From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V7 #201 Reply-To: chakram-refugees@smoe.org Sender: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk chakram-refugees-digest Monday, August 25 2008 Volume 07 : Number 201 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [chakram-refugees] new Raimi fantasy series, Legend of the Seeker [KLOSSN] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:18:04 EDT From: KLOSSNER9@aol.com Subject: [chakram-refugees] new Raimi fantasy series, Legend of the Seeker Variety, Aug. 4, 2008, p. 15, has an article on Legend of the Seeker, a new sword fantasy series from Ted Raimi. Seeking Syndie Gold Raimi, Disney Look to Revive Fantasy Genre by Sam Thielman "Once upon a time, way back in the mid-1990s, there were elves, spaceships -- even dragons if the budget was big enough. And a magical kingdom called syndicated television was ruled by fantasy fare like "Xena: Warrior Princess," "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" and sci-fi shows like "Andromeda." Less than a decade ago, though, critical foreign markets for these shows vanished. ... But Sam Raimi thinks it's time to roll the dice again, and the helmer- producer is betting on a new-school swords-and sorcery skein, Disney ABC-Domestic's "Legend of the Seeker." Based on Terry Goodkind's bestselling "Sword of Truth" novesl (the 11th and final volume came out last year), the show is set to premiere in November on stations in 95% of the country, including all the top 50 markets. ... Producer Ned Nalle (who, like Raili, worked on "Xena" and "Hercules") says the combined nerdity of Raimites and Goodkindians is a force to be reckoned with. "People wanted to hug Sam at Comic-Con -- they remember him from 'Evil Dead,'" recalls Nalle, who teamed with Raimi and Goodkind to host an event promoting the series in San Diego. "I think we had 1,000 people in the room at our presentation, and a lot of them had read not just one book, but the entire set." Nalle says ABC Studios (which is producing the show) has given them network-sized production budgets for the 22 episodes. Accordingly, the show will be well- stocked with special effects and heavy on action sequences. To offset that cost, "Seeker" is cast with unknowns and literally follows in the footsteps of "Lord of the Rings"; Raimi is of shooting on the same New Zealand hills and vales that Peter Jackson used for Mordor and the Shire. Shot in HD - a syndie premiere first -- the show will follow four characters from the twisting plot paths of Goodkind's novels, with Craig Horner and Bridget Regan in the lead roles as Richard Cypher and Kahlan. "They're going to get into adventures that are both literally from the books, and others that are invented by head writer Ken Biller and his staff, who are very well-steeped in this genre," says Nalle. "None of us believe we should be doing anything but closed-ended stories, so you won't have to see episode six to enjoy episode 13." Enthusiasm aside, all this money and effort adds up to significant risk: Nobody in syndication has even dipped a toe in the fantasy TV pool since Jackson and that Harry Potter kid started raising the bar for special effects.... "There's risk with everything, but nothing has really worked as well on those stations since 'Xena" stopped playing there," Nalle says. (End of review quote.) Note some Variety slang terms -- "syndie" is syndicated TV, "helmer" is director, "skein" is a TV series. Using unknowns for series stars worked pretty well for Raimi in Xena and Hercules. But he invented those series from scratch (or rather from oddments of old Hercules movies). This series will be based on published novels. Readers of novels usually want a film/TV experience to be exactly the same as the books. Raimi may find that Godkind fans are even more demanding and critical than Xena fans used to be. Boeotian **************It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your travel deal here. (http://information.travel.aol.com/deals?ncid=aoltrv00050000000047) ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ End of chakram-refugees-digest V7 #201 **************************************