The Shannara Chronicles
Season 1 Episode 1: “Chosen: Part 1″
Directed by Jonathan Leibesman
Written by Terry Brooks (novel), Alfred Gough, and Miles Millar
Starring Poppy Drayton, Austin Butler, Ivana Baquero, Manu Bennett, John Rhys-Davies, Aaron Jakubenko, Emilia Burns, Mattias Inwood, Daniel MacPherson, Ella Rouhier, Marcus Vanco, and Brooke Williams
MTV
Air Date: Tuesday, January 5, 2016, 10pm

There has been a fair amount of buzz surrounding MTV’s The Shannara Chronicles, particularly since the show’s panel and trailer release at New York Comic-Con this past October. The premiere is finally here and I have a spoiler-lite look at Part 1 of the first episode, Chosen, for you here.

Starting with the very first scene, we are shown the grand scale of a magical, post-human world. Helicopters, towers, and buildings are in ruins, but have been in this state for quite some time, with layers of moss and green vines covering them.

Fans were formally introduced to MTV’s The Shannara Chronicles in a panel at New York Comic-Con on Saturday. The official trailer was shown to the audience by author Terry Brooks (writer of the bestselling novels on which the show is based), and executive producers Al Gough, Jonathan Liebesman, and Miles Millar. Not present were executive producers Jon Favreau and Dan Farah.

The trailer has now been released for our viewing pleasure, and you can watch it here below!

Last month we shared the short film Black Angel, which was made by Star Wars and Alien Academy Award winner and nominee Roger Christian. The short was chosen by George Lucas to play before his sequel The Empire Strikes Back, and then was lost for three decades before resurfacing recently and being restored.

When the short was shared Christian mentioned an exciting announcement coming at the start of this month, and, as expected, that announcement is that he wants to make a feature-length version of Black Angel. And to do so, he’s turning to crowdfunding for fan support. He even already has some cast in place, which includes the great John Rhys-Davies and Rutger Hauer.

You can read more about the project and see a video of Christian talking about the project below.

The Lord Of The Rings – The Return Of The King: Extended Edition
Blu-ray
Directed by Peter Jackson
Starring Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, and Sean Astin
New Line Home Video
Release Date: August 28, 2012

You can read Dr. Geek, Ph.D’s review of The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy Extended Edition from July 2011 here.

“The battle of Helm’s Deep is over; the battle for Middle-Earth is about to begin.”

In Jean-Luc Godard’s 1965 film Pierrot le Fou the late filmmaking giant Samuel Fuller, a legendary purveyor of uncompromising dramas and adventures that were not afraid of journeying into the darkest realms of the human soul, said, “Film is like a battleground. Love. Hate. Action. Violence. In one word…emotion.” Though he was making a cameo in a movie instead of granting an interview that brief speech perfectly summed up Fuller’s philosophy of cinema, a philosophy that is alive and well in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the third and final installment in one of the most thrilling epic trilogies in motion picture history.

The Lord Of The Rings – The Two Towers: Extended Edition
Blu-ray
Directed by Peter Jackson
Written by Peter Jackson, Phillipa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair, and Fran Walsh; based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien
Starring Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, and Sean Astin
New Line Home Video
Release Date: August 28, 2012

You can read Dr. Geek, Ph.D’s review of The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy Extended Edition from July 2011 here.

When you take a look back at some of the greatest second chapters in motion picture trilogies of all time like The Empire Strikes Back, The Godfather Part II, and (my personal favorite) Evil Dead II it is easy to understand why so many turn out vastly superior to their originals. Since most trilogies use their first story to act as set-up for almost everything that happens next the second is where things really start to take off. In successful film franchises it is also in the second installment where events begin to take darker turns, characters are forced to traverse a metaphorical – and sometimes literal – Hell to reach their personal Heaven, and the endings are very rarely happy or even conclusive.

Because the creators of the series – from the screenwriters to the studio executives with control over the green light to the bravura director and producer(s) who must assemble a crack team of actors and technicians to bring their mutual vision roaring to life – believe that the audiences who made the first movie a smashing success are invested in the ongoing narrative to the point where they will follow it wherever the filmmakers desire. Thus they are granted license to put their beloved characters through a series of traumatizing physical and psychological journeys where the only optimistic outcome is to survive to fight another day, nothing more.