Terry Brooks Shannara Coming To TV

[queendarkness12]

As a non-book reader, I'm interested in the show, as I like my TV with a bit of magic and fantasy.

 

[Thorne]

I'm getting a real Legend of the Seeker (which I liked) vibe here of a series that puts a lot of effort into the wow factor in the pilot but then starts feeling very conventional.

 

[rashad]

The Shannara Chronicles New York Comic Con Trailer
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[rashad]

THE SHANNARA CHRONICLES / 11 OCT 2015
NYCC 2015: SHANNARA CHRONICLES LOOKS TO BRING LORD OF THE RINGS-TYPE FANTASY TO TV

126 Premiering January 5th.

BY JONAH KRAKOW The cast and crew of the upcoming MTV fantasy series The Shannara Chronicles arrived at New York Comic Con to talk about the show and share their excitement for the project with fans.

The panel included actors Poppy Drayton (Amberle Elessedil), Austin Butler (Will Ohmsford), Manu Bennett (Allanon), John Rhys-Davies (Elf King Evantine Elessedil) as well as executive producers Al Gough & Miles Millar, director Jonathan Liebesman and the author of the books on which the show is based, Terry Brooks. Check out IGN's breakdown of the characters and what they look like.

One of the main points brought up in the panel was why it took so long for Brooks' massive book series to make it on screen since the first book in the series was written in 1977. According to the producers, it wasn't just a matter of waiting for special effects technology to catch up, but also finding the right vehicle for the show.

"It's too much story for a movie trilogy," said producer Al Gough. Author Terry Brooks expanded on that theme, admitting that there had been previous opportunities to develop Shannara, but only as a movie. Television had only recently been thought of as a viable venue for the property.

In order not to confuse viewers who might be familiar with the books, the creators wanted the audience to know that this series begins with the events of the second novel, "The Elfstones of Shannara" and not the first book, "The Sword of Shannara." Brooks agreed that "Elfstones" had more going for it as a TV show: two strong female leads, an unusual love story and a powerful ending. For the producers (along with EP Jon Favreau, who wasn't on the panel) the ending of the book was the impetus to try and develop the show in the first place.

The audience was shown a trailer of upcoming scenes which featured plenty of action, large-scale set pieces and the set-up to the quest that will propel the heroes along their adventure. A veteran of other epics such as Raiders of the Lost Ark and Lord of the Rings, actor John Rhys-Davies was full of praise for his fellow actors, the immense scope of the project and the action, saying, "I can't see how it could've been done better!"

As executive producer Miles Millar summed it up succinctly, "This show is never going to slow down."

The Shannara Chronicles premieres the first of its 10 episodes on January 5, 2016 on MTV.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/10...aign=Blogroll&abthid=561a0a5b2e4507595c000026

 

[rashad]

The Shannara Chronicles - BTS Featurette
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[rashad]

The Shannara Chronicles - Making of the Ellcrys Tree Featurette
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[rashad]

The Shannara Chronicles - Opening Titles Sequence
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[rashad]

The Shannara Chronicles - Visions Promo
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[rashad]

 

[cronosred]

Just a reminder this premieres tonight.

 

[rashad]

Can't wait. It's a double episode too.

 

[<(o_o)>]

Can't wait. It's a double episode too.

Probably just a replay of the first episode, each are listed as episode 2 so what happened to episode 1?

 

[terry78]

So it takes place in a post apocolyptic future with magic?

 

[Sithborg]

Probably just a replay of the first episode, each are listed as episode 2 so what happened to episode 1?

My DVR lists it as an hour, forty five minutes.

 

[regnak]

This is great so far.

 

[HighFivingMF]

I decided to give this a shot because of Manu Bennett.

The first 20 minutes were MTV as Hell. Then it actually got kind of awesome. I like Slade Wilson and *****ey DJ Assassin from Arrow as a duo.

 

[regnak]

I decided to give this a shot because of Manu Bennett.

The first 20 minutes were MTV as Hell. Then it actually got kind of awesome. I like Slade Wilson and *****ey DJ Assassin from Arrow as a duo.

I expect it to get better once the war starts. I just hope they can have most of it in daylight. I really want to see:

Spoiler

The Free Brigade in action
the surprising alliance of the Trolls
and of course Allanon vs the dragon!

 

[DigificWriter]

I love the novels and was quite excited for the series (even if I would've personally picked a different novel than Elfstones to adapt), and it didn't disappoint.

A few observations/notes on the series:
* The creators changed the timeline of events so that the War of the Races took place 30 years before the events of the series rather than 50 years earlier as in the novel

* In the series, Wil is the SON of Shea Ohmsford (the protagonist of the novel The Sword of Shannara) rather than his GRANDSON as in the Elfstones novel

* The creators of the series deliberately chose to more overtly emphasize the fact that the Four Lands are a post-Apocalyptic version of Earth (the post-Apocalyptic element is present in the early novels in the series, including Elfstones, but as more of a historical background note)

* Manu Bennett's Allanon is very different, characterization-wise, than his literary counterpart

* The design of the Druid's Keep - Paranor - is much different than I was,expecting, but is pretty neat nonetheless

* The design of the Ellcrys is really beautiful, and I wish we'd seen more of it in its healthy state

* I have a sneaking suspicion that Allanon's sword is meant to be the Sword of Shannara, and the collapsible/telescopic design they came up with is pretty cool

 

[rashad]

The Shannara Chronicles - This Season Trailer
[YT]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8FjvPzL7y8[/YT]

 

[Infinity9999x]

I'm going ot have to catch this soon. I've read all the Shannara books, and it's one of my favorite book series. I'm okay with them starting on Elfstones too, since Sword really is a pretty hard LOTR copy, until the reveal of the sword.

I'll be interested if they fully follow the books outline. If this is a success the studious would have to be nervous that after this season the cast would more or less completely change, and then again after that. Once they got to Heritage, they would have three or four seasons with a set cast, but then the same thing would happen after they got through those arcs.

I would love to see them do it, and I think GOT has proven that audiences can handle the loss of major characters, but I just wonder if they'll be able to really go through with it.

Also, for the book readers in here, how did people feel about Witch Wraith? It was the first Brooks novel that I was really disappointed in. I just felt it made no sense given Grianne's character.

 

[Thorne]

Allanon's hair/scarification combo reminds me a little of Ragnar's on Vikings circa Season 2. There are differences, but this might be a bit inspired by that while doing its own thing.

 

[Infinity9999x]

It's definitely not a book thing. Though I imagine they wanted to give him something that made him more unique, since Book Allanon was more or less the typical, "mysterious wizard type" in a big black robe.

 

[Quasar]

They could probably get away without recasting each season, as each new book's new character is basically the same guy. And he always has a friend from Leah.

 

[Infinity9999x]

They could probably get away without recasting each season, as each new book's new character is basically the same guy. And he always has a friend from Leah.

I mean, kind of. But the world changes fairly drastically by the time you get to Heritage.

The Omhsford name has become legend, the druids have fallen into myth, the elves are in seclusion (they only go in and out of seclusion ten damn times in this series), etc. You would have to really wrench a lot of story points to keep the same cast.

And honestly, part of the fun of the books is that you get to a point where characters you started the series reading have evolved to "mythical" status, where other characters debate weather or not they really did the things they did. It would be cool to see that history built in the show.

 

[DigificWriter]

About Allanon: They initially had a different design in mind for the character that was more classically Druid as well as having the scarification, but Manu was kind of 'drowned' by it.

In terms of future seasons, I think they could easily do things Anthology-style where the same cast plays different characters.

They could even go backwards in time and show us the War of the Races and the other stuff that they've referenced, or go back even further and tell the Genesis or Legends stories.