So far, the trailer is almost perfect. Zedd is way too tall, but still a good choice. Casting the physical parts over the personality is always a mistake, and comes off too Disney-like in the end. The age of the guy playing Darken Rahl would concern me most of all, but only because he appears too young to be the age of Richard's father.
I am hoping the acting resumes of these actors are as accurate as they are promising. If they are, we should be in for some better acting than the Hercules/Xena shows everyone is comparing this to.
I expect that Sam's personal resources and connections for producing a show in New Zealand and Australia will enhance his ability to bring the books to life. As a fan of the book series himself, I am sure he intends to do it justice. If anything, his success with the Spiderman movies will give him more leverage for selling the show at a higher price than he did with Hercules and Xena. With a better budget and more experience with special effects, I am hopeful that the production value will be what is needed.
I agree that the series would be more entertaining on HBO, but would not want to relive the nightmare schedule of The Soprano's again. If we can't see Kahlan and Richard bumping uglies, I suppose the story can survive. (sigh) ;) As for the gore factor, well that can be done pretty well in most cases. There are 2 scenes I can think of off-hand that would be a bit rough for TV, but the rest fall within the limits of existing shows if you focus on the story and not on the details of a single passage. See the Terminator series for gruesome scenes, when they skin a terminator it is pretty rough. Since it is integral to the story, it still works without getting to be a horror show. I expect some of that in this series as well.
The bottom line is that some changes have to be made for it to work as a TV series. If it was done just like the book, it would be one big narrative. Now if they had Bruce Campbell doing the voice over, it could work for a while (wink) but not for a full run. Converting inner thoughts to visual cues for the audience will take quite a bit of cutting and pasting, so do not go into this thinking it should be just like the book. Think the movie version of comic books. The heart is still there, even if the story has to change slightly to make it work in another medium. That said, Kahlan's power appears to me to be exactly what it is described as in the book. Perhaps a bit more staggering to the men around her, but there is a concussive nature to the power being used if I recall it correctly. As to any concerns it was more powerful than it should have been (the concussion that is), you should consider the need to visually portray the effect of it that the book may have descibed merely as a sensation. Again, that pesky medium difference.
Frankly, I like that we are getting 22 episodes, at approx 40 mins each, for a total of 14.67 hours just for season 1. Imagine trying to stuff this series into a couple of 2 hour movies? This gives the proper attention to the parts that are needed. Whether the entire series will be given its due dilligence will be evident when we see how long it takes to kill off Darken.
Now if you will excuse me, I have a box of Orden to track down....
I am hoping the acting resumes of these actors are as accurate as they are promising. If they are, we should be in for some better acting than the Hercules/Xena shows everyone is comparing this to.
I expect that Sam's personal resources and connections for producing a show in New Zealand and Australia will enhance his ability to bring the books to life. As a fan of the book series himself, I am sure he intends to do it justice. If anything, his success with the Spiderman movies will give him more leverage for selling the show at a higher price than he did with Hercules and Xena. With a better budget and more experience with special effects, I am hopeful that the production value will be what is needed.
I agree that the series would be more entertaining on HBO, but would not want to relive the nightmare schedule of The Soprano's again. If we can't see Kahlan and Richard bumping uglies, I suppose the story can survive. (sigh) ;) As for the gore factor, well that can be done pretty well in most cases. There are 2 scenes I can think of off-hand that would be a bit rough for TV, but the rest fall within the limits of existing shows if you focus on the story and not on the details of a single passage. See the Terminator series for gruesome scenes, when they skin a terminator it is pretty rough. Since it is integral to the story, it still works without getting to be a horror show. I expect some of that in this series as well.
The bottom line is that some changes have to be made for it to work as a TV series. If it was done just like the book, it would be one big narrative. Now if they had Bruce Campbell doing the voice over, it could work for a while (wink) but not for a full run. Converting inner thoughts to visual cues for the audience will take quite a bit of cutting and pasting, so do not go into this thinking it should be just like the book. Think the movie version of comic books. The heart is still there, even if the story has to change slightly to make it work in another medium. That said, Kahlan's power appears to me to be exactly what it is described as in the book. Perhaps a bit more staggering to the men around her, but there is a concussive nature to the power being used if I recall it correctly. As to any concerns it was more powerful than it should have been (the concussion that is), you should consider the need to visually portray the effect of it that the book may have descibed merely as a sensation. Again, that pesky medium difference.
Frankly, I like that we are getting 22 episodes, at approx 40 mins each, for a total of 14.67 hours just for season 1. Imagine trying to stuff this series into a couple of 2 hour movies? This gives the proper attention to the parts that are needed. Whether the entire series will be given its due dilligence will be evident when we see how long it takes to kill off Darken.
Now if you will excuse me, I have a box of Orden to track down....