I’m a huge fan of Terry Goodkind’s “Sword of Truth” series – I’ve finished all but the last book in the twelve book series in fact. So when I accidentally discovered that the book was being made into a TV series I was a little worried as I’m one of those jerks who adamantly believes that the book is better and simply can’t help himself to point out the flaws when watching the adaptation. I watched the first seven of twenty two this weekend of Legend of the Seeker and I was hugely disappointed, dispite my already low expectations. It borrows a lot from the Xena and Hercules series: bad acting, terrible script and cheesy wardrobe to name just a few. In reading so many of the books I was hoping that some of the awesomeness would spill over in the TV. Unfortunately, non of the awesomeness did as the same mistakes used in Xena were once again used.

The main plot of Richard trying to get to Lord Rahl is the overarching plot of the series so far. Each episode is made up of a small side adventure like saving a village or child, with the last five minutes progressing the overall plot and leading slightly to the next episode. I understand how when a book is made for television certain elements need to be edited but this version has taken the original story and twisted and mangled it nearly beyond recognition losing all of the glamor and charisma found in the book. Random people from different books are inserted into the storyline at random places which are way off. Representations of some of the characters are way off. Important details in which the entire world revolved upon are left out. Any adult concepts found in the book is completely removed including any traces of bood from the fighting scenes, clearly aiming the show at a younger audience.

It often seems like the show was written based of off an oral summary of the books, with the writers not even having picked up the book. The actor playing Richard is just a scrawny boy without any charm or allure. When watching him I couldn’t help but to think that there would be no way I would follow him into battle and beyond. He certainly didn’t seem like the type who could inspire tens of thousands of people.

I know that you have to keep an open mind when viewing book to TV adaptations and many times there is really no point in comparing, but this series doesn’t have any of the elements that make the book so compelling and will most surely not draw anywhere near as large of an audience as the book. This whole thing is my fault, really, for getting the books made into a TV series. Many years ago when I had started reading the books I said aloud that it has all of the elements to make a great movie. Someone must have heard; they obviously didn’t read the books though.

You can watch the series as it airs on Hulu for free.