Go Medieval with The Lord of The Rings meets The Amazing Race on ABC
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Are you looking for something different in Reality TV? Well, here it is! What happens when you get the makers of The Amazing Race, The Lord of the Rings’, and The Blair Witch Project together? You get “fantasy-reality.” Variety calls it “The nerdiest competition ever televised.” I have to disagree here. Anyone who’s seen King of the Nerds on TBS knows that there can be only one King in a nerd competition, and they have already claimed the title.
The Quest is a live-action role-playing (LARPing) reality show that pits twelve contestants, called Paladins, against each other. Their goal, to become, the “one true hero.” The Paladins are immersed in the fantasy world of Everealm, which is actually 70 acres in Vienna. In each episode they play through the created mythology towards their goal. Along the way they meet a trusty steward, a noble queen, a military commander and the queen’s advisor. They are also introduced to ogres, hags, and the evil Dark Lord Verlox, who they must defeat to save the kingdom. The men and women, who are from all walks of life, must band together to complete each episodes challenge as a team. Then the losing team must compete individually for the chance to continue on to the next episode. The losing Paladin is removed by The Fates, yes the 3 Fates of Greek mythology hold power over the Paladins’ quest and are responsible for the challenges that they face.
For viewers, like me, the hardest part of the show is getting through the first episode. The storyline seemed disjointed and the actors are too choreographed. However, by the time the second episode began I could see marked improvement. The Paladins had started to work together and you could see that they had truly begun to enfold themselves into the show’s storyline. There is less need to give storyline details and more “reality” TV appeal.
If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to go Medieval, check out The Quest Thursday nights on ABC.