The Shannara Chronicles: The Complete Seasons 1 & 2 [Blu-ray]

Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis The Wise? I thought not. It’s not a story the Jedi would tell you. It’s a Sith legend. Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to influence the midichlorians to create life… He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying. The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. He became so powerful… the only thing he was afraid of was losing his power, which eventually, of course, he did. Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew, then his apprentice killed him in his sleep. Ironic. He could save others from death, but not himself.

I had not heard great things about the series. So, I went into it with low expectations.The series easily beat my low bar.First, there is an amazing set of actors and actresses in the film including: Manu Bennett (played Killshot in Arrow), John Rhys-Davies (played Gimli in LotR, and starred in a zillion fantasy computer games), Jed Brophy, and the list goes on.Second, it truly is an ensemble production. No single character dominates the series. There are journeymen actors playing the principal roles while legends play the supporting cast. It worked and worked well.Third, some of the other reviews had a negative view of the teenage angst filling the series. I did not find it overwhelming. It is there, but the teenage characters are facing life and death situations, largely without supporting adults.Fourth, the scenery is absolutely gorgeous. The props and sets are incredible as well as the natural shots in New Zealand.Finally, yes, it is very different than the books. The first season spans several books. Some plots are handled, and some are ignored or truncated. That is OK. Unlike Game of Thrones where the plot twists were telegraphed in the books, the main elements were clear to everyone from the first episode, but how they got to the results varied some from the books.** Minor Spoilers Follow **The premise of Shannara flows from a school of fantasy and science fiction from the 1960s-70s when the threat of nuclear Armageddon was real and ubiquitous. Writers tend to deal with real world problems by subsuming them into the plots of their novels. Fred Saberhagen, Terry Brooks, and a host of others took the view that if nuclear war occurred (and most thought that it was a matter of when, not if) then the world zeitgeist would respond by unleashing its "magic."In Shannara, nuclear exchange took place, released magic, and transformed the human genetic tree into a bevy of mythical humanoids. The last remnants of the nuclear, destructive energies are the demons.Naturally, the other races, knowing that humans nearly destroyed the mother Earth, do not treat the humans well.If the demons are all released then the Earth will finally be destroyed.In the books ... this reveal did not occur until well into the series and even then was largely a behind the scenes, world building secret. (And, while cool, you could safely read the books without realizing this and still enjoy them.)In the series ... it is on the nose with the viewer from the opening credits. This leads to a few, tough to suspend disbelief moments when you jump from finding things that look about two years old to finding that they are thousands of years old.Still, the writing is good, the acting is superb, and the props and sets are simply amazing.Well done!

This is such a fun show. I definitely want to read the books now

The basic storyline is followed, but many major plots and settings where they took place are gone. Will never goes to Storlock. New characters are introduced. For example an elf who has ability to see how you die if he touches you (what?). They expose the Changling too early, so when they are burning his body, they just bring him back to life (what?). Then the Changling goes finally become the dog, but I think the writers got bored with this "spy as a dog" thing, so they decided to have him kill the King and become the King himself. This is a major plot change from the original book. In the book, the Changling eventually becomes the King's dog and stays that way as a spy until the King is confronted by the demon near the end of the book. This is actually a climatic point in the book, and the fact that they already changed this and killed the King is sad.Another let down is the Druid's Keep. It is basically a cave which looks like its in ruins with a bunch of ancient carvings on the walls. To be honest, I'm really upset about this. The Keep is this amazing magical place, which is the size of a castle. In a post apocalyptic world, they could have made this any amazing building that could withstand the weathering of time. Why is the Druid's Keep such a dump? It should look like a castle and be surrounded by green forests and have a huge circular hole that goes deep into the ground inside. Instead it looks like a rock cliff with a cave in it located in the middle of a desert. There are so many scenes in the books which happen in the Keep, its hard to imaging how they would fix the poor imagery they have already created.Also the Dagda Mor brought two evil demons through with him because he was powerful enough to breach the weakness in the Forbidding early and bring two of his "henchmen" with him. He had a plan, send the Changling to be a spy and the Reaper to kill all the Chosen so that the Elcrys and Forbidding could not be restored, and basically prepare the way for the Demon army to overrun the Elves who entrapped them. The TV show makes his appearance with the other two demons seem random because each leaf is supposedly a trapped demon. The Reaper doesn't even seem connected to the Dagda Mor in MTV's version.You're saying, why did I give it 3 stars then? Well, I love Shannara, and it is the series that brought me into fantasy books. I read Lord of the Rings after, and it was awesome too. And faithful readers of that book also saw differences between the movie and the books. Those changes were not major plot lines - they were exclusion of characters like Tom Bombadil - things that were not essential to the main storyline. Anyway, I digress.I really envisioned the evolving of the human species into rock trolls, gnomes, dwarves, etc as a physical evolving - from the Sword of Shannara. Time, circumstances, habitat, and genetic mutations had physically changed them into those species - but they were all human at one point a long time ago. I don't care for the look and feel of the gnomes. I would not have minded if the Elves were more distinct looking than the humans. Also Jon Ries-Davis as the Elf king, when he was already cast as a dwarf in The Lord of the Rings seems like a huge mistake. I think they could have found someone else who could have done much better.The "love triangle" created by MTV between Amberlee, Will, and Eretria is purely the stuff of WB, and it belongs in Smallville. I think that MTV does this to connect with its viewers, and I understand it, but it bothers me since the book was more innocent from sexuality and adult physical relationships. They represent Eretria as bi-sexual at one point where she even tries to advance on Amberlee in a hot tub. Things like this which had no place in the book will make this TV show forgettable for most Shannara lovers.

One of the best fantasy ersies that I have seen, I wish mythica had the same treatment. Its no game of thrones, but they rarely are that good.I don't understand why this was randomly cancelled after 2 full seasons. This was definitely worthwhile viewing, and I wish they filmed more.It could have easily ended with 2 seasons, however, stating "to be continued" indicates that a 3rd season was planned.

Welcome to the Shannara Chronicles,the latest LOTR rip-off to come down the track,complete with CGI enhanced New Zealand landscapes,cheesy anachronistic dialogue and recycled Tolkien tropes. I'm really selling it,aren't I? Actually,it's pretty good fun(ish)and it does have one intriguing twist. This imagined world,The Four Lands, is set in a post-apocalyptic Earth,thousands of years hence,rather than in some distant, mythic past. Rusting relics of 21st century civilization litter the landscape,including the wrecked Golden gate Bridge and a supertanker lying on a hill! Mostly though,this Earth has returned to a medieval past,where magic has supplanted science(with a few exceptions),a world inhabited by humans, elves,trolls and gnomes. The forces of darkness-demons and the like-are kept at bay by a giant mystical tree which must be protected.Now it has started to die,and heroes must rise and go on a quest to find the new seed,restore the tree and yadda yadda. Lead character is Will,last of the Shannara,played by lightweight blond pretty-boy Terry Austin,who will keep the teenage fangirls happy,and is adequate. Opposite him is as elven princess Amberleigh(a name that sounds like a Radio 4 soap opera)is the rather pallid Poppy Drayton. Her character is "The Chosen"(yeah I know,I know). Adding much more heft is Manu Bennett from Spartacus,playing the obligatory cut-rate Gandalf,namely The Druid,a magical mentor awoken from a decades-long sleep to initiate the quest and guide the young heroes. The producers clearly wanted gruff,stern but sympathetic and gravelly-voiced Manu certainly delivers. Completing the main players is uber-babe Ivana Baquero as Rover(outlaw)Eritreia. You might have seen Ivana as a young girl starring in that wonderful Spanish film Pan's Labyrinth. Well ,she's grown up in a most delightful way-complete with perfect US accent- and is now officially an Eleven(that's eleven,not elven). She's also spirited and athletic and thoroughly outshines MIss Drayton. These four are given stalwart support by stalwart supporting actor John Rhys-Davies as the Elf King. There's also a nice turn from James Remar who plays the rascally Rover chieftain. Together the questers face many perils,forge relationships and well,you know the drill. Be warned that this show has a sometimes alarming propensity for killing off major characters at regular intervals-often at the business end of a large demon sword-so don't get too attached to anyone. Except for Ivana,naturally. Also be advised that there's a revelation near the end that will make you wonder whether the great quest was strictly necessary,but I won't spoil that delightful surprise for you. Apart from Miss Baquero's leather-clad awesomeness,what elevates Chronicles from complete banality is the aforementioned landscapes,which are truly breathtaking and mythic,and the music,a lovely blend of well-chosen folky pop and a stately,rather haunting electronic score. What else? Let me see. Oh yes,did I mention that Ivana Baquero is awesome? So there it is-Shannara Chronicles or chronic shenanigans? See it and decide for yourself. Or not. Call me,Ivana(no,not call me Ivana.....)

If you like Lord of the rings & whatnot & are looking for something extra to watch you'll most likely enjoy this.It's well made, scripted & acted.It's maybe a bit young for me, as I've seen a lot of it before & ended up fast forwarding through the soppy 'will they? won't they?' bits....the fighting & whatnot is really good & the storyline is good... I'm maybes being hard by saying 4* instead of 5 .. ...but for my age that's how I feel.

I bought this from amazon uk so assumed it was suitable but it is for region A only and the UK is region B. Don't buy this unless you have a blu ray player that plays all regions.

the story was goodI had watched first few episodes on TVand liked it so got the dvd,s