Anyone going to watch Earthsea?

[nevposey]

It's miniseries airing on the Sci Fi channel next week (December 13th and 14th) I have been seeing ads all over the city for it. It's based on these books I read in middle school and has Kristin Kreuk in it who is so hot.

[sblymnlcrymnl]

I don't watch the Sci Fi channel much, but Kristin might just be hot enough for me to watch a few minutes here and there.

[Mr. Anderson]

It's based on "A Wizard of Earthsea"?

[Scrubking]

Not gonna watch it. It looks beyond lame. Sci-fi continues to try and find stuff to replace Farscape, but they keep failing miserably.

[camoor]

Wizard of Earthsea is a much better book then Harry Potter can ever hope to be. It really is a great fictional representation of magick.

It's like comparing Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum" to that Davinci Code pop trash.

Sadly Wizard gets some shabby Sci-Fi knockoff while Harry Potter goes number 1 at the box office. (again and again :roll: )

Maybe it'll be OK, the first part of Sci-Fi's Dune mini-series was alot better then David Lynch's long, soupy, and ultimately dissappointing Dune movie.

[x0thedeadzone0x]

Yep. My friend is fucking obsessed with this show/book/whatever and he started freaking out at the theater when the commercial came on, but it looks interesting enough, so I'll probably catch it.

[epobirs]

Not only no but Hell no! The idea of trying to sit through anything derived from Ursula Le Guin makes me think of the aversion therapy sequence in 'A Clockwork Orange.' I've tried to read her stuff but it's like a tranquilizer in written form. And this is coming from someone who has read thousands of SF novels.

The only useful reason for the existence of Le Guin is that an acquaintance professing a deep appreciation of 'The Dispossessed' is a very srong indicator that person will be anouncing they're gay at some point in the future. This has happened to me no less than five times.

[Moxio]

Most likely not. For one, the title is lame (Earth + sea + cheesy sci-fi = Earthsea on the Sci-Fi Channel?), and it looks like a rip of a crapload of stuff.

Pah.

[Kaijufan]

I might watch it. I haven't decided yet.

[epobirs]

Wizard of Earthsea is a much better book then Harry Potter can ever hope to be. It really is a great fictional representation of magick.

It's like comparing Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum" to that Davinci Code pop trash.

Sadly Wizard gets some shabby Sci-Fi knockoff while Harry Potter goes number 1 at the box office. (again and again :roll: )

Maybe it'll be OK, the first part of Sci-Fi's Dune mini-series was alot better then David Lynch's long, soupy, and ultimately dissappointing Dune movie.

These works are so far removed from each other it's silly to make the comparison. Other than the element of magic as a plot device there isn't much basis for comparison. Le Guin was trying to bring a great literary depth to the sword & sorcery potboiler while the Potter book draw on a different tradion completely, satirizing the Boy's Adventure genre that has long been a staple of British kid lit, combined with the Changeling Prince plot device that is as old as the Bible and earlier. (Moses adopted into the Pharoah's household is a very early example.) A better comparison (and perhaps a partial inspiration) to the Potter series would be Terry Pratchett's Johnny Maxwell series. For some inexplicable reason these have no US publisher despite Pratchett's popularity, and can only be had here through the SF book Club.

Another really vicious satire of those old British novels for boys are Michael Palin's Ripping Yarns series.

[zionoverfire]

I'm watching it! I've read a couple of the books and its an interesting series, its teenage fantasy like the Chronicles of Narnia but it has some interesting ideas and themes tucked inside of it.

[zionoverfire]

Not only no but Hell no! The idea of trying to sit through anything derived from Ursula Le Guin makes me think of the aversion therapy sequence in 'A Clockwork Orange.' I've tried to read her stuff but it's like a tranquilizer in written form. And this is coming from someone who has read thousands of SF novels.

The only useful reason for the existence of Le Guin is that an acquaintance professing a deep appreciation of 'The Dispossessed' is a very srong indicator that person will be anouncing they're gay at some point in the future. This has happened to me no less than five times.

Thousands of SF novels and you hate Le Guin? I liked The Dispossed and I be banging my female lab partner! 8)

[epobirs]

Not only no but Hell no! The idea of trying to sit through anything derived from Ursula Le Guin makes me think of the aversion therapy sequence in 'A Clockwork Orange.' I've tried to read her stuff but it's like a tranquilizer in written form. And this is coming from someone who has read thousands of SF novels.

The only useful reason for the existence of Le Guin is that an acquaintance professing a deep appreciation of 'The Dispossessed' is a very srong indicator that person will be anouncing they're gay at some point in the future. This has happened to me no less than five times.

Thousands of SF novels and you hate Le Guin? I liked The Dispossed and I be banging my female lab partner! 8)

Yeah, funny how I like some actual interest in the fiction I read. Le Guin's idea of excitement is to get out of a chair to fast fr a head rush.

Consider yourself on notice. Plenty of acquaintances who decided they were gay in their late 30's had early attempts at heteroness, some even fathering children. But Ursula's Curse got them in the end, along with any number of men thereafter.

[epobirs]

But yeah, I'm not kidding when I said I've read thousands of SF, as well as other genres, novels. I'm a very fast reader and when I was young there were two factors at work. First, SF was very underappreciated. A decent bookstore could easily have just about everthing wore reading that was in print back in the 70's. The short story and serial magazines did a good business because it was so easy for people like me to exhaust the entire genre's offerings. Le Guin had produced her major works by then and so I inevitably tried to force my way though them but the dullness rays they gave off just made it impossible.

Second, because I was young and it was so much easier to find something new and interesting I might go through a dozen novels in a single summer day. Keep in mind that the majority of novels in general then tended to the short side, rarely more than 300 pages. This had a lot to do with the serialization in magazines being the primary source of an SF writer's income in those days, not counting the full-time job most had as well. A lengthy epic like 'Dune' in 1965 was very rare, compared to the abundance of doorstop trilogies today.

Nowadays, there is much more of a 'been there' done that' feeling to most works, so it's much harder to find something that gets devoured like the old days. It's become a bit too easy to get published now and it takes much more effort to find something worthy of the time.

[zionoverfire]

But yeah, I'm not kidding when I said I've read thousands of SF, as well as other genres, novels. I'm a very fast reader and when I was young there were two factors at work. First, SF was very underappreciated. A decent bookstore could easily have just about everthing wore reading that was in print back in the 70's. The short story and serial magazines did a good business because it was so easy for people like me to exhaust the entire genre's offerings. Le Guin had produced her major works by then and so I inevitably tried to force my way though them but the dullness rays they gave off just made it impossible.

Second, because I was young and it was so much easier to find something new and interesting I might go through a dozen novels in a single summer day. Keep in mind that the majority of novels in general then tended to the short side, rarely more than 300 pages. This had a lot to do with the serialization in magazines being the primary source of an SF writer's income in those days, not counting the full-time job most had as well. A lengthy epic like 'Dune' in 1965 was very rare, compared to the abundance of doorstop trilogies today.

Nowadays, there is much more of a 'been there' done that' feeling to most works, so it's much harder to find something that gets devoured like the old days. It's become a bit too easy to get published now and it takes much more effort to find something worthy of the time.

Well I must say that Scifi is still quite underappreciated today and yes the newer stuff is repeats. In fact the latest truely visionary work I've read would have to be Neuromancer and that came out in the 80's

[camoor]

Wizard of Earthsea is a much better book then Harry Potter can ever hope to be. It really is a great fictional representation of magick.

It's like comparing Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum" to that Davinci Code pop trash.

Sadly Wizard gets some shabby Sci-Fi knockoff while Harry Potter goes number 1 at the box office. (again and again :roll: )

Maybe it'll be OK, the first part of Sci-Fi's Dune mini-series was alot better then David Lynch's long, soupy, and ultimately dissappointing Dune movie.

These works are so far removed from each other it's silly to make the comparison. Other than the element of magic as a plot device there isn't much basis for comparison. Le Guin was trying to bring a great literary depth to the sword & sorcery potboiler while the Potter book draw on a different tradion completely, satirizing the Boy's Adventure genre that has long been a staple of British kid lit, combined with the Changeling Prince plot device that is as old as the Bible and earlier. (Moses adopted into the Pharoah's household is a very early example.) A better comparison (and perhaps a partial inspiration) to the Potter series would be Terry Pratchett's Johnny Maxwell series. For some inexplicable reason these have no US publisher despite Pratchett's popularity, and can only be had here through the SF book Club.

Another really vicious satire of those old British novels for boys are Michael Palin's Ripping Yarns series.

I won't argue with your magic schoolboy book expertise :notworth: :)

However I will say that Hairy Pothead seems to be alot more gay. Cmon - he likes flying around while sitting on a wooden stick! And "HP and the Chamber of Secrets"? Where is that set, Mike Jackson's place?

IKIK

[Medium_Pimpin]

Will probably dowload and watch at my leisure. I dont have cable, but i have cable internet.

[killswitch64]

Probably not.

[nevposey]

I'm watching it! I've read a couple of the books and its an interesting series, its teenage fantasy like the Chronicles of Narnia but it has some interesting ideas and themes tucked inside of it.

I was a big fan of C.S. Lewis also and just recenty read a set report on the production of the new The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe movie that is in production.
Narnia Set Report (http://www.cinecon.com/news.php?id=0411291)

As far as the Earthsea novels I actually went back and read the first two in the series after I found out the mini was coming to sci fi. I read Tombs of Atuan first and then Wizard of Earthsea just because that was the order I found them on the shelves.

[buddy the puppy]

I dunno. Almost EVERYTHING that is a Sci-Fi "original" sucks bad!! Super bad!! Although the new Battlestar Galactica series is gonna rock in January!!! It's already airing in England and a friend sent me some episodes, they finally show the Cylons in robot form!!!!!!

[nevposey]

I dunno. Almost EVERYTHING that is a Sci-Fi "original" sucks bad!! Super bad!! Although the new Battlestar Galactica series is gonna rock in January!!! It's already airing in England and a friend sent me some episodes, they finally show the Cylons in robot form!!!!!!

I can't wait for the new BSG to come to the US either. I have not seen any of the episodes airing in the UK yet, but everthing I have read has been good.

As far as Earthsea I think I am going to watch on Monday and Tuesday. I like to see things I have read in live action. Oh yeah, and Kristin Kreuk. If you don't know who I am talking about look her up.

[camoor]

are we talking about lana lang?

[nevposey]

are we talking about lana lang?

Yes. She plays Lana Lang on Smallville. She is amazngly hot.

[camoor]

are we talking about lana lang?

Yes. She plays Lana Lang on Smallville. She is amazngly hot.

I agree. Blah to Lois Lane!

[nevposey]

I totally agree. Kristin is much hotter. I can't wait to see her tomorrow night. For some reason I think she will look good in the fantasy-like wardrobe.

[nevposey]

I dunno. Almost EVERYTHING that is a Sci-Fi "original" sucks bad!! Super bad!! Although the new Battlestar Galactica series is gonna rock in January!!! It's already airing in England and a friend sent me some episodes, they finally show the Cylons in robot form!!!!!!

It turns out the Earthsea mini was pretty good. I wonder if they will try to make another mini based on the rest of Le Guin's novels.

You are very right about the New Battlestar Galactica series. It is going to be awesome. I can't wait for January. People in the UK are already watching and they say it is awesome.

[eldad9]

For what it's worth, LeGuin really hated the sci-fi travesty based on her work.

[nevposey]

The whole series got mixed reviews, but the ratings were really high. I don't think mixed reviews will be the case with Battlerstar Galactica. The miniseries was great and those who have seen the new series already in the UK love it.

[zionoverfire]

For what it's worth, LeGuin really hated the sci-fi travesty based on her work.

I see, well I found it quite dissapointing myself.

and what do I have to look forward to next month? Battle star Gallactica a show that was so great it lasted a season the frist time and more endless Star Gate episodes and spinoffs.

I'm sure some people really like this stuff but I think for me at least its time I gave up on that channel.

[Scrubking]

I saw a little of Earthsea, and I have to admit that the premise was intersting as it resembled a D&D world. The show was totally lame though and I sense that it will be a career ender for some of the actors that were in it.

Sci-fi channel is total garbage these days and the best part is that they have the uncanny ability to always cancel or screw over the good shows.

[nevposey]

and what do I have to look forward to next month? Battle star Gallactica a show that was so great it lasted a season the frist time and more endless Star Gate episodes and spinoffs.

Did you watch the BSG miniseries in 2003? Its pretty awesome and this new series picks up right where that left off and has the same cast.

[akilshohen]

I had to stay at my parents aparment and I got so tired of the word earthsea that if I heard it again I was gonna scream.