There is a new syndicated show based on Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series.
I caught about the last 20 minutes of this and thought it looked decent, though not great. The acting was average, but the effects were quite good.
Did anyone else catch this? It’s syndicated, so you have to check your local times to find out when it is on(and when it re-runs).
I tripped over it while channel surfing this afternoon. The title in the on-screen guide made a little bell in my head go “ping” and I went “Wait, is that the Goodkind series?”
It was not . . . awful, as first episodes go. The exposition-dumps made for a really slow pace, but I’ve seen actors on shows who obviously felt much more uncomfortable with this “weird fantasy stuff” than this cast does - they seem to be taking it seriously and doing their best.
It definitely could have been waaaaaaaaaaay worse, but it wasn’t exactly good yet. I’ll watch a few more eps (if I remember when it’s on) and see whether the performances and writing catch up the quality of the special effects.
I thought it was pretty damn good. The special effects were great, the plot was interesting (I haven’t read any Goodkind). My major problem with the premiere is that the lead character is being set up as an idiot. He does things without thinking. I can see an endless dull prospect of idiot plots looming ahead, as the lead does one stupid thing after another without thinking. If that’s the case, my interest in the series will take a nose dive. I’ll watch a few more eps to see how things work out.
I was gonna start a thread on this. There was an article in the NYTimes about it a week ago so I had my DVR set to record the whole thing.
I thought it was good. Not fantastic but totally watchable and I’m interested in where it’s going. About halfway through I thought the whole thing was too by-the-numbers and predictable, but that got a little better toward the end.
I will say that I had hoped that the Wacky Comedy Relief Wizard would bite the dust before the two hours were over, but no such luck. It seems as though they’re going to have to keep thinking of ways to take him out of the action, since his fire-bolts could deal with pretty much any threat more effectively than what’s-his-face and his sword.
It doesn’t hurt that the lead is insanely hot and the first ten minutes of the show had what will hopefully be the first of may completely gratuitous shirtless scenes.
The same problem occurs in the books. Zedd is too powerful, Richard Rahl becomes too powerful, so they have to invent reasons why they can’t just zap every bad guy they come across. Which is one of the reasons I stopped reading them, it got too convoluted and awkward.
Oh, hey, I remember this book!
I’ll have to check this show out if only to see how they deal with the increasing weirdness of the plot: the libertarian rants in the middle of the story for no apparent reason, the whole third of the book devoted to dominatrix porn…
Haven’t seen the series yet, but if anything, the book has the opposite problem: Richard Rahl can do absolutely nothing wrong. It’s almost by definition if he does it, it’s right. Even if he has no fricking idea what he’s doing, and the people who know a lot about the subject at hand tell him that he’s wrong – no, he’s right, and he’s so goddamned genius.
When will authors learn that perfect characters are just utterly, utterly boring?
Just want to mention that he’s still Richard Cypher in the TV show, and for those who haven’t read the books, calling him Richard Rahl in this thread is a bit of a spoiler.
I hadn’t read the books. Damnit! I knew they’d pull a Vader. I could just feel it.
Wait, so the main character is the bad guy’s son?! That is really lame.
I lasted about 35 minutes. Then I decided that the show was a derivative mess, and a badly done mess at that. Bad acting, bad effects, an ABC plot that has been done to death…nothing to recommend it at all. Pass.
I had read several fantasy series around the time I read this Goodkind, so I’m trying to sort out a big mish-mash of recollections - was that this series or that other one? I enjoyed the tv show, didn’t realise ahead of time that it was based on the books until things started sounding familiar - those flies for example.
I finally saw the first episodes, and I was surprised at how un-bad it was. I wouldn’t say it was good, but it wasn’t that bad. And parts of it were actually pretty badass. I’ll give it a shot for a while, at least.
Hmmmmmmm…I may keep an eye on this show.
Sounds promising, as far as syndicated shows go.
Sounds like a Mary Jane story to me.
Put down the doobie and try again. 
Watched again. Visually striking, great action sequences. I really don’t care about the book and the overarching plot so long as the eps move right along, and these eps do just that.
So has anyone been following this show week to week? How many episodes have they aired? Have any been good yet?
Is anyone still watching this show? It’s cheese, but so far it’s entertaining cheese. There was an episode a couple weeks ago called “Listener” about a little boy who could read thoughts. My TiVo cut off before the end for some reason. Does anyone know what happens
after the boy gets sold back to the D’Harans?
Mary Sue. Or, for a male, Gary Stu.
I’ve never read Goodkind (and I was a voracious fantasy reader in my yute). For some reason his novels never called out to me from the shelf. What I’m waiting for is the HBO series of “A Song of Ice and Fire”.