posted
Was it just me, or did anyone else think that Chewbacca was not the right casting choice for Ged's father? As an actor, I am offended that that guy got paid to do that.
Posts: 288 | Registered: Nov 2003
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Oh I don't know if you should feel good about not having the SciFi channel. There ARE a number of good shows on it. You should just feel good about not having been subjected to this travishamockery of a show.
Posts: 512 | Registered: Jun 2002
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Tenar shouldn't be played by Kreuk. She's a good actress and everything, but she's just not good for the part in my opinion. Its just SOO wrong!!
Posts: 3389 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Question: From my memory, the shadow was sort of a black blob, not this demon thing with a sepulchral voice. Sorry if this is a repeat question. It has been since seventh grade(many moons ago) the i read this, and I lved it so much. I agree that Ged's dad just didn't do it for me, either. Liz
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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The woman who played Ged's first girlfriend. She had those corn-fed good looks and an easy way about her that really made Ged look like an idiot for leaving. The fat side-kick had charming timing, he just wasn't fat enough to sell the fat sidekick part.
The sub-plot is better than the over-arching plot. Ged's growth had its interesting moments, but the grand geo-political strategy or Jasper's or the king's or the priestesses' angles were boring. That said, I'll get home late tonight and catch the part 2 encore because the story is just good enough.
I do imagine that this is a good kid's book, though.
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I haven't read the books - so I've just been watching it from fresh eyes.
I liked it, in that for a miniseries it didn't suck as bad as others I've seen. I've rarely been impressed with TV productions as a whole (except maybe TNT's Joseph - that was great)
It was interesting enough to make me want to watch the second part tonight. And, I imagine I'll be buying the books soon.
This is such timing, too - my daughter's English teacher is doing a unit on public speaking, and asked them to write a 3-5 minute speech and give it on any topic they wished. Her choice? "Why Books are Better than Movies" She is using examples from Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter films and books to prove her point. Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Tom (or others that have read the two add ons and agree with Tom about them), what do they suffer from? I haven't cared for a lot of LeGuin's more recent work, so I haven't read them.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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For those of you that have not read the books, You will understand our complains once you have gone to the library. Seriously I can find no redeaming quality to this series. Every aspect of it is bad. The acting, the casting, the story line, the special effects, even the cinematography, all of it was sub-par. I've been ranting with a co-worker about it all day. And we both agree that the worst part is the fact that we both know we will end up watching part two tonight. It is so bad that it's like a drug or something. I know I shouldn't do it but something is forcing me, I just need to do it. AHHHH!!!!! Posts: 1294 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Belle, I thought about that while watching the movie. I thought that this movie would make a great book because the characters were moved from within.
Books do a better job of portraying characters who act as a result of their understanding of the world. The action is the result of thought, not the cause of anything. In books, the act is the cherry on top of a thoughtful engagement with the world.
In movies, which I like fine, people are reactionary. People aren't acting out of a thoughtful engagement with the world, they are reacting to what someone has done to them or something in their life. It's a play of force. We have a two hour spree of dueling effects and reactions.
This is fine. Movies are great at showing forces, causes, effects and extension, books are great at showing the motivating principle as coming from within, intention, a thoughtful interaction with the world.
I didn't put it together until last night, when I watched Earthsea and thought some of the characters probably make really interesting book characters but boring movie characters.
I wonder if we can extend this to people? Are book people less likely to be motivated by outside forces? Are movie people more likely to look at external forces as opposed to considering the internal principles of the things in the world?
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Just in case it wasn't clear, I have read the original Earthsea trilogy, and loved it. It's only the two new installments that I've not read.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Noemon, the last two books read like a conscious attempt to revisit Earthsea and politicize it. Not unlike Card's Shadow books.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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I'm watching Earthsea now. It's Ged Goes to Hogwarts -- a problem for those who read the books, but likely not for those who haven't.
Posts: 2919 | Registered: Aug 2004
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It's a story of a dude who, through no fault of his own, is destined to become the most powerful wizard in the land and marry the girl from "Smallville." Man, they better not kill the fat guy.
Ged is such a non-hero, if this were the real world, he'd just be another guy on drugs. That's not true, he'd be one of those wanna-be Masters of the Universe types on Wall Street.
If the granduer of man is measured by what he seeks and the urgency by which he remains a seeker, this guy is a jerk all the way around. He sought power for the sake of power, then he is a minor hero for confronting the demon he brought to earth. The same demon who was hunting him down to kill him. In other words, so far this kid is worthless, strip away the magic powers and he is just another dude.
posted
So am I right in remembering that the shadow was a sort of black blob, not the weird deep-voiced zombie guy?
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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Irami, have you read the books? The first novel is actually about how Ged, who is a completely self-interested non-hero, learns through some serious self-inflicted pain to be heroic.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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No, I haven't. I can tell that the books are better. The characters are deep in strange ways. I'll check it out this weekend.
Posts: 5600 | Registered: Jul 2001
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I am going to have to get the books, because let me tell you, part 2 of the series tonight sucked big time.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Can someone answer my question?? I remembered the shadow being a black blob whom he could see way off behind him when he was sailing. Tom??
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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Thank you. I hated that sepulchral dude. I cannot remember if the shadow ever took shape in the books.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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I haven't yet watched part 2, so keep in mind that my impressions are not based on the whole story:
The first horrible thing in this movie was Ged's father. The actor delivered his lines horribly- worse than any high school play I have seen.
The girlfriend was done well- she was actually believable.
I hated the stupidity of Ged getting knocked off the cliff and dying. We don't yet care about his character at all, so why should we feel bad that he died? The only person in the village who apparently cared was his girlfriend.
I hated the idea of wizards only naming people who are going to be wizards. It kind of defeats the purpose of the whole secret name motif.
Ged with Ogion was believable for me. I could buy Glover as the patient old wizard.
The wizards school felt all wrong to me. As has been mentioned, it was Hogwarts complete with Malfoy, Ron, the castle and grounds etc.
The head mage was badly done but not horrible.
The head mage surviving the gebbeth and no other harm than a few scratches for Ged trivialize the whole "terrible danger for our world" idea. All we get is talk about how dangerous the gebbeth is, but nothing in the film actually appears dangerous at all.
The whole nunnery thing for Tenar and her order defeats so many of the ideas present in the books. The priestesses worshipped the dark powers, for cryin' out loud, they didn't fight them.
The Kargides were ridiculous on so many levels- their leader is a charicature evil king, down to killing his minions for minor failures and sneering at everything. The soldiers are also cliche soldiers- stupid, obedient and evil.
The attack on Roke is ridiculous- all the soldiers have to contend with is a few rickety old wizards hurling harmless fireballs and a door that won't break. The head mage, impervious to harm on the bad guy's boat, apparently forgets how to use his magic and is surprised when the head evil guy throws a knife at him.
So much potential, and yet such a dismal failure...
Posts: 4548 | Registered: May 2001
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quote: Can someone answer my question?? I remembered the shadow being a black blob whom he could see way off behind him when he was sailing. Tom??
*this will include spoilers* From what I understand in the books, the shadow is the shadow of Ged's arrogance. In the whole YinYang thing, it is the bad Ged. It first appeared as just a shapeless shadow when he read Ogion's book.
At Roke, it was starting to take form and was more of a shape shifting shadow. It had no definition, but had arms and legs, and shifted in size. I imagined it had arms, then no arms. It was more of a pulsating shadow becoming a monster.
As the shadow got more powerful, it took more of a human form. It possessed someone, and after that character dies, it still retained human shape.
I don't know if it makes it explicitly clear, but when Ged realizes the shadow is his own shadow and calls it by name to master it, I imagined the shadow as a true shadow of Ged. A black three dimensional shadow of Ged who spoke the name of Ged at the same time Ged did.
To some up, the shadow started as a shapeless faceless shadow---became a pulsating monster as it was taking shape, became more Ged Like in appearance (remember at one point in the book townsfolk thought Ged had been through there because they saw his shadow), possessed a person, became the complete true shadow of Ged.
quote: The head mage surviving the gebbeth and no other harm than a few scratches for Ged trivialize the whole "terrible danger for our world" idea. All we get is talk about how dangerous the gebbeth is, but nothing in the film actually appears dangerous at all.
I agree. The Archmage dieing set up the true power and evil of the shadow. It also sets up how powerful Ged really is, since the shadow is the shadow of his arrogance and power.
Posts: 2445 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
OK, I remember that now. I think it would be hard to do that on a tv miniseries, so they went with Sepulcral Dude. Still, I thought it was a bit much.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
There was a good story in there......somwhere.
After my wife explained to me that Ged spent 10-15 years with Odion and then another ~50 years at Roke did things start to make sense to me.
Posts: 98 | Registered: Aug 2003
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Wow, that's not the time frame I remember at all. Although it's quite possible that I just wasn't paying attention well when I read the books.
Posts: 4534 | Registered: Jan 2003
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I read that LeGuin saw the screenplay and was shocked that they managed to miss the point of her story entirely. She said the main thematic thrust of the Earthsea story isn't even there.
Which I thougt was amusing, if not surprising. *sigh*
Posts: 1664 | Registered: Apr 2004
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"After my wife explained to me that Ged spent 10-15 years with Odion and then another ~50 years at Roke did things start to make sense to me."
*blink* I'm pretty sure that isn't the case. In fact, I'm almost certain that Ged wasn't even in his sixties yet by the end of the third novel.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Didn't read this (the books), but pretty interested. No scifi, resorting to 'alternative' methods of acquisition. I'll let you know what I think when I watch it. Posts: 1132 | Registered: Jul 2002
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I also don't remember that time frame at all. He was still young at the end of the first book.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Well, I had to stop watching it. It was really moving way to slow for me. This could have something to do with being awake for 30 hours. I'll have to try watching it another time.
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