It plays up the post-apocalyptic setting more - it's quite possible to get through the entire first Shannara trilogy and not realize that it's Earth in the future. The characters are very recognizable, though exaggerated. Allanon is much more badass in the tv series (there's a character called Walker Boh in the novels that is much more like how they're portraying Allanon), Wil is somehow even more naive, Amberle and, uh... blerglebler the other girl are a little more punchy. It's all more action-y. But, again, considering it's MTV, it's stunningly true to the source.

The series is good young adult fantasy. I'd say it falls somewhere between Hobbit and LoTR for strength of story, somewhere between The Belgariad and The Chronicles of Prydain for tone.

That's what I'm talking about! Quality porn! ;)

Deadly Premonition also known as rip-off...erm I mean "homage" to Twin Peaks as written and directed by a japanese Ed Wood.

My biggest issue with the series is that in the last couple of episodes the plot seemed almost enitrely reliant on the good guys, main characters and supporting cast alike, being the most rock stupid bastards imaginable. I don't want to get into too much spoilers, let's just say that the security in the elven palace is beyond sucking, and that there should be some limit to how many times the characters can get captured by the exact same guys within five episodes.
Ah, but we already have that here :)

Yeah, I know what you mean. This past episode I was almost ready to yell at the monitor "Will one of you just KILL a bad guy ffs?!?" But that's where you get the trope of Lawful Stupid, ya know? Anyway, if you think you could maybe enjoy the show if it were less MTV, maybe pick up the novels on sale, if you like reading softer fantasy than Erikson or Jordan or Moorcock or Donaldson or whatever.

The one thing that kept me from picking up the novels so far is that there is so many of them. At a bookstore near me there's literally shelves of nothing but Shannara in the fantasy section, and I have many books to read, so I don't want to start a 50-volumes long series.

Is the story in the trilogy more or less self-contained, or does it end on a cliffhanger? If it's self-contained, I'll gladly pick it up. If I can find the first one that is, ironically enough the first volume seems to be the rarest one.

Self-contained. Brooks wrote Shannara as a trilogy (EDIT: I should say started writing it as a trilogy, I don't remember if he was working on other stories when WIshsong was published), but then kept writing more because it was a popular series. In fact, Sword isn't a cliffhanger - you could read just that one book and call it quits if you were so inclined (though knowing that it's the story of Jerle, who is mentioned in the tv series pilot, would make me have to read the next book as well. YMMV)

Remember that giant hovering security ball in THE PRISONER?

It also make an appearence in the game IMPOSSIBLE MISSION.

IMPOSSIBLE MISSION: (I always got killed at this level)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivHFP3dJAkM&t=17m39s

THE PRISONER:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6Ffr1U7KMY

Farscape: the Game

Not really a good game, although I found it not as bad as the press said about it.
It's basically a Diablo clone made as an episode (like the non-canon books or the canon comics).

I believe that Farscape never had the video game it deserved. There was an pn'p RPG with Alderac, a decent one.
There could have been a adventure game, you know a la The Nomad Soul or Outcast, because those two games even shared parts of the main story of Farscape: a human being/soul lost in a very different/hostile universe. Way more things than Diablo.
It could even have been a very character centric RPG, just as the KotOR. An ideal "clone", and truthful to the series.
Or even a 4X strategy game with Peacekeepers, Scarrans, Hynerians, Nebari, Luxans, Delvians and so on...

This is another reason why I hate the Diablo-mania.

Well, at least it had a game. My biggest regret in this field is that Babylon 5 never got a damn thing. Not a strategy game, not an RPG, not a flight sim, not even a shooter... nothing.

Does Starsky & Hutch count as a "cult" TV show? They made a pretty good (albeit low-budget) game based on the series in 2003.

I think it does. But wasn't the game a movie tie-in?

Indeed, another series which could have interesting games.
Battle Star Galactica (2000s) had a very good tabletop game, and the video game Stargate wasn't based on the series but on the original movie (a MMO was on the works but cancelled IIRC).

Wasn't a Firefly MMO evocated too ?