Realmscapes

Legend of the Seeker, Season 1 (2009)

The last time fans saw a true fantasy series on network TV was the "Action Pack" block featuring Hercules and Xena. But unlike those two shows, Seeker takes itself seriously and had an excellent budget for each episode resulting is a very slick production.

Legend of the Seeker is based on Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" book series--a series known for its explicit sexuality and gruesome violence. To be fair, those two elements aside, the series is uncompromising in its depiction of good and evil, which is refreshing in a world dominated by grey tones in just about everything.

Unfortunately for Goodkind, I am not at all in favor of reading an articulation of a rape in progress, nor that of the act of a man commanded to take a young girl's virginity and how to do it (we get to read the act taking place as well). Thus, Mr. Goodkind's Wizard's First Rule is a member of a very exclusive club, which has very few members: The Radke's "Books Fit For (and Thus Thrown Into) the Rubbish".

Thankfully, the show is all the best characterization and good/evil of the book series with very little of the sexuality; the violence is pretty toned down too (but I never had much problem with violence so long as it was for a purpose and within its proper context).

Right. So my wrestling hero once said something to the extent: "In order to have a successful good guy you have to have a great bad guy." This show epitomizes that truth in storytelling. Craig Parker as the main villain, "Darken Rahl", is superb and deserved award recognition; Bruce Spence plays "Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander", a powerful wizard with quite the interesting sense of humour; rounding out the supporting cast (and my favorite character) is Bridget Regan as the Confessor, "Kahlan Amnell"--her skill with just two daggers in a fight is some of the best choreographed fighting I have ever seen.

The show takes casualties as appropriate, anchors itself to a solid moral base, and writes some pretty interesting twists into the various episodes--which means the writers are conscious to avoid cliches that too-often plagues this genre. Rare for an American production (which technically is shot entirely in New Zealand), the first season wastes little time in establishing the danger that the evil truly presents to the band of heroes and is (overall) the benefit of solid writing as the rule rather than the exception.

GRADE: A

(Favorite episodes include "Prophecy/Destiny", "Listener", "Denna", "Puppeteer", "Sacrifice", "Conversion", "Bloodline", "Fever", and "Reckoning")

MI-5, Season 1 (2002)

One thing I love about British TV is that they get right to it. I have never watched a British TV series that pulled punches for a season or two while they figure out a formula. They're all in starting with episode one, and their audience better be too.

The MI-5 series (titled Spooks in the UK) follows a section of the Brit version of our FBI. Matthew Macfadyen as the series lead agent, Tom Quinn, is fantastic; Peter Firth as the section's barb chief is brilliant. The supporting cast are all superb.

Some episodes are steeped in British culture and can be a bit murky to follow. But you'll always get the gist of the situation. If you want to know what to expect from the series, episode two "Looking After Our Own" will give you a clear bell picture. Follow the season's subplot involving Tom's "family life" to the season's finale, "Lesser of Two Evils", and you'll never assume anything about the series again.. except definitely these three:

1. Villains are villains. They don't play nice. They can't be bartered with, and they don't give a flick if you understand them or not. They want to win and they want their enemies either on a slab or in a carry-out box. Evil stays evil. Learn it, and live it as truth.

Gosh.. how sad is it to say that this is so refreshing? So much American TV and film has turned into the greatest art exhibit of the color grey. The first few seasons of 24 operated like MI-5, and then they blinked when the leftist culture caught onto the show around Season 4.

2. Responsibility. MI-5 pushes this in your face so you understand that choices mean something in life. Bad choices equal bad results--end results not just those in-between. And choices don't always equal "survive" even when the choice is the right one and "victory" is declared in the battle.

3. Mr. Miyagi said it, and this show proves his words, about walking on a road. Walk on left side, safe. Walk right side, safe. Walk middle? Sooner or later you will be *squish*, just like grape. That is the reality of life, and MI-5 goes one step further than Miyagi: there is a right and wrong side of the street to walk.

Make a decision about what side your on and stick with it. Or fully change sides if your information changes. But if you straddle the fence not only do you go *squish* but you're definitely going to take other people with you.

There are likely others but these are the three that stood out to me most during these six episodes. I can't recommend "Lesser of Two Evils" enough times--it might be the hardest and truest episode of any TV series I've ever watched. It's 100% fact, and it's best served within the context of the other five episodes and the realities of modern historical events such as Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Britain, Nazism and Communism, and Septermber 11th.

MI-5 is a show that could only be produced from a country with over 1800 years of recorded history. That experience is as valuable as a nation's democratic constitution if said nation wants to survive. The show also has a few things to say to the Christian community. Millions of Chrsitians already know the things referred to in the episode, and the millions that should know them are ironically the ones that will probably never see a minute of a series like this.

GRADE: A+

(This series is a regular streaming option on Netflix.)

Christianity: A History, Parts 1-4 (2009)

The UK's Channel 4 aired an eight-part documentary on the history of Christianity in January and February of this year. More accurately, it is eight chronological commentaries on Christian history. The commentaries of the first four parts are written by a "cultural" Jewish authour/journalist, a non-practicing Catholic and former British Defense Minister (under John Major), an African-Caribbean Christian theologian, and a Muslim former BBC correspondent covering the Iraqi front on the War on Terror. All commentators are British citizens so the documentary is wholly written for a British audience.

One should be warned that where it may be interesting to see a history of the Christian religion presented in this way, the commentators are fully allowed to editorialize their views in the documentary. The result is sometimes a cynical if not outright critical view of the Christian faith--or at least the Catholic tradition of it. And that is another note I would like to make: in the first four parts, anyway, Christianity = Catholicism; there is scant mention of Protestantism, and when the narrators speak with clergy it is usually Catholic. So in a sense, the first half of this doc is more a criticism of the Catholic Church than the whole Christian community.. but that doesn't always soften the blows.

Here I review and grade the written content of the first four parts. At present, you can view the entire series on YouTube in High Quality. I watched it on my 32" HDTV and it looked marvelous. Despite the criticisms within the various parts, the production values are outstanding. There is very little one can say about seeing the Holy Land, Vatican architecture, and 7th Century English landscapes in widescreen even while the narrator may be criticizing the history. (It must have looked breathtaking in HD, if it was broadcast that way.) If you can get past some of the commentary, then I highly recommend this documentary for its aesthetic feast for the eyes and ears.

24: Day 7 (2009)

This was Kas and my first foray into the world of 24. (It technically started when we caught the special TV film, 24: Redemption.) Whatever criticisms the show had from recent seasons, "Day 7" had to have redeemed itself.

24 is the kind of show that is must-see TV for Americans. It should be screened in high schools to help our teens understand the 21st Century world. Yes, post-9/11 world as well, but terrorism is really not a new phenomenon in this country. The difference between 9/11 and, say, the 1993 attacks was that 9/11 happened live on our TV sets; it was reality TV that unfortunately was not scripted or in a controlled environment. And it did not have an ending where only a few dozen people were affected.

Additionally, 24 brings the political debates that are part of the War on Terror into sharp focus. At the start of the show, Jack Bauer is facing a Senate Committee to answer for the various methods he has used an agent in the now defunct Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTU) branch of the CIA. During the show, Jack soberly accepts the hearing as necessary so that the American people can be presented with the truth of his actions and decide for themselves if he (and the hundreds of agents like him) are out of line ethically or legally, and it us understood that Jack has no regrets.

In the current political climate where major elected officials, including U.S. Presidents, are debating these same questions, the whole show effectively presents the case of all those fighting terrorism to the viewer honestly and intelligently, as well as the case of those who firmly believe that the law cannot be bent even one millimeter. The show's writers leave up to you to decide who presents the best case for their argument. Jack presents his case to a fictitious Senator well--the same Senator who grills him at the start of the season--when he confronts the Senator about his politicizing of fighting a terrorist threat. His retort, "You, sir, are unwilling or unable to look evil in the eye and deal with it!" could be one leveled at several of our elected representatives...too many.

24 is not just about terrorism. It is also about life choices, and the characters of 24 are all faced with on-the-spot decisions that not only affect them but thousands of people--people that these characters may never meet. 24 gives people--of all walks of life, not just the political--the opportunity to be heroes and re-enforces that we all have the strength to commit selfless acts when faced with them. It also reminds that those selfless choices do not always end well for the hero. In relation to the previous paragraph, 24 reveals the result of these choices and therein also reminds us that we are all responsible for our choices, whether their result is seen immediately or over many years.

GRADE: A+

P.S. Oh, and 24 is also fun: there are several cool cameos by such stars as Tony Todd (Star Trek series, Stargate-SG1, Hercules), Peter Wingfield (Highlander), William O'Leary (Home Improvement), and Connor Trinneer (Star Trek: Enterprise, Stargate: Atlantis).