![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
30 Days of TV meme - Day 2
The Days
Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching
I'm cheating a little, because I know I pimped this show recently in another post, but I have to choose Legend of the Seeker for this one. even though I hear it's been cancelled.
Legend of the Seeker is from the same people who created Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess so it shouldn't be a surprise that I like it. It surprised me, though. Six or seven episodes in to season one I was more frustrated with the show than into it. The writers seem to have aphasia: a major case of "that word doesn't mean what you think it means". Why call Richard "the Seeker" when he doesn't appear to be seeking anything? Why call Kahlan's magical process of turning people into love-slaves "confession" when it involves nothing of the kind? Why can't you use logical, English words for these things?
I've since read the first of the books this was based on and while the books do answer those questions, the terminology irritates the hell out of me. It's a typical high-fantasy, needlessly overdone way of writing...but reading the book at least lets me blame the original author, so I can see how the TV show creators have done a brilliant job with less-than-stellar material.
My point: though not without faults, this show is brilliant and everyone should watch it. Y'all can keep your hobbits: I'll take the MordSith any day :) The seasons are structured a lot like BTVS - mostly stand-alone episodes, but with a season-long plot arc that builds to a climax and conclusion in the finale. Th S2 finale is yet to air so hopefully they won't make a liar of me, but I'll go out on a limb and say no cliffhangers from season to season. It works very well.
It's a swords-and-sorcery drama, old school: the hero on his quest to save the world accompanied by magical companions. But what puts this one head-and-shoulders above most of the genre is the depth of the characterisation. Richard is the hero, but he's a long way from perfect. He screws up. He deals with the consequences. Characters grow and change. Good characters become bad. Bad characters become good. Relationships evolve and change, alliances are made and broken and remade.
Starting out by saying what's wrong isn't a great way to pimp a show, is it?
Let's see if I can do better. The hero is cute and spends a reasonable amout of time shirtless. And tortured. And, um, dead, occasionally. The villain is seriously sexy and has an army of leather-clad dominatrixes who fight with magical dildoes and break men to their will (one of them played by Charisma Carpenter). There are some twisted family relationships in there (well, not too twisted if SPN is your standard for comparison, but still...) Major subtext between Kahlan and Cara, the two heroines on the team. Strong plot. A great mix of humour and angst. Lots of action. Lots of action. Sex slaves. Wizards. Prophecies. Zombies!
What more could you want?
Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching
I'm cheating a little, because I know I pimped this show recently in another post, but I have to choose Legend of the Seeker for this one. even though I hear it's been cancelled.
Legend of the Seeker is from the same people who created Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess so it shouldn't be a surprise that I like it. It surprised me, though. Six or seven episodes in to season one I was more frustrated with the show than into it. The writers seem to have aphasia: a major case of "that word doesn't mean what you think it means". Why call Richard "the Seeker" when he doesn't appear to be seeking anything? Why call Kahlan's magical process of turning people into love-slaves "confession" when it involves nothing of the kind? Why can't you use logical, English words for these things?
I've since read the first of the books this was based on and while the books do answer those questions, the terminology irritates the hell out of me. It's a typical high-fantasy, needlessly overdone way of writing...but reading the book at least lets me blame the original author, so I can see how the TV show creators have done a brilliant job with less-than-stellar material.
My point: though not without faults, this show is brilliant and everyone should watch it. Y'all can keep your hobbits: I'll take the MordSith any day :) The seasons are structured a lot like BTVS - mostly stand-alone episodes, but with a season-long plot arc that builds to a climax and conclusion in the finale. Th S2 finale is yet to air so hopefully they won't make a liar of me, but I'll go out on a limb and say no cliffhangers from season to season. It works very well.
It's a swords-and-sorcery drama, old school: the hero on his quest to save the world accompanied by magical companions. But what puts this one head-and-shoulders above most of the genre is the depth of the characterisation. Richard is the hero, but he's a long way from perfect. He screws up. He deals with the consequences. Characters grow and change. Good characters become bad. Bad characters become good. Relationships evolve and change, alliances are made and broken and remade.
Starting out by saying what's wrong isn't a great way to pimp a show, is it?
Let's see if I can do better. The hero is cute and spends a reasonable amout of time shirtless. And tortured. And, um, dead, occasionally. The villain is seriously sexy and has an army of leather-clad dominatrixes who fight with magical dildoes and break men to their will (one of them played by Charisma Carpenter). There are some twisted family relationships in there (well, not too twisted if SPN is your standard for comparison, but still...) Major subtext between Kahlan and Cara, the two heroines on the team. Strong plot. A great mix of humour and angst. Lots of action. Lots of action. Sex slaves. Wizards. Prophecies. Zombies!
What more could you want?