The Wizards of Aus

This series has the greatest opening of any web series ever!  A mountain fortress is being assaulted by hordes of orcs and goblins.  Blood and gore are everywhere.  A dragon takes flight from a nearby peak.  As the camera soars over the vast melee, it zooms in to show us a sassy female archer.  She stabs an orc in the eye with a pair of arrows before spinning around and planting those two arrows in a pair of approaching orcs.  Yeah, she's high level to be doing this.  Then she turns to find someone is arriving via teleport.  Friend or foe?  She aims an arrow.  It's Jack!  The archer offers sassy banter in the midst of battle.  What follows is awesome.

Tired of his life in the wizards' realm, Jack decided to migrate to... Melbourne, Australia.  With occasional flashbacks to his life in the wizards' realm, the series details Jack's efforts to adjust to life in Melbourne.  Of course, this is made quite difficult since his arch-nemesis, Skulldrich, has moved in next door in an effort to get him to return to the wizards' realm.  The constant, over-the-top villainy of Skulldrich is awesome.

The effects are amazingly good.  From the CGI to the makeup, it was all very professional.  The show even managed to get Guy Pearce to star in the first episode.  There are constant corny references to recent movies in the fantasy genre.  There is a scene with a deciding hat, Jack says he is glad he can get mail without being inundated by owls, there is a guy with a flaming skull in a leather jacket.  No, not Ghost Rider.  He is Ghost Writer.  Nice.  We have a Conan-like guy, a mummy who keeps talking about staring with Brendan Frasier in... Monkey Bone.  Jack himself is basically a young Gandalf, complete with pipe and floppy wizard's hat.  The show's conclusion is very strange and puts further episodes in doubt.  Even so, highly recommended for all the antics that preceded it.

 

Legend of the Seeker

I have discovered, thru Hulu, that there is a TV show based on a series of books by Terry Goodkind. The series is produced by the same team that did Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess. However, this is played seriously and the campiness has been left behind.

The show follows the efforts of Richard Cypher (Craig Horner), a good-hearted fellow who learns that he is the Seeker of Truth. Only a Seeker can wield the Sword of Truth which apparently grants great fighting prowess and a degree of immunity to magic (he can block wizard's fire like Luke Skywalker blocked Stormtrooper blaster fire). As he doesn't wear armor and has a talent for tracking and wilderness lore, he is clearly a ranger in the mold of Aragorn. He accompanied on his quest by Kahlan (Bridget Regan) the Confessor and Zed (Bruce Spence) the Wizard. Zed is a fairly typical wizard and hardly needs description; we all know what wizards do and Zed fits that quite well. Kahlan is sort of a Cleric though her magic is limited to one power: Confessing. By her touch, she can cause anyone to love her unconditionally and become a virtual slave. Worse, once confessed, the only way to regain free will is for the Confessor to die. Interesting power, especially since there is no resistance. Kahlan most often uses the power to convert an enemy into an ally who dies soon after as he turns to fight his former comrades. Mostly, Kahlan will fight with two weapons (daggers) and no armor. Why she is so skilled at such melee compared to professional soldiers is unclear.

The overarching quest is for Richard to kill Darken Rahl, a powerful wizard/sorcerer who seeks to conquer the world. This is all foretold in prophecy. Yeah, the plot is a bit stale but the execution is entertaining. Perhaps the most annoying feature of the show is that they all refuse to carry missile weapons. Richard is a skilled crossbowman but doesn't carry one with him. Why not? Another annoying thing is that Richard and party seem to have this notion of just marching up to Darken Rahl and fighting. Shouldn't you have a few troops before facing the armies of Rahl? Oddly, Rahl is always on the move to avoid assassins and Seekers, so the quest could go on a long time (3 or 4 seasons, easy).

 

Turns out it only lasted 2 seasons.  While watching the first season, I had a notion of reading Goodkind's books for more background but never did.  Bridget Regan recently had a great run as a villain in Agent Carter.  After seeing her as the white-clad brunette do-gooder in Seeker, it was a real switch to see her as a particularly nasty blonde Russian agent.  Definitely better as a villain.