TMNT Director Brings Terry Brooks' Shannara to MTV

[MovieBob]

TMNT Director Brings Terry Brooks' Shannara to MTV

Will nearly 40 year-old fantasy series the next Game of Thrones?

MTV has ordered a 10 episode first season for a series based on the Shannara books, an ongoing series of epic fantasy novels from author Terry Brooks. Smallville's Al Gough and Miles Millar will write the series for producer John Favreau, with TMNT director Jonathan Liebesman set to helm the first two episodes.

The first season will be adaptation of The Elfstones of Shannara, the second book in what is called The Original Shannara Trilogy (but actually takes place at the midpoint of the series' sprawling continuity,) which followed Wil Ohmsford, grandson of a legendary hero, as he aids a community of Elves in protecting their realm from an invading force of demons by reviving a magic tree. No casting announcements have yet been made.

First published in 1977, the books chronicle the ongoing history of The Four Lands; a world of magic and primitive technology that resembles a medieval fantasy setting but is in fact a post-apocalyptic North America of the distant future. The most recent installment, The Dark Legacy of Shannara: The Witch Wraith, was released in 2013.


Source: TerryBrooks.net [http://terrybrooks.net/2014/07/mtv-officially-orders-first-season-of-the-shannara-series/]

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[Post Tenebrae Morte]

Somewhat conflicted:

On one hand, Shannara is being given its chance and I'm happy because I love the books.
On the other hand, I fear that the budget may constrain them into hiring meh actors.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Oh, everyone will scrabble around looking for fantasy stories to turn into Game of Thrones. Great.

 

[Tanis]

I DEMAND DRAGONLANCE!

No, seriously, it could work...with the right team/budget.

The series has a RICH lore, and there's enough meat on the main trilogy/quadrilogy that each BOOK could be a good season or two.

PLUS there's the 'main' trilogies that happen AFTER and BEFORE that could be their own season(s) or plus the whole TV movie stuff.

 

[NortherWolf]

Pretty glad. As this means bigger players might grab some of the better licenses. Wheel of Time or the Riftwar saga would be awesome as handled by someone like HBO.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

Favreau is far more the one bringing this. TV directors are muuuch less important than executive producers. And seriously, if we gotta do really derivative fantasy works let's go to the one that did it right. The Belgariad, ladies.

 

[Scars Unseen]

I'm conflicted. I love the Shannara series. I hate MTV. Well, at least it isn't Syfy.

 

[NortherWolf]

Favreau is far more the one bringing this. TV directors are muuuch less important than executive producers. And seriously, if we gotta do really derivative fantasy works let's go to the one that did it right. The Belgariad, ladies.

The Epic Movie of fantasy? I...Rather not see that. It's offensive in trying to parody the fantasy genre as it ran a lot of really uncomfortable tropes semi-straight.

 

[Lieju]

Favreau is far more the one bringing this. TV directors are muuuch less important than executive producers. And seriously, if we gotta do really derivative fantasy works let's go to the one that did it right. The Belgariad, ladies.

The Epic Movie of fantasy? I...Rather not see that. It's offensive in trying to parody the fantasy genre as it ran a lot of really uncomfortable tropes semi-straight.

Yeah,I was really into that as a kid, but it's one of those things I look back to and really wonder why...

Although I think even as a kid a lot of the enjoyement came from making fun of it with my best friend who originally got me into it mostly so she's have someone to make fun of the main character with.

 

[raankh]

Meh.

I don't think a serial will be able to capture the epic scope of Shannara and then it's just another fantasy adventure show.

If that's what's cooking, I'd rather see something a bit more over-the-top-- say the Forgotten Realms Spellfire; with skeleton dragons, super-powers and D&D super-classic Elf Wizards about. Plus its a setting familiar to a lot of people who have never read something as sordid as professional fanfiction; thanks to computer games.

I love franchise books, they're so pulp yet so serious. They're usually written in an almost script-style anyway so it's also easy to adapt them.

 

[Red Panda]

Game of thrones works because it is basically a soft core porn soap opera with a mid evil fantasy background. Shannara as much as I love it removes the porn and the opera part and we are left with just mid evil fantasy. Tell me, how many mid evil fantasy movies/shows have succeeded in the last 10 years besides Lord of the rings?

 

[Vorlayn]

Shannara, seriously? Of all the cool fantasy series they could have picked...Shannara? There are SO many better ones...Wheel of Time, Riftwar, Prince of Nothing....heck, even the Belgariad would have been better.

To end on a positive note, at least they didn't pick Brooks's other series, Magic Kingdom of Landover. That would have been worse. And they will never ruin this one-its author did a fine job there already.

 

[Something Amyss]

I remember a year or two back they were talking movies. Guessing they changed the plan solely in hopes of getting some of that Game of Thrones money.

Although I think even as a kid a lot of the enjoyement came from making fun of it with my best friend who originally got me into it mostly so she's have someone to make fun of the main character with.

Weirdly enough, that's how I got into Legend of the Seeker, the TV Show based off Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth.

And oddly full-circle, I'm wondering if the Shannara series is going to be like that.

 

[SecondPrize]

There's not nearly enough sex in the Shannara series.

 

[Lieju]

I remember a year or two back they were talking movies. Guessing they changed the plan solely in hopes of getting some of that Game of Thrones money.

I don't think that's a bad thing though. Many of these fantasy epics fit better as a tv-series, or maybe a miniseries.
I always thought it was a shame they didn't go that route for the Harry Potter books, since I thought the main charm, especially in the earlier ones, was the depiction of the day-to-day magical life.
(Of course there can always be a remake, not that I want one. And movies are easier for child-actors)

Although I think even as a kid a lot of the enjoyement came from making fun of it with my best friend who originally got me into it mostly so she's have someone to make fun of the main character with.

Weirdly enough, that's how I got into Legend of the Seeker, the TV Show based off Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth.

There's a tv-adaptation of that? I haven't read the books but every time I hear about them it's about how bizarrely horrible they turned into. Is the tv-series 'so bad it's good'?

 

[Something Amyss]

I don't think that's a bad thing though. Many of these fantasy epics fit better as a tv-series, or maybe a miniseries.
I always thought it was a shame they didn't go that route for the Harry Potter books, since I thought the main charm, especially in the earlier ones, was the depiction of the day-to-day magical life.
(Of course there can always be a remake, not that I want one. And movies are easier for child-actors)

Well, no argument in terms of the TV series in concept. I just don't think this, which started as a fairly boilerplate Tolkien knockoff (though, honestly, I prefer the knockoff) is well-suited to it. I mean, it could be. I doubt I would have thought Game of Thrones would have fit serialised TV either.

As far as Harry Potter goes, YES! I've wanted something like that for ages. It does seem to beg the issue of practicality, though.

There's a tv-adaptation of that? I haven't read the books but every time I hear about them it's about how bizarrely horrible they turned into. Is the tv-series 'so bad it's good'?

I definitely find it to be "so bad it's good." I've only read the first SoT book, and it's no masterpiece, but the show seems crazy just compared to that. And sometimes straight-up weird. The downside is, it's also sometimes very boilerplate and boring.

It's definitely a show I enjoyed laughing at, though. Apparently, people didn't enjoy it as much as I did since it lasted (I think) two seasons.

 

[deathjavu]

Huh.

As much as I love the Shannara series, I doubt it's going to be the next GoT. Plays most things a bit too straight for that, and the pattern from book to book has very little variation. Oh, the dressings are always different, but the main beats tend to play out roughly the same...Ohmsford, some missing Elfstones, multiple ongoing quests, some demon manipulating the unstoppable badguy army, a druid guiding the quest...

It's definitely been an incremental evolution across the series, starting from a really obvious Tolkein ripoff to a world with its own patterns. The last few series (Isle Witch, High Druid, Genesis) were as good as the series has ever been.

 

[JimB]

Huh. That's an impressive pedigree on the production side; I may have to give this a chance.

I DEMAND DRAGONLANCE!

No, seriously, it could work...with the right team/budget.

The budget here is the main concern. I mean, dragons are right in the damned title, and the main antagonists are dragon-people. Without heavy revisions, this is a very expensive show to make.

 

[Vigormortis]

Game of thrones works because it is basically a soft core porn soap opera with a mid evil fantasy background. Shannara as much as I love it removes the porn and the opera part and we are left with just mid evil fantasy. Tell me, how many mid evil fantasy movies/shows have succeeded in the last 10 years besides Lord of the rings?

Exactly what I was thinking.

Despite what some will claim, Game of Thrones the TV series' primary, if sole, reason for success is the overabundance of gratuitous sex and violence. Without that the show would lose, if I'm being kind, at least half of it's fan base.

This planned Shannara series will likely contain none of that. Ergo it is very likely to fail after it's first or second season.

I could be wrong. It could last for more seasons. And honestly, I hope it does, though I feel there are other, better high-fantasy series they could have picked from. But given the budget this show is likely to require, and how small it's potential audience may be, I'm convinced it will either face cancellation early or see a dramatic budget reduction; the latter of which will severely affect the quality and scope of the show. (which, in turn, is likely to lead to a cancellation)