Given that MTV have made it, why wouldn't they show it here?
MTV in the US commissioned it, but the production company makes it, and the production company gets money from foreign markets by selling to the highest bidder. If a channel in the UK that has more money to spend than MTV UK is interested in buying a series, the series is going to the richer channel.
Me too. I must have read them at least 20 years ago and I just thought it was your basic fantasy world.
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Going back even further....back in my spotty oik days - the mid 70s - the entire High Fantasy* genre consisted of just Tolkein and Terry Brooks. That was literally it, until Stephen Donaldson came along.
*The Narnia series was considered to be children's books.
Always felt that The Heritage of Shannara (4 book series that comes after the original trilogy) was the high point of the whole series* with the books getting steadily worse after that (not read the more recent ones though).
Ditto, I stopped reading them not long after that as it very much felt like the Shannara tag was just being chucked onto anything.
Think the last lot I read was The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy.
Going back even further....back in my spotty oik days - the mid 70s - the entire High Fantasy* genre consisted of just Tolkein and Terry Brooks. That was literally it, until Stephen Donaldson came along.
*The Narnia series was considered to be children's books.
I remember I really liked the Earthsea books by Ursula K. Le Guin back then too.
Funny you should mention Stephen Donaldson as I'm just in the process of revisiting the Thomas Covenant series. I found out recently that he wrote another four books following the first two trilogies so I've gone back to start re-reading them all. My abiding memory of Thomas Covenant was that you needed to read them hand-in-hand with a dictionary
Going back even further....back in my spotty oik days - the mid 70s - the entire High Fantasy* genre consisted of just Tolkein and Terry Brooks. That was literally it, until Stephen Donaldson came along.
*The Narnia series was considered to be children's books.
I remember I really liked the Earthsea books by Ursula K. Le Guin back then too.
Funny you should mention Stephen Donaldson as I'm just in the process of revisiting the Thomas Covenant series. I found out recently that he wrote another four books following the first two trilogies so I've gone back to start re-reading them all. My abiding memory of Thomas Covenant was that you needed to read them hand-in-hand with a dictionary
Funny you should say that as I was just typing the following!
And Ursula le Guin's Earthsea and Michael Moorcock's Elric series, plus Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast
Then in the 80s we had Raymond E Feist, David Gemmell, David Eddings, Stephen Lawhead, all the original DragonLance authors and the Ed Greenwood led Forgotten Realms stuff, Terry Pratchett, Robert Lynn Asprin, Piers Anthony (although maybe more sci-fi ish), Margaret McCaffrey, Robin Hobb (20 years since she published Assassin's Apprentice!), C. J. Cherryh, Guy Gavriel Kay, George RR Martin, Katherine Kerr, Robert Jordan, among many others.
It exploded in the late 80s and early 90s. My bookshelves are stuffed full of fantasy authors. Dread to think how much I've spent over the years. I have every DragonLance book ever published
Funny you should mention Stephen Donaldson as I'm just in the process of revisiting the Thomas Covenant series. I found out recently that he wrote another four books following the first two trilogies so I've gone back to start re-reading them all. My abiding memory of Thomas Covenant was that you needed to read them hand-in-hand with a dictionary
Read the first three books of the new tetralogy but haven't got round to reading the last one yet. Took three attempts over a couple of years to get through the third book, kept getting so far but then put it down when something I found more interesting came out.
I used to spend way too much time and money hanging around in the long-departed Science Fiction Bookshop here in Edinburgh - now a guitar shop - and in those days Elric, Conan etc would be in one section but I remember Tolkein and the Shannara books had a shelf all on their own! I think Le Guin was still considered to be mostly a SF writer at the time. Certainly the early Shannara books were really outrageous Tolkein knock offs - we didn't have fan fic at the time.
I remember I really liked the Earthsea books by Ursula K. Le Guin back then too.
Funny you should mention Stephen Donaldson as I'm just in the process of revisiting the Thomas Covenant series. I found out recently that he wrote another four books following the first two trilogies so I've gone back to start re-reading them all. My abiding memory of Thomas Covenant was that you needed to read them hand-in-hand with a dictionary
Read the first three books of the new tetralogy but haven't got round to reading the last one yet. Took three attempts over a couple of years to get through the third book, kept getting so far but then put it down when something I found more interesting came out.
I've read the first 2 of the last 4 - but not yet been brave enough to embark on 3 & 4, so I may have to start again with the first by the time I get to them.
I find it strange that with under 3 weeks before the series starts airing in the US, there has been no announcement on who will be showing it in the UK.
I find it strange that with under 3 weeks before the series starts airing in the US, there has been no announcement on who will be showing it in the UK.
Sky purchased the rights for it. If it's going to be broadcast here then it's obviously going to be delayed. According to Shawn Speakman, the publicist for Brooks, he would have information on it airing in the UK before the year was up. Well we're still waiting. I do know that in Italy Sky Atlantic is broadcasting this starting in January. So I was hoping we would see it air here on time as well.
Sky purchased the rights for it. If it's going to be broadcast here then it's obviously going to be delayed. According to Shawn Speakman, the publicist for Brooks, he would have information on it airing in the UK before the year was up. Well we're still waiting. I do know that in Italy Sky Atlantic is broadcasting this starting in January. So I was hoping we would see it air here on time as well.
Yes it starts on Sky Atlantic in Italy on January 15th. 10 days after its airing in the US. Strange an announcement in Italy but still nothing official here!
Just received my edition of TV & Satellite Week for the period January 2nd to 8th. No Sky channel will be showing the series that week, so we now know that unlike some other foreign broadcasters, Sky will not be showing it within hours of its US airing!
Just received my edition of TV & Satellite Week for the period January 2nd to 8th. No Sky channel will be showing the series that week, so we now know that unlike some other foreign broadcasters, Sky will not be showing it within hours of its US airing!
Yes, as per your link above, I also received an email from him stating that a UK broadcaster would definitely being airing the show but he punted on whether it would be a Sky Channel or not. Sky is airing it in at least two other countries (NZ/Italy) but it's possible someone else picked up the show for our market.
Yes, as per your link above, I also received an email from him stating that a UK broadcaster would definitely being airing the show but he punted on whether it would be a Sky Channel or not. Sky is airing it in at least two other countries (NZ/Italy) but it's possible someone else picked up the show for our market.
Of course Sky in New Zealand is not connected with Sky in Europe. Interestingly Syfy channel has the series in Australia.
I find it strange that with under 3 weeks before the series starts airing in the US, there has been no announcement on who will be showing it in the UK.
I don't. There are shows all the time that are not picked up instantly. I can count on both hands shows that are still not picked up over here.
It took 2 years until someone picked up The Goldbergs.
I don't. There are shows all the time that are not picked up instantly
Except in this instance we have been told that the show has indeed been picked up. The show is not being shopped. It's already a done deal. But, for the time being, we're left none the wiser in terms of air dates or channel.
Comments
MTV in the US commissioned it, but the production company makes it, and the production company gets money from foreign markets by selling to the highest bidder. If a channel in the UK that has more money to spend than MTV UK is interested in buying a series, the series is going to the richer channel.
Going back even further....back in my spotty oik days - the mid 70s - the entire High Fantasy* genre consisted of just Tolkein and Terry Brooks. That was literally it, until Stephen Donaldson came along.
*The Narnia series was considered to be children's books.
Ditto, I stopped reading them not long after that as it very much felt like the Shannara tag was just being chucked onto anything.
Think the last lot I read was The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy.
I think this is pretty much where I read to as well.
My personal favourite out of all the series was the second of the Heritage series - The Druid of Shannara.
Hope this pops up on Sky at some point next year - something else to fill my fantasy quota between series of Game of Thrones.
I remember I really liked the Earthsea books by Ursula K. Le Guin back then too.
Funny you should mention Stephen Donaldson as I'm just in the process of revisiting the Thomas Covenant series. I found out recently that he wrote another four books following the first two trilogies so I've gone back to start re-reading them all. My abiding memory of Thomas Covenant was that you needed to read them hand-in-hand with a dictionary
Funny you should say that as I was just typing the following!
And Ursula le Guin's Earthsea and Michael Moorcock's Elric series, plus Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast
Then in the 80s we had Raymond E Feist, David Gemmell, David Eddings, Stephen Lawhead, all the original DragonLance authors and the Ed Greenwood led Forgotten Realms stuff, Terry Pratchett, Robert Lynn Asprin, Piers Anthony (although maybe more sci-fi ish), Margaret McCaffrey, Robin Hobb (20 years since she published Assassin's Apprentice!), C. J. Cherryh, Guy Gavriel Kay, George RR Martin, Katherine Kerr, Robert Jordan, among many others.
It exploded in the late 80s and early 90s. My bookshelves are stuffed full of fantasy authors. Dread to think how much I've spent over the years. I have every DragonLance book ever published
Read the first three books of the new tetralogy but haven't got round to reading the last one yet. Took three attempts over a couple of years to get through the third book, kept getting so far but then put it down when something I found more interesting came out.
I've read the first 2 of the last 4 - but not yet been brave enough to embark on 3 & 4, so I may have to start again with the first by the time I get to them.
I hope this series is as good as it looks in the trailers...and not like the adaptations of TSOT or Earthsea saga.
Is there a confirmed UK broadcaster?
Sky purchased the rights for it. If it's going to be broadcast here then it's obviously going to be delayed. According to Shawn Speakman, the publicist for Brooks, he would have information on it airing in the UK before the year was up. Well we're still waiting. I do know that in Italy Sky Atlantic is broadcasting this starting in January. So I was hoping we would see it air here on time as well.
http://terrybrooks.net/2015/12/international-dates-times-for-the-shannara-chronicles/
Yes, as per your link above, I also received an email from him stating that a UK broadcaster would definitely being airing the show but he punted on whether it would be a Sky Channel or not. Sky is airing it in at least two other countries (NZ/Italy) but it's possible someone else picked up the show for our market.
http://collider.com/the-shannara-chronicles-review-mtv/
I don't. There are shows all the time that are not picked up instantly. I can count on both hands shows that are still not picked up over here.
It took 2 years until someone picked up The Goldbergs.
Except in this instance we have been told that the show has indeed been picked up. The show is not being shopped. It's already a done deal. But, for the time being, we're left none the wiser in terms of air dates or channel.