The Shannara Chronicles

I'm extremely picky when it comes to watching shows. I have to care. I'm glad to admit that I care! It's not perfect, it has it's downfalls, but this show is very special. There are reasons why it's not a perfect 10, and I'll eloborate about it below. I'll also address some of the criticism this show gets here.

The bad -

The show is aimed at a younger audience, as in teens to young adults, but it has a mature theme. Some might call it a bit "edgy" (very slightly though in my taste) but not to the point where it seems too strained, and it really depends if you're bothered by that or not.

Character arcs and especially character development only really happen to the supporting roles. Whether it's the Elves or the Rovers. Some of the time to finish the arc the character has to die. But we'll come back to that below.

The good -

The show isn't afraid of killing characters, even ones you were introduced to from the start, which what sets it apart from Twilight, and especially Shadowhunters (both books and the tv show) and what gives it even more purpose, sense of danger goes well with the other mature themes that it has. More shows should do this, honestly.

Arcs are well planned out. You really get what motives the character to act like it does and what makes it do the things that it does and say. I never felt like a character died before it needed to do what it's supposed to do.

World building is the greatest quality this show has. They really did an excellent job on this, perhaps it's even on par with Stargate.

Eretria might be my favorite female character ever.

The middle -

Because the show has a strong complex female lead, it get a lot of unwarranted criticism about it's "women empowerment" and I beg to differ! Women are not acting masculine and men are not disempowered in this show, unlike many other stories in recent media (comics, book, other TV shows). It also doesn't do the opposite, where the female lead just waits for her hot vampire boyfriend. I honestly believe it's men and women, working together for a better cause. As much as it has it's female lead, it also has an equal amount of male lead.

If you have any doubts, give this show a try. It's one of the only worthwhile fantasy shows that going on at the moment.

I love this series of books..what I am really tired of in general is when they turn these book series into tv series or movies and they can't be true to the story, I hate when they add stuff in that doesn't belong. I hate when they change the order if events. I hate when if in a book they describe a characters looks a certain way and they look nothing like the description. I hate when they add characters in that weren't a part of the book to begin with. I would rather see 2-4 episodes per book and do it right as per the book.

I have not read the source books (never even knew they exist), so I do not have any reference to how much the TV version deviates from it. But I found the world presentation pretty good, all the overgrown technology etc. I would welcome a bit more of the other races (Gnomes/Dwarves), but it might be too soon for that.

However, I think that the "eyes up here" scene at river in Episode 3 was a bit pointless, but probably had to be due to it being on MTV. Also, Wil in few scenes sounds like Hayden Christensen in SW prequels, which is to say, awful, but it is just few scenes, so it is bearable.

But, the special effects are pretty good or a TV show and most actors are pretty good as well.

I would give the series a chance, see how it develops.

In presenting "The Shannara Chronicles", MTV leaves the real world behind and, surprisingly, gives us a scripted fantasy series. It might be described as "The Hunger Games" meets the LOTR. The protagonist is a young elven woman, Amberle (Poppy Drayton), who is drawn into a quest to save the Four Lands, which are threatened by demons.

All the trappings of a fantasy tale can be found in this story, including incantations, runes, trolls, gnomes, swords, magic artifacts and even a large tree that is a metaphor for the health of the land and its inhabitants.

The characters are not as developed as one might wish, given how quickly the narrative moves. But there is a wide array of interesting characters, including Wil (Austin Butler), a human/elf halfbreed and Eretria (Ivana Baquero), a rover who lives off the land and the people she meets. And there is Allanon (Manu Bennett), a Druid warrior with mystical powers.

The strengths of the series are its visuals: detailed costumes, striking sets, strong CGI, imaginative makeup, and wonderful scenery, thanks to the New Zealand locations.

I have not read the novels that are the source material for "The Shannara Chronicles", but I believe shows should stand on their own. As such, it is engaging. No doubt some will be enthralled by the fact that two of the three strongest characters are young women. Fans of LOTR cycle and "The Hobbit" should feel comfortable in this world.

Update 3/7/16: The quality of the acting and the plot dropped somewhat in the last episode and a half of the first season. I am dropping my grade to "7".

Update 11/1/17: The writing has grown weaker. Now the dialogue and storyline feel uninspired and contrived. I am dropping my grade to "6".

Before I started wacthing this, I saw a lot of negative reviews, so I was expecting a poor show, but since I like fantasy genre, I've decided to give it a try and can't say I'm dissapointed. On the contrary, I've enjoyed this series greatly. This is a simple, entertaining fantasy series and it should be in my opinion reviewed and rated based on what it tries to be. And it delivers quite exactly what it promises.

The plot is simple and pretty much linear: there is a bad guy, there is a need to perform a quest to defeat him and there are twists and obstacles in the way that have to be overcomed to achieve the goal. I saw people laughing at the simplicity of a plotline. Well, I don't expect multi-layer plot in heroic fantasy like Lord of the Rings or many other movies that belong to this genre, this is just not a place for it. So I was not at all dissapointed by plotline.

The characters are also rather typical for the genre, mostly black & white with an interesting shades of grey in the middle (like Eritrea) that stir things a bit. Actors are mostly young so you won't probably see some tremendous acting in Shannara Chronicles, but James Remar stands out greatly among them, his Cephelo is tremendously played character, even if he's a cliche of a rogue.

The world portrayed in the series is interesting, it's not a typical fantasy setting, but a world that arose on the ruins and ashes of our world, with riuns scattering the landscape and remnants of an old technology here and there. It convinced me to read the books upon which the series is based.

Overall, I think most bad reviews come from putting Shannara Chronicles on the wrong shelf, as for simple fantasy which is meant to entertain, it is a very good show.