to submit to some anthologies? And do you know any of the trivia…?
And found out this morning David Bowie died. How sad!
