Shannara

Just a short one tonight I think.

I started watching the Shannara Chronicles yesterday, so far just the first double length episode, but it was pretty decent I guess, lovely scenery, really shitty elf ears, good monster design, all the characters look and sound identical though, except for the Druid Allanon and the elf King.

It's based of the series of novels of the same name by Terry Brooks, who has been writing them since 1977, I looked it up. They are pretty run of the mill fantasy stuff, elves, men, ancient evils awakening left and right, big battles at the end, the usual stuff, although the Gnomes are surprisingly brutal. But for some reason the series managed to hold peoples interest all the way through to today, though why it was picked up, an by MTV of all channels, for a television adaptation I will never know.

MTV, previously known for music videos, then for really bad reality TV, decided to put a movie production budget into a fantasy adventure TV show that stars all the most attractive young twenty somethings they could find hanging around their studios. I had no idea a thirty eight year old average fantasy series was capturing people's attention these days, I will never understand how the film and TV industry work, not really sure I want to.

Anyway, read some of the books if you get a chance, they are competently done escapist fiction, and check out the show, it's worth encouraging.