There's good news and bad news for devoted Legend of the Seeker fans;while a third season of the show is being planned for,the current distributors(Tribune Station Group)are dropping it from their marketplaces. This means that ABC Studios,who produces the series,are scrambling about for a new place that the Seeker and friends can call home.
Understandably,many of the faithful viewers have been concerned about this and as one of them,my small contribution to the cause is in this tribute to the fan base by using fan created videos to show why LOTS is a wonderful fantasy series that rightfully deserves a strong time slot on any syndicated station for season three and beyond.
With the first season available on DVD and many of the current episodes online at Hulu,catching up on LOTS is easy enough but for those who haven't seen any of it as well as the already Confessed(pardon the inside joke),here are some of the key ingredients that make this show more than just another sword and sorcery stew:
STRONG WOMEN CHARACTERS: Despite the rough treatment that ladies receive in both the TV series and the Terry Goodkind Sword of Truth novels on which it was based,women on LOTS have shown their inner and outer strengths and prevailed on the battlefield and off.
While the slightly reformed former Mord Sith Cara(well played by Tabrett Bethell and one of my favorite characters)has gotten more screen time this season,the ultimate woman warrior of LOTS is Kahlan Amnell,the Confessor who loves her duty to save the world as much as she loves Richard and yet still manages to hold on to hope and honor,despite what ever challenges are thrown her way:
DOOMED ROMANCE: Along with various quests to save their world from evil,the main barrier between Richard Cypher and his beloved Kahlan is her Confessor powers that would destroy his free will which keeps the two of them from following their hearts and running off into the sunset together.
Granted,this latest take on the "will they/won't they" romance is a tried and true cliche standard yet with the charming chemistry between the actors(Craig Horner and Bridget Regan),this love affair at arm's length has a fresh vibrancy to it and honestly tugs at your heart strings as you root for those two crazy kids to make it work:
AWESOME ACTION: It would be foolish to act as if LOTS was all about hearts and flowers when some of the best sequences on the show are the fights,many of which rival any action packed major motion picture Hollywood has to offer up with or without 3-D.
The most memorable combat scenes on LOTS are those that mix magic with hand to hand fighting,giving the outcome of the attack the opportunity for numerous plot twists and turns. The combination of spells with a variety of fighting techniques is pure pop culture catnip. Why Quentin Tarantino hasn't tried to direct one of these episodes yet is a mystery to me,folks:
THE VERY BEST AT BEING BAD: Every great hero has to have a villain worth fighting and Legend of the Seeker has them in abundance. Whether they are ultimate Big Bads,such as this season's Keeper of the Underworld,or occasionally reoccurring foes like the witch Shota or Denna,the first Mord Sith mistress that Richard ever tangled with,evil has been rather well represented here and has at times, been devilishly entertaining.
One of the most popular villains was Season one's Big Bad,Darken Rahl who vowed to rule all of the Midlands by hook,crook and dark magic galore. As played by Craig Parker,Rahl is a cruelly charming fiend who many love to hate even now in the second season where he has become an undead ally in the current conflict that threatens to destroy all life on earth. While the Sisters of the Dark are no slouchers in the sinister doings department,it's still Darken Rahl that gives us shivers down our spine:
HEARTFELT HUMOR: Unlike previous fantasy series such as Hercules and Xena,Legend of the Seeker holds a firmer balance between straightforward seriousness and a sense of humor that helps to lighten up the tension when necessary. Nothing against campy fun but it can dilute the suspension of disbelief factor that a show like this needs to keep things in focus.
While fans who watched the show before or not having read the books and readers who joined in to see how the small screen adaptation would work disagree on numerous details,they both share a sincere and savvy love of the genre that allows them to have a laugh at some of the typical tropes that crop up on a regular basis:
My thanks to all of the fans who created these funtastic salutes to the series and hopefully the Save Our Seeker campaign will help the show from becoming a fantasy flash in the pan. Good escapist entertainment is harder to find than you think these days and showing your support for a small show like this is vital to it's survival. With any luck and a lot of fan love,Legend of the Seeker may yet continue to thrive on the TV landscape for many seasons to come:
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