Shannara

[bunn]

Pp wanted to watch The Shannara Chronicles.

"It'll be terrible!" I warned him.

"It might be good!" he said.

The look of dawning horror on his face as we watched the first fifteen minutes was a thing of beauty, but now things have pretty much dissolved into helpless giggling.

Pp's conclusion: There should be more lines like: "Are there any elven traditions you respect?" "Only the ones with parties." Or "I was expecting something more woodsy".
And characters named after minor African countries.

My conclusion: MAKE IT GO AWAY! THE HORROR! THE HORROR!

I think the very worst bit for me was the Elventhrone of Obviously Moulded Plastic, surrounded by garden centre silk plants. You feel that there should be an overpriced tea-room and a shelf of new age music just around the corner.

Comments

[bunn.livejournal.com]

YES. The writing was baaaaaaaaaaad. I think that's the killer blow really, naff sets and stupid plots can be overcome.

[natsuko1978.livejournal.com]

I'm a fan of opera and Classic Who. Naff (cheap!) sets and stupid plots can be charming! :D (Character has TB - and SINGS about it... of course she does. But the music is glorious.)

And to get over the whole "Sci-Fi is very expensive thing to make" when trying to sell Red Dwarf to the BBC, the trial scripts had comments like "HE WALKS DOWN A CORRIDOR [it's a very plain and ordinary corridor. It could be a corridor anywhere, really. Even Television Centre.]"

If the writing and characters grab you, sets and even plot are distinctly secondary. But Person A telling Person B what her race and rank are, is just dire and cringe-worthy: "You are an elven princess!"; "I am your friend and servant!"

Oh, God! Make them stop.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

That's the worst thing about it. Once watched it infects your brain...

I'm more of a Blakes Seven person than Who, personally, but yes +1 on the 'cheap sets are fine!'

Also, I was a BBC Merlin fan, so it's not like my fantasy bar is set unrealistically high :-D