**Beware! A rant follows below!**
I yesterday I found out about this show, adapted from Terry Goodkind's book Wizard's First Rule (with bits taken from his other books in the same series). If you haven't read the books, or you're into an action-packed adventure, I highly recommend it.
But I read the book. It's one of my favorites. And believe you me, even with giving it leeway for changing up the story to fit into 1 hour chunks (which I think they've actually done a decent job with), it still doesn't do the story justice. One example:
In the beginning, there is a scene where the main character, Richard, is ambushed by many of his friends. They live in a land with no magic, and all of a sudden Richard is knee deep in magical troubles brought on by a woman and an old man. What do his friends do? They try to burn him alive as a witch. Sounds reasonable. Richard is about to hurt his own friends when the old man steps in, tosses some Wizard's Fire about in the air and shouts at the people. "Yes, I am a wizard! And guess what? I've just used my magic to take away that which you value most!" One of the villagers looks at him oddly. "You took away my milking cow?" The old man rolls his eyes. "No, not that. Think harder." One of the villagers gropes between his legs. "It's gone!" The old man smiles. "That!" A marvellous scene ensues, where all the men run around like chickens with their heads cut off, screaming "Put it back, put it back!" and their wives commenting "Not that much of a loss, really..." The main characters use the chaos to escape, where Richard asks the old wizard just how he removed...those. "I didn't actually do anything. Well, except for lying." Richard looks stumped. "You see, my boy, people are stupid. A lie can be just as good as magic, because people are too stupid to see through it, or they're afraid it really might be true."
Now, it's a fun little scene, but my point is that this little exchange is absolutely pivotal in the story. Why? It actually has an incredible influence on the outcome of the climactic ending of the story. You'll have to read or watch to find out. But my beef is this: the TV version CUTS THE SCENE OUT ENTIRELY. I would be perfectly fine with having a shorter, differently themed trick, but the trick has to still be in there. Trust me, if you've read it, this is absolutely pivotal to the story.
But if you want to watch the show, I still recommend it. It's magical, swashbuckling fun. And if the show decides Richard's sword should just be shiny, and not able to cut absolutely anything in half as long as he's angry, I can deal with it. I hope.