[Werthead]

Whaaaat.

No word on what studio or station yet. It's an interesting choice, given it's not exactly a story that screams out commercial accessibility. I can only assume they are planning somewhat major changes to the way the story works and probably dialling back on the "rapey space alien enemies" angle. And also finding a way of how to film a story that takes place entirely alongside an army marching thousands of miles, fighting huge battles all along the way, on a TV budget.

[Abyss]

BLACK SPERM TV!!!!!!!!

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

There's no way this series makes it to TV in any form that's recognizable as Bakker's trilogy.


...But I can hope

[Puck]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 27 August 2016 - 05:29 PM, said:

There's no way this series makes it to TV in any form that's recognizable as Bakker's trilogy.

^This, I am afraid. But hey, who knows.. I'm all for giving it a chance!

Also, Bakker's stuff does have an Alien-aesthetic at times, I could totally see it working, visually. Depending on the budget.

This post has been edited by Puck: 27 August 2016 - 06:21 PM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Haven't there been a lot of massive battle scenes (over the last 15 years or so) where most of the armies are CGI'd in? Seems like they should be able to adapt past CGI code / design to bring the costs down. Even dragon heads.

As with Malazan, some people have suggested anime would be better. But PoN is less magic-heavy... and the Anagogic imagery wouldn't necessarily have to be too realistic.

The gang rapes could just be implied. As for the menacing erections... as the actor who plays Daenerys pointed out, naked or sexualized penises aren't shown nearly as often as naked women, so it could be read as adding feminist meat cred.

If they can get the Khal Drogo guy to play Cnaiur, and make him a little less rape-y (though oddly enough GoT made Drogo's first time with Daenerys, as well as a few other scenes, significantly... rapier), the show could get a decent female viewership.

[acesn8s]

Is Pornhub optioning it?

[Abyss]

Will there be vagnomes?

What would we call them in this series, vranc? slanc?

[amphibian]

I think a reasonable way to adapt it would be to drop us right into the beginning of the second trilogy. Work in some barbarian mind twisting flashbacks, some slow drips of Dunyain training, and hustle up to the finish.

This gives us palace intrigue settings, the big military battles with CGI sranc, quiet backdrop set up of Non Men and Consult, Drusas and his Slog of Slogs. Limited number of sets, can do outdoors shots in one large varied steppe, one forest, a few castles and caves. Work from tents and interior sets rest of the time.

The factions of Zeumi, Fanayal's bunch, etc can all be put into the story from the beginnings with backstory already there for fun side trips.

Could be doable in miniseries style, but it'd have to chop out several of the true psychological horror bits/butts, much of the Non Men exploration, and the unification of the empire.

[Tiste Simeon]

Oh good I can't wait for 22 hour long episodes of nothing happening, and people being mind raped by Kellhus and talking about stuff that happened off screen...

[amphibian]

Briar King, on 30 August 2016 - 12:10 AM, said:

From what little I remember about the 3 I read(didn't finish bk 3) this will make a horrible show. To difficult

That's why I suggested skipping the first three entire to make that backstory.

[Coco with marshmallows]

isn't the first one just a retelling of the first crusade in a fantasy setting?

shouldn't be too difficult. lots of shots of thousands of extras walking/riding, but a few key scenes done round campfires etc.

[Maark Abbott]

Werthead, on 27 August 2016 - 02:53 PM, said:

Whaaaat.

No word on what studio or station yet. It's an interesting choice, given it's not exactly a story that screams out commercial accessibility. I can only assume they are planning somewhat major changes to the way the story works and probably dialling back on the "rapey space alien enemies" angle. And also finding a way of how to film a story that takes place entirely alongside an army marching thousands of miles, fighting huge battles all along the way, on a TV budget.

Finally, my fantasies of an Inchoroi porno will come true

[Cause]

This will be near impossible!

They can do what GoT did in the early series and speak about the battles but not show them. None of the major characters are really integral to them (Cnauir as battle celebrant is the one exception but even there he was the general not in the thick of it). Still it would be wierd to follow an army for a year and through several major battles and not see them.

Kellhus doing his thing would also be really tricky, without his PoV. Or anyone's PoV for that matter. Closest is True Lies and that was never great in my opinion.

As for the space rapist aliens......

Not the first time something would have been optioned just in case though, or to keep it from someone else.

[Abyss]

It's totally do-able. They will have to skip large chunks of the philosophizing and black sperm rape, and be a little selective with the battles and fx, but as a basic story... crusade sets out to liberate holy city, various characters personal stories develop along the way, it's do-able. Look at GoT, ROME, BAND OF BROTHERS...

I would love to see what a decent script and a really talented actor could do with Kelhus.

[Cause]

Briar King, on 30 August 2016 - 04:44 PM, said:

I don't remember aliens

They come from space to probe your anal cavities! Only they dont do it for research they do it for academic purposes (FAP). They big bad in the books are from outer space they arrived in the ark and then they proceeded to rape everything with a pulse. For reasons

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Cause, on 30 August 2016 - 11:49 AM, said:

Kellhus doing his thing would also be really tricky, without his PoV.

Which thing? Reading people? Secretly manipulating them, being a con man of sorts? He's like The Mentalist, except more of an antihero. And he can hear peoples' pulses. (It would be simple enough to make it clear to the audience that we're presenting things only Kellhus can hear---heartbeats---or see---anomalies in skin-spies' faces. Could even add brief Dune-style voice-overs, or representations of what's going through Kellhus's mind during the probability trance (possible scenarios, etc.).) Not being completely clear about what he is will make him more appealing to a wider audience. (Let them wonder whether Cnaiur is being accurate, paranoid, insane, etc., at least until later in the series.)

[acesn8s]

The Mentalist and Pretender mixed together.

[Cause]

Azath Vitr (D, on 30 August 2016 - 05:03 PM, said:

Cause, on 30 August 2016 - 11:49 AM, said:

Kellhus doing his thing would also be really tricky, without his PoV.

Which thing? Reading people? Secretly manipulating them, being a con man of sorts? He's like The Mentalist, except more of an antihero. And he can hear peoples' pulses. (It would be simple enough to make it clear to the audience that we're presenting things only Kellhus can hear---heartbeats---or see---anomalies in skin-spies' faces. Could even add brief Dune-style voice-overs, or representations of what's going through Kellhus's mind during the probability trance (possible scenarios, etc.).) Not being completely clear about what he is will make him more appealing to a wider audience. (Let them wonder whether Cnaiur is being accurate, paranoid, insane, etc., at least until later in the series.)

The books have a combination of PoVs and an omnipotent narrator. We know that Kellhus sees the micro-expressions of everyone around him, we know from his thoughts when people give him the expected response. We know from the PoV of the other side how successful his manipulations are, and we know from the omnipotent narrator the effects of and on everyone's thoughts. Is it impossible to show on TV? No? Will it be as effective? I am not sure it will be.

Kellhus answers questions before people ask them, he can turn someone's hate to love in the space of an hour. It will be tricky to show this without the ability of a book to show peoples inner thoughts

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Cause, on 30 August 2016 - 06:46 PM, said:

Azath Vitr (D, on 30 August 2016 - 05:03 PM, said:

Cause, on 30 August 2016 - 11:49 AM, said:

Kellhus doing his thing would also be really tricky, without his PoV.

Which thing? Reading people? Secretly manipulating them, being a con man of sorts? He's like The Mentalist, except more of an antihero. And he can hear peoples' pulses. (It would be simple enough to make it clear to the audience that we're presenting things only Kellhus can hear---heartbeats---or see---anomalies in skin-spies' faces. Could even add brief Dune-style voice-overs, or representations of what's going through Kellhus's mind during the probability trance (possible scenarios, etc.).) Not being completely clear about what he is will make him more appealing to a wider audience. (Let them wonder whether Cnaiur is being accurate, paranoid, insane, etc., at least until later in the series.)

The books have a combination of PoVs and an omnipotent narrator. We know that Kellhus sees the micro-expressions of everyone around him, we know from his thoughts when people give him the expected response. We know from the PoV of the other side how successful his manipulations are, and we know from the omnipotent narrator the effects of and on everyone's thoughts. Is it impossible to show on TV? No? Will it be as effective? I am not sure it will be.

Kellhus answers questions before people ask them, he can turn someone's hate to love in the space of an hour. It will be tricky to show this without the ability of a book to show peoples inner thoughts

Partly agree, but good acting (and possibly editing... some ultra-focused slow-motion of microexpressions from Kellhus's perspective could be cool) and the addition of "you're thinking" or "you're about to say" (or some other brief, obvious way of showing that Kellhus is voicing what someone's thinking, or anticipating what they're about to say) would suffice and could be very effective. As for "hate to love in the space of an hour"---in addition to the actors showing it through their body language (etc.), they could convert some of their inner thoughts into things said to their confidants (or to themselves, maybe over alcohol) in private.

(Incidentally, I've been listening to / reading The Prince of Nothing for about the last month as my bedtime story---two chapters left to go in TTT---so it's pretty fresh in my memory. The audiobook performer---despite having a jarringly unpleasant narrator-voice---does the dramatic dialogues very effectively and I can easily imagine it translating into TV dialogue.)

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 30 August 2016 - 07:24 PM

[Abyss]

It would be an interesting 'Show don't tell' challenge, but I still say do-able.