Yeah they'll have to take a chainsaw to the series to make it work. The problem is, will they cut correctly? I don't have confidence that they'll retain the good enough to make this not a mediocre movie.
This makes for an interesting bit of news I think. So far we have had or have had announced.
J.R.R. Tolkien = Hobbit = In production as 2 films. Still love the original animated version. J.R.R. Tolkien = Lord of the Rings = Released as one film per book. C.S. Lewis = Chronicles of Narnia = First 2 books released, looks to be no further in the works. J.K. Rowling = Harry Potter = First 5 books adapted, 6th due this year, last on deck. Terry Goodkind = Sword of Truth = Syndicated tv series based loosely on plots from first book so far. Terry Pratchett = Discworld = Animated versions of Wyrd Sisters & Soul Music, Full productions of Hogfather & The Color of Magic + The Light Fantastic, with further in the works. George R.R. Martin = Song of Fire & Ice = In production as series for HBO, one book per season. Robert Jordan = Wheel of Time = Optioned as series of movies in some form. Philip Pullman = His Dark Materials = First book released, unfortunately no movement on further books. Christopher Paolini = Inheritance Cycle = First book released, thankfully no movement on further books.
This is a Large number of the Larger series in the fantasy literature circles, off the top of my head, this leaves ...
David Eddings = Belgariad = 7 books in initial series with a 5 book follow up, bit formulaic but decent read, might make for decent tv series. Roger Zelazny = Chronicles of Amber = 10 book series, in some form of feature might work. Tad Williams = Memory,Sorrow & Thorn = Been a long time since I've read them, but might work. Terry Brooks = Sword of Shannara = Initial 3 books may work well, past that it gets a bit muddy.
While this is definitely a large list of Fantasy series mined for ideas by the "Hollywood Machine" given the overall number of features, and compared to the number of comic book movies that are in the pipeline or have been done recently. We seem to always work in cycles, and we are somewhere in the midst of a Fantasy cycle, the trouble is determining if we are in the middle of it, and have some more excellent movies to look forward to or on the down slope and only have to look forward to hackneyed bad adaptations.
Raymond Feist - Midkemia series, especially Magician has a lot of potential.
The Dark is Rising was apparently botched badly which is a shame.
Eragon was botched badly, which I think was just.
I doubt jordan even knew how he was going to finish it anyway, the bad guy is kinda...unkillable. Pretty sure he dragged it on because he realised there was no real way to end it without completely gutting the ultimate evil that he'd been building up over all the books as some godlike force you cannot fuck with.
Except that he's already been resealed once, so obviously it is possible to do so again.
HamHamJ on
While racing light mechs, your Urbanmech comes in second place, but only because it ran out of ammo.
Like how the fuck did his publishers not look at (say) Crossroads of Twilight and not say "This is complete shit, go write a plot"
Once a property (book series, musician, video game) is popular enough, it doesn't have to meet much of a standard to succeed. They simply sail through on the strength of their name. WoT level fiction is a commercial enterprise, not art so much.
I don't necessarily blame Jordan for this. If I could get away with doing a shitty job and still be wildly successful, I'd probably do it too.
I do think that if they just skip everything from book 3 onwards and have him just march straight up to the dark one and blow him the fuck up this would be an awesome trilogy of films.
I doubt jordan even knew how he was going to finish it anyway, the bad guy is kinda...unkillable. Pretty sure he dragged it on because he realised there was no real way to end it without completely gutting the ultimate evil that he'd been building up over all the books as some godlike force you cannot fuck with.
He had no one ring after all to sidestep the fight like sauron. That was a stroke of genius on tolkien's part, because nobody had to read how sauron was stabbed in the toe by a hobbit and fell into his fireplace or some shit.
However if they do it after the third book, there isn't quite as much build up of the planet changing power of the bad guy, so it wouldn't fall as flat. It could be quite good. Fucked if I remember his offical name.
It wasn't the dark one was it?
Given that Jordan put like 50 prophecies/dreams/visions in every book about stuff that was going to happen, I think he had a pretty good outline of the series when he started, including how it ends. He just got bogged down on all the worthless filler he decided to stick everywhere.
I think Tad Williams' "Memory, Sorrow, And Thorn" series could actually make a really good movie trilogy. Every book has a concrete beginning and ending, they could be parsed down to movie length without too much trouble, and there's enough action throughout to keep things interesting.
Cantide on
0
Options
MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
I do think that if they just skip everything from book 3 onwards and have him just march straight up to the dark one and blow him the fuck up this would be an awesome trilogy of films.
I doubt jordan even knew how he was going to finish it anyway, the bad guy is kinda...unkillable. Pretty sure he dragged it on because he realised there was no real way to end it without completely gutting the ultimate evil that he'd been building up over all the books as some godlike force you cannot fuck with.
He had no one ring after all to sidestep the fight like sauron. That was a stroke of genius on tolkien's part, because nobody had to read how sauron was stabbed in the toe by a hobbit and fell into his fireplace or some shit.
However if they do it after the third book, there isn't quite as much build up of the planet changing power of the bad guy, so it wouldn't fall as flat. It could be quite good. Fucked if I remember his offical name.
It wasn't the dark one was it?
Given that Jordan put like 50 prophecies/dreams/visions in every book about stuff that was going to happen, I think he had a pretty good outline of the series when he started, including how it ends. He just got bogged down on all the worthless filler he decided to stick everywhere.
I think Tad Williams' "Memory, Sorrow, And Thorn" series could actually make a really good movie trilogy. Every book has a concrete beginning and ending, they could be parsed down to movie length without too much trouble, and there's enough action throughout to keep things interesting.
No I took those into account. I don't see them being significant. Some of them got outright ignored or later expained away as the actions of the fallen ones.
It's easy to make a vague prophecy or vision and then explain it later you know. That's what they're for, to be vague hints.
Morninglord on
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
Anyone else think that Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell would make a fantastic movie?
Maybe, but there is way too much material though. And the first half of the book was basically carried by the awesome tidbits and alternative history in the footnotes.
I think it would be best if they just kept the material from the first three books, and make the rest of it up. The story gets way too muddled with a hundred different side characters and useless side-plots. Though I think the first three books would make good movies if you just take the main plot.
I think it would be best if they just kept the material from the first three books, and make the rest of it up. The story gets way too muddled with a hundred different side characters and useless side-plots. Though I think the first three books would make good movies if you just take the main plot.
I don't think the plot on a macro level is a problem, although it does increasingly veer away from Rand as any sort of main character, but he's honestly not all that interesting so it's for the best. However, what you could do in a movie is compress huge chunks. For example, Nyneave and Elain spend two or three books traveling from Tanchico to Salidar which could all be done in a scene or two in a movie because all the shit that happened during it is simply not important.
HamHamJ on
While racing light mechs, your Urbanmech comes in second place, but only because it ran out of ammo.
Honestly I dont think they would have to worry about the rest of the series, I predict an epic failure at the box office resulting in at most two films.
Also I know its impossible but I've always wanted to see a Malazan Book of the Fallen big screen adaptation, I think you could create a really engaging and well paced narrative if you focussed solely on the Bridgeburners/Bonehunters. Some really spectacular battles and action sequences there.
We have no reason to believe Hollywood isn't completely bankrupt of creative voices.
Very true, but it bodes ill when they choose a title because of its existing popularity and not the quality of the work. I just do not think it would make a good movie at all, and it will make me embarressed to be a fantasy fan all over again.
This is going to suck. Just like ASOIAF, there's no way to make this series into movies without drastically cutting tons of shit and/or expecting to make upwards of 12 films.
We have no reason to believe Hollywood isn't completely bankrupt of creative voices.
Very true, but it bodes ill when they choose a title because of its existing popularity and not the quality of the work. I just do not think it would make a good movie at all, and it will make me embarressed to be a fantasy fan all over again.
I managed to duck the whole WoT thing in high school, so I've never picked up the book once. However what I have heard is just awful. Also, he died before he finished it - Martin better not do the same.
But anyways, it's hardly surprising that capitalizing on existing brands is the favoured modus operandi of Hollywood. Xmen, Superman, Star Wars, Star Trek, these fantasy movies, the Godfather, Hannibal, Apocalypse Now - shit, I don't know. The list goes on. Repackaging existing stories is what Hollywood *does*. It's how they bring in the money. Because people want something new, but something known as well.
Xmen/Superman/Star Wars/Star Trek (the new movies for the latter two): it's the franchise that's familiar. "A bunch of mutants having adventures saving the planet? Sounds a bit outlandish for me, personally," is what the normal person would say. IF they didn't recognize the name Xmen. Between the animated cartoons and the comic books, enough people were interested enough in seeing it brought to life. And on the topic of George Lucas, Gabe and Tycho have said everything there is to say there of the "new" stuff I reckon.
Godfather/Hannibal/Apocalypse Now: It's the actors that are familiar. These were huge movies that succeeded because people knew Brando/Sheen/that Republican narrator (Robert Duvall I think).
And guess what's cheaper to pay for? Seven figures for an existing idea, or eight figure for an existing name?
But maybe I'm just cynical.
strakha_7 on
Want a signature? Find a post by ElJeffe and quote a random sentence!
Anyone else think that Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell would make a fantastic movie?
Maybe, but there is way too much material though. And the first half of the book was basically carried by the awesome tidbits and alternative history in the footnotes.
I don't know, sure, Napoleonic times + Magic could be cool, but a lot of that novel is down to the language, and how well that would come off on screen, I'm not sure.
We have no reason to believe Hollywood isn't completely bankrupt of creative voices.
Very true, but it bodes ill when they choose a title because of its existing popularity and not the quality of the work. I just do not think it would make a good movie at all, and it will make me embarressed to be a fantasy fan all over again.
When I originally wrote the line, I had suffered - and suffered is the word - through Doomsday, Incredible Hulk, and Mummy 3. The sheer existence of these 3 'movies' has left me all but bereft of any hope that Hollywood and the major motion picture industry can put out decent movies at all - let alone a decent movie based on such an arguably flawed series as WoT.
Anyone else think that Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell would make a fantastic movie?
Ian Holm would make an absolutely fucking awesome Norrell. But i can't think of anybody specifically for Strange and in my mind Childermas wanders back and forth between being Alan Rickman and James Nesbit.
I just started reading the series. I'm still on the first book, Rand has just left his farm home with his father after returning from town at night. The day he (and his father) saw the knight in black. Trollocs make bad house guests.
There are so many terms, and things to know that I don't see how it could possibly all get explained in a movie. It'd be impossible.
Anyone else think that Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell would make a fantastic movie?
Ian Holm would make an absolutely fucking awesome Norrell. But i can't think of anybody specifically for Strange and in my mind Childermas wanders back and forth between being Alan Rickman and James Nesbit.
Back to you for your fantasy casting.
Those are both excellent picks. David Tennant comes to mind as a good person to play Strange.
I have a bit of faith this won't suck. I enjoyed the books even after the point at which they went downhill, kind of a guilty pleasure I guess, though towards the end I mostly hung around for Mat.
So I'd be satisfied as long as they don't fuck him up.
...though it's a shame he's kind of a whiny dick in the first two books anyway.
Anyone else think that Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell would make a fantastic movie?
Ian Holm would make an absolutely fucking awesome Norrell. But i can't think of anybody specifically for Strange and in my mind Childermas wanders back and forth between being Alan Rickman and James Nesbit.
Back to you for your fantasy casting.
Those are both excellent picks. David Tennant comes to mind as a good person to play Strange.
Tennant would make a really good Strange, actually bringing tennant up makes me think that Christopher Eccelston would make a good Childermass, he's got the right accent already and he looks about right with his hair grown out.
I just started reading the series. I'm still on the first book, Rand has just left his farm home with his father after returning from town at night. The day he (and his father) saw the knight in black. Trollocs make bad house guests.
There are so many terms, and things to know that I don't see how it could possibly all get explained in a movie. It'd be impossible.
It could still be good though.
The problem isn't the terms so much. Trollocs look evil, there's no need to explain them really. People will pick up most of the stuff.
The problem is your gonna have to seriously cut a ton of stuff, or your looking at making ALOT of movies. More then 3 for sure.
shryke on
0
Options
FencingsaxIt is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understandingGNU Terry PratchettRegistered Userregular
I just started reading the series. I'm still on the first book, Rand has just left his farm home with his father after returning from town at night. The day he (and his father) saw the knight in black. Trollocs make bad house guests.
There are so many terms, and things to know that I don't see how it could possibly all get explained in a movie. It'd be impossible.
It could still be good though.
The problem isn't the terms so much. Trollocs look evil, there's no need to explain them really. People will pick up most of the stuff.
The problem is your gonna have to seriously cut a ton of stuff, or your looking at making ALOT of movies. More then 3 for sure.
But the stuff you cut will be mostly bullshit, like skirt smoothing, braid pulling, All of Book 10, and the like.
I just started reading the series. I'm still on the first book, Rand has just left his farm home with his father after returning from town at night. The day he (and his father) saw the knight in black. Trollocs make bad house guests.
There are so many terms, and things to know that I don't see how it could possibly all get explained in a movie. It'd be impossible.
It could still be good though.
The problem isn't the terms so much. Trollocs look evil, there's no need to explain them really. People will pick up most of the stuff.
The problem is your gonna have to seriously cut a ton of stuff, or your looking at making ALOT of movies. More then 3 for sure.
But the stuff you cut will be mostly bullshit, like skirt smoothing, braid pulling, All of Book 10, and the like.
No, it really won't. Even if you take all that out, your still left with like 95% of the plot, no matter what internet memes tell you.
David Eddings = Belgariad = 7 books in initial series with a 5 book follow up, bit formulaic but decent read, might make for decent tv series.
The Belgariad is a 5 book series with a 5 book followup (The Mallorean) and 2 prequels that are two of the characters explaining the events leading up to the Belgariad.
Definately agree that it'd work better as a tv series. Probably best as an animated series actually.
For movies I think the Ellenium and the Tamuli would work far better on film. The Tamuli in particular since after reading both a few times the Ellenium really just feels like an extended backstory for the events of the Tamuli.
Anyone else think that Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell would make a fantastic movie?
Maybe, but there is way too much material though. And the first half of the book was basically carried by the awesome tidbits and alternative history in the footnotes.
I don't know, sure, Napoleonic times + Magic could be cool, but a lot of that novel is down to the language, and how well that would come off on screen, I'm not sure.
This has made me realize something:
In a Wheel of Time movie, should they even try to pull of all the crazy accents? Because frankly Domani is bad enough in written form, I'm not sure I ever want to hear some actually trying to speak it.
I just started reading the series. I'm still on the first book, Rand has just left his farm home with his father after returning from town at night. The day he (and his father) saw the knight in black. Trollocs make bad house guests.
There are so many terms, and things to know that I don't see how it could possibly all get explained in a movie. It'd be impossible.
It could still be good though.
The problem isn't the terms so much. Trollocs look evil, there's no need to explain them really. People will pick up most of the stuff.
The problem is your gonna have to seriously cut a ton of stuff, or your looking at making ALOT of movies. More then 3 for sure.
But the stuff you cut will be mostly bullshit, like skirt smoothing, braid pulling, All of Book 10, and the like.
No, it really won't. Even if you take all that out, your still left with like 95% of the plot, no matter what internet memes tell you.
However, in this regard WoT is not like LotR which is a single story split into three books but more like Harry Potter where each book has it's own beginning, middle, and end. Making a dozen movies is thus not impossible because each one stands on it's own to a large extent. At least until around 9 or 10, but you really can just roll those all into one movie because nothing really happens.
HamHamJ on
While racing light mechs, your Urbanmech comes in second place, but only because it ran out of ammo.
0
Options
lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
edited January 2009
Domani don't have the really bad accents... Illian do be having the really tough accent.
And I do be loving it to death. It does not be sounding too bad when spoken aloud.
I should stop doing that.
I dunno...
They could actually pull it off, if they treat it right and take their time. If they make it a big long rush job, then I don't care if Nelson DeMille comes back from the dead to direct it, it will fail.
And yeah, They can cut out the sweeping narratives and descriptions, but there will still be hella lot more plot. You have the main story with Rand, then the other boys. Then you have to deal with the Forsaken and their whole plots. Then the Aiel splitting, and the Aes Sedai drama, and then the other things that are happening within the cities and countries of the world. Plus Moiraine.
Can you tell I got a bit... addicted.. to the world?
I just started reading the series. I'm still on the first book, Rand has just left his farm home with his father after returning from town at night. The day he (and his father) saw the knight in black. Trollocs make bad house guests.
There are so many terms, and things to know that I don't see how it could possibly all get explained in a movie. It'd be impossible.
It could still be good though.
The problem isn't the terms so much. Trollocs look evil, there's no need to explain them really. People will pick up most of the stuff.
The problem is your gonna have to seriously cut a ton of stuff, or your looking at making ALOT of movies. More then 3 for sure.
But the stuff you cut will be mostly bullshit, like skirt smoothing, braid pulling, All of Book 10, and the like.
No, it really won't. Even if you take all that out, your still left with like 95% of the plot, no matter what internet memes tell you.
However, in this regard WoT is not like LotR which is a single story split into three books but more like Harry Potter where each book has it's own beginning, middle, and end. Making a dozen movies is thus not impossible because each one stands on it's own to a large extent. At least until around 9 or 10, but you really can just roll those all into one movie because nothing really happens.
Not really like Harry Potter. I mean, LOTR is supposed to be just 1 book. They split it into 3 due to size.
WOT has books with individual climaxes, but it's always very clear (after book 1) that everything is part of a larger plot. They don't stand alone really. They don't work as individual books, only as parts of the series.
And if your talking about accents, remember this:
Seanchan sound like Texans.
shryke on
0
Options
lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
Domani don't have the really bad accents... Illian do be having the really tough accent.
And I do be loving it to death. It does not be sounding too bad when spoken aloud.
I should stop doing that.
I dunno...
They could actually pull it off, if they treat it right and take their time. If they make it a big long rush job, then I don't care if Nelson DeMille comes back from the dead to direct it, it will fail.
And yeah, They can cut out the sweeping narratives and descriptions, but there will still be hella lot more plot. You have the main story with Rand, then the other boys. Then you have to deal with the Forsaken and their whole plots. Then the Aiel splitting, and the Aes Sedai drama, and then the other things that are happening within the cities and countries of the world. Plus Moiraine.
Can you tell I got a bit... addicted.. to the world?
Damn it, I always mess those two up. Or: I always do be messing those two up?
Anyway, go ahead and reread Winter's Heart. There is maybe half-an-hour's worth of plot in there, everything else is Perrin chasing Faile and Faile doing shit and Elaine doing shit and none of it is remotely relevant to the plot and can be glossed over in twenty minutes without any real loss.
I just started reading the series. I'm still on the first book, Rand has just left his farm home with his father after returning from town at night. The day he (and his father) saw the knight in black. Trollocs make bad house guests.
There are so many terms, and things to know that I don't see how it could possibly all get explained in a movie. It'd be impossible.
It could still be good though.
The problem isn't the terms so much. Trollocs look evil, there's no need to explain them really. People will pick up most of the stuff.
The problem is your gonna have to seriously cut a ton of stuff, or your looking at making ALOT of movies. More then 3 for sure.
But the stuff you cut will be mostly bullshit, like skirt smoothing, braid pulling, All of Book 10, and the like.
No, it really won't. Even if you take all that out, your still left with like 95% of the plot, no matter what internet memes tell you.
However, in this regard WoT is not like LotR which is a single story split into three books but more like Harry Potter where each book has it's own beginning, middle, and end. Making a dozen movies is thus not impossible because each one stands on it's own to a large extent. At least until around 9 or 10, but you really can just roll those all into one movie because nothing really happens.
Not really like Harry Potter. I mean, LOTR is supposed to be just 1 book. They split it into 3 due to size.
WOT has books with individual climaxes, but it's always very clear (after book 1) that everything is part of a larger plot. They don't stand alone really. They don't work as individual books, only as parts of the series.
The same is true of Harry Potter. Once you hit books 3 and 4, everything begins to tie into a single main plot about Voldemort and such.
(Spoilers beyond this point so be warned)
Eye of the World is easy. You just follow it straight through, compressing parts that are not that important (for example, after Rand and Mat get split off from Thom you can do that one scene with the darkfirend innkeeper intact and then montage the entire rest of their trip to Camelyn in 30 seconds) and you end with the climactic battle at the end.
The Great Hunt is again easy, you spend a minute recapping the basic facts someone needs to know if they haven't seen the first movie (who Rand and co. are, Rand is the Dragon Reborn, etc) and then straight into Suan showing up and the Horn being stolen and then off you go. The girl's side of the story can be done in brief showing only key scenes like the test for Accepted and meeting Elaine and them leaving and glossing over the rest, while the main focus is on Rand. You can also basically not bother showing Perrin's side of things, and just follow Rand after they split up. Then you have the big battle at Falme and you're done.
The Dragon Reborn you have a number of storylines but one main one, and that's Perrin. Rand's journey to Tear can be done in brief foreshadowing scenes if at all. Egwene, Nyneave, and Elaine in the tower can again be done with just the key parts and their whole investigation and so forth summerized. Mat's trip to Tear might require some more time, but there is plenty of dead space you could cut.
The Shadow Rising, you have three things going on: Perrin in the Two Rivers, the girls in Tanchico, and Rand in Rhuaden. You pick two of those to focus on and do the third as a brief aside. Perrin should be one of the focuses because it's the most dense of the three and the coolest. Either one of the other two can be shortened: the Rhuaden stuff by just not bothering top dwell all the random terrtiary stuff like Egwene wanting to be a Dreamer or Aviedha and Moraine; Tanchico by just having them arrive, do some searching, and then straight to the palace without all the random stuff involving the Seanchan and shit.
And so forth.
HamHamJ on
While racing light mechs, your Urbanmech comes in second place, but only because it ran out of ammo.
More like 10 or 11. But hell, they made at least that many Friday the 13th so why the hell not?
I mean, if the first one does well, and the second, and so forth, there should be no problem making the next one. If at some point they don't keep doing well, then you would stop before making all of them but that would not be terrible or anything. In other words, making the first one does not commit you to making more, however there is a depth of material to work through if it turns out to be profitable to do so. Sounds like a Win-Win to me.
HamHamJ on
While racing light mechs, your Urbanmech comes in second place, but only because it ran out of ammo.
0
Options
lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
edited January 2009
I'm not saying that nothing actually happens.
But I know that after reading (and rereading) the books I always find more details in the plots that I didn't know.
Granted, there is no way to do it all in the movies. It's just not possible.
I mean.. there would need to be one movie alone for just the white tower. Which would be interesting in it's own right. Personally.
And the reason that you, and I even, think that the accent do be Domani, do be the fact that the most prominent character to be speaking with it is Bayle Domon. Domon--Domani.. It do be quite easy to confuse. At least, it do be in my mind.
Also, it sounds like an accent for some vixen woman in a bordello or something. Or a gypsy-esque type woman to use. Which kicks my brain to a Domani merchant.
One question is, how would they handle the Athan Miere and their toplessness. Cause If I don't get at least one scene with a topless Seafolk woman on board a ship and Nynaeve blushing to her roots and tugging her braid.... It doesn't have to last long, like three seconds or so.. If I don't get that. I will be one upset WOT nerd.
More like 10 or 11. But hell, they made at least that many Friday the 13th so why the hell not?
I mean, if the first one does well, and the second, and so forth, there should be no problem making the next one. If at some point they don't keep doing well, then you would stop before making all of them but that would not be terrible or anything. In other words, making the first one does not commit you to making more, however there is a depth of material to work through if it turns out to be profitable to do so. Sounds like a Win-Win to me.
No, because Hollywood is stupid.
See: "Oh, Prince Caspian turned massive profits, but it was slightly less than the first movie, so we're not going to bother making the third."
One question is, how would they handle the Athan Miere and their toplessness. Cause If I don't get at least one scene with a topless Seafolk woman on board a ship and Nynaeve blushing to her roots and tugging her braid.... It doesn't have to last long, like three seconds or so.. If I don't get that. I will be one upset WOT nerd.
Probably have beads instead of shirts. Like...lots of necklaces. Which manage to miraculously always cover them up when there's a shot with one in it.
Posts
Raymond Feist - Midkemia series, especially Magician has a lot of potential.
The Dark is Rising was apparently botched badly which is a shame.
Eragon was botched badly, which I think was just.
QEDMF xbl: PantsB G+
Except that he's already been resealed once, so obviously it is possible to do so again.
Once a property (book series, musician, video game) is popular enough, it doesn't have to meet much of a standard to succeed. They simply sail through on the strength of their name. WoT level fiction is a commercial enterprise, not art so much.
I don't necessarily blame Jordan for this. If I could get away with doing a shitty job and still be wildly successful, I'd probably do it too.
Given that Jordan put like 50 prophecies/dreams/visions in every book about stuff that was going to happen, I think he had a pretty good outline of the series when he started, including how it ends. He just got bogged down on all the worthless filler he decided to stick everywhere.
I think Tad Williams' "Memory, Sorrow, And Thorn" series could actually make a really good movie trilogy. Every book has a concrete beginning and ending, they could be parsed down to movie length without too much trouble, and there's enough action throughout to keep things interesting.
No I took those into account. I don't see them being significant. Some of them got outright ignored or later expained away as the actions of the fallen ones.
It's easy to make a vague prophecy or vision and then explain it later you know. That's what they're for, to be vague hints.
Maybe, but there is way too much material though. And the first half of the book was basically carried by the awesome tidbits and alternative history in the footnotes.
I don't think the plot on a macro level is a problem, although it does increasingly veer away from Rand as any sort of main character, but he's honestly not all that interesting so it's for the best. However, what you could do in a movie is compress huge chunks. For example, Nyneave and Elain spend two or three books traveling from Tanchico to Salidar which could all be done in a scene or two in a movie because all the shit that happened during it is simply not important.
Also I know its impossible but I've always wanted to see a Malazan Book of the Fallen big screen adaptation, I think you could create a really engaging and well paced narrative if you focussed solely on the Bridgeburners/Bonehunters. Some really spectacular battles and action sequences there.
Very true, but it bodes ill when they choose a title because of its existing popularity and not the quality of the work. I just do not think it would make a good movie at all, and it will make me embarressed to be a fantasy fan all over again.
I managed to duck the whole WoT thing in high school, so I've never picked up the book once. However what I have heard is just awful. Also, he died before he finished it - Martin better not do the same.
But anyways, it's hardly surprising that capitalizing on existing brands is the favoured modus operandi of Hollywood. Xmen, Superman, Star Wars, Star Trek, these fantasy movies, the Godfather, Hannibal, Apocalypse Now - shit, I don't know. The list goes on. Repackaging existing stories is what Hollywood *does*. It's how they bring in the money. Because people want something new, but something known as well.
Xmen/Superman/Star Wars/Star Trek (the new movies for the latter two): it's the franchise that's familiar. "A bunch of mutants having adventures saving the planet? Sounds a bit outlandish for me, personally," is what the normal person would say. IF they didn't recognize the name Xmen. Between the animated cartoons and the comic books, enough people were interested enough in seeing it brought to life. And on the topic of George Lucas, Gabe and Tycho have said everything there is to say there of the "new" stuff I reckon.
Godfather/Hannibal/Apocalypse Now: It's the actors that are familiar. These were huge movies that succeeded because people knew Brando/Sheen/that Republican narrator (Robert Duvall I think).
And guess what's cheaper to pay for? Seven figures for an existing idea, or eight figure for an existing name?
But maybe I'm just cynical.
I don't know, sure, Napoleonic times + Magic could be cool, but a lot of that novel is down to the language, and how well that would come off on screen, I'm not sure.
When I originally wrote the line, I had suffered - and suffered is the word - through Doomsday, Incredible Hulk, and Mummy 3. The sheer existence of these 3 'movies' has left me all but bereft of any hope that Hollywood and the major motion picture industry can put out decent movies at all - let alone a decent movie based on such an arguably flawed series as WoT.
I remember them being overly positive towards the prequel trilogy. Didn't Gabe say he shed a tear during the end of Episode 2?
It was kind of refreshing, actually.
Because if they put that much action to screen I would literally shit my pants in the theater.
Ian Holm would make an absolutely fucking awesome Norrell. But i can't think of anybody specifically for Strange and in my mind Childermas wanders back and forth between being Alan Rickman and James Nesbit.
Back to you for your fantasy casting.
There are so many terms, and things to know that I don't see how it could possibly all get explained in a movie. It'd be impossible.
It could still be good though.
Those are both excellent picks. David Tennant comes to mind as a good person to play Strange.
So I'd be satisfied as long as they don't fuck him up.
...though it's a shame he's kind of a whiny dick in the first two books anyway.
Tennant would make a really good Strange, actually bringing tennant up makes me think that Christopher Eccelston would make a good Childermass, he's got the right accent already and he looks about right with his hair grown out.
How about Gina Bellman for Arabella?
I was remembering the comic where they have him raving on about remastering his movies. Adding suspense, for example.
.
.
.
See? also the Meow Skywalker one...
The problem isn't the terms so much. Trollocs look evil, there's no need to explain them really. People will pick up most of the stuff.
The problem is your gonna have to seriously cut a ton of stuff, or your looking at making ALOT of movies. More then 3 for sure.
No, it really won't. Even if you take all that out, your still left with like 95% of the plot, no matter what internet memes tell you.
The Belgariad is a 5 book series with a 5 book followup (The Mallorean) and 2 prequels that are two of the characters explaining the events leading up to the Belgariad.
Definately agree that it'd work better as a tv series. Probably best as an animated series actually.
For movies I think the Ellenium and the Tamuli would work far better on film. The Tamuli in particular since after reading both a few times the Ellenium really just feels like an extended backstory for the events of the Tamuli.
This has made me realize something:
In a Wheel of Time movie, should they even try to pull of all the crazy accents? Because frankly Domani is bad enough in written form, I'm not sure I ever want to hear some actually trying to speak it.
However, in this regard WoT is not like LotR which is a single story split into three books but more like Harry Potter where each book has it's own beginning, middle, and end. Making a dozen movies is thus not impossible because each one stands on it's own to a large extent. At least until around 9 or 10, but you really can just roll those all into one movie because nothing really happens.
And I do be loving it to death. It does not be sounding too bad when spoken aloud.
I should stop doing that.
I dunno...
They could actually pull it off, if they treat it right and take their time. If they make it a big long rush job, then I don't care if Nelson DeMille comes back from the dead to direct it, it will fail.
And yeah, They can cut out the sweeping narratives and descriptions, but there will still be hella lot more plot. You have the main story with Rand, then the other boys. Then you have to deal with the Forsaken and their whole plots. Then the Aiel splitting, and the Aes Sedai drama, and then the other things that are happening within the cities and countries of the world. Plus Moiraine.
Can you tell I got a bit... addicted.. to the world?
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
Not really like Harry Potter. I mean, LOTR is supposed to be just 1 book. They split it into 3 due to size.
WOT has books with individual climaxes, but it's always very clear (after book 1) that everything is part of a larger plot. They don't stand alone really. They don't work as individual books, only as parts of the series.
And if your talking about accents, remember this:
Seanchan sound like Texans.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
Damn it, I always mess those two up. Or: I always do be messing those two up?
Anyway, go ahead and reread Winter's Heart. There is maybe half-an-hour's worth of plot in there, everything else is Perrin chasing Faile and Faile doing shit and Elaine doing shit and none of it is remotely relevant to the plot and can be glossed over in twenty minutes without any real loss.
The same is true of Harry Potter. Once you hit books 3 and 4, everything begins to tie into a single main plot about Voldemort and such.
(Spoilers beyond this point so be warned)
Eye of the World is easy. You just follow it straight through, compressing parts that are not that important (for example, after Rand and Mat get split off from Thom you can do that one scene with the darkfirend innkeeper intact and then montage the entire rest of their trip to Camelyn in 30 seconds) and you end with the climactic battle at the end.
The Great Hunt is again easy, you spend a minute recapping the basic facts someone needs to know if they haven't seen the first movie (who Rand and co. are, Rand is the Dragon Reborn, etc) and then straight into Suan showing up and the Horn being stolen and then off you go. The girl's side of the story can be done in brief showing only key scenes like the test for Accepted and meeting Elaine and them leaving and glossing over the rest, while the main focus is on Rand. You can also basically not bother showing Perrin's side of things, and just follow Rand after they split up. Then you have the big battle at Falme and you're done.
The Dragon Reborn you have a number of storylines but one main one, and that's Perrin. Rand's journey to Tear can be done in brief foreshadowing scenes if at all. Egwene, Nyneave, and Elaine in the tower can again be done with just the key parts and their whole investigation and so forth summerized. Mat's trip to Tear might require some more time, but there is plenty of dead space you could cut.
The Shadow Rising, you have three things going on: Perrin in the Two Rivers, the girls in Tanchico, and Rand in Rhuaden. You pick two of those to focus on and do the third as a brief aside. Perrin should be one of the focuses because it's the most dense of the three and the coolest. Either one of the other two can be shortened: the Rhuaden stuff by just not bothering top dwell all the random terrtiary stuff like Egwene wanting to be a Dreamer or Aviedha and Moraine; Tanchico by just having them arrive, do some searching, and then straight to the palace without all the random stuff involving the Seanchan and shit.
And so forth.
More like 10 or 11. But hell, they made at least that many Friday the 13th so why the hell not?
I mean, if the first one does well, and the second, and so forth, there should be no problem making the next one. If at some point they don't keep doing well, then you would stop before making all of them but that would not be terrible or anything. In other words, making the first one does not commit you to making more, however there is a depth of material to work through if it turns out to be profitable to do so. Sounds like a Win-Win to me.
But I know that after reading (and rereading) the books I always find more details in the plots that I didn't know.
Granted, there is no way to do it all in the movies. It's just not possible.
I mean.. there would need to be one movie alone for just the white tower. Which would be interesting in it's own right. Personally.
And the reason that you, and I even, think that the accent do be Domani, do be the fact that the most prominent character to be speaking with it is Bayle Domon. Domon--Domani.. It do be quite easy to confuse. At least, it do be in my mind.
Also, it sounds like an accent for some vixen woman in a bordello or something. Or a gypsy-esque type woman to use. Which kicks my brain to a Domani merchant.
One question is, how would they handle the Athan Miere and their toplessness. Cause If I don't get at least one scene with a topless Seafolk woman on board a ship and Nynaeve blushing to her roots and tugging her braid.... It doesn't have to last long, like three seconds or so.. If I don't get that. I will be one upset WOT nerd.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
No, because Hollywood is stupid.
See: "Oh, Prince Caspian turned massive profits, but it was slightly less than the first movie, so we're not going to bother making the third."
Probably have beads instead of shirts. Like...lots of necklaces. Which manage to miraculously always cover them up when there's a shot with one in it.