You’d also be forgiven for thinking that despite taking place in a kingdom named ‘The Four Lands’, all of the locations are situated within ten minutes of each other as almost every character has bumped into every other character by the end of this eighty-minute run and the journeys between locations seem to happen instantaneously with no consideration for the passing of time. Anyone would be hard-pressed to come out of these two episodes genuinely caring about any of the characters introduced, such is the shallow background afforded to each one. It’s consequently the responsibility of some out of place and jarring exposition-heavy dialogue to spoon-feed viewers what they need to know and fill in the many blanks. Even worse, Chosen absolutely rockets through its story from the very first minute, leaving the audience no time to become acquainted with the characters or the history of the setting, of which there is plenty. Not only is there a lack of originality but every attempt to be epic or foreboding falls into a mire of cheesiness. This is sadly a sign of things to come from the rest of the script which essentially comes off as a series of well-worn clichéd sound-bites strung together one after another. Moreover, Lauren meets a bloody doom before the episode is through, ensuring that not only does the ‘troubled relationship’ plot-point come from nowhere, it also leads nowhere. The problem here is that leading up to this revelation, the couple are the very image of happiness, with both parties seeming to genuinely care for each other. A clumsy stab at teen relationship issues is made with lead character and elf princess Amberle claiming she’s “not sure” about her boyfriend Lauren. Several other attempts are made to remodel the books to suit a 2016 audience but are equally unsuccessful. Then, with fans of The Hunger Games successfully captivated, the show switches gear fully into the fantasy genre where it remains for the next sixty minutes and presumably, the rest of the series. A group of unfeasibly good-looking teens (not a zit in sight) are put through an apparently deadly outdoor challenge where anything goes, during which a plucky, rebellious young girl comes out on top against all the odds. The Shannara Chronicles however, is an über-polished, stylised appropriation of its source material that openly seeks to capitalise on the teen market left in the wake of The Hunger Games.īecause of this, the initial fifteen minutes feel like an entirely different show to what follows. Whilst Terry Brooks’ works are certainly aimed at a teenage audience, they are comparable to a less-detailed Lord Of The Rings or a Game Of Thrones without the politics, nudity and beheading. The on-trend, image focused juggernaut MTV, having given up on playing actual music videos years ago, is now home to a television interpretation of a high-fantasy series of novels about magic and elves that started back in the seventies.įrom the opening two-parter Chosen, it’s clear that The Shannara Chronicles will follow the plot of The Elfstones Of Shannara with reasonable accuracy, however as you might imagine, MTV has opted for a markedly different tone to that of the books. It’s very unlikely at that time that either of these entities, or their respective audiences, would have ever imagined crossing paths, yet thirty years later, here we are. A year previously, a brand new cable channel called MTV was launched, centred on the best music videos the eighties had to offer. Author and creator of the Shannara world, Terry Brooks, released his second volume of the series, The Elfstones Of Shannara in 1982.
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