Every decade, syndicated television has its rare share of gems that truly shine on television. In the 80s, there was ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’, in the 90s there was ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’ and now, the ‘Legend of the Seeker’. An awesome television series that is well-cast, well-written and features impressive costume and set design. Unfortunately, survival of new series on syndicated television is no longer the same as they were back in the ’80s and ’90s and thus, a popular series such as “Legend of the Seeker” was canceled. Nevertheless, if you want to see an awesome series, I highly recommend checking out both seasons of “Legend of the Seeker” and if you purchased the last season, “Legend of the Seeker: The Complete 2nd and Final Season” is highly recommended!
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TITLE: Legend of the Seeker: The Complete 2nd and Final Season
DURATION: 22 Episodes (946 Minutes)
DVD INFORMATION: Color, Digitally Mastered, Widescreen (1:78:1) – Enhanced for 16×9 Televisions, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, English SDH, French and Spanish Subtitles
RATED: TV 14 LSV
COMPANY: ABC Studios
RELEASE DATE: September 28, 2010
Directed by Mark Beesley, Garth Maxwell. Michael Hurst, Jonathan Brough, Chris Martin-Jones, Jesse Warn, Andrew Merrifield
Written by Terry Goodkind, Kenneth Biller, Stephen Tolkin, Chad Fiveash, James Patrick Stoteraux, Mike Sussman, Nicki Paluga, Arika Lisanne Mittman, Raf Green, Charley Dane
Executive Producer: Kenneth Biller, Joshua Donen, Ned Nalle, Robert G. Tapert, Sam Raimi
Co-Executive Producer: Stephen Tolkin, Barry M. Schkolnick
Producer: Mark Beesley, Sally Campbell, David Roessell
Supervising Producer: Andre Bormanis
Original Music by Joseph LoDuca
Cinematography by Kevin Riley, Donald Duncan
Edited by Gary Hunt, Eric De Beus
Casting by Wendy O’Brien, Jessie Disla
Production Design by Robert Gillies
Art Direction by Mike Becroft, Jennifer Ward
Set Decoration: Megan Vertelle
Costume Design: Jane Holland
Starring:
Craig Horner as Richard Cypher
Bridget Regan as Kahlan Amnell
Bruce Spence as Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander
Tabrett Bethell as Cara
Craig Parker as Darken Rahl
Kevin J. Wilson as General Egremont
Ben Fransham as Gar
Danielle Cormack as Shota
Jessica Marais as Denna
Emily Foxler as Sister Nicci
Brooke Williams as Jennsen
Allison Bruce as Sister Verna
KAtrina Law as Garren the Mord Sith
Jon Brazier as Thaddicus
Matthew Le Nevez as Leo
Millions of readers the world over have been held spellbound by this valiant tale vividly told. In the aftermath of the brutal murder of his father, a mysterious woman, Kahlan Amnell (Bridget Regan),
appears in Richard Cypher’s (Craig Horner) forest sanctuary seeking help…and more. His world, his very beliefs, are shattered when ancient debts come due with thundering violence. In their darkest hour, hunted relentlessly, tormented by treachery and loss, Kahlan calls upon Richard to reach beyond his sword-to invoke within himself something more noble. Neither knows that the
rules of battle have just changed…or that their time has run out. This is the beginning. One story. One Rule. Witness the birth of a legend.
In 1994, Terry Goodkind would embark on the beginning of his novels known as “The Sword of Truth”. With over 25 million copies of his books sold worldwide, many enjoyed the story of the adventures of three individuals: Richard Cypher, Kahland Amnell and Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander on their quest to end the tyranny of their work caused by Darken Rahl.
14 years and eleven novels later, plans for a syndicated television series loosely based on the books would become reality and would include the name of Executive Producer Sam Raimi (“Spider-Man” and “Evil Dead” films), Robert Tapert (“Xena: Warrior Princess”), Joshua Donen (“Underneath”, “The Quick and the Dead”), Josh Shiban (“The X-Files”, “Enterprise”), Kenneth Biller (“Six Degrees”, “Smallville”, “Dark Angel, “Star Trek: Voyager”) and co-executive produced by Stephen Tolkin (“Summerland”).
Because TV syndication requires a story for each episode, there is only so much that could be attributed to the book in 40-45 minutes of television. So, creatively there are differences from the television show and the book and thus the episodes are loosely based on the series.
The story of “Legend of Seeker” takes place in three main provinces: Westland, The Midlands and D’Hara. The Westlands is separated from the Midlands due to a magical boundary in order to prevent magic from entering the Westland. In D’Hara, the evil Darken Rahl uses his black magic to cause fear within his people and has amassed a great army but now he wants more power and wants to expand his domination into the midlands. Darken Rahl has sent his men after two Confessors who have stolen a book.
During these dark times, one can hope that an long-old tale of a prophecy comes true. Those who are familiar with the prophecy hope that one day, a person known as the Seeker will eliminate the tyranny of D’Hara and free those who have lived under oppression and tyranny due to Darken Rahl’s leadership. But with no Seeker having appeared, many feel that the prophecy is just a myth.
For Darken Rahl, he feels known one can stop him because he eliminated all the first born sons in a village where the Seeker was to be born. So, for over two decades, he has lived comfortable…that is until now.
When two Confessors (a group of women who have magical powers who oversee the welfare of the people in the Midlands) try to escape Darken Rahl’s army, they escape from D’Hara into the Midlands where they go and search for a wizard named Zeddicus “Zedd” Zu’l Zorander who is supposed to be training the Seeker.
One of the Confessors named Khalan Amnell was able to successfully make it through the boundary but was still chased by a few men of Darken Rahl’s army. As she was surrounded by the men, a young man named Richard Cypher manages to save her in the process. While Khalan leaves Richard to find Zedd and the Seeker, the two are then encountered by Richard in which it is revealed that Richard is in fact the Seeker.
At the end of the first season, Richard, Khalan and Zedd, with the help of Mord’Sith Cara were able to vanquish the Darken Rahl. But now, after a short peace in the land, turmoil has once again hit the midlands. There is major disturbance as the dead has now become part of the living and a rift has been opening up within the land.
It is learned that despite defeating Darken Rahl, now they have unintentionally helped the Keeper of the underworld to create rifts between the world of the living and the underworld. To make things worse, each time Richard and friends defeat soldiers dedicated to Darken Rahl, when the dead awakens in the underworld, they are given a second chance at life by Darken Rahl who now has the power to give life back but the deal is that each person given a new chance at life as a Baneling, they must kill a person each day to stay alive. There is literally a countdown that starts after each kill and their body starts to disintegrate.
But with the dead being brought to back and killing more innocents, Richard has a new quest, to find the “Stone of Tears” to seal the rifts and defeat the keeper. The problem is that prophecy shows that Richard will side with the Keeper by delivering the “Stone of Tears” to him?
The main characters in the second season of “Legend of the Seeker” are:
Richard Cypher (played by Craig Horner, “Blue Water High”, “H20: Just Add Water” and “Monarch Cove”) – Richard is learning to be the Seeker. Throughout his adventure, he learns a lot about himself and the people in the land and wanting to help them. He’s a kind-hearted man who will fight evil. He is attracted to the Confessor Kahlan, knowing that a relationship with the Khalan can not happen.
Kahlan Amnell (played by Bridget Regan, “The Black Donnellys”) – A Confessor who’s mission is to protect the Seeker. A Confessor can help those who confess and inside, they know the truth. When she touches a person, she can control them by making them confess and briefly taking over their body and making them do whatever she wants. She has pride in her work as a Confessor and is kind-hearted but she’s also developing feelings towards Richard, which she knows that as a Confessor, she is unable to love someone else or else she will end up stripping out his soul. So, she tries her best to keep her emotions in check, no matter how difficult it may be for her.
Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander (played by Bruce Spense, “Bullpit!”, “Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith”) – The powerful wizard who is a member of the First Order that is still alive. He has not trained the Seeker but now, knowing his duty is to protect and train him, he is willing to sacrifice his life in order to make sure The Seeker defeats Darken Rahl. It was revealed in season one that Zeddicus is the grandfather of Richard.
Cara (played by Tabrett Bethell, “The Clinic”) – A Mord’Sith who ends up helping Richard and his friends. Betrayed by the Sisters of the Agiel, Cara is given another chance but this time to join the Seeker on his quest.  Despite being a Mord’Sith, Richard believes in her, the others are a not sure if she can be trusted.
Recurring Characters in the second season of “Legend of the Seeker”:
Darken Rahl (Played by Craig Parker, “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”, “Power Rangers Ninja Storm”, “Diplomatic Immunity”) – The main antagonist of the series. A ruthless tyrant who rules D’Hara with an iron fist and now wants to rule the Midlands. Killed by Richard but now has sided with the Keeper and responsible of giving life to the recently killed beings at the Underworld.
Denna (Jessica Marais, “Packed to the Rafters”) – The ruthless Mord’Sith who tortured Richard in the first season and is now living life as an owner of a brothel, but has this former Mord’Sith changed her ways for the good of the people?
Shota (Danielle Cormack, “The Cult”) – Has an unknown relationship with Zedd. A powerful sorceress that Zedd does not trust and is now more insistent for Zedd to find a new seeker.
The “Legend of the Seeker: The Complete 2nd and Final Season” comes with a total of 22 episodes on five DVD’s:
DISC 1
- EPISODE 23 – Marked – As people celebrate the Seeker’s defeat of Darken Rahl, the peace is shortened as the Screelings of the Underworld attack the Seeker and friends. Meanwhile, Cara is betrayed by the Sisters of the Agiel and given a new life with Richard and friends.
- EPISODE 24- Baneling – Richard and friends arrive at a D’Haran death camp. The tear in the veil is allowing the dead to have a new life as a Baneling who must kill each day for the Keeper to stay alive.
- EPISODE 25- Broken – Cara reveals that she has killed Kahlan’s sister Dennee. With Kahlan going into a rage, Dennee escape and visits her sister, but her new brother in law reports her and now Cara is facing death by her captors.
- EPISODE 26 – Touched – All confessors have been killed but one named Annabelle is alive. Richard and Kahlan must rescue her before she is killed.
DISC 2
- EPISODE 27 – Wizard – Shota puts Zedd into a spell and making him believe that he is young again.
- EPISODE 28 – Fury – Richard and Cara help a group of villagers who are pacifists who will not fight. But there are some in the village who know they need to fight or they will die and Richard trains them. But something bad is happening to Richard.
- EPISODE 29 – Resurrection – Richard and friends end up at a brothel, a brothel ran by Mord’Sith Denna who is up to something evil.
- EPISODE 30 – Light – Richard and friends must track down Denna. The problem is Denna has kept Zedd as her prisoner.
DISC 3
- EPISODE 31 – Dark – The Sisters of the Light are training Richard to use his Wizard power but he receives a mysterious message from Sister Nicci that the Sisters of the Light want to trap him inside the palace and prevent him from delivering the Stone of Tears into the Keeper’s hands. With Richard busy training, Zedd appoints a man named Leo with the title of The Seeker.
- EPISODE 32 – Perdition – Richard is trapped in the Valley of the Perdition, meanwhile Leo, Zedd, Kahlan and Cara try to save Richard before it’s too late.
- EPISODE 33 – Torn – With Aydindril being ruled by a corrupt ruler named Prince Fyren, a wizard tries to escape the land and pass a message to another wizard but before he is killed, he manages to bring an amulet to Zedd. As Zedd and Kahlan transport to Aydindril, she is split in half and Zedd is accompanied by a colder Kahlan, while a more loving/jealous Kahlan is left with Richard.
- EPISODE 34 – Hunger – Cara is killed and is turned by Darken Rahl to a Baneling. Cara knows the rules of the Baneling and she must kill a human each day in order to live. But can she?
- EPISODE 35 – Princess – Kahlan is kidnapped and in order to save her, Richard and Zedd must disguise themselves and Cara must pose as a princess in order to rescue her.
DISC 4
- EPISODE 36- Bound – The Sisters of the Dark are not happy with Nicci’s failure to kill the Mother Confessor and thus, they plan to kill her. Sister Nicci escapes but in order to escape, she does a maternity spell and links her heart with Kahlan’s. So, both experience the same emotions. If she dies, Kahlan will die. And the only person that may save her is Kahlan’s estranged father who has been jailed.
- EPISODE 37 – Creator – A mysterious girl named Maia has been healing Banelings. She claims she is the creator and judges Richard as guilty.
- EPISODE 38 – Desecrated – A village holds a party for the Seeker and friends but a magician uses his tricks to trap Cara and Kahlan in a tomb in which oxygen is depleting. In order for them to survive, the magician wants Richard to kill five people in the village.
- EPISODE 39 – Vengeance – Darken Rahl learns that his father is not dead, meanwhile we learn than Panis Rahl killed Zedd and Thaddicus’ father and both men have vowed that they would kill him. Can Zedd kill the father of Richard?
- EPISODE 40 – Walter – Richard runs into a Darken Rahl doppelganger named Walter and together, they must hurry and rescue Panis Rahl from the D’Haran’s.
DISC 5
- EPISODE 41 – Extinction – Richard and friends arrive at the home of the Nightwisps to find out that the forest was burned and Darken Rahl has the last nightwhisp in possession. Richard must work with the recently revived Darken Rahl. Meanwhile, Kahlan and Cara must bring the whisp back to the Grottoes of the Northern Territories in order for it to save its species.
- EPISODE 42 – Eternity – Cara and Zedd are captured by the Mord’Sith and brought back to Darken Rahl’s castle. Rahl will do all it takes to break Cara and make her into an evil and loyal Mord’Sith once again.
- EPISODE 43 – Unbroken – Richard and friends managed to capture Cara (who has stolen the “Stone of Tears”) and find out that she is bound by black magic. Zedd uses a spell that may break the spell but somehow ends up in an alternate future in which Richard and Kahlan are married.
- EPISODE 44 – Tears – The final episode – Richard has the “Stone of Tears”. Will he be able to kill the Keeper of the Underworld or will the prophecy come true and that he will deliver the “Stone of Tears” to the Keeper?
VIDEO:
“Legend of the Seeker: The Complete First Season” is featured in Widescreen (1:78:1) – Enhanced for 16×9 Televisions and all I can say is how wonderful this series looks. With the series filmed in New Zealand, the look and feel of this new world is so lush and vibrant, I was really amazed by its high production value, it’s costume and set design as well.
“Legend of the Seeker” is an impressive series with production that you would more than likely see on movies but to see it each week on television, let alone a syndicated televisions show (especially during today’s worldwide economic recession and the studio financial cutbacks) is amazing. All I can say, is that I hope this series gets the High Definition treatment and is released on Blu-ray because the series looks absolutely beautiful.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
As for the audio, the audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and there is a good amount of action in the series, especially the clanging of the swords, Zedd’s fire blasts, the series definitely uses a good amount of sound effects during the action sequences. With that being said, the series is definitely more dialogue driven and thus, you hear mostly everything through the front and center channels. I preferred setting my receiver setting on stereo on all channels but for the most part, dialogue and also the Celtic music is clear and understandable.
Subtitles are provided in English SDH, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Legend of the Seeker: The Complete 2nd and Final Season” comes with the following special features:
DISC 5:
- Redemption of a Mord’Sith: Meet Cara – (10:13) A featurette on the character of Cara, featuring interviews with actress Tabrett Bethell and Executive Producers Stephen Tolkin and Ken Biller talking about adding a new character to the series and auditioning for the character and what is so special about this character. Tabrett talks about the costume and also the fight training.
- Under the Underworld – (8:41) The creation of the Underworld and visualizing the look and feel of the Underworld.
- Deleted Scenes -A total of six deleted scenes: The Story of Panis, The Mother Confessor’s Return, Who’s got First Watch?, Walter’s Transformation, What Could have Been, The Importance of Death.
EXTRAS:
“Legend of the Seeker: The Complete 2nd and Final Season” comes with a slip-over cover case.
Every decade, syndicated television has its rare share of gems that truly shine on television. In the 80s, there was ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’, in the 90s there was ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’ and now, I have to say that ‘Legend of the Seeker’ must be put on that list. It’s hard to believe that this series is not shown throughout the USA but for those who have been curious about the series and have heard the rave reviews, this is one series that is truly fantastic and definitely worth watching!
But like many syndicated television shows, unfortunately television is not the same as when these popular series aired back in the ’80s and ’90s and more of these series are becoming extinct. To make things worse, many of Tribune Station Group’s markets dropped the syndicated series which was airing in a few markets throughout the country. ABC Studio which produces the show tried to shop the series around and unfortunately, they were unsuccessful in finding a buyer. So, unfortunately, “Legend of the Seeker” has been canceled.
Fans are working hard on trying to get “Legend of the Seeker” back on television but it’s a shame that this series had to be canceled because it was an entertaining and addictive show with cool characters, action-packed and the episodes were well-written. But unfortunately, with the popularity of the Internet and television and cable now battling for viewership with originally created series, unfortunately syndicated television is fighting an uphill battle.
This was a series that from the moment I started watching, I was instantly hooked and it was like a marathon of “Legend of the Seeker” weekend because I enjoyed it so much. From the first episode I watched of the first season and up to the last episode of this second season, “Legend of the Seeker” was a show that I found so entertaining. The shots were absolutely beautiful and the whole concept of the Seeker, the Confessor, the Wizard and the addition of Cara was another awesome move.
I should emphasize that before watching this series, I haven’t read any of Terry Goodkind’s novels and I am familiar with disgruntled fans who were hoping the novels would receive a Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings film adaptation and also upset about the fact that the series is “loosely” based on the novels. But for what the writers and crew had to work with, I happened to find each episode so captivating, beautiful and just so addicting.
It’s one thing to watch the adventures of Richard, Kahlan, Zedd and Cara but when you see the Mord’sith character, you start to see how the series is a bit derivative to films like “Star Wars” and also Biblical stories and action sequences that are reminiscent to “Matrix” and “300”. But since I’m a fan of those stories, those little moments that are integrated into each episode, I personally wasn’t disappointed by any of that. The writers managed to keep each storyline quite fresh and entertaining that I felt that with each episode, you got something different each time.
I have to admit that I did find the whole Darken Rahl and the Banelings a bit overdone. Personally, I didn’t mind seeing Rahl again but the fact that he was able to make anyone dead turn back alive as a killing monster was a bit much.  But at the same time, it did make up for entertaining adventures for Richard and the group. But overall, I was quite content with this second season and possibly the addition of Cara was a smart move.
I really don’t know where the story of “Legend of the Seeker” would have gone for season three or how the stories ends (as I’ve never read the novels) but I do know that from these two seasons alone, it was an incredible series and its sad if this is how it all ends.
As for the DVD, the overall set is very good but it does have less features than the first DVD. Season one came with a good number of audio commentary and it would have been great if this second season featured audio commentary by the cast members. But we do get a few special features in this second and final season DVD set.
“Legend of the Seeker: The Complete 2nd and Final Season” is definitely worth owning if you are a fan of the series and if you have been curious about this series, I highly recommend purchasing both seasons. Although the final episode was not mean to be a series finale, we do get one resolution which I was happy to see. But as for now, I hope the fandom can help resurrect the show for a third season but if not, this is one syndicated series that had everything going for it… acting, special effects, costume design, location and well-produced, well-written stories for each episode. Once again, a shame that this series had been canceled but nevertheless, I highly recommended this DVD release!
