The EMP Museum in Seattle, Washington is holding exclusive screenings of The Shannara Chronicles for the next few weeks (December 21st through January 4th) leading up to the television premiere on January 5th. There will be two screenings each day included with museum admission.
I was lucky enough to get an invite to the Seattle premiere on Sunday night with Terry Brooks and his wife, Judine. I feel very honored to have been invited to an event that was predominantly attended by Brooks’ friends, family, and colleagues. I will say that attending a TV show premiere with the friends and family of the creator is the way to go–there was plenty of ribbing and joking and exactly what you’d expect if all your close friends were watching your TV show premiere with you.
As many fans probably know, Brooks wrote the novelization of The Phantom Menace, and, despite the films almost universal disdain, Brooks’ version is actually held in high regards. And it was a lesson he learned from George Lucas while working on Star Wars that he took to heart for the Shannara TV series–trust the writers, who are fans and geeks just like the rest of us, to create something fans will love. While we probably all agree that Lucas didn’t actually service the fans with the prequels, his letting go and trusting is what resulted in The Force Awakens (in my opinion the best Star Wars film to date), and it is that same trust in the creators that makes The Shannara Chronicles (in my opinion) something that the fans will really enjoy.
One of the other GeekDads, who has been a lifelong fan, will be doing an episode by episode review of the series when it airs, so I don’t want to go into any details here, but I will say that I am an excited new fan of Shannara thanks to the show. It’s refreshing to see two of the four main characters be not only female, but very well-written and strong female leads. Although some of the shots and soundtrack felt a little too “MTV” for my tastes as the premiere started, the amazingly beautiful visuals, the strong cast and characterization, and the world building in the premiere have me hooked, and I can’t wait for future episodes.
I will note that The Shannara Chronicles is definitely not family friendly due to quite a bit of gory violence. There is not any explicit nudity or bad language though, so the age appropriateness really just comes down to your child’s ability to handle the violence and the scariness of the demons and trolls.
I just heard about this(actually saw an ad the other day), and I’ve only read the first couple of books many many years ago.
Assuming all things being equal, what age range would you recommend as a minimum for viewing?
Good question! Since I have nothing but a two-year-old, my frame of reference is probably not the best at guessing the best age. At least in the premiere episode, other than the potentially scary demons and the graphic gore, there’s not much else to avoid. There’s no bad language, nudity, sex, or drug use (the things that usually get flagged). So I’d say it’s really up to parents to determine how their child does with blood and gore and scary creatures. For my own son, I’d probably keep him away from the show until he’s at least 10.
Thanks for the reply. My daughter is 9, so I may preview the first few episodes and go from there.
My son is 10 and he wandered in during one of the vision scenes with demons and I won’t lie, it freaked him out. Since demons (a few in particular) play such a central role in the books and show I would not personally recommend it for under 12 or 13. The show has done a phenomenal job on the demons and even I find them very freaky. And I’m old!
Will, you should have the GeekDad who is going to do the episode reviews reach out to me! I’m doing the same for GeekMom. We could do a live Tweet or something for one of the episodes or something
Did we watch the same show? Yes, there was nudity, and there were at least three cuss words. But it is visually stunning and at least sticks to the main plot points of the book.