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Sci Fi Channel Plans 'Earthsea' Miniseries
Gumpy writes "The Sci-Fi Channel has started producing a TV miniseries based on the first two books of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series. The Earthsea miniseries is supposed to start on the Sci Fi Channel in December 2004."
Ursula LeGuin's Magical World of Earthsea
from this Feb. here.
The Wizard of Earthsea series is one of the most underread fantasy series I know of. It isn't the best fantasy out there (that's reserved for Paula Volsky -- try Illusion and see what you think), but it's very good, and very different from most fantasy.
I'd read the first book before anything else. I was kind of disappointed with The Tombs of Atuan book 2), which was very different from the first book. The third book was okay, but not as good as the first -- sort of the Dune syndrome.
The setting is different from most fantasy -- a bunch of islands, lots of emphasis on sailing around. There are not a lot of epic things going on -- there's lots of pragmatic, down-to-earth people.
May we never see th
Earthsea world is a fun world to game in despite the difficulties thrown in by the latter stories.
I wonder will they remake the lathe of heaven, and I'd love to see "The word for world is forest" or even "Rocannon's World"!
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
the A&E version is SHIT. This is the one you want. (apparently broadcast in 80, not 79, my bad)
I think I preferred the low-budget version on PBS they aired in the 70's. It seemed to have more heart, plus I missed the aliens at the end.
The setting is indeed stock, but at least the twins are not. Their interplay of dark/light was incredibly well done, giving the whole series texure and depth.
I've read four, unless something came after Tehanu.
Yes, The Other Wind, which IIRC ties in to both Tehanu and The Farthest Shore.
There was also a collection of short stories called Tales from Earthsea, which is sitting on my shelf, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.
OK, Maybe it was originally a trilogy:
Wizard of Earthsea
Tombs of Autan
The Farthest Shore
But in 2001 Leguin published Tehanu. The earthsea trilogy is now called the Earthsea Cycle. Of all of The Earthsea cycle books, Tehanu really showcases LeGuin's political and feminist slants. (This is a good thing I believe). Tombs of Autan had some and the other two books required a little more digging to get into her philosophy.
If you want to read some great LeGuin I would reccomend: Always coming home and The Dispossessed. Both of these books are very thought provoking and well worth the time to read. There was an edition of Always coming home publihsed with a cassette tape of the music and poetry that was created by the societies described in the book. Wonderul stuff.
"Grain grows best in shit" Ursula K LeGuin
(Tinyurl links got to amazon Please use fewer 'junk' characters.
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"First things first -- but not necessarily in that order"
-- The Doctor, "Doctor
I stopped watching SciFi after they killed off Farscape.
The Farscape Mini series just finished taping. I'd rather look forward to that than anything scifi could come up with.
Ever read George MacDonalds the "The Princess and the Goblin"?
This seminal work was read by both Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, and its impact on their work is clear. Especially the "I am not gonna explain Magic to you, dumbshit, it's Magic!" attitude they all share.
Written in the 19th century, it runs in the same vein as Alice and Kipling's works. The english is chewy at times, and can get down right sloggy.
Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
The press release is from January, and they've talked about it back as far as August 2001...
rm
Sci-Fi Storm
Yup, MacDonald has even been referred to by Jeff Gardiner as the grandfather of modern fantasy.
The Army reading list
That is a pity, The Other Wind follows on directly from the last of those short stories - Dragonfly. All of the other stories there tie in directly with the main line except 'Darkrose and Diamond'.
Mielipiteet omiani - Opinions personal, facts suspect.
Does anyone know if that's still going forward? How many planned miniseries actually come to completion -- if Myst was silently cancelled, are the chances of this one being finished questionable?
Escapist fiction is writing with no other pretense than to entertain. It's meant to distract you from your day to day existence. It doesn't attempt to address any issues; it doesn't attempt to teach any lessons; it has no theme or moral; it says absolutely nothing about the human condition. It's simply fun to read.
The Chronicles of Narnia are children's literature but they are most definitely literature. They address and examine a number of moral and ethical issues. Their purpose is to teach children WHILE they entertain, not just to while away some time.
"The legitimate powers of government extend only to such acts as are injurious to others." Thomas Jefferson.
Prydain is only classified as fantasy because of the setting (based on Welsh mythology).
Be warned, these are filed under "Juvenile Fiction" and are written at a Middle School/High School level. If you can't get past that part, I don't recommend them. I do believe in spite of the reading level, the books present very adult (in the good sense of the word) concepts and situations.
Anonymous Kev
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(Finally got a dang account in 2004)