Magic swords, beautiful enchantresses, approaching darkness, sweeping landscapes, white bearded wizards, it`s all been done before. Yet the first season of The Legend of the Seeker makes a lot of it feel fresh with a blast of humor, largely excellent visuals and characters that are fun to connect with.
Based on The Sword of Truth series of books by Terry Goodkind, The Legend of the Seeker tells the story of Richard Cypher (Craig Horner), a most conveniently named young man who is the would-be hero of an ancient prophecy declaring him the savior of man from the evil Darken Rahl (Craig Parker). Cypher is dubbed the Seeker, the last hope to stop darkness from enslaving humanity. He`s joined on his journey by Zedd (Bruce Spence), a master magician, and Kahlan (Bridget Regan), a beautiful enchantress warrior sworn to protect the Seeker.
Much of the season follow Cypher and company and they gallivant through the familiar fantasy countryside of New Zealand (many shots have a striking resemblance to those in The Lord of the Rings trilogy) looking for magical objects and fulfilling the destiny of the Seeker. Cypher and Kahlan share much sexual tension, but there`s enough of a back story to both of them to ensure that even the obvious isn`t easy. As a general rule, I`m not a fan of foretold destinies when it comes to stories. Can something get any less predictable? But what The Legend of the Seeker does is that it makes the journey interesting so as to bypass some of the easy plot points the storytelling device creates.
I`m sure there`s a cliché out there about how a hero can only be as good as his arch nemesis. In the case of Darken Rahl, there weren`t a lot of glimpses into his truly dark side. Most of the time it was simply a matter of the good guys saying he was evil that made him evil. But look at entertainment`s greatest villains and you can single out individual moments in their darkness that make them so memorable. The Witch in The Wizard of Oz chases after a dog, Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader blow up an inhabited planet, Hannibal Lecter licks his lips. It`s not until one of the final episodes of the season where Darken Rahl gives a classic bad guy moment of his own involving a small pet. By then, though, the flow and feel of the season`s primary story is already plowing forward and heading towards its climax. It`s too little too late for this bad guy.
In fact, some of the secondary villains are more interesting than Darken Rahl. Specifically, the clan of fetish queens Mord`Sith bring about more danger and personality to the conflict. They`re more than their powers. There`s a human side to their torturous ways that makes them seem more threatening and darker than the leader who makes decisions from afar.
Given the look, feel and tone of the show, it shouldn’t be a surprise that amongst its producers are Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert, who were also responsible for making Xena: Warrior Princess. Both shows use medieval magic, action and comedy to create light-hearted and dramatic worlds in which anything can happen. My hope is that with The Legend of the Seeker is that the characters continue to grow, bigger enemies emerge and that the subplots don’t turn into a soap opera. At times during season one, it walked the line of going to melodramatic with its plot points but it managed to get through them. The Legend of the Seeker proves to be a fun show with a little bit of everything.
Legend of the Seeker: The Complete First Season DVD Review
The first season’s 22 episodes are spread over five discs in The Legend of the Seeker: The Complete First Season. Each episode is shown in a beautiful widescreen format (1.78:1 aspect ratio) with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround English audio. Subtitles are also offered in French and Spanish. Bonus features include four episodes with commentaries from cast and crew, a behind-the scenes featurette, an interview with author Terry Goodkind and eight deleted scenes.
