The Shannara Chronicles: Chosen

I don't have time for this. I need to finish reviewing The 100 before the next season starts. I can't start a new show, and yet here I am, starting a new show. 

The Shannara Chronicles are based on the novels by Terry Brooks, which number about thirty-three in total (divided into various duologies, trilogies and tetralogies) and have an interesting history in terms of their importance to the fantasy genre.

If you're wondering why they're adapting the second book in the series (The Elfstones of Shannara) rather than the first (The Sword of Shannara), it's presumably because The Sword is a thinly disguised rehash of The Lord of the Rings, with the names of the characters changed and all the intricate world-building removed.

How'd he get away with it? Because when it was first published back in 1977, the formula still felt very fresh, and once it went on to become the first fantasy-fiction novel to appear on The New York Times bestseller list, it essentially proved there was an audience for mainstream fantasy. Basically, Brooks was the first to do Tolkien second, and he opened the floodgates for all the High Fantasy novels that followed.

My teenage years were full of his novels – in fact, Running with the Demon is one of my favourite books ever, and not just because of the nostalgia factor. It still holds up pretty well after all these years, and (despite some long windedness at times) Brooks is a good writer when it comes to clear prose, consistent plotting, and quick pacing.

Though he's stuck with hideous cover art.

The Elfstones of Shannara is largely considered one of his best works, and I recently read and reviewed it in anticipation of this forthcoming television series. By today's standards it's a run-of-the-mill fantasy quest, highly reminiscent of Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, but which has become retroactively refreshing for its straightforward portrayal of good and evil. In this current climate of grimdark anti-heroes, it's a nice change of pace to get back to stalwart heroes and mindlessly destructive villains.

For thousands of years the Four Lands has been protected by a magical tree known as the Ellcrys, created to hold in place the magical barriers that imprison hordes of demons in a realm called the Forbidding. But now the Ellcrys is dying, and it's down to a young Elf Princess called Amberle to undergo a dangerous quest that might rejuvenate the tree's magic.

She's helped by a half-Elf called Wil Ohmsford (the son of the previous book's protagonist) and a Rover girl called Eretria, as well as three magical stones known as the Elfstones, whose power has been long dormant. Pulling the strings is Allanon, a mysterious Druid who knows a lot more than he's letting on when it comes to the background and destinies of all those involved.

It's pretty generic stuff, but at least one interesting component to the story is that it's set in a heavily disguised post-apocalyptic world. Although Elves are established as predating human beings, creatures like Trolls, Gnomes and Dwarfs are hinted at being mutants, and the quest itself takes us through geography containing familiar (though abandoned) 21st century landmarks.

(Of course, this means there's even less excuse than usual to have a totally white population, but so far there's only one discernable WOC in the main cast).

Brooks also did something else pretty special, and that was to include prominent female characters almost right from the start of his writing career (Elfstones has both Amerle and Eretria, and The Wishsong of Shannara has a young woman as its protagonist). It's still a rare treat to have a heroic trio made up of two girls and one guy – the last one I recall is Buffy/Xander/Willow – but Wil/Amberle/Eretria is a nice counterpoint to the likes of Harry/Ron/Hermione, Luke/Han/Leia, Percy/Annabeth/Grover, and countless others.

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So how does this adaptation fare? It's always interesting to see how source material will be handled, and Shannara involves a fair amount of shuffling around important plot-points (the show actually starts its story a lot earlier than the book do), as well as some expansion of minor characters and the addition of a few prerequisite action scenes.  

But it's certainly following the story in spirit, with all the characters coming across as fairly accurate facsimiles of their book counterparts, and the central conflict left intact (it's a race against time to save the Ellcrys before demons break free of their prison).

The new additions are interesting, though pretty nonsensical. In the book, the Chosen (that is, the Elves who are the appointed guardians of the Ellcrys) are chosen by the tree herself when she reaches out to touch them with an overhanging branch. That's why they were called the Chosen, duh.

Here, the Chosen are the first eleven Elves who complete a sprint through the forest with their hands tied behind their backs and their eyes blindfolded. Because that's an important skill to have when your job is to tend to a tree, right? 

This should be a compulsory test for gardeners everywhere

Later there's an original character introduced: an elderly Elf called Pyria who is sister to King Eventine and aunt to Amberle, and was once in love with Allanon. It's not a bad setup, with plenty of room for some poignancy between herself and Allanon once they're finally reunited – but then she's gruesomely killed by a demon in the same episode she's introduced. It's a classic fridging and a pointless waste.

Look at how cute she is! Why would you kill her off??

When it sticks to what the books offers, it's on firmer ground, though it's not always to the show's advantage in translating some of the more formulaic elements of Brooks's story. Even the attempt to "fantasize" his name by dropping one of the ls in Will doesn't alleviate the fact our protagonist Wil Ohmsford is pretty much a milquetoast white guy on a generic fantasy quest. I mean look at him!

Not pictured: his honest-to-God beanie.

I haven't been this uninspired by a person's face since Ed Speleers on Eragon. He's almost aggressively bland, and even the show itself doesn't seem that interested in him.

Just as well he's flanked by two far more interesting ladies, though I'm already resentful they have to play second fiddle to him – as well get plopped into the roles of love interest despite having more chemistry with each other than either have with him.

These aren't out of context. Eretria is actually licking her lips at Amberle.

But Eretria pulls a variation of the Schlub Pub Seduction on Wil, who later meets Amberle due to Outdoor Bath Peeping, two tropes which put him directly in the centre of their love triangle. Plus, I've read the book and I know how their stories end, so there's not much use in getting too invested in alternative shipping possibilities.

Honestly though, the girls are definitely the high point of the show. It took me a while to recognize Ivana Baquero as Ofelia from Pan's Labyrinth, and Poppy Drayton is perhaps best known for her small part in one of Downton Abbey's Christmas Specials as Madeleine Allsopp. They're both perfectly cast in their roles, Baquero as tough and sardonic Eretria, and Drayton as the more delicate and gentle Amberle. The characters never interacted much in the book, but it looks as though that'll be rectified here.  

But I think my favourite thing about these three is that they're pretty much just modern teenagers. There's no attempt to avoid contemporary slang, and at every turn I kept expecting them to whip out their cell-phones. At one point, Amberle even wears this dress:

I imagine the look on her face was the actress's real reaction.

To pad the runtime there are a few side-quests thrown in, usually involving Off-Screen Teleportation to far-flung corners of the map to retrieve something or other: a magic book, a magic seed, some magic stones (which look like they've been picked up at the local gift-stone for about five dollars) and a lot of the dialogue is the characters throwing exposition at each other.

Also, they completely botch the twist involving Manx the dog. Sure, it was telegraphed way too obviously in the book as well, but why the close-up on his eyes glowing red? Why not stretch out the reveal for a little while at least?

Subtle.

However, I enjoyed the little shout-outs here and there, including mentions of Shea Ohmsford and even the Ildatch (which will hopefully lead to Brin appearing in the sequel!) and this page is actually quite lovely if you know what's coming:

See the little tree inside? wink wink

And of course, Manu Bennett and John Rhys Davies seem to be having fun hamming it up.

In short, The Shannara Chronicles was everything I wanted it to be: solid gold crap. It reminded me of watching Hercules: The Legendary Journeys back when I was a kid, or The Legend of the Seeker as a teenager, and this promises the same levels of camp, earnest actors, and New Zealand scenery (always nice to see home on the television screen).

So I'm in.