|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hobbity Hobbit
Lorien
Aug 31 2015, 10:57pm
Post #1 of 11
(819 views)
Shortcut
|
John Rhys Davis and Manu Bennett in The Shannara Chronicles
|
Can't Post
|
|
I was looking at clips from The Hobbit, and I noticed The Shannara Chronicles Trailer pop up, with a picture of Gimli, apparently it's on MTV. I picked up The Swords of Shannara one day, but I never read it. My friend says that the books are extremely like LOTR, but I don't know myself. They seem to have elves and other races and set in a Norse-based world though. I don't think I'll be watching it, I have to be honest I'm a soft-hearted when it comes to these things, I almost got a heart attack watching some parts of the trailer. But LOTR seems to have a huge influence on it, John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) and Manu Bennett (Azog) both star in the show, and it happens to be filmed in the one and only Middle-Earth (New Zealand)! Some of the locations look a lot like the ones in The Fellowship of the Ring, and the locations where the company traveled in The Hobbit. Though the scenery looks great, the CGI does too... but those creatures they just...they creep me out so much! I don't have the link for the trailer (I'm not on my computer), but I'll try to find it (though it might be a little bit too intense for the forums), if you look it up it should show up.
"Obviously the idea of being human is a very human idea." -Dominic Monaghan
|
|
|
Ilmatar
Rohan
Sep 1 2015, 8:08am
Post #2 of 11
(757 views)
Shortcut
|
The Shannara Chronicles | Official First Look | Comic-Con 2015 I was not aware of this project and it's been ages since I read anything Shannara-related - and apparently it didn't make a huge impression as a book/series because I can hardly recall anything while in general any movie in the fantasy genre I'd like to see at least once (thanks for posting). If any book that a movie is based on has scenery like wide open plains, forest-covered hills, rocky mountains etc.- and most do, of course - then those places will probably look pretty similar from movie to movie and realm to realm (unless CGI enhanced etc.). But it might give some worlds a little more originality if, for example, the mountain & forest scenes were filmed in the Alps, or the Himalayas, or the High Tatras etc. for a change - there is beautiful, wondrous scenery still left on this Earth in other places too, in addition to New Zealand. Although some parts show more traces of human influence, of course, so it might be a little harder to find mostly untouched locations. But when they say in the trailer that "The talent that has been assembled, the variety of locations, the beautiful background of New Zealand - it really establishes the world of the Shannara Chronicles in a way that separates it from other genre tales" - seriously?!? I seem to have a vague recollection of some other tales that also combined a huge amount of talent with the NZ scenery...
|
|
|
Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Sep 1 2015, 12:22pm
Post #3 of 11
(747 views)
Shortcut
|
Well, as far as the original book The Sword of Shannara is concerned, I think that the only element that really set it apart was the revelation (SPOILER) that the world of Shannara was set in our far future rather than our distant past or some alternate universe. Even so, Ralph Bakshi's film Wizards did the same thing while Anne McCaffrey's The Dragonriders of Pern was set in the future, but on another world (SPOILER ENDS). That was the only element of the book that I did not find hopelessly derivative.
"At the end of the journey, all men think that their youth was Arcadia..." - Phantom F. Harlock
|
|
|
Elanor of Rohan
Lorien
Sep 1 2015, 1:26pm
Post #4 of 11
(740 views)
Shortcut
|
I think there is also Jed Brophy
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
and the actor from the Almighty Johnsons, Jared Turner. If you have a vague idea of the show, he plays Ty.
|
|
|
Annael
Immortal
Sep 1 2015, 1:28pm
Post #5 of 11
(741 views)
Shortcut
|
they're skipping over the first book?
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
Good decision. After all we've already seen that movie.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words. I think I am reading; a word stops me. I leave the page. The syllables of the words begin to move around … The words take on other meanings as if they had the right to be young. -- Gaston Bachelard * * * * * * * * * * NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
|
|
|
zarabia
Tol Eressea
Sep 2 2015, 8:08am
Post #6 of 11
(706 views)
Shortcut
|
I've never read The Shannara Chronicles
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
But I have to say, this looks promising, at least in terms of production. The executive producer here, Jon Favreau, directed and produced Ironman. I've never seen it, but it seems I remember many people here writing positive things about it. And he directed Elf, which is one of my favorites. Yes, Elf is a comedy, but Favreau brilliantly captured the look of the and feel of the Rankin and Bass holiday specials that inspired it. So Favreau, along with Davis, Bennett and New Zealand, could be a good combination even if, as some have indicated, the source material isn't that great.
You realize that life goes fast It's hard to make the good things last You realize the sun doesn't go down It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning 'round ~Do You Realize?, The Flaming Lips
(This post was edited by zarabia on Sep 2 2015, 8:15am)
|
|
|
zarabia
Tol Eressea
Sep 2 2015, 8:41am
Post #7 of 11
(700 views)
Shortcut
|
I agree that it would be nice to see some other locations
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
As gorgeous and varied as New Zealand is, there are so many untapped locations in the world that would make for wonderful and wondrous backdrops for fantasy and sf. The Tartras Mountains are spectacular and, I'd wager, rarely seen in film. I suspect movie producers return to New Zealand for this and other projects because of the people and their know-how. New Zealand has developed the infrastructure needed for filming in remote locations because of LOTR and TH, etc. I don't necessarily mean permanent roads and bridges, just the tools and the knowledge of how to get there from here. [:D] Whatever needs doing gets done in New Zealand. That helps with time and budget. And, well, yeah, it's beautiful.
You realize that life goes fast It's hard to make the good things last You realize the sun doesn't go down It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning 'round ~Do You Realize?, The Flaming Lips
(This post was edited by zarabia on Sep 2 2015, 8:43am)
|
|
|
Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Sep 2 2015, 1:10pm
Post #8 of 11
(693 views)
Shortcut
|
Favreau's involvement is encouraging; I like his sensibility. I will try to keep an open mind.
"At the end of the journey, all men think that their youth was Arcadia..." - Phantom F. Harlock
|
|
|
Ilmatar
Rohan
Sep 3 2015, 7:16am
Post #9 of 11
(664 views)
Shortcut
|
...It's maybe somehow fitting that if the book lacked in originality, the scenery seen in the series*) may also be lacking the same way... I might still give the book a chance some day, if only to see how those derivative ideas have been recycled. I have read some novels over the years that, while borrowing heavily from Tolkien and some other authors, still managed to maintain some personality through places, characters or customs depicted (or even the plot). And of course it's also possible that a series/movie may be better than the book(s) it is based on. *) Somehow I missed that it's a series, not a movie.
(This post was edited by Ilmatar on Sep 3 2015, 7:25am)
|
|
|
Ilmatar
Rohan
Sep 3 2015, 7:29am
Post #10 of 11
(661 views)
Shortcut
|
That's a good point - it must be easier and cheaper to film in remote locations when there is already the necessary infrastructure in place. But surely those ideas could somehow be utilized in other places as well - hopefully, in time - because otherwise most fantasy movies and series to be made in the foreseeable future would be filmed in New Zealand, and wonderful as that scenery is, at some point it would probably get too repetitive.
|
|
|
|
|