I guess John Favreau is producing it. I hope that means it is decent. I would have been happier to learn Sam and Ivan Raimi are involved.
Except that that was just an attempt to distance it from Tolkien. IIRC, it had virtually no real significance to the plots or characters.
In the first book there was a scene set in some old city ruins. And there was the guy who was a master of chemistry in a much later book. But yeah, the apocalypse was really a way to explain the origin of the various races.
Except the Elves. The Elves had always been there. 
It was eventually used to tie together Brooks’ Word and Void series (set in “our” world) with the rest of the Shannara universe via the Genesis (trilogy) and Legends (duology) of Shannara series.
One almost has to wonder when/how he’s going to tie the Magic Kingdom of Landover into the whole thing…oh wait, he did that in the first Landover book by separating those worlds by some magical Faerie megaverse with little pocket worlds inside of it.
I’ll probably give it a watch. I didn’t expect much from Arrow, The Flash, or the Vampire Diaries, and I do enjoy watching those now. Legends of the Seeker on the other hand…someone get me some brain bleach, both for the show and the books.
They actually spent some money on it, so already a better quality production than I expected.
Bumping because it premiers in 2 days. The reviews have started to come in and they’ve been positive. There aren’t many respected review sources (metacritic and rotten tomatoes have both 0 reviews listed) but here are a couple I’ve found.
I’m definitely curious. I just want it to be as good as the Legend of the Seeker TV show, which was far superior to the books it was based on.
50 on Metacritic now, 4.2/29% on Rotten Tomatoes. Hmm.
Reviews are definitely mixed, but it is in my genre. I’m cheering for it. I just hope the MTV angle doesn’t turn it into crap. I haven’t seen a show on MTV since Beavis and Butthead.
Shoes are the tools of the oppressor.
I remember, from reading the series when I was in middle school, that the setting is technically post-apocalyptic: like Middle Earth is supposed to be our world, but in a distant, forgotten past, Shannara is supposed to be our world in an equally distant future. But I don’t recall this detail actually featuring very prominently in the story. There was a “Watcher in the Water” type monster in the first book, which was supposed to be some revenant of the old world, but not much else that was specifically recognizable. In the trailer, though, I’m seeing derelict cargo ships and what looks like a toppled Space Needle.
Is MTV playing up that angle hard for their show, or were did the books really have that many references to our world, and they just went over my head?
I’ve only read* Sword of Shannara* and the Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy, so I’m not sure how it plays out in the other books*. But in the *Voyage *trilogy the Big Bad is a computer that’s trying to use magic as a source of power so it drains any elves or Druids it gets hold of.
*I’m reading the whole series now. It’s been on Mt. ToBeRead for a while anyway.
How was it? I’m watching it tonight.
I read the first one, and it was so obviously derivative of Tolkien (they even had it illustrated by The Brother Hildebrand, who were doing Tolkien at that time) that I never read another book by Brooks (not even non-Shannare stuff). For all I know, they got better. Although, judging from the OP, perhaps they stayed just as derivative.
John Rhys-Davies as an elf? When they had all those dwarves to play?
Maybe he got tired of doing Dwarves. Or wanted to show that he had dramatic range. Or maybe the producers wanted to demonstrate that they weren’t completely derivative. (“See? We got John Rhys-Davies from Lord of the Rings! But he’s not a dwarf. Or an Ent.”)
My son read the books long ago and watched. He could not get past the opening gambit. “In the book you are in her head, sensing the trees and obstacles. On TV it’s a bunch of blindfolded and bound people stupidly running through the forest!”
I enjoyed it. I was worried it would be too “MTV’d”, but it turned out very well. Good acting, GREAT effects, and a very good story line. I’m looking forward to the next episode.
Personally, I prefer a good, solid cudgel, but a shoe will do in a pinch.
Looks like he’s been hitting the waybread a little too hard.