The Shannara Chronicles Review

shavedape

Well Known GateFan
Okay, this show is done for now. I sincerely hope it doesn't get renewed. Honestly, it's just a shit show -- horribly written and poorly, and cheaply, produced. Just watching it one feels oneself getting stupider with each scene.

At any rate, they had a hopeful "to be continued" tag at the end of the finale. God help us if that becomes true.
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
Okay, this show is done for now. I sincerely hope it doesn't get renewed. Honestly, it's just a shit show -- horribly written and poorly, and cheaply, produced. Just watching it one feels oneself getting stupider with each scene.

At any rate, they had a hopeful "to be continued" tag at the end of the finale. God help us if that becomes true.

Sounds to me like they did to it what they do to lots of shows: They take the undifferentiated mush that the writing teams produce at the studio story mills, then dress it up according to the genre they want to try and appeal to. In this case, they took an iconic story and used it's title (for bait), then wrote a typical teen angsty high school-ish drama populated by high school age kids (or actors who look the part), stuck on some pointed ears and threw in some magic and voila.

article-2516905-19C8CA9100000578-164_634x632.jpg
Wil-and-Amberle.jpg
 

shavedape

Well Known GateFan
Sounds to me like they did to it what they do to lots of shows: They take the undifferentiated mush that the writing teams produce at the studio story mills, then dress it up according to the genre they want to try and appeal to. In this case, they took an iconic story and used it's title (for bait), then wrote a typical teen angsty high school-ish drama populated by high school age kids (or actors who look the part), stuck on some pointed ears and threw in some magic and voila.

View attachment 32695 View attachment 32696

That pretty much describes what they did -- with the author's consent believe it or not. He really let fans of the books down.
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
That pretty much describes what they did -- with the author's consent believe it or not. He really let fans of the books down.

I feel bad for the fans of the books. :( I was soooo afraid they would do that to Childhood's End that I avoided watching it until another Arthur Clarke fan friend of mine said it was good. I watched it and was very satisfied with the result. This one I have not read the stories, but the couple of episodes I sampled did not cut it at all, book or not.
 

Rac80

The Belle of the Ball
thank you for your sympathies OM1 - as a fan of the book I feel used! :P anyway finally watched the final episode of this dreck - mainly because I wanted to see Amberle turn into the tree...well NATURALLY they disappointed me! :tealcanime23::tealcanime23::tealcanime23::tealcanime23: In the book it's written as a very evocative scene- she walks up to the dying Ellcrys and embraces it, the tree turn to silver dust and falls on her - then Amberle turns into the tree! not this stupid-ass show - they just have her open the door and walk into the tree- what a load of shit! :psychosga::psychosga::psychosga::psychosga: I have come the conclusion that Terry brooks is nothing but a money whore- and he's lost whatever it was that made him a great writer.:bashtechie: Before this series, I have tried to read his most recent trilogy and couldn't- i actually lost interest in the books halfway through. Luckily I always check books out of the library before I buy them (yeah I like only books worth a second and third and fourth {and on and on} read in my library) and these I returned unfinished. VERY unusual for me. :P
 

shavedape

Well Known GateFan
From what I can tell they haven't made a decision on renewal or cancellation yet. I really hope this show gets the ax as they have really screwed it up royally and it can't be fixed at this point. Quite honestly if they weren't going to do it right to begin with they shouldn't have even tried. It was just a cynical attempt to rape the fans of this book series. And what makes it all the worse is that Terry Brooks gave his sanction to this atrocity.
 

shavedape

Well Known GateFan

Rac80

The Belle of the Ball
this show was so bad it has turned me off my terry brooks collection of books for a bit. :P
 

shavedape

Well Known GateFan
this show was so bad it has turned me off my terry brooks collection of books for a bit. :P

I hopped off the Brooks bandwagon after reading Armageddon's Children (the first one in the new series). It was just rather dumb to be honest.
 
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shavedape

Well Known GateFan

shavedape

Well Known GateFan
i feel bad for true fans of the books... :(

Yes, it seems most people who have read the books feel disappointed with the show. Quite frankly the MTV adaptation of "Elfstones" was just plain insulting. They actually had an episode that took place at a modern day rave and another episode that took place in a high school prom setting. I can't convey the level of stupidity that was displayed by the writers in choosing such settings. It made no sense.

At any rate, there is talk about them making changes for season two, but no one knows what those changes are yet. From what I understand they are going to continue with the same characters which makes no sense as the story of those characters was completed at the end of season one. They really should have just let this show die as it's truly horrible.
 

Lord Ba'al

Well Known GateFan
I dunno. I kinda liked it.
 

Rac80

The Belle of the Ball
omg! well that is purely BS- the show sucked donkey balls! :P in fact it was so bad it turned me off terry brooks books for quite a while.
 

shavedape

Well Known GateFan
I can't wait to see the changes they make. There's no way they can fix this turd.
 

YJ02

Well Known GateFan
Great review of what's wrong with just one of the episodes of this shit show. The pictures tell you everything you need to know.

http://www.tvjelly.com/2016/02/26/the-shannara-chronicles-ep-8-mourn-the-rapist/

omg! well that is purely BS- the show sucked donkey balls! :P in fact it was so bad it turned me off terry brooks books for quite a while.


yeah but, if you were kidnapped with eyelids taped open, and forced to watch either SGU or SHAN-NA-NA, which would you choose?
hmm
hmm

option three--does the kidnapper have a gun?
 
Get this, season 2 of this turd was switched from MTV to Spike TV where it is now enjoying a quick ratings death. The show is so bad that Spike is now running two back-to-back episodes each week in order to get it off their schedule faster. Yes, this show is that bad, lol.

What's also telling is how the Shannara Reddit forum has really changed between seasons. In season 1 there were shills and fanbois galore in that forum. But now for season 2 there are far, far less people commenting about this show, let alone commenting favorably. And Terry Brooks official apologist butt boy, who was all over the forum in season 1, is now missing in action. The shills are all gone, no doubt because they aren't getting paid to pump this turd the way they were for season 1. And there are virtually no blog posts and/or articles promoting season 2.

At any rate, season 1 came in at about 1 million for ratings whereas season 2 is averaging .3 for viewership so far. How season 1 got that many viewers I'll never know, but I suspect promotional shenanigans were involved with tabulating those numbers. Yes the writing for season 2 is atrocious, but it was just as bad, if not worse, in season 1, so that can't be the only reason for the change in numbers. No matter though as this show is about to become Cancellation Bear feces in short order.

I suspect something similar will happen with STD. They've pumped the hell out of that show but to no avail. Sure it's getting a second season but unless they promote it heavily it will go the way of The Shitnara Chronicles.
 

YJ02

Well Known GateFan
Get this, season 2 of this turd was switched from MTV to Spike TV where it is now enjoying a quick ratings death. The show is so bad that Spike is now running two back-to-back episodes each week in order to get it off their schedule faster. Yes, this show is that bad, lol.

What's also telling is how the Shannara Reddit forum has really changed between seasons. In season 1 there were shills and fanbois galore in that forum. But now for season 2 there are far, far less people commenting about this show, let alone commenting favorably. And Terry Brooks official apologist butt boy, who was all over the forum in season 1, is now missing in action. The shills are all gone, no doubt because they aren't getting paid to pump this turd the way they were for season 1. And there are virtually no blog posts and/or articles promoting season 2.

At any rate, season 1 came in at about 1 million for ratings whereas season 2 is averaging .3 for viewership so far. How season 1 got that many viewers I'll never know, but I suspect promotional shenanigans were involved with tabulating those numbers. Yes the writing for season 2 is atrocious, but it was just as bad, if not worse, in season 1, so that can't be the only reason for the change in numbers. No matter though as this show is about to become Cancellation Bear feces in short order.

I suspect something similar will happen with STD. They've pumped the hell out of that show but to no avail. Sure it's getting a second season but unless they promote it heavily it will go the way of The Shitnara Chronicles.

i watched S1 just to see what the hell it would be like. i never read the books and i am glad i did not because, from what i have been told, i'd be really pissed about the tv show!

to me the books sound interesting, i have been told, here, that the series does not resemble the books, even though Brooks stands by the show

i am sure it is in his contract to do so

the reason the books are intriguing to me,and maybe i will read them sometime-is because it seems that Brooks is not merely 'copying' ideas from Tolkien but that his world exists in our future and could easily fit into the whole theme of Tolkien's elves having been "in hiding" during the age of man

so, Brooks' work, could be seen as an extension of Tolkien's though I believe that was not his intention
 
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