Well that took some time to come out. It’s been teased, and got release dates and delays, but we can finally listen to it.

If you don’t know about Powerglove, here’s a lowdown: They’re an awesome band that covers oldschool video game music, but with a great power metal style. They’re probably the best band in the video game music cover sub-genre. Not only do the cover the songs, but they take the tunes and they add in their own style and compositions, making the songs not only recognizable, but also making them their own thing at the same time.

This time, rather than doing video game music, they went through their childhood memories of watching cartoons and are doing covers of their theme songs, which is a fun idea. And for the first time they have a record label for their album, so you’ll be able to find it at local music stores, which is pretty awesome.

So read on and see if they’re as good with cartoon songs as they are with video game tunes!

Buy the album on Amazon.com
Buy the album on Amazon.ca
Buy the album on iTunes
Powerglove’s MySpace

X-Men
The original version of the song had some nice guitar and it was fun and fast-paced. This version just builds up on that. It takes the basic melody of the original and just adds more drums, more guitar solos and more awesomeness. Very fun song, if not a bit too similar to the original.

Gotta Catch Em All
Now that’s a song I used to love. And I still do. The Pokemon theme song from the anime series is one of my favorite cartoon songs ever. This version though? Well, let’s just say Pokemon has rarely sounded this good. It has some calmer moments, some badass solos, and it sounds very much like the original… Now there’s only one thing missing….

The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest
I’m not familiar with this show. At all. But I did go listen to the original opening, and this sounds very much the same, just metal. It has a bit of a Guilty Gear sound to it. It’s probably the weakest tune in the album though. It does have a nice solo in there, and the melody isn’t bad, but it’s just not as interesting as other songs in here.

This Is Halloween
I love Nightmare Before Christmas. Awesome movie. And this song? Well, it’s awesome too, amongst the best movie songs ever, and this cover is great. It really has that creepy atmosphere the original song has, and uses the same melodies and overall style, just with really awesome guitar and drums. Some parts calm down a bit to add to the creepy atmosphere. There’s no lyrics, but I think the song benefits from that in this case.

Batman
Rather than the cartoon theme song, which was rather bland, this is a remix of the Danny Elfman theme from “Batman”, the 1989 movie. This is unlike Powerglove’s other tunes I feel. It’s a lot more epic and orchestral, and it has a lot of other instruments than usual to complement to the epic feel of the song and the pace frequently changes without anything ever sounding out of place.

Transformers
Not sure about this one. It’s not bad, and it does have a lot of elements from the original song, but it feels kinda boring compared to the rest. I don’t know what it is with it that I don’t fully appreciate… It’s calming at parts, it has some really cool-sounding parts, and yet I’m not too fond of it. Not sure why. Maybe I’m just not that nostalgic when it comes to the Transformers.

Inspector Gadget
It’s weird… Some parts of this track (namely some of the beginning and a short segment at the end) are actually covering “In The Hall of the Mountain King”, or some remix of it, rather than the Inspector Gadget theme. It’s funny because people mix those songs up a lot normally too. BUT, upon further research in the depths of the Powerglove myspace blog, I did find that they were originally calling it “In The Hall of Inspector Gadget”, so I guess that explains this weird bit. Anyways… This is a very good song. There’s tons of elements from both the opening and ending credits of the show, and it just sounds really awesome all-around and features some really fast playing and just overall awesome moments. And the mix between “In The Hall of the Mountain King” and the Inspector Gadget theme sounds really good too, which is to be expected since both tunes sound really similar.

Heffalumps and Woozles (Winnie The Pooh)
This song exists for one reason, and one reason only: so you can say “Hey, did you hear that AWESOME Winnie the Pooh power metal song?” during a conversation, blowing everyone’s mind. Actually, this song is pretty badass. I haven’t seen the movie where this song is from (why would I watch a 1968 Winnie the Pooh short film anyways?), but I did watch the clip from the movie on youtube where this song is played, and it seems like Winnie is bad tripping after ODing on honey or something and starts seeing weird shit (not exactly as big of a mindfuck as, say, Pink Elephants On Parade, but somewhat in a similar style). And this song retains some of that fucked-up-ness from the original (specifically that really weird bit at the beginning of the song). And it also has a lot of a “pirate-like” sound to it for some reason. And there’s a lot of moments with different instruments which are interesting. Really cool, and one of the most memorable songs in the whole album. You’ll have it stuck in your head for quite a while.

The Simpsons (Feat Tony Kakko)
A third Danny Elfman tune? Fun. Probably the most easily recognizable tune in the album, The Simpsons theme here is unlike anything you’ve ever heard from the show. It takes the classic tune and turns it into a badass guitar solo. It sounds very familiar, but at the same time there’s a lot added to it that makes it sound like its own tune. The part with Tony Kakko spelling out/chanting “The Simpsons” in a very metal way just sounds awesome. Very enjoyable song for sure.

The Flinstones
For this one, I have 2 opinions. It’s very good, with high energy at some parts and it’s fun to listen to, but at the same time it’s incredibly repetitive and it’s WAY too long. It repeats the same parts a lot, and, when you think the song is done at 3 minutes 30 seconds, it starts up again from a previous part, not really adding anything to what we’ve heard before in the song. While it’s a very solid song, it’s easily the second weakest song in the album.

Gotta Catch Em All (Feat Tony Kakko)
You know what this song was missing at the beginning of the album? Lyrics. Well, here they are! And now the song is even more awesome. I’m not a big fan of Tony Kakko (from Sonata Arctica), partly because his voice is sort of weak if you compare to other awesome metal singers, but I think he does the job perfectly for this song. I find it funny that, other than a few lines, the lyrics in the pokemon song when sang by a metal singer really sound like a “normal” metal song. Weird stuff.

Overall

I’m pretty happy with the album. There’s some very solid songs. This is Halloween, Batman, Inspector Gadget, Pokemon with lyrics and Heffalumps and Woozles are AWESOME. The other songs are fairly good too.

If there is one big disappointment, it’s that one of the songs originally announced for this album is nowhere to be found. There was supposed to be a cover of Under The Sea from The Little Mermaid, and, according to older blog posts by Powerglove, the song has been recorded, so where is it? At first I thought Disney didn’t want them using one of their songs, but then I figured out that was wrong, since Nightmare Before Christmas and Winnie the Pooh are Disney properties. So I have no idea. And it was the song I was the most hyped for too.

One thing that really strikes me with this album is that Powerglove has really evolved from their previous album. Their playing hasn’t changed much, but their composition sure has evolved. It feels like these new songs have a lot better structure to them than their previous album. And the recording quality is noticeably better as well. Sunday Morning Apocalypse makes me really hyped for the next album, which will be video game music again. Can’t wait… whenever that happens.

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Find out what’s the best and more after the jump.

Male Character

Winner: Hiraga Saito (Zero no Tsukaima Princesse no Rondo)

What’s the deal here: Saito might not have the intelligence of Lelouch, the 36 senses of KoGARashi, but what he definitely have is top luck when it comes to everything else. While he might suffer from time to time from Louise’s mood, he’s well surrounded and got summoned in a fantasy universe I’d like to visit any time before Middle-Earth and some galaxy far far away. Finally, well, he’s such a pimp!

Runner-ups:

Lelouch vi Brittania (CODE GEASS Hangyaku no Lelouch R2)

Lockon Stratos (Mobile Suit GUNDAM 00)

KoGARashi (Kamen no Maid guy)

Female Character

Winner: Mikamo Chizuko (Nijuu mensou no musume)

What’s the deal here: Here I went for the underdog. Nobody watched Nijuu mensou no musume (well, except us), and the fansubs aren’t even finished after so long. Chiko (her short name) is such a refreshing character. She’s in no way into fanservice, she started as a sickly rich-daughter targeted by her guardians and became such a badass even though her young age. She showed us her agility, her quick thinking abilities unlike any other characters this year. I want more Chiko and I want it now!

Runner-ups:

Shana (Shakugan no Shana Second)

C.C (CODE GEASS Hangyaku no Lelouch R2)

Nogizaka Haruka (Nogizaka Haruka no himitsu)

Non-human

Winner: Kannon’s hat (CODE GEASS Hangyaku no Lelouch R2)

What’s the deal here:

(Neo_NMO) who cares… it’s kanon’s hat

(ThePhantom) fo reals yo

Runner-ups:

Marchosias (Shakugan no Shana Second)

Alastor (Shakugan no Shana Second)

Haro (GUNDAM 00 s2)

Best Couple

Winner: Haruka/Yuuto (Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu)

What’s the deal here:

The secret of Haruka Nogizaka was a cute anime, with lots of lulz, lot’s of awwwwwwww moments that was fun to watch even if it fell deep into all the clichés. The only difference here from most anime is that the love triangle was barely a wall in Haruka and Yuuto’s relationship. They formed the too perfect couple, and that’s why we agreed on this one.

Runner-ups:

Saito/Louise (Zero no Tsukaima Princesse no Rondo)

Kotoko/Naoki (Itazura na kiss)

Tomoya/Nagisa (Clannad)

Overall Cast of characters

Winner: Hyakko

What’s the deal here: Call us biased here, but we completely fell in love with the whole cast of Hyakko. Ayumi, Torako, Suzume, Tatsuki and all of their schoolmates got us laughing over and over again, in quite a relaxing way. It fell mostly into mischief over deep plots, yet there was enough character development to care for most of them. And no one died!

Runner-ups:

Aria the Origination

CODE GEASS Hangyaku no Lelouch R2

Mobile Suit GUNDAM 00

Best Maid

Winner: Sayoko (CODE GEASS Hangyaku no Lelouch R2)

What’s the deal here: Ninja maid, nuff said!

Runner-ups:

Siesta (Zero no Tsukaima Princesse no Rondo)

Hazuki Sakurazaka (Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu)

Benisu (Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de)

Most badass Butler

Winner: Maidguy KoGARashi (Kamen no Maid Guy)

What’s the deal here: Ok, he’s a maid, not a butler, but you can’t compete with his level of manliness and badassness, EVER. And that’s what matters here.

Runner-ups:

Colonel (Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de)

Kojuro Takeda (Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de)

Ayasaki Hayate (Hayate no Gotoku)

For the 3 songs categories, I simply stopped at the winner and no runner-up. Why? Because there’s a ton of good ones out there, but it’s really hard to pick one over the other beyond my best choices.  Also, please note that we took the animation into account to make our choices for the OP and END, while for the insert, we took the context into account.

Best Opening (song and animation)

Winner: Discotheque (Rosario + Vampire Capu2) by Nana Mizuki

What’s the deal here: An awesome OP for an anime that fails the manga so much. The animation is very smooth and Nana Mizuki is a great singer.

Best Ending (song and animation)

Winner: Friends (Mobile Suit Gundam 00 END2) by Stephanie

What’s the deal here: Not much to say, this song is awesome, the animation isn’t too bad either.  With some candid shots of the characters and their past.

Best Use of an Insert Song

Winner: Nyan Nyan Service Medley (Macross Frontier) by Sheryl Nome (May’n) and Ranka Lee (Megumi Nakajima)

Listen to it, spoiler-less:

What’s the deal here: This was really a no contest here.  This song plays during the final fight and has Sheryl and Ranka singing it. This part in my opinion actually saved Frontier, which I found too short for it’s own good compared to its predecessors (SDF and 7).

Comedy

Winner: Hyakko

What’s the deal here: While some more interesting choices didn’t finished airing in 2008 (Toradora) and some were hilariously too philosophic for most of the population (Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei), Hyakko delivered on a great level in making you laugh with its barely not stereotypical characters. Although I wish they didn’t end it with a prologue, I believe it deserves this spot.

Runner-ups:

Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de

Hayate no Gotoku

Adventure

Winner: Nijuu Mensou no Musume

What’s the deal here: I really loved the runner-ups in this category, but The Daughter of Twenty Faces takes the cake and eat it too. I already mentioned Chiko (Female character of 2008), she’s the protagonist, along with her mentor, Nijuu Mensou takes us along for a ride reminding Lupin at first, then makes itself very distinct from the rest along the way.

Runner-ups:

Druaga no To ~the Aegis of URUK~

Hatenko Yugi

Spice and wolf

Mystery

Winner: Yakushiji Ryoko no Kaiki Jikenbo

What’s the deal here: I have yet to finish to watch this series, but there’s no question here, Ryoko-san is awesome and she just seems to attract the weirdest mysteries around her, and can handle them very well. I really loved the ambiance in this series too. Chaos; HeAD came close second here, but lacked in keeping up with the mysteries along the way.

Runner-ups:

Chaos; Head

KUROZUKA

XXXHOLiC Kei

Action

Winner: CODE GEASS Hangyaku no Lelouch R2

What’s the deal here: Is there really something to explain here? With an over the top plot, with unpredictable plot twists and a tension that kept us on the edge almost all the way through, CODE GEASS R2 made for some thrilling action.

Runner-ups:

Nijumenso no Musume

Macross Frontier

Ga-rei Zero

Fantasy

Winner: Spice & Wolf

What’s the deal here: This slow paced anime about a merchant and his traveling partner which just happens to be a cute wolf deity made us learn about the economy of an older time, with just enough fantasy spice to keep it interesting.

Runner-ups:

Natsume Yuujinchou

Wagaya no Oinari-sama

Zero no Tsukaima Princesse no Rondo

Harem

Winner: Zero no Tsukaima Princesse no Rondo

What’s the deal here: See why Saito won best male character.

Runner-ups:

Sekirei

Clannad

Rosario+Vampire

Best Fanservice

Winner: Koihime Musou

What’s the deal here: Something with more fanservice then Ikkitousen probably doesn’t exist in the year 2008. But in intensity, Koihime Musou will take the win easily. I’ll keep it to your imagination or curiosity as to why that is.

Runner-ups:

Ikkitousen: Great Guardians

Kanokon

Sekirei

Mecha

Winner: Mobile Suit GUNDAM 00

What’s the deal here: I always avoided GUNDAM series, they’re not my cup of tea. But after being cornered into watching 00, which is surprisingly easy to get in to even for people that don’t really care much for big robots, I can say that this one is probably good for any overall anime fan. It just couldn’t lose to anything else when it comes to Mecha either. At least in 2008.

Runner-ups:

CODE GEASS Hangyaku no Lelouch R2

Macross Frontier

Romance

Winner: Itazura na Kiss

What’s the deal here: Anime based on the mother of all romance shoujo manga. It couldn’t fail at romance, now couldn’t it? Too bad the mangaka died before finishing the manga, that always sucks when an author can’t finish its work (for the person itself first and close ones, then the fans). Good thing she had told her husband the ending before passing away or so I heard.

Runner-ups:

Ef ~ A Tale of Memories~

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu

True Tears

School Life

Winner: Hyakko

What’s the deal here: Hyakko was awesome in a few categories above already, it still is. No need to say more.

Runner-ups:

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu

S.A ~Special A~

Itazura na kiss

Science-Fiction

Winner: Mobile Suit GUNDAM 00

What’s the deal here: Looking for something sci-fi from 2008, but not sci-fi? Tough luck. The best of sci-fi is a GUNDAM. Well you can always fall back on Ga-rei Zero or Mnemosyne for some neat Sci-fi without the giant robots.

Runner-ups:

CODE GEASS Hangyaku no Lelouch R2

Ga-rei Zero

Macross Frontier

Best Seiyuu

Winner: Mamiko Noto

What’s the deal here: I just love Mamiko Noto’s voice. I love Kugimiya’s and Hirano’s too. But from Clannad’s Kotomi Ichinose, Zero no Tsukaima’s Tiffania Westwood, Nogizaka Haruka no himitsu’s Haruka and Mnemosyne’s Rin Asogi, she’s the winner here and I’m happy to see her appearing in many new series again this year. A big cheer for the runner-ups here too.

Runner-ups:

Kugimiya Rie

Hirano Aya

Fukuyama Jun

Best OVA

Winner: Mnemosyne – Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi

What’s the deal here: I actually just finished watching this and I must say it was plain awesome. I really didn’t see coming some of the directions this OVA took. Watch it now, I mean it.  (Although I should mention, this is not meant for people younger then 18 years old)

Runner-ups:

Mai Otome 0~S.ifr~

Zero no Tsukaima Princesse no Rondo (ep 6.5)

BUS GAMER

Best Movie

Winner: Kara no Kyoukai 3: Tsuukaku Zanryuu

What’s the deal here:

(ThePhantom) you got a movie category?

(Me) no.. I can add it..

(ThePhantom) i just need an excuse for kara no kyoukai 3 >.<

Runner-up:

Clannad Movie

Sleeper Hit

Winner: Nijuu mensou no Musume

What’s the deal here: This series really went under the radar of most people, I wonder if it’s the look of the screenshots on ANN and all. If you’re reading this, do yourself a favor and watch it.

Runner-ups:

Ef ~ A Tale of Memories~

Shugo Chara

Most unintentionnal lulz

Winner: Dragonaut – The Resonance

What’s the deal here:

(Mighty_Mouse) the story is so cliche

(Mighty_Mouse) kazuki turns on jin for the dumbest of reasons

(Mighty_Mouse) and wears panties on his head o_O

(Mighty_Mouse) and he wears this huge ass patch

(Mighty_Mouse) it’s hard to explain WHY it’s lulz

(Mighty_Mouse) but if you watch it

(Mighty_Mouse) it’s such a trainwreck that you can’t help but laugh at it

Runner-up:

Rosario + Vampire Capu2

Best of the Year

Winner: CODE GEASS Hangyaku no Lelouch R2

What’s the deal here: No surprises here, if you expected anything else, there’s probably something wrong with you. YES, the plot is somewhat messed up with contradictions, which I didn’t find too bad anyway, but R2 excels at what it does best: make your jaw hit the floor with plot twists that changed the meaning of everything, every single episode, or almost. Just turn off your bullshit meter and enjoy, seriously.

Runner-ups:

Nijuu mensou no Musume

Mobile Suit GUNDAM 00 Season 2

Hyakko

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Now I’ve managed to watch it and here I am with my impressions of the first 2 episodes.
I’ll first go into a brief summary of each episode(not going too much in detail) and then give my impressions about it . And there’s gonna be some pictures at the end of the post of course.

Episode 1: Prophecy
This episode starts with Kahlan and her sister running away from Darken Rahl’s troops to get to the Heartlands and find the Seeker of Truth to give him a book. Kahlan’s sister gets killed, she then comes accross the Boundary and uses some magic necklace to get through it. A Quad follows her (though it’s not refered to as a Quad here >_>) and Richard, who was just done rebuilding a bridge, sees her running away from those men and tries to help her out. Kahlan shows off her confessor powers(already?) and the bad guys are killed… except one. Kahlan goes off to find… someone, and Richard gets bitten by a poisonous plant.

The survivor of the Quad goes to the “boss” off the Heartlands, who just so happens to be Richard’s brother(Michael), and explain his view of what happened(and says that he’s from the Midlands), so Michael is off to find Richard and Kahlan. In the meantime Richard talks to his dad a bit and some of Michael’s men come to Richard’s house, so his father tells him to go meet Zedd.

Now Richard goes there, all weakened from the poisonous plant’s bite, and get healed. He then gets told that he’s the Seeker, and that his parents aren’t his real parents. Kahlan gives Richard the Book of Counted Shadows(what?), which, even though it’s in a language he doesn’t know, is still able to read it. So Richard goes to find his dad but finds his house burning. He is then told that Zedd is telling the Truth, and then his dad dies. Richard goes to fight the remaining Quad member at Zedd’s house(taking the horse that has the Sword of Thruth and the Book on it), but gets pwnd and the Book of Counted Shadows is taken away.

Richard realizes his faults and is truly named the Seeker of Thruth by Zedd, who happens to be First Wizard, a high-ranked wizard in the Midlands, and Kahlan. He gets the Sword of Thruth and the episode ends there.

Episode 2: Destiny
Episode 2 finds Richard, Zedd and Kahlan planning how to catch up to the Quad member. Chase comes in, and believes Richard about everything that’s happening, but Michael, who now sides with Darken Rahl’s man out of nowhere, l wants him dead(isn’t the love between brothers magnificent?). They go get something to eat before leaving, and during that time Darken’s forces are trying to break through the boundary by shooting burning… things from their catapults.

Now Michael rallies a bunch of scared citizens and goes off to find Richard and crew(especially Kahlan, who they call a witch(they really know nothing >_>)), but they can’t stop them because Zedd can shoot fire. Nifty. So they get away and try finding a way through the Boundary. On the way there they seperate from Chase and he gets forced(by the Quad member) to tell where to find someone who know how to go through otherwise he’ll kill Chase’s daughter. He gives his instructions on how to get to the Bone Lady’s place, and then he goes to find Richard and gang.

So then Richard’s an idiot and almost goes in the Boundary, but Zedd stops him and gets poisoned. Chase comes in, tells Richard what happened and they go to the Bone Lady, while Kahlan trails behind, transporting Zedd with her. They get to the Bone Lady, save Chase’s daughter from a Gar (didn’t mention that earlier, basically flying demon dudes), and are told that the Quad guy is gone to the Boundary.

So Richard and Kahlan go there, leaving Zedd to be healed by the Bone Lady. They fight the Quad guy, get the Book back, and Darken’s troops manage to break a part of the Boundary. So there’s a big fight between Richard and Kahlan against those troops, and they pwn them. Oh, and before that Richard burned the book. So now the episode ends and Richard, Kahlan and Zedd are off to the Midlands. Yay.

Impressions
Well, I must say  enjoyed this. They did make quite a few changes from the original book, but overall the main story stays quite similar.
The actors were pretty well chosen. Kahlan looks quite similar to what I imagined, Zedd is just as I imagined, Richard… well he’s a bit young and looks different from what I thought he would, but in retrospect this look is fitting for the first book’s Richard.
The acting was satisfactory. Not much more to say here. Except that Zedd doesn’t say “Bags” enough >_>
The problem for me was core differences between the show and the book(i’ll cover those soon). But I think that despite that it should be a good show.
I’ll definitely be watching more of it.

Changes done 
There are a few changes that really change some important elements in the story.
The main one is the Book of Counted Shadows. In the books, Richard read the book since he was a young kids until he completely memorized it, being able to recite it and write it anew when asked. After he was able to do that, they burned it. In the show, he never heard about it and only read a few pages(or even just a few lines) before burning it. At least the lines he read are faithful to the book. But that will inevitably change some elements in the series… most notably the ending, which mostly involves Richard’s knowledge of the Book of Counted Shadows.
Another disturbing change is Richard’s relation with Zedd. In the book, Zedd is Richard’s mentor and taught him almost everything he knows. In the series, Richard considers Zedd “just some crazy old men who speaks to his chicken”. That’s just really weird. To add to that, Zedd doesn’t explain the Sword of Truth’s powers to Richard, which was an interesting plot point in the book.
Another weird difference is the death of Richard’s father. In the book, he was killed by Darken Rahl himself, who came to the Heartland on the back of a dragon. Here they just ignored that, and the dragon(who ends up being an important character) and decide Richard’s dad just gets killed by the remaining Quad member. 
Which brings me to another weird difference: the remaining Quad member. All of them died in the book, so the remaining one seems… out of place here.
The one change that really bothered me is the Wizard’s First Rule. It’s the title of the book the series is based on, so why is the Wizard’s First Rule itself not right? In the book it’s ”People are stupid”, but now it’s “people will believe a lie because they want it to be true, or because they’re afraid it might be true”. “People are stupid” is not only true, but is used throughout the series by Richard to get things done. Just something really random I found that really bothered me here.
The final weird change is Kahlan’s confessor powers. You hear that she’s a confessor early enough in the book, but she doesn’t really use her power until later when they’re in the Midlands, yet here even before going to the Midlands she already used them twice.

There are other differences, but those are the main ones I found. Though it’s been like 3 year since I read the first book so I must have missed some. At least they kept Gars intact, including the blood flies they use to find preys and all, so that was a nice touch (though they don’t explain it in the show). 

Overall
I think it’s going to be an interesting series, and hopefully they’ll go further than just the first book, like another series later on for the second book or something. As long as they don’t screw up too much of the books story I think it will be almost as interesting as the book.
I’ll be sure to keep watch on this. (maybe a network that plays on standard cable here would be nice enough to show it here? I’ll keep downloading the series until then).

Pictures
Here’s a few of them.

So romantic, standing together amongst a bunch of corpses

 

Chase is not as big as I thought he would be, but he is still badass

Crazy naked old man talking to his chicken.... oh wait this is Zedd. Bags old man, put some close on, this is disturbing >_>

The boundary actually looks pretty cool.

This is a Gar. Not what I thought it would look like, but pretty cool anyways.

And off they are to the Midlands. Yay!

 

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Haven’t posted in a few days, but I’ve got a few things lined up. For the moment, I want to speak of something I’ve been anticipating for quite a while now(and, after being out of the loop for a while, I learned all about it this morning). Namely, the adaptation of a book series that I love into a TV series, the Sword of Thruth(by Terry Goodkind). For the TV version they are renaming the series’ name to “Legend of the Seeker”. From what I’ve read, this will be covering only the first book… Hopefully more will come.
Yeah, I’m talking about this late, but as I’ve said I’ve been out of the loop for a bit. 

This is the first time in years that I’ve been hyped up for a TV show that isn’t anime. So here’s a bit of info on the overall story, actors(the ones that are known for now), pictures and the first trailer.

This is coming on November 1st by the way, so it’s really soon. Also, this is produced by Sam Raimi, the guy behind the Evil Dead series and the Spiderman adaptations. Going to play on ABC, WGN and maybe a couple of others. Check your local listings!

First, the story(well, a basic outline of it). The Sword of Thruth is the story of a young man in the Westlands (a place that doesn’t know magic) who is just a normal wood guide (with the knowledge of a special magic book), who meets a woman from the Midlands(where magic is the rule of all, basically) named Kahlan(she is a Confessor.. which you’ll learn more about later on), and is chosen by his mentor, Zedd, to be the Seeker of Thruth. He learns about an evil Wizard named Darken Rahl who took over the Midlands and is out to kill him and is trying to kidnap/kill Kahlan, so he sets out with Kahlan to fight him. 
It may sound simple and cliche, but that’s just the first book. As the series progresses Richard learns more about magic, how the world around him works and the overall story becomes a lot deeper than just “random warrior going to fight evil wizard”. Really an amazing story, even the first book goes pretty deep. I can’t say much more than what I’ve said for now, otherwise I’ll be spoiling some parts of the TV series.
 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844653/
Now the actors… Well I actually don’t really know any of them.
The one playing Kahlan definitely has the looks to play the role, let’s hope her acting holds up, considering playing something like a Confessor should prove to be a good challenge. 
The actor for Richard looks really young. I was expecting a bigger man, with huge muscles and an overall really badass look, but my dad reminded me that Richard was around 20 years old at the beginning of the series, maybe a bit more, so the younger look is fitting.
Not really sure about the rest, but I really hope they can embody the characters really well, because the characters in Sword of Thruth are superb. Now some actors of missing from the list but we’ll see who they are when the time comes.

Pictures
Here’s a few promo pictures from Terry Goodkind’s website: 

Style similar to the book covers, nice.

Kahlan

Zedd Zu'l Zorander, Richard's mentor

Richard and Kahlan... again

So for now no pictures of Chase, Michael Cypher and Darken Rahl yet(the “confirmed” characters) (oh wait, Chase is on the poster i posted on top… doesn’t look as big and manly i thought he would >_>), and there’s lots of other characters missing from the cast for now (still waiting for the red leather-clad Mord Sith girls ). There’s a few more pics, but still mostly of Zedd/Richard/Kahlan, on Terry Goodkind’s website.

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18Wb2yAUddg

Anyways, that’s all the info I have for now, I’ll be sure to watch it no matter what when it airs and come back with my impressions.
For more info check out http://www.terrygoodkind.com/ and if you want to read something awesome, check out the book series the show is based on.

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