Terry Brook's SHANNARA

This is pretty cool news.

After decades of development Hell, it appears the high fantasy Shannara series by Terry Brooks is heading to the small screen.

I hope this actually comes to fruition, as I LOVED the original 4 books and to a lesser degree the HERITAGE series. Though to be honest I gave up the series half through VOYAGE as it felt Brooks had gone to the well far too many times, recycling the same characters and plots with just different names. Though the series must still have a huge fan base as Brooks seems to turn out a new book like clockwork every September.

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2012/09/11/terry-brooks-shannara-heads-to-tv

A more detailed article about the proposed project directly from the Terry Brooks site:

http://www.terrybrooks.net/2012/09/adaptation-news-the-elfstones-of-shannara/

After the initial project announcement almost 2 years ago, the series has finally gotten a 10 episode order from MTV.

There are some pretty big names running this project, so maybe it will be okay....?

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/07/12/terry-brooks-shannara-gets-a-10-episode-order-from-mtv/

And the first trailer is here.... Looks pretty impressive, especially for MTV...

New trailer.....

So did anyone watch?

I did and I was pleasantly surprised and impressed.

First off, BIG BUDGET! By network tv standards, especially for MTV, this two hour premiere looked GORGEOUS! The FX, costumes, scenery -- all look beautiful.

And being an MTV show, so do the players...lol. The cast is filled with young beautiful people, but for the most part it works. Though the de-aging of the Elven Princes I thought was unnecessary (along with the Elven rave party lol), but hey, its the same issues I encounter with the CW too. The actress playing the rover Eretria seems to be the weak link to me, especially for the whole love triangle/seduction subplot. Luckily the show is wonderfully balanced by strong performances by Manu Bennett, James Remar and John Rhyss-Davies.

The first two eps were very heavy on plot/exposition and light of significant character development. But it moves swiftly and had a good balance of action and humour. I was actually surprised at how graphic the violence was! Lots of blood and disembowelling! It has been years since I re-read Elfstones, but the so far the changes in the adaptation do not seem too significant.

This is not Game of Thrones. Heck, it is not even Legend of the Seeker. But it is the same creative team that launched my beloved Smallville, and I was thoroughly entertained and eagerly look forward to the remainder of the season.