[SpiritoGiovane]

Hi everybody!
this is my first post closely related to the Malazan books. Recently, we have seen some fantasy books into tv series: I refer to "A Game ofThrone" and "Legend of the Seeker". Before this, LotR became a film trilogy.
I think the question is now clear: if one day someone wanted to adapt the writings of Erikson, do you prefer one/more movies or a tv series?
Let's know! ;-)


Hope you like this poll!


S.G.

[KingTeholBeddict]

I don't want MBotF to become a movie or a TV series seeing as there is no way whatsoever that they could make one that could even get close to how good the books are.
(In my opinion)

[Aptorian]

Definitely a TV series. One season per book. High cost production ala HBO's shows.

But it's not going to happen. The books storylines are too convoluted to be easily fed to the masses. Also as far as I understand the series is not selling a tenth of the SOIAF.

Now one off movie productions like a film based on DG or MOI that could work, but again the story would need to be editted heavily to make sense to work in a 2-3 hour movie,

[Traveller]

Since there's no way of making any of it make sense without a whole lot of explanation, it would be good if they didn't even try to explain it 'to the masses', but just jumped right in there like GotM does. As a tv series though.

I wouldn't mind seeing it attempted a bit like the Beowulf film - certain scenes of that had great atmosphere, and reminded me of MBotF.

As a series, instead of a simplified translation of a whole book, maybe certain stories could be picked up as episodes. Different stories from different continents - the links between them could slowly become apparent as the series progressed.
By stories I mean certain character POV's, so the series would sort of mimic the way SE writes.

This post has been edited by First Tiger: 11 January 2011 - 09:35 PM

[Primateus]

I voted series, but I have to say, I don't want a movie or series adaption. But if I have to choose, it'd have to be a series. There's much greater room for putting in more stuff in a series than in movies.

[Jade-Green Pig-Hog Swine-Beast]

I also agree that it shouldn't be made into either but if I HAD to pick one, I'd prefer to see a TV series, simply due to the fact that it couldn't sensibly be turned into a film!

[champ]

Series as 90% of films based on books are total and utter turd!

Also been discussed in various places before if you want to read more on this matter, my last post has links to the other topics...

http://forum.malazan...showtopic=20116

[fluteboy]

I think it could be done as a series eventually. Considering the huge leaps constantly being taken in terms of special effects and fact that the cost of said effects continues to come down, it would be feasible at some point. And you wouldn't need a season a book. Two books could be pulled off with most of their storylines intact per a 22 to 24 episode season. I have actually thought about this a great deal. Depending on how it was done, the story could be wrapped up in 5 or 6 seasons and the Esslemont books could be made into 2 and a half to 3 hour direct to DVD films to fill in the gaps (much the same way they did with Battlestar Galactica). Sure, some plotlines might have to be simplified a bit (or more accurately "clarified") and some sub-plots changed a bit to allow for a more visual understanding of the story, and a lot of lesser characters could be cut or combined. You could even have whoever plays Duiker narrate parts of each episode with bits of Erikson's poetry and philosophical musings (a la Suresh on "Heroes"). You could even have episodes with flashbacks of some sort to fill in the backstories of specific characters (maybe SE and ICE could even add some new bonus background info on some characters/events that are not contained in the books). On the whole, I think it could be done and keep most if not all of the essential elements of the series as well as clarifying a lot points that are a bit muddy (or even contradictory) in the books. I think if the quality of the production, scripting and acting were high, you could do the show in the same "drop 'em in the world with little to no explanation" feel and people would watch. Shows with compelling mysteries and engaging characters like "Lost" have opened the door for this kind of serial story-telling and I think, if done right, "Malazan" could be one of the best examples of this kind of venture ever filmed. If "Game of Thrones" does well, I will not be surprised to see MBotF optioned at some point in the not so distant future.

[SpiritoGiovane]

champooon, on 12 January 2011 - 03:35 PM, said:

Series as 90% of films based on books are total and utter turd!

Also been discussed in various places before if you want to read more on this matter, my last post has links to the other topics...

http://forum.malazan...showtopic=20116

Thanks a lot! Oh, I love the actor match game: I think Mark Harmon could be a great Whikeyjack (in italian translation the name is write this way). I talk about series actors, of course.

fluteboy, on 12 January 2011 - 07:47 PM, said:

I think it could be done as a series eventually. Considering the huge leaps constantly being taken in terms of special effects and fact that the cost of said effects continues to come down, it would be feasible at some point. And you wouldn't need a season a book. Two books could be pulled off with most of their storylines intact per a 22 to 24 episode season. I have actually thought about this a great deal. Depending on how it was done, the story could be wrapped up in 5 or 6 seasons and the Esslemont books could be made into 2 and a half to 3 hour direct to DVD films to fill in the gaps (much the same way they did with Battlestar Galactica). Sure, some plotlines might have to be simplified a bit (or more accurately "clarified") and some sub-plots changed a bit to allow for a more visual understanding of the story, and a lot of lesser characters could be cut or combined. You could even have whoever plays Duiker narrate parts of each episode with bits of Erikson's poetry and philosophical musings (a la Suresh on "Heroes"). You could even have episodes with flashbacks of some sort to fill in the backstories of specific characters (maybe SE and ICE could even add some new bonus background info on some characters/events that are not contained in the books). On the whole, I think it could be done and keep most if not all of the essential elements of the series as well as clarifying a lot points that are a bit muddy (or even contradictory) in the books. I think if the quality of the production, scripting and acting were high, you could do the show in the same "drop 'em in the world with little to no explanation" feel and people would watch. Shows with compelling mysteries and engaging characters like "Lost" have opened the door for this kind of serial story-telling and I think, if done right, "Malazan" could be one of the best examples of this kind of venture ever filmed. If "Game of Thrones" does well, I will not be surprised to see MBotF optioned at some point in the not so distant future.

What a...! Remind me to hire you for my first TV series - sometimes in future. ;-)
Back in the world: I totally agree with you, especially about the off-screen narrator like Heroes. I add that some secondary stories or scenes could be shot as webisodes to advertisethe series.


S.G.

[fluteboy]

Oooh! I like the webisode idea! It would be cool to see Malazan released as multi-media storytelling. You could get a huge amount of the story in various ways.

[SpiritoGiovane]

fluteboy, on 15 January 2011 - 09:19 AM, said:

Oooh! I like the webisode idea! It would be cool to see Malazan released as multi-media storytelling. You could get a huge amount of the story in various ways.

Little OT - Do you see Riese? I hope it could be a real series in future. It has this steampunk atmosphere...

IT - I think it could be the only way to adapt the story. If you want to be faithful to the story, of course.


S.G.

[Blueiron]

Only if it has the budget of a space agency will it be ok to adapt the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Even then, I have reservations.

[chaosek]

Movies or TV-series are so passé, make it into a game with multiple sequals and DLC. Now that would be epic and if done correctly might even replace Planescape Torment (best story) or Baldurs Gate series (awesome) as best RPG's.

(though it should not follow the books, but fill i some blanks with you as protagonist)

This post has been edited by chaosek: 20 January 2011 - 03:36 PM

[SpiritoGiovane]

chaosek, on 20 January 2011 - 03:35 PM, said:

Movies or TV-series are so passé, make it into a game with multiple sequals and DLC. Now that would be epic and if done correctly might even replace Planescape Torment (best story) or Baldurs Gate series (awesome) as best RPG's.

(though it should not follow the books, but fill i some blanks with you as protagonist)

IMHO, I think that a game couldn't translate the mood of Erikson's writings. My objections relate largely to the way an RPG expresses certain moods. For example, Heavy Rain communicates a lot with the player, but is not an RPG.
Instead, I agree that an RPG/Action Game (like Oblivion or, better, Dragon Age) could play better the world told into the books. I'm thinking about Assasin's Creed with Darujhistan as ambientation... OMG!!! O___O

S.G.

[T-6005]

Perhaps it's the lone mention of LOTR, but I had a sudden vision of the two actors who play Merry and Pippin in those movies reborn as a crazed Fiddler and Hedge.

I quite like the idea, come to think of it.

All the same, the series would probably only work as a TV show. I doubt a movie could come even close.

[allanon]

malazan just can't work as a tv series there is just too much magi in it too many characters there is no tv station that will pick this up it would cost a lot of money to make a movie budget on the other hand might make this possible a lot of character here will need to be cgi icarium rake olrong raest all need to be cgi and a tv budget has not yet reached that point i am afraid of another legend of the seeker or earthsea i want a movie if not leave them be as books S.E was quoted as saying that he knows plausible ways to make this series into a movie and i think he should be involved in the creative process of the project i believe it can be done just have a little hope a tv series will ruin everything.

[SpiritoGiovane]

I believe that since Erikson is the creator and the most expert of books as well as the setting, you can't do anything without his supervision. I don't know if this adaptation is in his plans or whether it's ever coming to his mind. But I can say something that I believe we all share: to bring the whole world of his books at the best, you need him.


- S.G.

[T-6005]

SpiritoGiovane, on 01 February 2011 - 01:40 PM, said:

I believe that since Erikson is the creator and the most expert of books as well as the setting, you can't do anything without his supervision. I don't know if this adaptation is in his plans or whether it's ever coming to his mind. But I can say something that I believe we all share: to bring the whole world of his books at the best, you need him.


- S.G.

Well, it depends. For most writers, once they are published, they no longer hold the rights to their work. The publisher does. That would be the linchpin.

Not to disagree - to do it well, you need the creator, or at least a multitude of people who get it, working on the project. But just to get it made in some vague way... doesn't take that much.

This post has been edited by T-6005: 03 February 2011 - 07:09 AM

[Jade-Green Pig-Hog Swine-Beast]

T-6005, on 03 February 2011 - 07:08 AM, said:

Not to disagree - to do it well, you need the creator, or at least a multitude of people who get it, working on the project. But just to get it made in some vague shit way... doesn't take that much.

Fixed.

There shouldn't be any kind of TV or film adaptation, mainly because it'll no doubt end up being made in the latter manner and will never (ever) be able to live up to the awesomeness of the books. I'm against the idea of film adaptations of WoT for the same reason.

EDIT: Editted for a stray capital letter...

This post has been edited by Green Pig: 03 February 2011 - 10:09 AM

[King Bear]

A TV series, but it would need to a large budget. And considering how convoluted the story and how many characters there are, I'm not sure how well it would work. It might have to be watered down, which would suck.

But even if they story was all screwed up, I'd LOVE to see some of those epic action sequences on the screen.