Thought I would check out a trailer for Shannara...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crjkQHnDYu0"The talent that's been assembled, the variety of locations, the beautiful backdrop of New Zealand, it really establishes the world of the Shannara Chronicles in a way that separates it from other genre tales."
Are you fucking serious? Can't think of any other fantasy films with a variety of locations, filmed in New Zealand, with an even better cast -- perhaps even one that may have included John Rhys-Davies?
So the series is separated from Tolkein the same way that Sword of Shannara was?
Haven't watched it yet, but I saw that it's on Netflix. So I may give it a try. Is there really anything that really "separates it" other than the (very unlikely) remains of 1000+ year old wreckage from the pre-armageddon world?