The Legend Begins...

[Elrostar]

I soooo need to catch up with my commentary, it would seem.

[hadaad]

I watched the new one with Violet. Sadly, there was no kicking. Richard never even met her.

So Rachel escapes with the box of Orden, and she's being chased by D'Haran soldiers (who are, apparently under some magic spell to follow Darken Rahl). She trips and the soldiers advance. The first thing they do? They all draw their swords.

Now, I'm not sure what the D'Haran manual says about the capture of escapees but isn't it time for a little judgment call? Three swords against a ten-year-old?

Granted, they were all killed right away by Richard and Kahlan but still... seemed a little ridiculous at the time.

"Look out! She's got a puppet!"


I had the fortune of watching another episode. And apparently there's another confessor in this episode. She "confesses" an entire village full of people who are now her devoted servants. What follows is what is the true failure of the TV series for me.

Kahlan of the books - pure moral celery Kahlan would have thrown one of her daggers through this woman's chest. It's obvious she hates life and chooses subservience for these villagers who now have no ability to rise up and live their lives. Kahlan in the show resorted to words and in the end relented and allowed the villagers to help (against any ability they have to choose).

The problem is that Richard and Kahlan in the TV show act too much like real people with uncertainty, doubt and failings.
WTF?

[Draco the Lizard]

Having just seen the Denna episode: THAT WAS THE CRAPPEST HAIRPIECE EVER they used for her. Seriously.

And there was no jawkicking of Violet either, alas.

And where are the OMG THEY'RE RUINING TERRY'S VISION!!! posts from the Goodkind fans? They'd make for a wonderful [url="http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/"]post on Fandom Wank. [/url]

They're already familiar with Goodkind's crazy and his chicken that is not a chicken from [url="http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/990500.html"]an earlier post.[/url]

[The Wolf Maid]

Wait, isn't the jaw-kicking still later, when Richard is being tortured, or has that come to pass already?

[Draco the Lizard]

The Denna episode has happened, so Richard has already been tortured by her. It ended with him killing her BUT Constance the Mord'sith then brought Denna back to life with her magical Breath of Life once Richard and Kahlan had gone, so she might return.

Violet probably won't, since Darken killed her mother and said Violet would spend the rest of her life in a mine.

So that's a highly likely no on the jaw-kicking :(.

[Ran]

Ratings update from [url="http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/162505-Travolta_Tragedy_Affects_Syndie_Mags.php"]Broadcasting & Cable[/url], "Disney-ABC's action hour, Legend of the Seeker, remained unchanged at its season low 1.6."

The show now has about a third of the viewership that it had from its premiere. This is not, in fact, looking to be a success by any stretch of the imagination. If it putters along at 1.6 (or lower) for the rest of its first season run, chances are marginal for it being given a second season.

[Ran]

I think one would have to put the blame squarely on Raimi and co. They already showed a complete willingness to plunder Goodkind's work to try and put together a sellable story, and they're just not making a compelling enough story of their own. Perhaps with better material to plunder from, they could do better, but I certainly don't think that being faithful to SoT would have changed the apparent outcome any.

It's entirely possible the 1.6 is a speed bump and it'll bounce back to the 1.9-2.0 region, in which case it might be able to hang around another season. But the trends have been discouraging. I think there's only been one week where the ratings were higher than the previous week.

[Elrostar]

We will weep a silent tear for the passing of this glorious show when we hear of its cancellation. :cry:

Raimi can produce decent stuff. But he has also produced remarkable cheese in the past. This seems like a return to that. [i]Army of Darkness[/i] is an amusing movie, but a classic of modern cinema it's not.

[Perin Stone]

[quote name='Ran' post='1659264' date='Jan 23 2009, 06.09']It's entirely possible the 1.6 is a speed bump and it'll bounce back to the 1.9-2.0 region, in which case it might be able to hang around another season. But the trends have been discouraging. I think there's only been one week where the ratings were higher than the previous week.[/quote]

Wasn't the Deena (S&M) episode #7? It will be interesting to see how that one did.

[Dornish]

Watching this has been a real treat. There's not enough cheesy fantasy/sci-fi on TV anymore. I've never read goodkind and I doubt I ever will, the comments just in this thread make it sound like an all S&M version of Ayn Rand. Who reads such idiocy and how the hell did it get turned into a show?

[Ran]

Perin,

I believe the 1.6 rating is indeed for the "Denna" episode.

[Draco the Lizard]

Well, the most recent episode was a bit boring. Richard, Zedd and Kahlan ran into the Mother Confessor (yeah, I know) and a couple of other Confessors who were about to flee to some nearby island to wait until Darken Rahl was defeated.

The whole gang then runs into a guy Confessed by Kahlan's sister, the one who was left for dead in the first episode. So, since the guy is still under her influence, the sister is still alive, so off they go to find her.

The sister is held in a prison, so Kahlan dresses up as a Mord'sith pretending to have caught the Seeker and then she Confesses the warden so they can free the sister, who turns out to be pregnant from her Confessed boyfriend and Darken Rahl wants to child so he can have an evil Confessor. Anyway, Kahlan, Richard and the sister flee into the woods, join the others and then, of course, the sister goes into labour and the baby's a boy, so they need to kill him.

Richard insists that they don't kill it and raise it properly, even though the Confessors have experience with male Confessors going bad, but at least they're sticking to the books in that Richard refuses to think he's wrong for a moment.

Richard runs off with the baby, Kahlan is eventually swayed to his side, Zedd and the Mother Confessor chase after them, and the Mother Confessor Confesses Zedd, signing her own death warrant. Anyway, Kahlan gives the child to the Mother Confessor, who goes off to some nearby shore with Zedd.

Kahlan and Richard stumble across the group of Confessors, convince them to keep the child alive, and decide they need help dealing with Zedd and the Mother Confessor.

So, obviously they're going to find Demmin Nass (who has turned up to take the pregnant Confessor) and his soldiers who were trying to find Richard, and they kill and Confess a bunch of soldiers, including Demmin.

Then there's some fighting on the beach where the father of the child kills the Mother Confessor, so that Zedd got his brain back, the other Confessors choose Kahlan as the Mother Confessor, and the sister, her husband and her evil child go to the island alone, while the other Confessors remain in the Midlands to help people. Richard monologues that the child won't be evil because he'll only have his parents around and he can't abuse his powers on them.

While it was boring, they are at leasting getting Richard's 'YOU WILL DO AS I SAY EVEN THOUGH I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THE SUBJECT I AM TALKING ABOUT' in there.

[Alaerien]

One thing that really hacked me off about this episode was that apparently nobody thinks it's wrong to have sex with someone you confessed. Even though you've [i]brainwashed[/i] them into your [i]mindless love slave[/i]. Even though they can no more give meaningful consent than a child. :tantrum:

[Draco the Lizard]

They mentioned it in the Denna episode too, that had a Confessor as well who had mated with someone. Maybe Richard can have some moral outrage about it next time.

[Myrddin]

[url="http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117999045.html?categoryid=14&cs=1"]Low ratings or not, it got a second season...[/url]


[quote name='Alaerien' post='1662072' date='Jan 25 2009, 17.03']One thing that really hacked me off about this episode was that apparently nobody thinks it's wrong to have sex with someone you confessed. Even though you've [i]brainwashed[/i] them into your [i]mindless love slave[/i]. Even though they can no more give meaningful consent than a child. :tantrum:[/quote]

Isn't that also called "democracy in action" by Goodkind? :spank:

[Ran]

I just saw that report. I am flummoxed, but I guess they figure that it can't possibly get lower than a 1.6.

[Jaxom 1974]

You know, the second season isn't that surprising considering that, but butchering source material and doing what they want with it, they've created what could have been an interesting little fantasy universe. The idea that there are more Confessors other than Klan. The Mord Sith. Nass. Rahl. Sure, it's not very good. Crappy in fact. But there could have been something there. If Terry Goodkind had never been involved. Even with the source material.

[Muttering Bill]

I haven't been watching this show, because I forgot about it. But I happened to catch it Saturday evening. I love the way that they are butchering the story: there are still at least a handful of Confessors, Klan is not the Mother Confessor. I'm sure there have been lists of other changes in the episodes I skipped.

I only made it halfway through though, so I didn't see if they killed the baby.

The have the worst actors though. Aside from the girl playing Klan - who seems like she'd do well in a real role - they all suck. Wasn't the guy playing Zedd supposed to be good? Maybe he just doesn't give a shit about this show, so he isn't trying?

But Klan (rather the actress portraying her) looked damned good in that Mord Sith getup. :spank:

[Draco the Lizard]

Why does something like Legend of the Seeker get another season while something like Pushing Daisies gets cancelled?

[Ran]

LotS is a syndicated program, while Pushing Daisies was a network production. Networks have higher expectations in regards to ratings. Pushing Daisies had a 1.6 at the time of its final episode, which is simply not sustainable on network television for an original drama.