Retrospective: Legend of the Seeker
October 12, 2009 
In the FUTURE, everyone wears jammies.I have a confession to make: I'm a bad nerd. Specifically, I don't like most of the widely accepted staples of nerd culture and media. It's not necessarily that I dislike them, I just don't like them. I have no interest in Star Trek, I didn't pay much attention to Star Wars when episodes one through three showed up, and I watched probably fewer than 90 minutes of Firefly. I don't own a plush Cthulhu. I don't read Terry Pratchett. I don't play Munchkin.
In most of those circumstances, it's the self-reference that does nothing for me. Did you play Planescape: Torment? It drove me nuts. That goddamn skull, all cracking wise and making fun of me for playing a D&D game... I like Chris Avellone and consider him a friend, but I don't want a game I play breaking my balls for playing it. Let me enjoy it with a straight face. For those same reasons, I never watched Xena or Hercules -- I didn't like their postmodern tone or all the sidelong eyebrow-raising at the camera mocking how silly it all was.
(In defense of all those things, it was the 1990s, and all we did back then was sneer at each other and posture about how above it all we were. If that game and those shows were guilty of something, it's nothing more criminal than zeitgeist.)
Adventure! I'm a sucker for this sort of imagery.With all that in mind, I didn't initially have any interest in Legend of the Seeker. It had that look -- not a bad look, mind you, but that unminstakable presentation that identifies something immediately as a Sam Raimi endeavor. But when I caught a part of an episode while flipping channels and it refreshingly lacked the smarm and hurr-hurr that turned me off of the earlier fantasy shows.
I've never read a Terry Goodkind book, so I don't know how closely the show cleaves to the parent material, but who cares? It's a fun show. The story itself is nothing special: The fantasy-requisite chosen one learns of his prophesized awesomeness and proceeds to turn in his farmhand's hoe for a sword of awesomeness whereupon he chops his way upward to the inevitable evil tyrant of not-awesomeness. It starts a little too dour, but within a few episodes it finds its stride, letting the show's best two assets, the establishing shots and the likable characters, do their thing.
Back in the 1990s, this photo would have made my eyes roll back into my head.That farmhand protagonist is self-aware and earnest. He's not the aw-shucks hayseed with inexplicable quick wit that usually populates fantasy farms, he knows his limitations and doubts himself when it's dramatic. The wizard-mentor is fairly derivative, but despite that and the show's most awkward lines, is played charismatically by venerable autogyro pilot Bruce Spence. The romantic interest is comparatively complex, and more than just a milk jug in a brocade bustier. The three good guys get along well and have good ensemble chemistry. The romantic subplot, usually a stomach-turner for me because it's a device that almost always feels tacked on, comes across believably. The trio also has actual dialogue instead of the usual oh-snap barrage of content-free Whedonian one-liners so pervasive in genre media. Again, it's all written in the style of modern epic fantasy survey course, but their delivery is comfortable.
The big bad guy is compelling, too, despite having an unfortunate name. An autocrat in the idiom of the original Darth Vader, he'll kill an inept minion when making the point is necessary. His imperial fashion designer makes impressive uniforms (but I don't need the masks, thanks). He's not a slavering psychopath, but he's definitely a megalomaniac, and his flaws make him a compelling villain. In fact, one of the show's weak points is when its characters become one-note presentations of stock fantasy ideas. The Mord'Sith are the prime offenders, in that they're presented as cheap shock lipstick quasi-lesbian dominatrixes. Oh, and their terrible name, what with the apostrophes and the "sith" and whatnot.
The show also shines with its not-quite villains. I'm not used to seeing pragmatism or moral shades of gray in stock fantasy, so it plays well here. In one episode, a cell of resistance fighters sinks to the evil empire's level and wants to scourge a loyalist village of civilians. In another episode, a trio of rogues impersonates the prophecy protagonists because they need the money. A horse thief also needs to get by. In effect, we get to see enough of the world to understand that the bad guy's policies have an effect of the guttersnipes who make up the supporting cast, instead of just being told that he's real bad and you can tell because he wears black.
The final episode unraveled a bit, tragically resorting to the device of time travel. Once it did, it neglected the most interesting part of its alternate setting, the bad guy's progeny depicted with an intriguing suggestion of Apocalypse Now's Colonel Kurtz.
Would I want to play this? Maybe. It's definitely not suited to MMO or tabletop RPG play, because the main character is too important in comparison to his companions. It'd make an okay single-player RPG, but it's hindered by the story's lack of ambition, so it would require a more compelling world and ecology than is presented in the show. The beauty of those setting shots, though, would be great fun to explore. Legend of the Seeker was filmed in New Zealand, which makes for epic, sweeping panoramas of unspoiled wonder that populate the annals of fantastical fiction.
Season two? Sure, I'll give it a shot. It starts in early November.
inspiration in RPGs, TV, Video Games
Reader Comments (10)
I had a similar experience... I thought Legend of the Seeker will be so-so but I haven't seen that many fantasy shows lately so I gave it a shot and as it proceeded I found it's quite enjoyable... the moment when I thought it was getting better is after the first (or first two, can't remember if it was a two-parter) episode, when they went into episodic plot lines...
I was later told by a friend who read the Sword of Truth books that that is the point where the series diverges from the books... take that as you will ;)
Bah, I caught this show the other day and was not impressed. He's a 'Seeker'? Really? Is that the best this author could do? It's generic fantasy made by a guy following a template. I actually prefer the Mortal Kombat show over this one, despite its godawful music lol
Yeah, again, the story is not the strong suit. The worldbuilding is really derivative, but 1) that's what the fantasy fiction landscape is right now and 2) The show rises above that threshold when it lets itself.
A friend introduced me to this show.. it is indeed really good.
Now, about Terry Goodkind's novel, it's even better! No time-travelling at the end of "Wizard's First Rule", the first book which corresponds to the first season of the show, you should give it a try, the storyline is much more developed, as is the world and conflicts. Right now I'm halfway through the 4th volume, "Temple of the Wind", a very good reading.
Legend of the Seeker sticks to the storyline of the book about as well as a rock to someones forehead.. If you throw it hard enough it will stick momentarily but not for very long!
I think you should read the book if you come across a copy... Or assuming I still have mine I'll pass it your way when the chance presents itself! In the book the Mord'sith are well written and their roll is better defined!!
Having read the book prior to the shows pilot airing, the show fell out of favor with me for various reasons most of which I can't remember at this point in time.. I guess I will have to go back and rewatch the first season to see if maybe it wasnt the show but the timing at which I watched it that was wrong for me!
You know, I like the idea of the Mord'Sith as a cult potentially in rivalry with Rahl's empire, but in the show you really only get to see hints of that in the first season's finale.
The first time I saw this show on tv I rolled my eyes and changed the channel. Months later I really wanted to watch something in the fantasy genre, something new. I settled on giving the show a second chance. I'm glad I did. At its start Legend of the Seeker certainly appears to be a lame, poorly acted, cookie cutter-esque fantasy series. But, it does get better as the series goes on, in spite of the the multiple storyline aspects lifted directly from Star Wars. In addition, (and I normally don't fixate on these sorts of things) the sword fighting scenes toward the end of the first season are some of the best I've seen on film.
Legends of the Seeker is fun, if a bit fluffy, but the characters are well drawn (at least for this genre) and the effects and fights are enjoyable enough to watch. Also, the villains are mostly competent which is something you do not often see in this sort of thing.
the best part is unquestionably the tight red leather outfits on the australian actresses (Mord Sith) and the those all too phallic pain sticks they wave around...not sure about all the other high-brow mumbo jumbo you point out...i just want to feel like i am somehow part of a boris vallejo painting or a Brom painting for that matter
@ Sean: Yes, the competence of the villains, even in the context of their world-spanning ambitions, is pretty cool. The villain barometer I use frequently is Darth Vader -- thirty seconds into the first movie, he's choking the hell out of his own generals and murdering entire planets that get in his way. Meanwhile, Darth Maul is red and has horns.
Viva le Darth.
Regards,
Justin