Four Torches (Out of Five)
I really didn’t want to watch Legend of the Seeker.
I knew it was the latest syndicated TV series from Xena: Warrior Princess producers Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi, but as much as I loved Xena, that pedigree actually worked against Seeker. Everyone kept saying that it was very much a straightforward fantasy project, and included none of Xena’s irony, humor, or wry self-awareness.
It’s not that I’m such a huge fan of irony — in fact, like the rest of the world, I’m getting pretty damn sick of it. But what was impossible not to like about Xena was its enormous risk-taking. The show was an almost dizzying creative explosion.
Xena and Gabrielle, mid-hot tub
And let’s face it: Xena was a cheeky creative explosion that the fantasy genre desperately needed. Fantasy in the 1990s was stuck in the past in more ways than one.
Legend of the Seeker, based on the Sword of Truth series of novels of Terry Goodkind, seemed to me the very embodiment of the deep, tired rut in which fantasy had found itself.
The Sword of Truth? I’m told the books are good, but I’m sorry, could something sound more hokey? We came up with better names than that when we were playing D&D in the sixth grade.
And oh, God, not another vengeful wizard. Plus, something about Bruce Spence, the actor who plays Zeddicus (another stupid name) just bugged me.
Then there’s the reputation of syndicated sci-fi/fantasy shows in general. I won’t name any names, but most of them, I can barely sit through a single episode.
Alas, after watching three episodes of Legend of the Seeker, I see I should have trusted Rob and Sam (and the series’ other creators, Joshua Donen, Ned Nalle, and Kenneth Biller).
Seeker’s Craig Horner and Bridget Regan
Seeker is definitely the anti-Xena in many ways. There is much less humor, and absolutely no wry cultural references. No lesbian subtext, no hot tubs, no musical numbers. They really do play it straight.
But, of course, what I liked most about Xena wasn’t the genre-busting irony, or even the audacious risks it took. Ultimately it was the characters and the storytelling: things that — duh — never go out of fashion.
When fantasy is dull, it’s because the characters are stock and the situations are cliche.
But Legend of the Seeker’s characters are not dull. In fact, the acting is much more consistent than Xena was in its earlier episodes. The scripts are much tighter too.
The show also looks great, with breathtaking fight scenes that have a Matrix-like trademark visual style that is completely different from Xena.
And after a couple of episodes, I’ve finally realized what they were going for with Spence’s Zeddicus: he’s supposed to be annoying and difficult (if ultimately loyal and lovable). Again: duh.
Bruce Spence as Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander
And that vengeful wizard I was dreading? Craig Parker’s Darken Rahl is smart and sexy and interesting — just one perfect whisker away from careening wildly over-the-top.
Legend of the Seeker has already aired 12 of its 22-episode season (and it’s already been renewed for a second one).
I wouldn’t have watched the show if I wasn’t currently editing this site, but I couldn’t be more delighted to have discovered it.
Watch all the existing episodes of Legend of the Seeker here. Watch the latest episode below:
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TheTorchOnline.com will begin episode recaps of Legend of the Seeker soon!
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I obessivly read the Sword of Truth books. Even through the slower parts, I kept chugging along because I just had to see what happend to the characters. So of course when I saw the adverts for this show I was excited.
The first few shows I was so caught up in how far it was off of the books I couldnt get into the show. As a big fan of the books, I realized I had to outright forget everything I knew about the books to even come close to enjoying the show. For some reason watching them eat an apple in one of the episodes also felt like a slap in the face. (For those that havent read the books, red fruits were poison in the midlands.)
Not saying anything bad about the show, but I think I might have liked it alot more if I hadnt read the books.
The first book, Wizards first Rule, is great. The next two books are quite good. The fourth book gets a bit weird and the fifth is just completely awful. I stopped after that but I wish I had stopped after the fourth, because the fifth book was just so unbelievably bad.
Females do get a pretty rough time in the books. But… I doubt our own history of conquerers were much different in their treatment of women. This ain’t really a “fantasy” aspect of the story, more like based on similar happenings in the real world.
The overly excessive part just comes with Kahlan almost getting raped every few chapters. That is really boring and annoying.
The TV show is quite fun and Bridget Regan is super hot, but it ain’t nothing like the books. The books are aimed at a much older audience than the TV show.
This the BEST show on TV! My whole family cannot wait until Saturday night for the next episode. Everything about it is fantastic, from the great actors, storylines, props, costumes, music, scenery, morals, etc. Can’t wait to get season 1 on DVD so I can watch it all again!
If you have read and loved the books, this series is hard to watch at first, because it is very, very different from the books. I still wince at the actor cast as Richard… he just doesn’t work for me. But I loved the books, and the characters, so much I kept watching. At first it was a morbid curiosity to see how badly they messed up the books, and to see who they cast as various characters.
Now…I’m hooked.
If you’ve read the books, don’t expect this series to be very close to them — the plot is hacked apart and re-pieced together, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But you know what? It’s good anyway. In its own way.
One more thing…I don’t think they could have cast Kahlan any better. I hope the actress goes on to do more fantasy, because she’s great.
I avoided this series at first, for the exact same reasons that the reviewer lists. I had no interest in watching another “Beastmaster.” I caught five minutes of one episode while flipping through channels and it just didn’t seem interesting. Ten episodes had aired before a friend told me that he was watching it and loving it, and since this friend generally has good taste, I put it on my list of stuff to watch.
Well, yesterday I finally went on hulu and watched the pilot, and was hooked from the moment Kahlan dodges the arrow and then knifes the D’Haran soldier in the opening sequence. I was like “This chick is badass, who is she?” I spent the rest of the day watching, and I’m up to episode 11, and totally in love with this series. It’s the perfect mix of good character drama and D&D nonsense.
And I have to admit the whole “if we knock boots you lose your soul” thing, which is a pretty funny comment on Terry Goodkind’s feelings about women, does work very well for setting up the Unresolvable Sexual Tension that is at the heart of great character drama.
Also, Bridget Regan’s cleavage should get billing in the credits. It’s easily my favorite part of the show.
We should have trusted Rob Tapert!
Craig and Bridget are BOTH very easy on the eyes… ;-)
I really loved the books and was totally excited when I heard about the TV series. At first I was a little troubled with the differences in
the books and tv series but I have grown to love this tv show. keep them coming. I heard that the series was renewed for second season yeah
It has not been officially renewed (because it’s syndicated, which makes it a little complicated). But 98% of the stations have renewed it, which means it’s very LIKELY for the studio to go ahead with it.
Speaking of big plot changes. Could there be a bigger one than Darken Rahl not being a wizard?! Doesn’t that nullify a central story line for the rest of the books? I wonder what their thinking is on that.
If you start reading the books after seeing the TV series, be prepared for several big plot changes. The series does follow the heart of the book pretty well, but they have taken the opportunity to try some different things. A big one is that, in the book, Kahlan was the last surviving Confessor when she found Richard. So it was kind of nice on the TV show to see her interacting with other confessors. I wonder whose idea that was.
THE BOOKS ARE SOURCE MATERIAL PPL THERE ARE GOING TO BE PLOT CHANGES DUH
Great Post. I love anykind of news. Cheers for the information
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I was pleasantly surprised too. I hadn’t read the books but my husband had. He raved about them, but he liked to talk about some of the brutal bad@ss scenes with his friends, so I had the wrong impression of the books completely (thinking it was nothing but gore and hardcore violence). There is tons of violence, sure. But it is all for a purpose, so it didn’t make it a hard read. Actually made it more enjoyable, especially since Kahlan was in no way weak!
As far as the comment about the violence/rape/torture that happens to the females, keep in mind that what Denna did to Richard would be considered rape as well. I agree the books can be kinda repetitive though. I didn’t really take it as TG not trusting the readers, though. I always thought it was just one of those annoying things with a series like this-the writer has to recap everything over and over again in case some doofus picks up the book mid series or for the time between books coming out. I usually glossed over that stuff, like when they would get all longwinded about the Imperial Order.
I’ve heart that last complaint before.
With wizards first rule I thought it was pretty harsh! But you know thats what I loved about it! The main thing though is that I loved the characters Richard and Kahlan, and their relationship together! Their chemistry together is really good, especially on the show!(love bridget, and craig!) But thats what made me fall in love with the books and the show was their chemistry..
Cause once I read WFR I couldnt put it down, and once I watched the show, man I dont think I even blinked! An hour episode goes by sooo fast, then I’m bummed out because you have to wait a whole week till they show it a new one! I hate the previews, there such teasers!! LOL!
Yes, sometimes I tempted to just wait until all these shows are over and watch em DVD in one fell swoop. No waiting! Well, except you have to wait for the DVDs!
Cant wait for the dvds! Excited! Wonder if they would have extras on it as well! Deleted scenes! Commentarys?? I’m getting to excited, just talking about it!
Remember the Sword of Truth is a political polemic, espousing Libertarian views, attacking religious dogma and forced social equality. It is a fun, though times redundant epic fantasy/romance. It is well written. I prefer the political subtext in Robert Silverberg’s Majipoor novels, focusing on the environment.
What I read of SOT, I was not overly impressed, but I agree with you about Majipoor — the first one, especially, really had an impact on me.
Legend of the seeker is THE BEST SHOW IN THE WORLD. I’VE NEVER SEEN A BETTER SHOW THAN THIS. THis show is just amazing it has action, romance, and aything you name. It’s amazing and I am obbssed. I haven’t touched any books but i’m going to cause these epoisodes are amazing and they are just soo good. And kahlan is really pretty which makes the show ALOT better. THis is the BEST BEST BEST BEST BEST SHOW ever. YOu HAVE To watch it
Well, I’m glad you like it! And yeah, I’m watching it. Recapping it tonight, in fact.
GLAD TO FINALLY FIND SOMEONE THAT LOVES THE SHOW AS MUCH AS I DO, BUT WHEN YOU READ THE BOOKS DO ME A FAVOR AND DON’T BECOME ONE OF THOSE IDIOTS THAT DON’T UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF SOURCE MATERIAL (EVERY OTHER PERSON ON THIS SITE)
I liked the first four books, then they got a bit too long winded, but in general, very well written fantasy with well thought out characters, which I believe is the book’s strongest point.
I also enjoy the TV series very much and look forward to it every week. Now that the book series is finished, it’s nice to have the TV series. Like any TV series of any genre, the episode are good and bad, it just depends on the writer(s) and director.
I recommend the LotS to any fantasy fan.
So many of these series seem to just go on too long. *cough* Wheel of Time *cough*
OK, I’ve got 8 of these sitting on my DVR. I’d missed a few before I realized what the series was. Then I started recording it, and was afraid to watch it - I don’t know how many hours I have invested in reading the Sword of Truth novels, and I was afraid they’d butcher them. Now I guess I have to watch it.
And yes, Wheel of Time went on for far too long - I’ve read them all too
the show is great and don’t be afraid of them butchering the books because they are SOURCE MATERIAL because an exact copu of the books already read them don’t need that
As Xena fan and fantasy fan in general I just HAD to watch this show. I loved it from the first episode. I have to say that I think the actress that plays Kahlan is great; a very good actress.
Agreed.
her name is Bridget Reagan
I am a fan of the books, although Sword of Truth is not my favorite fantasy series by far. I can only read about 2-4 volumes at a time before I get tired of them and have to go to something else for a while. I’ve only read about 2/3 of the series so far.
When I heard about the tv show, I was skeptical, but I always give movie or tv adaptions the benefit of the doubt. I have been pleasantly surprised by how good the show is. Its not perfect, of course, but no show ever is.
Part of the reason I was skeptical was I didn’t know if they’d even touch the Mord-Sith character Dena. That character and what happens to Richard in the book is a lot more extreme than what they were able to show in the tv series but they did a good job including a toned-down version of character.
I really glad that the show was renewed for another season. Now I have to go back and finish the books!
I need to read the books as well. I’ve read…the first two I think.
I started with the same prejudices. I was like, a fantasy TV show? Really? Man, that looks bad. Then I watched it and I’ve liked every episode so far except the obligatory “flashback because we have no money” episode, “Home”. That one sucked. The rest are awesome.
The books…. I liked “Wizard’s First Rule” and even one or two after, but I got tired of them and haven’t finished the series yes. Someone said he’s done writing the series so now I have to go back and re-read it all, see if it picks up at the end.
But as flashback shows go, it was one of the better ones!
IT WAS A DAMN RECAP FOR THOSE OF US WHO MISSED THE FIRST 11 EPISODES SO SHUT UP ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was pleasantly surprised too. Nothing ground-breaking, but not a bad show.
Craig Horner seems really young to be a “hero” but i guess it’s ok.
i’m wanna read books now ,, anyone know if their any good /??
ANGIE: i started on the books in january and i haven’t been able to put them down since. they’re quite long, but they’re good. terry goodkind is incredibly descriptive (there are pages and pages about their environment, it’s crazy). if you read the books, i can’t stress any more how important it is to NOT skip over the long descriptions. they come in handy later on :)
The first book has one thing I liked: in 836 pages I was never bored. Something lurked around every page, so it was hard to put down. By the third book, which I’m now stuck in the middle of, I’m really tired of the preachy, repetitive, simplistic nature of the writing. Goodkind doesn’t trust the reader to understand the emotional response of any of the characters, so he has to spell it out every time. Long stretches of dialogue have one character explaining to another character the justifications and reasons for every move and motive. Hardest of all for a female reader is the brutal sadism/rape/torture that happens to the females in the books.
Let me know you’re interested in writing an article or essay from the female POV, regarding female brutality in fantasy. It’s hard for me to read too, and I’m a guy.
TheTorchOnline@gmail.com
I agree the fight scenes are most unusual!
I’ll give it a watch.