SHANNARA CHRONICLES Season 1

The Shannara Chronicles
A television series adaptation of the Shannara books by Terry Brooks
Genre: post-apocalyptic fantasy
Format: dvd box set

About The Shannara Chronicles:

The Shannara Chronicles roughly follows the storylines set out in The Elfstones of Shannara, set in the fictional Four Lands. As the series opens, demons start to return after being banished from this world to a place known as the Forbidding — locked by an ancient tree called the Ellcrys. The series chronicles the journey of Wil, Amberle and Eretria who, with the guidance of the last druid Allanon, must go on a quest to protect the Ellcrys from dying and releasing all the banished demons back into the Four Lands.

Source: Info in the About The Shannara Chronicles was taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shannara_Chronicles on 29/05/2017.

Book Trailer:

Allanon

My Thoughts:

For some reason I kinda imagined Allanon to be Gandalf-like, not that I'm complaining about Manu Bennett, mind. :)

The main reason I stopped reading the The Sword Of Shannara, four chapters in, is that I got annoyed with the "too stupid to live" (TSTL) element in it. I was kinda hoping that this would get lost in the translation from the book into TV series. That, was wishful thinking... *sigh*... With our heroes/heroines being TSTL, it's a good thing that our villains are such incompetent, eh?! Otherwise the fight of good versus evil is lost. As if that is not enough, Poppy Drayton can't act... *another sigh*... But anyway, the world building is beautiful. The cinematic effects are great and almost flawless. The plot is not bad. And, I really, really like the premise! **says the fantasy geek in me** Hopefully season 2 will see less TSTL and more kick-ass fantasy! By the way, is season 2 really happening??

Empirical Evaluation:
Cinematography = 4.5
Acting = 3.5
Story itself = 4
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Plot = 4.5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries

FTC Disclosure:

This box set was purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.

Review: SANCTUARY (Season 1)

Sanctuary TV series
Season 1
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: DVD box set
Starring Amanda Tapping, Robin Dunne, Emilie Ullerup, Christopher Heyerdahl, among others.

About Sanctuary TV series:

The first season of the Canadian science fiction–fantasy television series Sanctuary premiered on the Sci Fi Channel in the United States on October 3, 2008, and concluded on ITV4 in the United Kingdom on January 5, 2009, after 13 episodes. It follows the actions of a secret organization known as the Sanctuary, who track down a series of creatures known as abnormals, and then bring them to the Sanctuary for refuge. The main story arc of the season involves the Sanctuary working against the Cabal, an organization who seek to control all abnormals for their own gain. Amanda Tapping, Robin Dunne, Emilie Ullerup, and Christopher Heyerdahl are billed in the opening credits as the main cast.

Source: Info in the About Sanctuary TV series was taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctuary_%28season_1%29 on 09/01/2013.

Show Trailer:

Show Links:
www.sanctuaryforall.com
imdb
Sanctuary TV series at Wikipedia

Review:

Now, I bought this dvd because I like the premise. I am an old urban fantasy fan, that is why I like the Supernatural and the Grimm TV shows. And I was hoping this TV series would be the same. But I've never seen a show with so bad an acting! Combine that with poor attention to detail and you get a show which wouldn't win prizes. I've only managed to go through the first disc and packed the whole season 1 box set away because it was just that bad. I was not surprised that the show was cancelled. What surprised me was that it went as far as 4 seasons. The episodes I've seen thus far were all night settings. The show was all dark and never seen the light of day. That gets boring after some time. What kind of world is it that is always night? Unless that is the premise of course, but that is not that kind of world in this show so that one got old. Real fast. The cinematography was not that bad. The mixing of live actors with the supernatural elements was seamless. That was good. But it could not cover for the fact that Emilie Ullerup couldn't act.

Empirical Evaluation:
Cinematography = 3
Overall Acting = 2
Story Itself = 4
World building = 4
Attention To Detail = 1

Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 cherries

Review: ANGEL (Seasons 2-5)

Angel
Seasons 2 to 5
Starring David Boreanaz.
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: dvd box set

About Angel:

At the start of the series, Angel has just moved to Los Angeles. He is soon visited by Doyle, a messenger sent to him on behalf of The Powers That Be. Doyle receives visions that can guide Angel on his mission as a champion of humankind. Angel also encounters Cordelia Chase, who is trying to launch an acting career. The three group together to form Angel Investigations, a detective agency that hopes to "help the helpless." When Doyle dies in the episode "Hero", he passes on his 'visions' to Cordelia with a kiss. Shortly thereafter, the ex-Watcher, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, joins the group. Meanwhile, the evil law firm Wolfram & Hart pay increasing attention to Angel. They tempt him toward darkness when they resurrect Darla, Angel's ex-lover and sire — killed by Angel in the first season of Buffy in the episode "Angel".

Source: Info in the About Angel was taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_%28TV_series%29 on 25/02/2013.

Review:

I struggled with the first half of the first Season of the Angel show but because I haven't got any better to watch, I eventually got through the first Season. And by the end of Season 1 I was an Angel show fan. Despite the annoyances along the way, I continued to be an Angel show fan. Until almost to the end of Season 5, that was. Okey so good and evil is very flexible in this world which I think made the fantastical world of Angel more realistic in the sense that it mirrors very closely what is good and evil in us humans. This made the show easy to identify with by the audience which in turns draws more followers in which I was one of them. Some shows carry this ambiguous presentation of good and evil with aplomb and sometimes not. In the Angel show, the creators almost got away with it. But I think they tried too hard or something and the cracks were showing. That I didn't like. In fact it dialed down my Angel show fan-hood almost to nothing. In a way that was good and in a way it was not. It was good because there were no more Angel shows. It was bad because I would have rather keep my fantasy bubble. Anyway, The "cracks" first appeared when they tried too hard to make Cordellia one of the good guys and a bigger role. That didn't sold. It didn't tally that a selfish, superficial bitch could care that much for people she didn't know and could not give her money or anything else but pain and suffering which is what was suppose to be her motivator. There is a huge inconsistency in the character development there. Sure a person could change, but not that much. Not a 180 degrees turn around. No matter that Charisma Carpenter portrayed the character really well. Then the creators sort of contradicted themselves by taking out Lindsey McDonald as a bad guy in the end. As I recon it, Lindsey McDonald is more consistent to become good than Cordelia Chase ever did. And I was royally annoyed with that inconsistency! It burst my "fantasy bubble" which I would have preferred to keep. By the end of Season 5, I was not much of a fan anymore. I would say that the Angel show could have been made better if given the chance to continue into further seasons as a TV series rather than cut off abruptly but they way it is now, I would rate it a 3.5 out of 5.

Empirical Evaluation:
Cinematography = 3
Acting = 4
Character development = 3
Story itself = 3
World building = 4
Attention to detail = 3.5

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries

Review: TRUE BLOOD Season 5

True Blood Season 5
Starring Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, and Alexander Skarsgård.
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: DVD season box set

About True Blood Season 5:

The fifth season of the HBO supernatural drama series True Blood premiered on June 10, 2012 and features twelve episodes, bringing the series total to 60. It picks up right after the events of season four. It is loosely based on the fifth book in The Southern Vampire Mysteries series, Dead as a Doornail, but incorporates much more of the following books than the previous seasons have.

Source: Info in the About True Blood Season 5 was taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Blood_%28season_5%29 on 25/05/2013.

True Blood Season 5 Trailer:

My Thoughts:

I had to re-watch the last disc of Season 4 because the first disc of Season 5 did not make sense anymore. I have forgotten what happened in the show after waiting for so long for the dvd box set of Season 5. And my memories of the show and of the book series are getting mixed up and the two are not the same.

The season still ended in a cliffhanger of course but I was prepared for that so the disappointment in that arena isn't as keen as it used to be. With Season 4 I was disappointed with the show, however Season 5 restored my faith in the makers of the True Blood show that they could actually create a plot without relying on the characters to act stupid. There are still stupid scenes here and there but at least they are not as proliferated as it was in previous seasons, specifically, Season 4. But the stupidity is trumped up by the blissful several hours of enjoyment that I got from the dvd box set so am willing to overlook the stupid scenes. Plus the fact that the makers of the show obviously has superb 3D animation software and team which made the fantastical elements in the show come to life flawlessly and seamlessly through the screen! Kudos to the cinematographic team! All in all, Season 5 has restored my love of this show despite the disappointments and the stupids.

Empirical Evaluation:
Cinematography = 5
Character development = 4
Story itself = 4
Ending = 1.5
World building = 5
Attention to detail = 4
Plot = 4

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Sookie Stackhouse series:
The Sookie Stackhouse series is also otherwise known as The Southern Vampire Mysteries series are the books from which the show is based from.

Review: ANGEL (Season 1, Episodes 9 to Finale)

Angel
Season 1, Episode 9 to Season Finale
Starring David Boreanaz.
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: dvd box set

About Angel:

At the start of the series, Angel has just moved to Los Angeles. He is soon visited by Doyle, a messenger sent to him on behalf of The Powers That Be. Doyle receives visions that can guide Angel on his mission as a champion of humankind. Angel also encounters Cordelia Chase, who is trying to launch an acting career. The three group together to form Angel Investigations, a detective agency that hopes to "help the helpless." When Doyle dies in the episode "Hero", he passes on his 'visions' to Cordelia with a kiss. Shortly thereafter, the ex-Watcher, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, joins the group. Meanwhile, the evil law firm Wolfram & Hart pay increasing attention to Angel. They tempt him toward darkness when they resurrect Darla, Angel's ex-lover and sire — killed by Angel in the first season of Buffy in the episode "Angel".

Source: Info in the About Angel was taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_%28TV_series%29 on 25/02/2013.

Review:

I bought the 5 Seasons Angel dvd box set originally because I wanted more David Boreanaz goodness having been addicted to his Special Agent Seeley Booth character in the Bones TV show. At first I wasn't too keen on his Angel persona. But after Season 1, I was a convert. The Season still ended in a cliffhanger, of course, but I got 4 more Seasons to go! Yay for me!! So the disappointment is deterred for another day. It is still very obvious though that this show was filmed during the times before sophisticated 3D computer animation was widely used in television. Because I could distinctly see the difference. In what I could only term as "smoothness" in the blending of elements in the show, or transition from scene to scene or whatever, in television now-a-days. The absence of this "smoothness" is sometimes quite distinct in the Angel show at times. I think this "smoothness" is quite important specially in a fantasy show because it plays an important role in being extra convincing that the supernatural elements in the show is authentic and not plastic props. Helps the audience forget the props and therefore adds to the enjoyment in the watching experience. But then again we have to remember that this show was filmed more than ten years ago. We have to be fair and give them credit for a good job without the advanced technology that film-making enjoys now-a-days... I still have questions about the world building though but I am now willing to put those issues in the back burner for the pleasurable few hours that an Angel show offers!

Empirical Evaluation:
Cinematography = 4
Acting = 4
Character development = 3
Story itself = 4
World building = 4
Attention to details = 3.5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries