Here’s five new images to promote episode 16 of Legend of the Seeker, ‘Bloodline’ (airdate 21/03/2009).   

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Jessica Marais as the Mord Sith 'Denna' in Legend of the Seeker

Here’s the promo trailer to the next episode of Legend of the Seeker. From the trailer it looks like we’ll see the return of excellent Australian actress Jessica Marais, who last appeared as the Mord Sith in episode 8, ‘Denna’ -- one of the best episodes of the series so far.

Legend of the Seeker: 1.16 Bloodline

If you’re not sure what time Legend of the Seeker airs in your area, visit the official website and check the channel listing here:
http://www.legendoftheseeker.org/tv-guide/

Legend of the Seeker is consistently enjoyable and this week’s episode, ‘Conversion’, further reinforced why I love this series.  ‘Conversion’ was quite a pivotal episode for it was the first time in the series in which the Seeker (Craig Horner) comes face to face with his nemesis, Darken Rahl (Craig Parker).  Whilst I want to jump straight into my opinion of this epic moment -- and the amazing magic battle scene that followed it -- first a story recap is necessary.  There’s plenty of spoilers in this article, so if you haven’t seen this episode I recommend don’t read this article as it will ruin a great episode for you.

Synopsis:

We learned in episode 14 ‘Hartland’ that Chase’s family had been abducted and sent to the Keep of Edron.  At the beginning of ‘Conversion’ we discover that an evil wizard named Giller is conducting experiments on the captives there, but Darken Rahl isn’t happy with Giller’s slow progress.  Rahl sends word that he is personally heading to Edron to oversee Giller’s work.

Inside the Keep two D’Haran guards, Captain Ariakon and his nephew Brahm (I think that’s how you spell his name), are unhappy with Giller’s sadistic torture of innocent women and children.  They discuss a plot to kill Rahl, believing because Rahl trusts Brahm he should be able to get close enough to put a dagger in his heart.

Unaware of Darken Rahl’s impending arrival, Richard hatches a plan to break into Edron under the cover of darkness.  The plan works -- they locate Chase’s imprisoned family and rescue all the captives, but a complication arises after Chase touches his wife and collapses under the spell of dark magic.  They set out to find a healer but are intercepted by pursuing D’Haran soldiers dispatched from the Keep.  A battle ensues during which Brahm is killed.

Captain Ariakon tells them they have killed their only chance to kill Rahl, and it is then that we learn the purpose of the Wizard Giller’s experiments -- he is trying to make a Confessor.  They realize Chase’s wife is afflicted with the side effects of Giller’s flawed experiment, and her distorted magical power has inadvertently afflicted Chase.  Aware that Rahl is on his way to the Keep of Edron, Richard forms a plan to infiltrate it, end Giller’s experiments and fulfill the prophecy of killing Rahl.

As part of the plan, Kahlan poses as a prisoner, believing if she gets close enough to Giller she can confess him.  She gets close enough, but when she touches Giller nothing happens -- Giller is immune to her magic and Kahlan is captured.  Giller tells Kahlan he has devised an elixir to protect him from Confessor magic and now that he has a Confessor captive he can use her to succeed with his mission -- to bestow upon Rahl the power of a Confessor, so that he can turn anyone to his will.  Darken Rahl uses magic to teleport to Edron where he learns of Kahlans capture.

The plan was to destroy the Keep of Edron with Rahl inside, and Ariakon wants to continue with the plan.  Richard is unwilling to sacrifice Kahlan and going against Ariakon’s advice, he enters the Keep of Edron to rescue her alone.   He manages to stop the detonation just in time, and it is here that he comes face to face with Darken Rahl in their first meeting of the series.  En epic battle follows but Rahl emerges the victor and, with the help of a Mord Sith, Richard is captured.

Kahlan is horribly tortured as Giller inserts powerful needles into various part sof her body, needles that contain ancient magic that can extract her power.  Rahl drinks the potion of confessor immunity.  Rahl tells Richard he intends to confess him, so that the Seeker will serve him forever -- a fate worse than death for Richard.   Hearing this, Kahlan begins to shake uncontrollably and a rare and ancient magic called the Con Dar engulfs her.  A Confessors power usually arises through love, but the Con Dar, known as the Blood Rage, is an even stronger power that finds its strength through vengeance and hate.  During a Blood Rage a Confessor can wield immense power and take control of another without even touching them.  She telekinetically pulls the needles  from her body and hurls them like arrows at Giller killing him, then takes control of the minds of all the guards and Mord Sith in the room.  She commands them to attack Rahl, and they immediately do so.  Rahl defeats the guards easily but the Mord Sith wield the weapons of pain, the Agiel, and are more powerful.  As Rahl battles a Mord Sith Kahlan commands another to free Richard.  Rahl flees and Richard pursues.  Just as Richard swings his sword at Rahl’s head, he teleports away.

Once recovered from the Blood Rage, Richard and Kahlan find there is one last potion of confessor immunity remaining, but rather than use it themselves, they decide to give it to Chase so that he can be with his wife.

Review:

This episode was simply fantastic.  The first meeting between Richard and Rahl was no let down.  In fact, I’d go as far as to say their battle was one of the best and most fierce sword battles seen on the small screen.  Craig Horner and Craig Parker were superbly convincing as they fought, their war choreographed so well that it really looked like both men were hell bent on killing one another.  As their fight unfolded I couldn’t help but be reminded of the Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker battle in Empire Strikes Back, only with swords instead of light sabers.

If I was to be picky, I could say the only flaw with the battle scene was right at its end, when Richard had finally disarmed Rahl.  At this point for the briefest of seconds Richard has Rahl at the tip of his sword, but he doesn’t immediately run him through.  I can’t understand why he would hesitate to kill Rahl in the moment he had him. That said, later when Rahl flees, Richard makes a serious attempt to cut his head off and although Rahl escapes, he does so with a nice gash to his face with which to remember the moment by.  That moment sort of made up for the earlier hesitation.

Even without that final sword swipe at Rahl, any issue one might have with Richard’s earlier hesitation was easily overshadowed by Kahlans torture and Blood Rage scene.   Also, had the Seeker not hesitated, we would also have missed out on the subsequent fight between Rahl and the Mord Sith who were under Kahlan’s mind control.  It was an excellent moment to see Rahl standing between the two Mord Sith as they are driving their Agiel’s into him.  Rahl’s power was demonstrated as he took both Agiel’s in either hand and turned them back against the Mord Sith.  Episode 8 ‘Denna’ showed just how powerful the Agiel weapons are, so this in turn was a moment that showed just how powerful Rahl is.  But clearly not as powerful as a blood raging Confessor!

I have to comment on Bridget Regan’s acting in this episode.  During the torture scene she was absolutely superb.  As she screamed in agony and tears streamed down her face I felt like I was witnessing an award winning actress do her thing -- you could feel her pain. Then when the blood rage took hold the change in her expression and demeanour really was frightening.  At this point the Wizard Giller exclaims, “The Blood Rage! Run my Lord” and with Regan’s impressive performance, you couldn’t help but think, yep, seriously, run.

Watching a scene out of context with a movie or episode never has the same impact, nonetheless I am compelled to post the Blood Rage scene for your enjoyment:

The Blood Rage scene with Kahlan and the sword fight battle between Richard and Rahl are now two of my favorite all time scenes.  It was almost surprising that Kahlan’s scene was so damn cool that it was actually better than the epic moment when Richard and Rahl meet for the first time.  With that in mind, how could I do anything but rate this episode as superb.

Finally, I would be remiss to review this episode and not comment on the soundtrack.  Once again Joseph LoDuca’s music boosted the impact of every scene with music that was noticeable, not over bearing, but perfectly suited.  When Richard, Kahlan and Chase break into the Keep of Edron LoDuca’s score briefly reminded me of James Horner’s Braveheart.  I also particularly noticed his music during the Richard and Rahl sword fight where LoDuca’s choice of action score added just the right amount of extra tempo, and take notice of his excellent music in the Blood Rage scene clip above.

The score in a movie or television show is often underestimated by the casual viewer, yet more often than not the wrong choice of music can break what would otherwise be a great scene.  Legend of the Seeker never has this problem thanks to LoDuca.  His music to Legend of the Seeker is as important as Bear McCreary’s is to Battlestar Galactica.  Anyone who reads my articles would be well aware of my opinion of Bear McCreary -- and so that’s saying something.

Legend of the Seeker is a great series and is always enjoyable.  As I write this ‘Conversion’ has a 9.6 rating on the IMDB and yes, I”ll go with that. ‘Conversion’ is now up there with ‘Denna’ as two of the best episodes so far.

Craig Horner as Richad Cypher the 'Seeker' in Legend of the Seeker

Legend of the Seeker is a live action epic fantasy series based upon Terry Goodkind’s bestselling Sword of Truth series.  It tells the story of a young woodsman named Richard Cypher who discovers he is the ‘Seeker’, a legendary warrior born to fulfill a prophecy to defeat evil and defend the oppressed.  Wielding the magical Sword of Truth, and with the help of a wizard named Zeddicus (Bruce Spence) and a magically powerful female warrior named Kahlan (Bridget Regan), Legend of the Seeker follows the Seeker as he battles against the tyrant Darken Rahl (Craig Parker) to prevent him from enslaving the world.

The role of Richard Cypher is played by 25 year old Australian Craig Horner, a talented young actor who is attracting a legion of fans and who has been referred to by his peers on more than one occasion as ‘the next big thing’.  This morning Craig, who is an exceptionally nice and humble person, spoke to me from New Zealand a few hours before he was due on set to shoot scenes for the final two episodes of Season 1.  The full conversation lasts for just over 13 minutes and whilst I’ve transcribed some excerpts (shown below the video), you’ll have to listen to the interview to hear everything Craig had to say about himself and Legend of the Seeker.

13 Mar 2009: Audio interview with Craig Horner (and slideshow)

A handful of excerpts from the audio interview:

Is it weird filming the series in New Zealand when its not actually airing in New Zealand yet?
CH:  Totally, totally – it really is man.  It’s not even here, like no one really knows anything about it.  It comes out in like three weeks but we’ll be done and I’ll be in America.  It’s been kind of perfect, like you get to come to another country, like concentrate totally on the job.  Have no external kind of factors, no people going “can we get on the show blah blah”.  You’re just totally in your own little environment, it’s kinda cool man, it’s like you’re own little secret society.   We’re like chucking it in America for millions and yet we’re in our own little world here, it’s fun.

I once wrote that Bruce Spence’s Zeddicus is the best wizard since Ian McKellan’s Gandalf – who would win in a real fight, Bruce Spence or Ian McKellan?
CH: Yeah wicked!  I think ah, maybe Ian McKellan, because, ah, Zed might be just like “you know what, you can have this one, I’m just going to eat this bread roll instead.”

He’s just too laid back is he?
CH: Yeah, he’d be like, “It’s not worth it.”

Legend of the Seeker, well the first season, is based on Wizards First Rule, the first book in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.  Have you actually met Terry Goodkind?
CH: No, damn, I would love to because I’m a big fan of that book.  Of course I’ll get to, I’ll probably touch base with him when I go to the States.

There’s something like 25 million books in print with the Sword of Truth series, was it daunting to take a lead role in a series based on books that are so popular?
CH: No it wasn’t daunting, it was just, ah, electrifying, it was charging.  It was like, in fact having that book I just went straight through it and I went ‘let’s check out thsi book’, even before I knew how popular it was, I went  ‘let’s have a look at this book so I can nail this audition and get this role you know’, and I fell in love with the book and thought it was amazing.  I thought this character is a great chracter and I really think I can do him.  And when I got the part and when I knew that they were confident in me in playing this part and instantly knew I was right for the role then that instilled me with confidence enough to embark on the project.  Then I just hoped to do the book justice and do Richard Cypher justice, and I’m still trying to do it and I hope its coming off.

Does Sam Raimi have a lot to do with the series, does he have a lot of involvement or is he more of stand back and let everyone else do their job guy?
CH: Yeah exactly, pretty much.  He takes care of all the American side of it because he’s there and we have his co-partner, Rob Tapert who is pretty much the New Zealand side.  He has a house here and he’s here half the time so yeah. I haven’t actually met Sam Raimi but I’ve met his brother Ted Raimi.  His brother Ted had a guest role on the show and he’s a real character.

Have you heard anything about what the plans are for season 2?
CH: Only the shoot dates, we start late June or early July.  But no, in regards to storyline and character development I really don’t know.  I can only hope that they’re gonna delve into it and make use of characters a bit more 3 dimensionally and really flesh them out a bit you know.

Have you had any Martial Arts training?
CH: No, but I’m very fortunate to have pretty much actual Ninja’s on the show who do all the stunt choreography.  Their names are Allan Poppleton and Glen Levy and they’re just amazing martial artists and I’m always getting them to teach me stuff in between takes.

Craig Horner with Bridget Regan in 'Legend of the Seeker'

Before the interview with Craig I had compiled quite a long list of questions.  Unfortunately there wasn’t enough time for me to ask them all.  It was my own fault because I should confirmed how much time we had together with his publicist (how’s that ‘assumption’ saying go?).   Fortunately I’m not the only interviewer Craig was booked to talk with, so to make up for my own ineptitude, I’ve tracked down some of his other recent interviews where he has answered different questions to the ones I asked.  Visit the following links for more Craig Horner insight:

The Torch Online:  ‘Craig Horner Interview: “Seeker” Star is Holding Up Just Fine’

The TV Addict:  ‘Craig Horner talks Legend of the Seeker’

Newsarama: ‘Australian Actor seeks to create American TV Legend’

UGO TV Blog:  ‘Legend of the Seeker – Craig Horner interview‘

Thud Interview:  ‘Craig Horner (Legend of the Seeker)’

Visit the official Legend of the Seeker website

I normally don’t write reviews.  I’m usually too busy writing news and so I prefer to scour the internet to find someone else’s review that presents a similar view to my own.  I then post their review as ‘my pick’.  Unfortunately that approach didn’t pan out too well when it comes to the latest episode of Legend of the Seeker as I couldn’t find a review that sat well with me.  So in what is a rarity for me, here’s my review of the latest episode, Season 1 Episode 14, ‘Hartland’.

First, here’s the (very cool) preview to ‘Hartland’:

Legend of the Seeker: Hartland Trailer

The story: After being captured by the D’Haran’s and clapped in irons, Chase (Jay Laga’aia) manages to escape.  He reunites with Richard (Craig Horner) and Kahlan (Bridger Regan) who help him fight and defeat a posse of pursuing D’Haran soldiers.  Chase informs them that dozens of the dragon beasts known as ‘Gar’ escaped into the Midlands slaughtering livestock and children, and that his family have been taken by the D’Harans.  Richard and Kahlan decide to return with Chase to Hartland and assist Chase to protect the village and rescue his family.

Kahlan hatches a plan to get past the boundary guards by posing as a, erm, ’sexy gift’ to the Viceroy (there were other ways I could have put that) whilst Richard and Chase pose as her D’Haran escort.   It works and once they manage to infiltrate the village, they discover Chase’s family are gone and the village is under the control of the D’Harans.  Richard is shocked to discover his brother, Michael (David de Lautour ), is working with them.  They confront Michael who tells them that the D’Harans have been welcomed because they are protecting them from constant attacks by the Gar.  They follow the Viceroy and track him to Anna, an old flame of Richard’s.  It appears Anna is working for him too.

But then they learn Anna has drugged the Viceroy.  Anna tells them that the D’Harans are kidnapping people and that she has stolen a key to the safe in the Viceroy’s chambers, hoping to find information on her brothers whereabouts.   They go to the Viceroy’s chambers and discover records of names of Hartland villagers that have gone missing.  The records show the villagers were transported to Northwood Grove.  They head to the grove and learn that it is a Gar feeding ground, where villagers are chained and left for food.  Anna realizes her brother has been fed to the Gars.

They confront Michael who claims to have had no knowledge of what the D’Harans were doing.  They inform him that the D’Harans are staging their defence from the Gars to gain cooperation.  Michael agrees to help them free the village.

They hatch a plan for Anna to distract the Viceroy whilst Michael informs them of the truth of what is going on.  The plan goes wrong and the Viceroy sends Anna to be fed to the Gar.  Richard, Kahlan and Chase head to the grove and battle to rescue Anna.  They then learn that the Vicreoy has gone to the boundary to destroy it with the aim of trapping The Seeker on the opposite side of the boundary to Darken Rahl, and therby prevent him from ever being able to fulfill the prophecy of killing Rahl.  Michael, Cypher, Kahlan, Chase and Anna intercept them and battle ensues.  As they fight, Richard’s brother Michael is killed.  Kahlan takes control of the Viceroy’s soul and as a result Chase learns his family is still alive, taken to the Keep of Adrahm, somewhere in the Midlands.  Kahlan uses her power of control to get the Viceroy to send a fake message to Darken Rahl, informing the evil tyrant that the Seeker is dead and the boundary has been sealed.  

What worked: The opening thirty seconds of the D’Haran pursuing Chase was excellent with great visuals and awesome music.  It was great to see Kahlan taking control of the Viceroy’s soul, as I feel this magical power of hers is highly under-used.  More importantly it made sense from a strategic point of view.

All of the battle scenes were again brilliant, demonstrating the strength of fight scene choreography that I love the series for.  I’ve read some criticism of slow motion in the fight scenes, but I feel such criticism is misplaced.  There’s plenty of action sequences in Legend of the Seeker that are at full speed, and slow motion is only ever used to accentuate the scenes.  It never feels over used to me at all.  I’m sure other reviewers might feel differently, but again in ‘Hartland’ I felt the slow motion was well used and if you want to get really specfic, I’d say each fight scene only has a few seconds of slow motion anyway.

The CGI shots of the Gar were impressive, although short, as were the effects of the magical boundary gate.  The episode covered a lot of ground as far as a stand-alone story and as part of the overall story arc, and so it was quite high paced.  It was also good to see Chase join Richard and Kahlan at the end, for Laga’aia is a good actor who plays a good character that also has been under-utilised to date.

I also appreciated the darker look to the episode created through good use of lighting and music.

What didn’t work: When we first saw the Gar, there were apparently dozens -- we certainly saw many in the air.  When we first see the Gar feeding, three of them descend on chains.  But when our heroes are forced to rescue Anna from becoming their next meal, only one shows up and Richard dispatches it with a single thrust of a sword.  I was left wondering where the others were and why it was so easy to kill.   That was the biggest let down of the episode for me.

On the minor side, Michael’s death was way too predictable, and in fact when he was dying his lines were even more predictable (I actually recited them out loud before he said them, word for word, which is never a good thing).  He also looked fresh and healthy and ready to run a marathon as he fell dead, rather than a man who had been driven through with a sword, making his whole death scene fairly benign.

Another question on my mind related to the liberation of the Hartland village, after which the main characters left it and sealed the boundary behind them -- what of the remaining Gar?  They had only killed one of apparently dozens.  I can only assume the Viceroy, now under Kahlan’s command, would use his remaining troops to dispatch them -- of course, until his troops realize he’s no longer on Darken Rahl’s side.  I wasn’t even sure if he had any troops left after the last battle, so again, who was going to take care of the Gar?  It seemed a conveniently left unanswered question.  Speaking of the Gar, a core premise of the episode related to the idea that magic was used to deceive the villages by staging Gar attacks.  This was never explained -- what magic, by whom, and how?  I can only guess it was magic from the other side of the boundary, but that’s just a an assumption that remained unclear.  Basically I felt there were a few questions left in the too-hard basket, but again, these were really minor issues.  The thing about Legend of the Seeker is that despite being serious in plot, it doesn’t take itself overly serious, and so the darkness that forms its premise is counter-balanced by the fact that it is fun to watch.  So when questions get left unanswered, they matter less than your enjoyment of each episode.  What I’m saying is I’m being picky and the things that didn’t work didn’t really matter.

Overall: Even in its average episodes Legend of the Seeker has a continuing tone of professionalism -- the quality of the production from a technical viewpoint is as good as any on television. ‘Hartland’ however wasn’t an ‘average’ episode -- it was easily the best episode to air since the show returned from its mid season break.  Admittedly that’s not a big statement, as Episode 12 ‘Home’ was a terrible flash back episode that should never have been made and Episode 13 ‘Revenant’ was only a little above average.  Still, ‘Hartland’ was a vast improvement over both of those episodes.  At the time of writing this review the IMDB has ‘Hartland’ rated at 8.9, and I’d have to agree that’s a fair rating.  Given viewer numbers for the series jumped 6% as a result of this episode, I”m guessing most people would too.

In a nutshell, ‘Hartland’ was another enjoyable episode.

Finally, there was one major stand out in this episode that I want to comment on -- the musical score by composer Joseph LoDuca.  LoDuca’s music in Legend of the Seeker rarely gets a mention but it is certainly a big reason behind why the tone of this series works so well.  LoDuca’s composing credits include The Prophecy: Forsaken, Spiderman 2 (additional music), and Evil Dead 2 amongst a ton of other well known movies.  It is pretty obvious to see that his involvmenet in Legend of the Seeker bears a direct connection to his continuing business relationship with Executive Producer  Sam Raimi (the Spiderman movies / Evil Dead).  And to that I say good move by Raim because LoDuca is easily one of the best musical composers in television today.

Watch a diffent preview clip to ‘Hartland’:

The next episode of ABC Studios/Disney’s Legend of the Seeker (Season 1, Episode 15 ‘Conversion’) airs on the 14th March 2009, and it promises to be a good one when Richard Cypher finally comes face to face with his nemesis, Darken Rahl.  Watch the trailer now:

Legend of the Seeker ‘Conversion’ promo

The Wizard, the Seeker, and the Confessor - all warriors of magic

Surely ABC’s fantasy series Legend of the Seeker is one of the most under-rated fantasy series on television.

Nearly every episode since its debut in November 2008 has been good -- actually, rephrase that -- nearly every episode has been thoroughly enjoyable, something that is perhaps more important than simply being ‘good’.  TV Guide have it rated at 4.5 stars out of 5.   It scores an average episode rating of 8 out of 10 on the IMDB.   It regularly draws strong audiences and in fact averages more viewers per episode than many high profile series currently do. It’s only a little way past the mid point of its first season and is already popular enough to have been green-lit for a second season.  And of course it stars Craig Horner, the young Australia actor who many believe is going to be the next ‘big thing’.

Craig Horner as 'The Seeker' in Legend of the Seeker

Yet how much have you heard about Legend of the Seeker?  The amount of publicity this series receives is negligible to say the least.  I can’t complain about this though, since I’m as guilty as anyone, having never written a single article about the very series that I find myself looking forward to week after week.   I’ve decided to change that.  On Sci Fi Scoop I include news from both the science fiction and fantasy genre, and I have absolutely no qualms in saying Legend of the Seeker is one of if not the best fantasy series on television.

If you don’t know much about it,  LOTS is produced by ABC Studios and is based upon The Sword of Truth novels by Terry Goodkind.  It follows three major characters who are on an almost Lord of the Rings style quest to defeat an evil and powerful tyrant from destroying everything.

The pivotal character is Richard Cypher (played by Craig Horner), a boy who suddenly learns he is the ‘Seeker’, a warrior of ancient prophecy who wields the ‘Sword of Truth’, a magical sword that offers a power capable of defeating the evil wizard Darken Rahl (played by Craig Parker).  The ‘Seeker’  is accompanied by the ‘Confessor’ Kahlan Amnell (played by Bridget Regan), a warrior woman with the magical power to discern the truth and to take control of a man’s soul, and by a wizard named Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander (played by Bruce Spence).

The Sword of Truth

The three main characters are perfectly cast and I couldn’t imagine another actor or actress in their place.  Craig Horner completely convinces you that he is the farm-boy-turned-battle-hardened-warrior and, even more impressive, convinces you that he isn’t an Australian actor.  As an Australian I get frustrated no end at hearing awful attempts by Australian actors at mimicking the American accent (Eric Bana in Black Hawk Down comes to mind, for example).   To Horner’s credit I had no idea he wasn’t American.  Aside from his lack of obvious accent, he has a presence, a certain something, that undefinable quality that can only be described as ’star power’.  He’s already gathering a legion of fans (probably mostly girls), and on more than one occasion he’s been referred to as the ‘next big thing’.  It’s quite amazing when you consider he’d only appeared in six different lower budget television shows prior to scoring the lead role in LOTS. But I have to agree that he’s a future mega-star and, for the moment, fits the ‘Seeker’ perfectly.

Bruce Spence is arguably the most believable wizard since Ian McKellen’s Gandalf in Lord of the Rings (and incidentally, just like Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy, LOTS visuals are incredible as it too is filmed entirely on location in New Zealand).  There’s no questioning Spence’s acting credentials.  He appeared with Mel Gibson in Mad Max 2, punched Neo out in Matrix Revolutions, and did I mention Lord of the Rings? - you won’t believe this, but Spence’s mouth was used as the mouth of Sauron in the extended edition of Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. He also appeared in Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith (as Tion Medon).  He’s a great actor and I have to say he’s never been as good as he is as a wizard.  Oh yeah, and wizard’s should be tall -- at 6′7″ Spence doesn’t have to pretend on that count.

Bruce Spence as the Wizard in 'Legend of the Seeker'

Finally we have the georgeous Bridget Regan who, just like her leading counterparts, is absolutely convincing in her role.  She’s the kick-ass magic wielding warrior who can steal a man’s soul with a single touch.  Virtually every episode she’s battling sword wielding warriors and making short work of them in believable form.  Just like Horner, prior to LOTS her acting resume wasn’t extensive -- but make no mistake, it will be in the future because also just like Horner, she is exceptionally talented.   One of the great aspects of LOTS is that a ‘Seeker’ and ‘Confessor’ can never be together.  As the series has developed, both Richard and Kahlan have of course fallen in love -- but they can’t touch romantically, if you get my drift, because if they do Kahlel will inadvertently steal Richard’s soul.  The tension this chemistry creates adds much to the unfolding series, almost in a Mulder and Scully kind of way (like you know they have to be together!).  Both actors fit the ‘perfect couple’ look and deliver top-quality performances to make it believable.

Bridget Regan is Kahlan Amnell in Legend of the Seeker

Yet it is not simply the leading cast members that make this series tick -- it is the entire package.  I can name plenty of excellent performances and a host of brilliant scenes throughout the episodes we’ve seen so far that have contributed to putting LOTS amongst my top picks on television.  For example, take the brilliant and sinister performance of Jessica Marais in Episode 8, ‘Denna’.  Marais played a Mord Sith, a powerful de-sensitized magic wielder and expert at inflicting pain, who’s mission is to break the ‘Seeker’.

A Mord Sith (Jessica Marais) tortures The Seeker (Craig Horner)

The scenes between Marais and Horner were exceptional, here’s two clips from the episode to wet your appetite:

Before its debut the internet buzzed with comparisons between LOTS and Hercules and Xena, but such comparisons are way off the mark.  LOTS is a serious story and paints a world facing dark times.  It makes no attempt to be comical in the way that Hercules and Xena did.  The situations the main characters find themselves in are no joke to them and always unfold with lives at stake, and thus they are delivered as no joke to the viewer.  Yet somehow the series delivers itself in a ‘fun’ kind of way that never leaves its audience drained for watching.

No matter what your tastes are, Legend of the Seeker is simply always fun to watch.  How many other series can we honestly say that about?

If you haven’t seen Legend of the Seeker all episodes to date are available at Hulu.  Take a look, you might find you have a new favorite series.  It has certainly become one of mine.

Watch this 10 minute preview and you’ll see why Legend of the Seeker is worth your time:

Visit the official website:
http://www.legendoftheseeker.com

Visit Terry Goodkind’s website here:
http://www.terrygoodkind.com/

Australian Legend of the Seeker fan site with lots of information:
http://legend.ausxip.com/