The Shannara Chronicles

[Raona]

For my fellow Shannara enthusiasts out there (haters, let the sleeping dog lie):

I've been watching the coming of this with a mix of excitement and trepidation:
http://www.mtv.com/shows/shannara/episode-guide
Now it is here, and it is better than I feared, if worse than I hoped for. If you can stand the MTV-predictable elven sylphs in chainmail bikinis and high heels, it's not a bad take. The older characters are impressively well acted, and true to my reading of the Terry Brooks originals. I really like how they have made manifest his post-apocalyptic fantasy world.

The first three episodes are free to watch for now, even if you don't have cable.

It helps to have read the books, I think. At least to appreciate the full texture of what you are seeing.

[Gwain]

I'm quite relieved they skipped the first book and went on to the much more readable second. As far as it goes this show seems like the most polished in a the group of 'game of thrones' cash-ins that have been released so far.

[Beskytter]

Honestly, I wish we could have started with The Sword of Shannara. It was my favorite and it had the creeper during one part of it.

Other than that, my only complaints are the travel jumps, druid's keep, and MTV's need for sexy young actors who fall prey to other sexy young actors' primal attractions. To me it detracts from the story line as a whole. In the books they had to travel a lot, in the show they have to run to the edge of the map and wait for the destination area to load. Paranor was also supposed to be surrounded by a forest, not deep in a box canyon. There was so much to the keep in The Sword that it felt lackluster on screen.

I know some of this is nitpicking and one of these is personal taste, so I'm not unhappy with the show, but they are things I would have liked more about it if they'd been addressed.