"Shannara" Series Comes To Film

dafloppyone · 8 Jun 2007 at 10:41

Warner Bros. Pictures plans to turn Terry Brooks' best-selling "Shannara" fantasy series into a film franchise reports the trades.

The Shannara series is set a millenum in the future in a post-apocalyptic Earth populated by elves, trolls, gnomes and dwarves.

The Shannara family is a half-Elf, half-man clan with magical abilities and warrior skills who must save the world.

Politics and war are waged using magic with a backdrop of the skeletal remains of skyscrapers and subways.

Brooks has written fourteen books in the series starting with "The Sword of Shannara" in 1977, but the second book "The Elfstones of Shannara" will kick off the film series and writers are presently being sought to adapt.
http://www.darkhorizons.com/contact.php

loopstah · 8 Jun 2007 at 10:46

I really hope we get a lord of the rings style film of this, and not some half witted badly thought out hack job.

Dano · 8 Jun 2007 at 10:54

Nice to see something other than endless remakes

Docaroo · 8 Jun 2007 at 20:26

ahh YES this could actually be awesome...

or they might totally **** it up.... i really hope they don't though

SteveOBHave · 30 Jul 2007 at 13:42

14 books!!!! Surely the story can't be so long as to fit in 14 books????

Shamikebab · 30 Jul 2007 at 14:02

glad they're starting with elfstones, sword of shannara was the worst lord of the rings rip off ever, im surprised he wasn't sued. I think the Jerle Shannara and Heritage of Shannara trilogiy/quadrilogy are the best books.

Shamikebab · 30 Jul 2007 at 14:03

SteveOBHave said:
14 books!!!! Surely the story can't be so long as to fit in 14 books????

how about discworld? its not really one story, its several trilogies that have interconnecting elements and a few characters in common.

Werewolf · 30 Jul 2007 at 14:58

Shannara, if done well and true to the books could be very good (LOTR style), if done badly it could be dire/bare no more than a passing resemblance to the stories (I Product Placement)

As for 14 books, that includes from memory something like 3 or 4 main stories that share the same setting and some of the characters (set over the space of several hundred years).

It's not too uncommon for some authors to do epic stories that last 5-10 books, if they get the story/characters/world right they can easily pull it off (Eddings and the Balgariad for example, the main stories run for 5 books a piece, then you've got 3 or 4 additional books that tell the story from the viewpoint of additional major characters or additional sidestory/backstory).
Asimov did it over the space of something like 50 years and 20 books.

It's also worth remembering that sometimes an author starts off wanting to do say 2-3 books at 600 pages, but the publisher and editor can insist on splitting the story into more parts for marketing/practical purposes (it's easier to sell a 400 page book at a fiver, than a 600 page one at £7).

gurusan · 30 Jul 2007 at 15:26

Series usually have lots of books...I'm reading Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series and am on book 8 of 11....and they aren't small books....most are around 800 pages actually.

Anyway this looks interesting...maybe I'll pick up the first of the Shannara books next.

Phoenix211 · 30 Jul 2007 at 16:43

there are a few series for 14 books. The first series is 3 books following shea and flick ohmsford in the first book, then sheas grandson will in the second and then jair and brin in the third book.

the second series contains 4 books with par and coll ohmsford being the main characters over the four books. they are decendants of jair and it all links up to the first series from that point, although set a long time into the future.

Its such a good set of books, would really make an excellent film. The second series being better for a film adaption I would say!

marl · 30 Jul 2007 at 18:38

Shamikebab said:
glad they're starting with elfstones, sword of shannara was the worst lord of the rings rip off ever, im surprised he wasn't sued. I think the Jerle Shannara and Heritage of Shannara trilogiy/quadrilogy are the best books.

Yeah it sure was a rip-off! However, i remember reading it and thought it was gripping as a story, and much much preferred it to Lord of The Rings!

Shamikebab · 30 Jul 2007 at 23:17

I think the problem with Terry Brooks i that although his world is very interesting, his characters aren't, they're often very one dimensional and some of the characters in the later books are almost identical to the ones in the earlier ones. Not to mention the obligatory Gandalf character.

My favourite character in the books was Walker Boh, the first character that really stood out to me and had a little more to him than 'i come from a small village, time to save the world'

The ilse witch was very good as well.

Mana · 31 Jul 2007 at 02:48

OMG OMG!!!!!

does anyone remember a character called Garet Jax? that dude was a bad mofo in the books!

Garet Jax is a fictional character from Terry Brooks' fantasy novel The Wishsong of Shannara. He is known as the Weapons Master, and it is said that no matter what weapon you choose, even your hands and feet, Garet Jax is better with it. He claims to have never lost a fight, and all who have seen him fight stand by that statement. He is seeking the one opponent who can finally defeat him in a battle.

elfstones was a great book, cant wait!

Shamikebab · 31 Jul 2007 at 09:53

Mana said:
OMG OMG!!!!!

does anyone remember a character called Garet Jax? that dude was a bad mofo in the books!

Garet Jax is a fictional character from Terry Brooks' fantasy novel The Wishsong of Shannara. He is known as the Weapons Master, and it is said that no matter what weapon you choose, even your hands and feet, Garet Jax is better with it. He claims to have never lost a fight, and all who have seen him fight stand by that statement. He is seeking the one opponent who can finally defeat him in a battle.

elfstones was a great book, cant wait!

oh yeah he was awesome id forgotten about him

i love the way they form a fellowship with representatives from elves, dwarves, men and the common person from a little village with a big destiny
. Then they go on this journey, which involves going underground as they cant get over the mountain, the fellowship is of course led by a larger than life figure shrouded in mystery. The big bad lives in a realm of ash with rivers that will poison you and 'wraiths' under his dominion that badger the fellowship at every step.

Now am i describing LOTR or Sword of Shannara?

Pumpkinstew · 31 Jul 2007 at 13:14

I think it's generally accepted that the Sword of Shannara was a modern retelling/ wholesale rip off of Lord of the Rings.

After a few novels though some genuinely new and interesting characters and locations began to appear. Paranor, Allanon, Walker Boh, the Stors and so on.
I think a new story set in the Sahnnara world would work best as a screenplay. Trying to mash about 1200 pages of novel into 120-150 minutes of film probably isn't feasible.