Legend of the Seeker fans planning Craig Horner birthday Tweetabration

Fans of actor Craig Horner are organizing a January 24, 2012 2-hour tweetathon to wish Craig Horner, former star of Legend of the Seeker, a happy birthday.

From 12 noon to 2 PM Pacific Time the Seeker fans will be Tweeting birthday wishes and reminiscing about Legend of the Seeker. They’ll be using scheduling services like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, and Timely.Is to populate their Twitter accounts with Craig Horner posts.

The Tweetabration will be using the hash tag #craighorner. You can stay in touch with preparations for the Tweetathon by following the SF-Fandom Seeker Fans Twitter account. The Seeker Fans account has been sharing links to still-active Legend of the Seeker fan sites and reminding science fiction and fantasy fans that the Legend of the Seeker fan community isn’t about to go away.

Seeker fans have been showing their support at science fiction and fantasy conventions and making donations to the Save Our Seeker campaign fund to help promote the show.

Legend of the Seeker ran for two seasons in syndication but in March 2010 the Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy. To reduce costs they stopped broadcasting expensive productions like Legend of the Seeker and instead turned to low-budget talk shows and other cheap fare. Unfortunately, ABC Studios were unable to put together another distribution deal (although they seem only to have tried to get SyFy to pick up the show).

SyFy made half-hearted efforts to test the Legend of the Seeker market by running 24-hour Seekerthons 2-3 times that year but they did not like the numbers they saw.

Fans of the TV show have been looking to online distributors like Hulu and Netflix, hoping they’ll try to strike a deal to carry new seasons of the show. At this time you can now watch both seasons that were produced on both services.

Because Terry Goodkind has expressed support for the fans, the fan community still hopes he might find someone to put together a movie deal if a TV show doesn’t work out.

Would that mean Craig Horner could return as Richard Cypher/Rahl? Would Bridget Regan return as Kahlan Amnell? Fans would be delighted at the prospect, but both actors have had to get on with their lives since being released from their contracts in the summer of 2010. Bridget has since gotten married and given birth to a daughter.

Still, you never know what comes next. The Legend of the Seeker fans may not be the dominant group among Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth fandom but they are still a force to be reckoned with.

You’re invited to come along and show your support for the show (remember, you can still watch it on Hulu and Netflix). Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert may have moved on, but someone else may find a way to make it happen, especially given how online production is starting to look feasible. In another year or two we may see some major science fiction and fantasy productions supported exclusively through the Internet.

Seeker fans launch campaign to save their show

So you think that if some people at Entertainment Weekly and eOnline say that Legend of the Seeker is dead, that’s all there is to it, do you? The rallying cry for fans seems to be: “Nothing OFFICIAL has been said yet!”

While that might seem like a flimsy line upon which to cast one’s hope, one of the neat things about science fiction and fantasy fandom is that fans care — they have passion for their favorite books, their favorite television shows, and their favorite movies. Star Trek fans and Star Wars fans and Tolkien fans are all cut from the same cloth: they love the fantastic worlds that have opened new doors for their imaginations.

Terry Goodkind’s hardcore Sword of Truth fans may or may not have taken Legend of the Seeker to their hearts, but many other people have. Heck, I enjoy the show and I hope it continues for another 3-6 years. But I’ve been around long enough to know it’s a rare television show (especially in the fantasy TV genre) that lasts that long.

Still, the current generation of fans are as passionate and dedicated and soul-loving as the fans I grew up with and first met at science fiction conventions and on the Internet. Their spirits are fierce. Their hearts are pure.

And they have begun organizing a campaign to let ABC/Disney know they are NOT happy with any decision that results in Legend of the Seeker ending at 2 seasons. The first salvo in this ambitious last-minute battle has been launched. You can sign an online petition for Season 3 of the Seeker.

If you want to participate in the organization process by contributing ideas, offering resources, or providing encouragement there is a new discussion at LegendoftheSeeker.Org titled The Renewal Warwagon. I did not start it, but it’s worth nothing this is a big deal to Seeker fans.

Fans are rallying behind the banner to renew Legend of the Seeker for Season 3.

I love this banner. It is SO Seekerific, if I may coin a term.

So, will this work? I have no idea. But I figure it’s worth a try. I absolutely do not like what I have seen of SyFy’s show Merlin. I turn off the television after I finish watching Stargate: Universe. SyFy says they were not impressed with fan response to their Seeker marathon. That just shows you what happens with poor planning.

Anyway, I’ve been down this path before. I’ve known the victory of success and the heartbreak of disappointment. I’m not yet too old to care. In fact, they can pry my passion from my cold dead fingers — and they may not have the strength to do it then.

Slam Internet says LOTS NOT CANCELLED

Sorry for the big bold headline.

I don’t know what the full story is, but my contact at Slam says from what she has heard, Legend of the Seeker has not been cancelled.

There is a lot of confusing information being published on the Internet today, so take everything with a grain of salt.

That said, Seeker fans have latched on to what little news I’ve been able to share with some hope.

And you can also grab the widget code from Xenite.Org’s Legend of the Seeker fan site and put it on your own site.

If you do this, Slam asks that you Tweet about it (assuming you already Tweet). They are trying to monitor Twitter hash tags like #lots, #legendoftheseeker, #saveourseeker, and maybe a few others to see what fans are doing.

Anyway, is the show cancelled? I don’t know. No OFFICIAL announcements have been made.

There are four remaining first-run episodes in the second season. I’ll try to post more news in this SF-Fandom Legend of the Seeker thread when I get it.

And does anyone know what’s up with Terry Goodkind’s Website?