Game of Thrones vs Legend of the Seeker

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Which fantasy (tv) series do you prefer?

Game of Thrones
4
80%
Legend of the Seeker
1
20%
 
Total votes: 5

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Midnight_Carnival
Posts: 836
Joined: September 6th, 2008, 11:08 am
Location: On the beach at sunset, gathering coral

Game of Thrones vs Legend of the Seeker

Post by Midnight_Carnival »

it looks like a landslide victory for Game of Thrones, but my vote goes the other way.
Here's why I say GoT has all the advantages but I prefer LotS:

Best fantasy (book) series of the 2: Game of Thrones, by a long way!
best characters: GoT
best plot: GoT
Best special effects: GoT
most memorable lines: GoT
etc, etc, etc...

So why am I even asking this question, let alone voting for LotS?
well, there is such a thing as being too involved in the storyline. I read almost the whole GoT series before I even heard that they were going to make a (tv) series, let alone one with George RR Martin playing a key role. I knew what the characters looked like, what they sounded like almost as if I knew them as people. I came in with high expectations and I was at first. .. mostly satisfied, but later horribly disappointed.

On the other hand Wizards' First Rule was a fairly good but not sensational fantasy story, the rest of the Sword of Truth series was... well let's just say that after the 45th time Richard and Khalan are separated and Richard has to make the beast with two backs with some trashy fantasy story female archetype because of a prophecy, after the 117th time he has to go back into the empire... it just didn't do it for me.
Approaching the series I didn't for one second think "OMG, they made a series of it, they're spending millions and Terry Goodkind plays a leading role :!: " - I thought, ok, this is going to appeal to die hard Terry Goodkind fans and nobody else will even watch it.
What I was expecting was absolute rubbish, what I got was an entertaining classic swords and sorcery adventure.
And no, none of the characters looked as I'd pictured them, but do you know what, that was an improvement whereas even minor misrepresentations in GoT (like Tyrion keeping his nose, etc) got my blood boiling.
LotS was fun, it was entertaining, it was a series I felt you could enjoy equally whether you'd read the books or not, I actually ended up enjoying (my memory of ) the books far more after watching the series.
Then there's sex and gore.
Both book series had tons (Martin managed to squeeze in a little more though) but GoT shows it all and LotS doesn't.
I have no objection to sex or gore, if fact catch me in the right mood... anyway, the reason I'm putting these as negative qualities is not because I'm a puritan or anything, it is because GoT has a good story line with lots of sex and violence, showing so much of that in the series makes the series largely about it and a lot of the story line suffers. Leaving it out in LotS improved things as far as I am concerned because I've read the books and know what happens off screen.
If you haven't seen LotS, DO actually bother. The acting is wooden, they didn't stay very faithful to the original stories, the fight scenes look rubbish and the special effects budget could have done with a little donation, but you will enjoy watching it! Watching it puts you in the mindset of a bored 11 year old, you keep expecting Kevin Sorbro to jump out with his shirt off and a huge sword (and that would actually improve it).

I'm not just fighting for the underdog here, I was surprised at how much I ended up enjoying Legend of the Seeker and how little I ended up enjoying Game of Thrones.
Love to hear your experiences.
...apparenly we can't go with it or something.
Whiskeyjack
Posts: 476
Joined: February 7th, 2015, 1:27 am
Location: Germany

Re: Game of Thrones vs Legend of the Seeker

Post by Whiskeyjack »

Legend of the Seeker is just so much of an upgrade over Sword of Truth. I have read the first two or three books of that series and never in my life have I read anything as bad ever again - and I read a lot of trash in my teens. It´s a transparent story with a Mary Sue protagonist if I´ve ever seen one, wishfulfillment fantasy and unbelievably bad character writing. If your main antagonists have to discuss if they like to f*** their kid victims before or after they kill them so to hammer into even the dumbest readers head how they´re "really, really bad"... ugh :augh:
(oh, and the one and only True Love. Even Twilight was a better love story than this - the books of that series were actually quite enjoyable as well)

LotS was actually quite enjoyable to watch (though the last time I´ve seen it was also in my teens...). It´s been too long for me though, to cast a vote here.

GoT on the other hand is a straight downgrade from the books, though still a really good series if you manage to shut out the books while watching it. The less frequent sex scenes in recent seasons also helped a lot IMO - less sexposition and more acutal story telling...
Under blood-red skies, an old man sits
In the ruins of Carthage - contemplating prophecy.
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Midnight_Carnival
Posts: 836
Joined: September 6th, 2008, 11:08 am
Location: On the beach at sunset, gathering coral

Re: Game of Thrones vs Legend of the Seeker

Post by Midnight_Carnival »

Thank you Whiskeyjack, I'm nearly in tears here (not the [religiouly sensitive]damn stone of tears :augh: ) here, I a agree with everything you said.

<I'm going to go watch LotS now :lol: >
...apparenly we can't go with it or something.
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