Cable girl: Legend of the Seeker

Sex may now have a contender in the most-fun-you-can-have-without-laughing stakes. For Legend of the Seeker (Sci-Fi) is here. It is a sword-and-sorcery epic from Sam Raimi and the team behind Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, as well as its spin-off Xena: Warrior Princess.

So, we open with a desperate maiden in billowing gown and bell sleeves, fleeing from heavily armoured soldiers. She runs up hill and down dale, presumably thanking the gods of her parallel world, who ensured that an essentially medieval outlook on life and fashion happily co-exists with the very latest in Wonderbra technology.

She is Kahlan Amnell, a Confessor ("an ancient order of women sworn to find the truth!"), charged with finding the mysterious Seeker and giving him the Book of Counted Shadows ("written in a time before remembering!") and carrying a night wisp – think Tinkerbell in a crystal amulet – that enables her to cross mystical boundaries and find Richard Cypher. To the untrained eye, he is a twentysomething moron who happens to be able to work a leather jerkin better than most; but to Kahlan and the local wizard, Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander (sword-and-sorcerers like their apostrophes sprinkled with a liberal hand), he is the The First True Seeker In a Thousand Years! And as such, destined to smite the evil emperor of D'Hara (told you), Darken Rahl, who writes his imperial memos in the blood of his faithful servants and is bent on enslaving them all.

Are you still with me? No? It doesn't matter. The Seeker, the Confessor, the Wizard and a stout-hearted friend called Chase have embarked on an epic quest, so you can just let the details (lovingly rendered in shimmering CGI) wash over you and still get the gist. The only thing missing is a sense of humour. This is not postmodern, camp rompery like Xena or Hercules. It is as if Raimi and his team have contracted RSI of the eyelid and can undertake no more winking for the duration. It is curiously refreshing. E'nj'oy.