by Kristopher Chambers

Created on: November 04, 2008   Last Updated: November 15, 2008

I've never read Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth novels, in fact I had never heard of them until The Legend of the Seeker was beginning production, but the chance to watch a series based on a fantasy universe I had never seen before was too good to pass up. I think it's a great luxury to be able to go into something like this blind, because it keeps you from having too many expectations going in, and allows you to focus on what the film or show is, instead of what it should be.

I was, however, slightly cautious from the start. In the wake of the Writers Guild Strike, cinema and TV shows have taken a serious blow in quality, and production companies have been churning out more and more failed remakes and thin adaptations that just aren't enjoyable to watch. Worse yet, this is fantasy, a genre that is particularly hard to pull off well on screen.

In any case, the chance to see a new fantasy story excited me, and I marked my calender for the day it was scheduled to air.

Unfortunately, as I was soon to learn, I really shouldn't have bothered.

Let me be very clear from the start that The Legend of the Seeker is not a bad production. Special effects are good, the story is alright, the acting is acceptable, if a little melodramatic, and they had the money to shoot in New Zealand so the backgrounds are gorgeous. The big problem I have with it is that it's all been DONE before.

I'll give you a simple rundown. If you went into this review hoping to avoid spoilers, well, you're out of luck. Sorry.

Every so often a Seeker (capital S) is born, a holy warrior destined to fight a great Evil (capital E). A Seeker is aided by a mysterious sisterhood called the Confessors (Capital C), a group of Magical Persons that take holy vows... and beyond that I wasn't too clear on what they did.

Alright, this isn't too bad so far, even if it does sound a little bit like a gender swapped medieval Buffy the Vampire Slayer. After all, Holy Warriors who arise in times of trouble to save the day are common in all sorts of cultures, I get that. However, let's keep going.

Twenty years ago, a Bad Man named Darken Rahl (yes, the villain's name actually is DARKEN) came to power, and a seer told him that a child born in such and such a town would become the next Seeker and destroy him, so the tyrant sent his goons out to raise the village and kill everyone there. Of course, a Wise Old Man managed to spirit the child out of the town, and take him to a remote place far away from the kingdom, to be raised by

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