Legend of the Seeker: Prophecy/Destiny (1)Nov.2008

[Truth Seeker]

Prophecy/Destiny

Writers:Kenneth BillerStephen Tolkin

Director:Mark Beesley

Stars:Bridget Regan (Kahlan Amnell)
Craig Horner (Richard Cypher)
Bruce Spence (Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander)

Recurring Role:Craig Parker (Darken Rahl)
Jay Laga'aia (Chase)
David de Lautour (Michael Cypher)

After the murder of his father, and a chance encounter with a mysterious Confessor named Kahlan, Richard Cypher learns of an ancient prophecy that has named him the first true Seeker in over a millennium. Along with an old wizard named Zedd, Richard and Kahlan must stop the ruthless tyrant Darken Rahl from unleashing an ancient evil
​

 

[Ranger REG]

Raimi's back on TV (as executive producer), and back to syndication, which have been a struggling if not dying niche market. Of course, anyone who is old enough could remember that before he directed the Spider-Man film franchise for Sony, he was juggling with Hercules: The Legendary Journey (you can blame him or Tapert for giving Kevin Sorbo a big break in the industry) and Xena: Warrior Princess TV shows.

But will Legend of the Seeker be different than his previous TV works? Will it be a little less campy?

 

[Ed_Laprade]

I watched about an hour of this and found it poorly acted and generally predictable. In short, boring.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

I enjoyed it. It is far better than most everything on the Sci-Fi channel and half of the genre programming on network TV.

 

[Ranger REG]

Now that I have finally watched it, I can honestly say ... it needs work.

The premiere episode starts off slow. The dialogue could be a little bit better. I'm reluctant to approve the leading actor. The SFX, mainly the Wizard's Fire, could be better, and should since Raimi have had experience with better SFX in films. It also happens to take slo-mo combat elements from 300.

The good things?

1. Bruce Spence (whose credit stretched back to Mad Max to LOTR -- he was the Mouth of Sauron in the XE DVD -- to Star Wars) who plays the wizard/mentor Zedd.

2. Craig Parker (formerly the blonde-haired tragic elf warrior Haldir in LOTR) plays the villainous Darken Rahl. Didn't recognize him in his dark hair but his voice is very familiar for his LOTR quote: "The dwarf breathes so loud, we could have shot him in the dark."

 

[Truth Seeker]

If Sam pays attention to the feedback. I do seeing the show getting tweaked.

 

[Panthanas]

It was okay. I'll keep watching if only because I read the books.

 

[Orius]

Raimi's back on TV (as executive producer), and back to syndication, which have been a struggling if not dying niche market.

Yup, Raimi again. Any bets on how long it'll be before Bruce Campbell shows up in a guest spot? I'm saying no earlier than February sweeps.

But will Legend of the Seeker be different than his previous TV works? Will it be a little less campy?

I think so. This was played straight, quite a bit different from Herc.

Now that I have finally watched it, I can honestly say ... it needs work.

Yeah, not bad, but predictable. It was largely Plot by Numbers, the usual old fantasy tropes. The orphan of prophesy, the old mentor, the evil overlord, and I could just go on and on. I suspect this is an artifact from Goodkind's books, because while I was looking for those links at tvtropes, I checked the Sword of Truth page:

Richard Cypher is a woods guide living in a mostly-pastoral nation called Westland, cut off from the rest of the world—known to them as consisting of two other lands, called the Midlands and D’Hara—by a magical boundary that is in fact a window to the underworld; all who enter it die. After coming upon an "odd-looking vine", he spots a mysterious and beautiful woman who looks worried. Offering to help her, he finds she is being trailed by assassins.

She explains that she has come in search of a great wizard, who supposedly came to Westland years ago, to help defend the Midlands against a man named Darken Rahl, who hopes to bring all the world under his dominion. Richard knows that what she says is impossible; nothing can get through the boundaries, and Westland doesn’t have any magic. Yet he has never seen a woman like her, nor men like those hunting her. He decides he should take her to Zedd, a slightly crazy old man who is like a grandfather to him, and who always seems to know everything that goes on...

If you cannot see where this is going, we pity you.

So yeah, I'm guessing the books (which I haven't read, and which I suspect some people will say I'm lucky, because I've seen the series get slagged quite often) are this badly predictable. (If it is, dammit I should pursue my dream of writing because I know better than to follow this tired old plot). Though Darken Rahl isn't bad for a villain name, best name in the entire story, really.

Still, it was enjoyable. Some of the effects were obviously blue screen, but it depends on how much budget they have to work with. I thought it was worth watching, anyway.

How many caught the 30-minute preview for the show?

 

[Hand of Evil]

I thought it was okay, it was intro of characters and world. It will be interesting to see how they present some of the story.

 

[Kaledor]

agg

How did I miss this. I was looking forward to watching it... and thought I knew what sci fi was showing this last weekend (mostly terrible "scifi" movies).

When did it air?
Is there a planned re-air?