Fantasy and dumb-ass narrative sensibility don't need to be mutually exclusive, which is something Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert proved nearly effortlessly with their Hercules and Xena series. Those two shows were fantasy all the way, with sword-wielding demons, civilization-dooming prophecies and ghosts and ghouls from beyond and outside the grave, but they weren't afraid of a fart joke or an excuse to get Lucy Lawless into an even tighter top than usual. What made the world of those shows so infectious (especially Xena) was that just because they were fantastical didn't mean that they were rigidly so.
Legend of the Seeker is rigid, unbending fantasy, and if this Complete First Season box set proves anything, it's that Tapert and Raimi should have let their dumb-ass sensibilities come through a bit more. This series adaptation of Terry Goodkind's popular novels (The Sword of Truth) may have to follow its source material more sternly than Hercules ever had to, but while it's easy to get pulled into the otherworldly wonder of this new and inventive place in every episode, Legend of the Seeker ends up not being as much fun as it should be.
Our story takes place in a world where a baddie tsar-esque ruler, Darken Rahl (Craig Parker) decides to extend the reaches of his bloody reign at the expense of innocent lives and territory. One of the places he wants under his dark spell the most is called The Midlands, which is guarded by a collection Confessors. And see, there's a prophecy that there is a person referred to in scripture as The Seeker who just might be able to save the world from Rahl's gruesome grip, so Confessor Kahlan Amnell (Bridget Regan) heads off to figure out if there's any legitimacy to this stuff, and on the way she meets up with this Seeker, Richard Cypher (Craig Horner), and his wizard trainer Zeddicus (Bruce Spence), and The Legend of the Seeker chronicles their journeys through the lands against their enemy.
For fantasy-lovers, this one's probably an easy sale - this writer is far more capable of forgiving bad science fiction than he is for forgiving bad fantasy - but while I found the universe of The Legend of the Seeker immersive enough, I wanted more out of this show. Sure, there are some fun moments - Confessors have the ability to take control of another person for a period of time, which makes for some good gags - but for the most part, this Complete First Season set showcases a series that is interestingly fantastical, but not quite endearingly so.
It's easy to sit through once, but may not hold much in terms of repeat entertainment.
