Episode 29: “I will take the treasure!”

I loved MacGyver when I was a kid. I even remember exactly what I was thinking the first time I saw it: “Wow, this is like A-Team, but with only one guy who’s smarter and does cooler stuff!” Looking back at it, you can’t fail to cringe at the awful mullet that Richard Dean Anderson was sporting those days. Did anyone else here have trouble adapting to his new hairstyle when he first appeared in Stargate SG-1?

While I loved the normal day-to-day MacGyver episdoes, my favourites were always those special cheesy ones with a time traveling/supernatural twist or a Indiana Jones quest. There was the one where a flowerpot fell on his head and he woke up in King Arthur’s Court (7×01 and 7×02 Good Knight), where you finally found out his first name is Angus. The one with the Haunted House with a young Teri Hatcher (4×01 The Secret of Parker House). The one where he travels back to the Wild West (5×12 Serenity). The episode where he searches for the Holy Grail, using all the accompanying clues and artifacts (5×01 and 5×02 The Legend of The Holy Rose). Then you have the Eye of Osiris (6×14) and the Fountain of Youth (7×14) episodes. And, of course the TV movie Lost Treasure of Atlantis. They’re the perfect What-To-Watch-When-Your-Sick movies.

Here’s a fan-made trailer of The Legend of The Holy Rose:

The Hollywood Reporter has just reported that Sam Raimi is producing a new TV show based on Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series. It’s going to be a live-action weekly series about (if you don’t know the books:) Richard Cypher, a woodsman, who teams up with the mysterious Kahlan on a quest into another realm (that’s all I can tell without giving too much of the plot away). The production of the first 22 episodes will start beginning of May.

This is great! I’ve been saying for years that they shouldn’t try to make movies of fantasy books. Most stories are way too complex for a movie from 3 hours long and they always get trimmed wrong. Did anybody here see The Golden Compass? The last scene of the book, which was what made the book so good, got completely left out of the movie. So, I’m glad that for once they’re going to take the time make to make a proper TV serie.

I’m only worried about the quality of the show:

Raimi is executive producing the hourlong series with Robert Tapert (”The Grudge”), Joshua Donen (”The Quick and the Dead”) and “Xena: Warrior Princess” production executive Ned Nalle. Disney-ABC Domestic TV is distributing, and ABC Studios is producing.

Okay, they’ve got one of the guys from Xena and Sam Raimi himself worked on Young Hercules. I’ve got my fingers crossed that they’re not going into the direction of those type of series. It could easily become too cheesy and for once I want a good grown-up fantasy series. Is that too hard too ask?

I’m also not sure how they’re exactly going to do the episodes. Most TV shows are episodic and studios really want stand-alone episodes. The article says:

In discussing these incredible story lines and rich characters with my friends and partners Robert Tapert and Josh Donen, we agreed that ‘Wizard’s First Rule’ would make an amazing television series — one that could be produced with compelling, self-contained episodes.

So do they mean that the events in the book can be correctly translated to self-contained episodes? Or does it mean that it leaves room over to create stand-alone episodes and thus doesn’t follow the book? I hope it’s the former, cause I’m not sure it would benefit the storyline to have the main character do “other” stuff.

Now, I’m most curious to see who they’re going to cast for Richard and Kahlan. I always pictured Richard as someone sturdy (does that make sense?), so not some pretty boy like Milo Ventigmilia (Peter in Heroes). More someone like a younger and brunette (is it still “ette” when you’re talking about a guy?) Kiefer Sutherland. For Kahlan, I picture someone like the Claire Danes’s character in Stardust, only less chirpy and sweet. Kahlan is tough, regal and strict and they need someone who can pull that face off. I’m guessing they’ll go for completely unknown people, but still it’s great to speculate.

So what do you guys think? Psyched for the series or scared that it could completely flop?

These photos from Annie Leibovitz are just stunning. They belong to the Dream Portrait Serie, an advertisement campaign from Disney featuring celebrities as traditional Disney characters. The first three images came out in January 2007, the second batch of three in October 2007 and the latest four came out this week. I’ve featured the photos I like the best first; while most of them are cool, there are a couple that just don’t work for me.

Where Every Cinderella Story Comes True

Scarlett Johansson as Cinderella

Where You’re The Fairest Of Them All

Rachel Weisz as Snow White

Where Dreams Run Free

Jessica Biel as Pocahontas

Where You’re Always The King Of The Court

Roger Federer as King Arthur

Where You Never Have To Grow Up

Mikhail Baryshnikov as Peter Pan, Gisele Bündchen as Wendy and Tina Fey as Tinkerbell

Where Imagination Saves The Day

David Beckham as Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty

Where The Magic Begins

Julie Andrews as the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio and Abigial Breslin as Fira from Disney Fairies

Where A Whole New World Awaits

Jennifer Lopez as Jasmine and Marc Anthony as Aladdin

Where Wonderland Is Your Destiny

Beyonce as Alice, Lyle Lovett as the March Hare and Oliver Platt as the Mad Hatter

Where Your Every Wish Is Our Command

Whoopi Goldberg as the Genie

(Photos courtesy and copyright of Disney)

Interesting links for January 28th:

• Charisma as Natural as Gravity - A tribute to Heath Ledger written by Christopher Nolan, the director of Batman Begins. It’s by far one of the best, emotional tributes I’ve ever read.
• Arcologists Dream: 7 Proposed Futuristic Sky Cities - Wow, these designs for future indoor cities are just amazing. I wonder if any of us will be alive when they finally get around to building them.
• TechEBlog » Feature: Fascinating Home Designs - Collection of some weirdly designed houses. I love the Piano/Guitar house