Movie Adaptations - Dragonlance - VGF

GRENTLEMEN · 01-11-2008, 10:29 PM

This topic is about movie adaptations of books in general, brought on by my recent rental of "Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight".

I have read the Dragonlance series of books for a very long time, and they are in the dramatic fantasy genre. I'd liken it to what J.R.R. Tolkien might have written if he were actually a writer and a DnD nerd, and not just a massively language-obsessed nerd (not to diss Tolkien, but his characters weren't exactly multi-faceted).

Okay, so it wasn't absolutely horrible - they(the folks who converted it to film) followed the basic premise of the first book's plot. A lot was cut out, and that's even forgivable, concerning the format (animated movie - probably targeting older children [say about 10-13]). They even used a lot of dialogue straight from the book, and a lot of the humor was even left intact (they even used the word "fishmonger", which I doubt any 11-year-old is likely to recognize). Most of the settings were accurately depicted, at least for the parts that were depicted. The races and characters were visually true to their written counterparts.

There were a lot of issues, though. The voice acting was rushed together, there is a lot of dialogue and it is a very short movie - it tends to make me think they had a targeted length of time, and had to cut any moment of silence or anything lacking action. The animation was choppy; the Thundercats-type-choppy. One of the worst characteristics of the film was probably the decision to use CGI to depict all of the draconians (dragon-men) and dragons, but only on the dragons while they were in dragon-form (nearly all dragons use magic to transform into a humanoid form, less unnerving to the human lords or generals they serve).

There is a light-hearted character named Tasslehoff, a kender(halfling, basically), whose race is accredited for being naive and curious. They basically focused on the negative side of all of his behavior, and made him a total prick, making smartass comments where he should have just been asking a tumultuous amount of questions. The brawler/fighter, Caramon, should have been twice the size he was drawn, as he is described as being huge; towering over the others in heroes' party.

There were numerous things that just weren't in the movie - Xak Tsaroth (an underground city), for instance. A trek through swamps and the main party being captured by draconians were achingly absent. Similarily, the final sequence, where they attempt to free slaves from a fortress, was over-simplified to the point of being a very lame and completely different action sequence.

Overall, the changes made to the plot weren't at fault for the film's failure, but the horrible editing (and occasionally hilariously choppy animations) were its downfall as a production.

I can't close without mentioning how bizarre it was that practically every scene must have been set in the middle of a tornado, for all of the wind that was depicted. Similarily, there was a metric f---load of this:

"OH **** MY EYES ARE BEING ATTACKED BY LENS FLARES"

GRENTLEMEN · 01-19-2008, 06:49 AM

If anyone bothered reading this, it would be cool to have any sort of comment.

Demonicus Prime · 01-19-2008, 11:04 AM

Where did you see this? I've read part of the first one, and I've thought of picking it back up. Maybe this will....entice me.

Galefore · 01-19-2008, 06:52 PM

Tasselhoff must be a recurring character, as he was also in the Dragonlance game.

GRENTLEMEN · 01-20-2008, 04:16 AM

He has been in practically every book in the "main" series, if you could call it that(they tend to release trilogies, and up until the most recent one he'd been in all of them - they even used time traveling to get him into the last one). He's kind of a comic relief, but more just an interesting character - he raises a ruckus. Also, there was more than one Dragonlance game. The series was hugely popular when it debuted in the 80s, and as a result was given the crappy conversion treatment. Those games will probably make sure another decent one is never made. Maybe someone will make an Elderscrolls add on or something, if they haven't already. There have always been many D&D games based on the series, as well.

^^ I found it at a local rental place, here in Australia. It was obviously imported, as the video was NTSC. If you did some looking around, you could probably find it in the states - or order it via Amazon or whoever else sells that sort of thing.

Antisocial · 01-24-2008, 09:08 AM

That part was awesome.

Erdawn Il Deus · 03-22-2008, 10:38 PM

Don't compare the Dragonlance series to LOTR

Margarett Weis and Hickman are/were awful, awful writers when they wrote these books. I remember them fondly from like, childhood, but come on. Also, KieferSutherland as Raistlin, wooo. And the fight scenes were suprisingly gory. And hilarious. Enjoyable as camp.

Bomby · 03-23-2008, 12:02 AM

My general problem with movies being adapted from other works (in general, novels) is that the cinema and the novel have two separate essences. The cinema is about the moving image, and aesthetic beauty. The novel is more about the written word, and the story itself. A good movie can be made from a bad story, as a bad movie can be made from a good story. The latter is often the case with adaptations of popular written works.

GRENTLEMEN · 03-23-2008, 02:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Erdawn Il Deus

Don't compare the Dragonlance series to LOTR

Margarett Weis and Hickman are/were awful, awful writers when they wrote these books. I remember them fondly from like, childhood, but come on. Also, KieferSutherland as Raistlin, wooo. And the fight scenes were suprisingly gory. And hilarious. Enjoyable as camp.

I can't stand Tolkien, in a lot of cases. I think Weis and Hickman have their flaws, but their characters are much more interesting than anything Tolkien managed to do. I actually remember LotR fondly from my childhood. It was much more interesting back then.

Erdawn Il Deus · 03-23-2008, 05:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bomby

My general problem with movies being adapted from other works (in general, novels) is that the cinema and the novel have two separate essences. The cinema is about the moving image, and aesthetic beauty. The novel is more about the written word, and the story itself. A good movie can be made from a bad story, as a bad movie can be made from a good story. The latter is often the case with adaptations of popular written works.

Tell that to Cormac McCarthy and No Country For Old Men.

^Also, I don't exactly consider Tolkien to be the grand poobah of litterature either, but the writing in the original Dragonlance books was cheerfully abysmal. Also, Tolkien did far more for the genre and thus, credibility reigns.

GRENTLEMEN · 03-23-2008, 05:48 AM

You can't somehow disprove my taste in writing, if that's what you're trying to do. I'd say his works certainly helped establish a lot of ground for the world of fantasy, but he never quite hit his mark. I'd almost say that's in part because he was too English for his own good.

I don't find the writing in the Dragonlance novels to be markedly different from many, but I wouldn't call it abysmal. I haven't seen many in recent times do at all better and Tolkien compared to the authors of his time was tripe.

Erdawn Il Deus · 03-23-2008, 04:22 PM

There's taste in writing and then there's the ability to recognise mediocrity when you see it. How long has it been since you've read Dragons of Autumn Twilight?

And how can one be too English?

**Booyakasha** · 03-23-2008, 05:23 PM

^Douglas Adams manages the 'too English' thing with aplomb.

GRENTLEMEN · 03-23-2008, 11:20 PM

You obviously don't live in any situation that involves you with the English.

Frankly, I've read Autumn Twilight every now and again since I was given it as a gift. I don't see what's so horrible about the writing. The purpose of writing is to pull you into the story, not to show off your amazing dictionary.

The Joker · 03-24-2008, 08:51 AM

I've read the books alooong time ago and just recently got my copy of Soul Forge back from one of my cousins.

I'll have to check out this animated version though....and I'll let you know what I make of it. I do warn you however that I'll probably watch it hopped up on some killer ganja so I'll be more than likely to enjoy it on a different level than the rest of you.

Erdawn Il Deus · 03-24-2008, 01:30 PM

^Oh Joker, if only you knew.

1-up SalesFACEman · 06-12-2008, 05:47 PM

Looks cool. It looks like some people played a game of Dungeons and Dragons and then made a movie about it.

Galefore · 06-13-2008, 02:11 AM

^nowai!

PSYCHOKID909 · 06-13-2008, 02:27 AM

yewai!

- You stupid dog!

01-11-2008, 10:29 PM	#1
GRENTLEMEN Retro Nintendo Supermod Art & Literature Mod Metroid Mod Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: I rub my tilde all over your asterisk Gender: Posts: 15,881 Thanks: 456 Thanked 1,150 Times in 628 Posts Points: 6,332.57 Bank: 1,830,360.28 Total Points: 1,836,692.85 Donate	Movie Adaptations - Dragonlance This topic is about movie adaptations of books in general, brought on by my recent rental of "Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight". I have read the Dragonlance series of books for a very long time, and they are in the dramatic fantasy genre. I'd liken it to what J.R.R. Tolkien might have written if he were actually a writer and a DnD nerd, and not just a massively language-obsessed nerd (not to diss Tolkien, but his characters weren't exactly multi-faceted). Okay, so it wasn't absolutely horrible - they(the folks who converted it to film) followed the basic premise of the first book's plot. A lot was cut out, and that's even forgivable, concerning the format (animated movie - probably targeting older children [say about 10-13]). They even used a lot of dialogue straight from the book, and a lot of the humor was even left intact (they even used the word "fishmonger", which I doubt any 11-year-old is likely to recognize). Most of the settings were accurately depicted, at least for the parts that were depicted. The races and characters were visually true to their written counterparts. There were a lot of issues, though. The voice acting was rushed together, there is a lot of dialogue and it is a very short movie - it tends to make me think they had a targeted length of time, and had to cut any moment of silence or anything lacking action. The animation was choppy; the Thundercats-type-choppy. One of the worst characteristics of the film was probably the decision to use CGI to depict all of the draconians (dragon-men) and dragons, but only on the dragons while they were in dragon-form (nearly all dragons use magic to transform into a humanoid form, less unnerving to the human lords or generals they serve). There is a light-hearted character named Tasslehoff, a kender(halfling, basically), whose race is accredited for being naive and curious. They basically focused on the negative side of all of his behavior, and made him a total prick, making smartass comments where he should have just been asking a tumultuous amount of questions. The brawler/fighter, Caramon, should have been twice the size he was drawn, as he is described as being huge; towering over the others in heroes' party. There were numerous things that just weren't in the movie - Xak Tsaroth (an underground city), for instance. A trek through swamps and the main party being captured by draconians were achingly absent. Similarily, the final sequence, where they attempt to free slaves from a fortress, was over-simplified to the point of being a very lame and completely different action sequence. Overall, the changes made to the plot weren't at fault for the film's failure, but the horrible editing (and occasionally hilariously choppy animations) were its downfall as a production. I can't close without mentioning how bizarre it was that practically every scene must have been set in the middle of a tornado, for all of the wind that was depicted. Similarily, there was a metric f---load of this: "OH **** MY EYES ARE BEING ATTACKED BY LENS FLARES" Last edited by GRENTLEMEN; 01-12-2008 at 12:57 AM.

01-24-2008, 09:08 AM	#6
Antisocial Janitor Join Date: May 2000 Gender: Posts: 9,311 Thanks: 4 Thanked 105 Times in 59 Posts Points: 15,664.11 Bank: 45,662.66 Total Points: 61,326.77 Donate	Integration = Innovation That part was awesome.

03-23-2008, 05:23 PM	#13
Booyakasha Mod of War Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Wisconsinland Gender: Posts: 6,812 Thanks: 75 Thanked 340 Times in 221 Posts Points: 9,927.64 Bank: 20,637.07 Total Points: 30,564.71 Donate	^Douglas Adams manages the 'too English' thing with aplomb. __________________ Boo--the only dude bad enough to rescue the president

03-23-2008, 11:20 PM	#14
GRENTLEMEN Retro Nintendo Supermod Art & Literature Mod Metroid Mod Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: I rub my tilde all over your asterisk Gender: Posts: 15,881 Thanks: 456 Thanked 1,150 Times in 628 Posts Points: 6,332.57 Bank: 1,830,360.28 Total Points: 1,836,692.85 Donate	You obviously don't live in any situation that involves you with the English. Frankly, I've read Autumn Twilight every now and again since I was given it as a gift. I don't see what's so horrible about the writing. The purpose of writing is to pull you into the story, not to show off your amazing dictionary. Last edited by GRENTLEMEN; 03-24-2008 at 01:36 AM.

03-24-2008, 08:51 AM	#15
The Joker So a gun walks into a bar.... Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: The Planet of Eternal Darkness Gender: Posts: 9,953 Thanks: 1,100 Thanked 251 Times in 183 Posts Points: 652.72 Bank: 9,681.48 Total Points: 10,334.21 Donate	I've read the books alooong time ago and just recently got my copy of Soul Forge back from one of my cousins. I'll have to check out this animated version though....and I'll let you know what I make of it. I do warn you however that I'll probably watch it hopped up on some killer ganja so I'll be more than likely to enjoy it on a different level than the rest of you. __________________ Now every post can have headbangy goodness

01-19-2008, 06:49 AM	#2
GRENTLEMEN Retro Nintendo Supermod Art & Literature Mod Metroid Mod Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: I rub my tilde all over your asterisk Gender: Posts: 15,881 Thanks: 456 Thanked 1,150 Times in 628 Posts Points: 6,332.57 Bank: 1,830,360.28 Total Points: 1,836,692.85 Donate	If anyone bothered reading this, it would be cool to have any sort of comment.

01-19-2008, 11:04 AM	#3
Demonicus Prime Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: I Pity The Fool Who Confuses Me With Someone Other Than YoshiFreak. Gender: Posts: 2,899 Thanks: 555 Thanked 93 Times in 67 Posts Points: 11,073.71 Bank: 0.00 Total Points: 11,073.71 Donate	Where did you see this? I've read part of the first one, and I've thought of picking it back up. Maybe this will....entice me.

01-19-2008, 06:52 PM	#4
Galefore Gunjinkeeper Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Dry land. Gender: Posts: 5,532 Thanks: 601 Thanked 334 Times in 267 Posts Blog Entries: 2 Points: 3,806.39 Bank: 34,041.06 Total Points: 37,847.45 Donate	Tasselhoff must be a recurring character, as he was also in the Dragonlance game.

01-20-2008, 04:16 AM	#5
GRENTLEMEN Retro Nintendo Supermod Art & Literature Mod Metroid Mod Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: I rub my tilde all over your asterisk Gender: Posts: 15,881 Thanks: 456 Thanked 1,150 Times in 628 Posts Points: 6,332.57 Bank: 1,830,360.28 Total Points: 1,836,692.85 Donate	He has been in practically every book in the "main" series, if you could call it that(they tend to release trilogies, and up until the most recent one he'd been in all of them - they even used time traveling to get him into the last one). He's kind of a comic relief, but more just an interesting character - he raises a ruckus. Also, there was more than one Dragonlance game. The series was hugely popular when it debuted in the 80s, and as a result was given the crappy conversion treatment. Those games will probably make sure another decent one is never made. Maybe someone will make an Elderscrolls add on or something, if they haven't already. There have always been many D&D games based on the series, as well. ^^ I found it at a local rental place, here in Australia. It was obviously imported, as the video was NTSC. If you did some looking around, you could probably find it in the states - or order it via Amazon or whoever else sells that sort of thing.

03-22-2008, 10:38 PM	#7
Erdawn Il Deus Senior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Threading the jeweled thrones of earth under my sandalled feet Gender: Posts: 2,983 Thanks: 4 Thanked 45 Times in 39 Posts Points: 22,307.93 Bank: 742.97 Total Points: 23,050.90 Donate	Don't compare the Dragonlance series to LOTR Margarett Weis and Hickman are/were awful, awful writers when they wrote these books. I remember them fondly from like, childhood, but come on. Also, KieferSutherland as Raistlin, wooo. And the fight scenes were suprisingly gory. And hilarious. Enjoyable as camp.

03-23-2008, 12:02 AM	#8
Bomby Needle in the Hay Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: The People's Republic of Madison, WI Gender: Posts: 14,664 Thanks: 202 Thanked 443 Times in 311 Posts Blog Entries: 4 Points: 3,346.15 Bank: 1,932,597.03 Total Points: 1,935,943.18 Donate	My general problem with movies being adapted from other works (in general, novels) is that the cinema and the novel have two separate essences. The cinema is about the moving image, and aesthetic beauty. The novel is more about the written word, and the story itself. A good movie can be made from a bad story, as a bad movie can be made from a good story. The latter is often the case with adaptations of popular written works.

03-23-2008, 05:48 AM	#11
GRENTLEMEN Retro Nintendo Supermod Art & Literature Mod Metroid Mod Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: I rub my tilde all over your asterisk Gender: Posts: 15,881 Thanks: 456 Thanked 1,150 Times in 628 Posts Points: 6,332.57 Bank: 1,830,360.28 Total Points: 1,836,692.85 Donate	You can't somehow disprove my taste in writing, if that's what you're trying to do. I'd say his works certainly helped establish a lot of ground for the world of fantasy, but he never quite hit his mark. I'd almost say that's in part because he was too English for his own good. I don't find the writing in the Dragonlance novels to be markedly different from many, but I wouldn't call it abysmal. I haven't seen many in recent times do at all better and Tolkien compared to the authors of his time was tripe.

03-23-2008, 04:22 PM	#12
Erdawn Il Deus Senior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Threading the jeweled thrones of earth under my sandalled feet Gender: Posts: 2,983 Thanks: 4 Thanked 45 Times in 39 Posts Points: 22,307.93 Bank: 742.97 Total Points: 23,050.90 Donate	There's taste in writing and then there's the ability to recognise mediocrity when you see it. How long has it been since you've read Dragons of Autumn Twilight? And how can one be too English?

03-24-2008, 01:30 PM	#16
Erdawn Il Deus Senior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Threading the jeweled thrones of earth under my sandalled feet Gender: Posts: 2,983 Thanks: 4 Thanked 45 Times in 39 Posts Points: 22,307.93 Bank: 742.97 Total Points: 23,050.90 Donate	^Oh Joker, if only you knew.

06-12-2008, 05:47 PM	#17
1-up SalesFACEman Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Poot Gender: Posts: 958 Thanks: 55 Thanked 16 Times in 12 Posts Blog Entries: 5 Points: 9,965.35 Bank: 0.01 Total Points: 9,965.36 Donate	Looks cool. It looks like some people played a game of Dungeons and Dragons and then made a movie about it.

06-13-2008, 02:11 AM	#18
Galefore Gunjinkeeper Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Dry land. Gender: Posts: 5,532 Thanks: 601 Thanked 334 Times in 267 Posts Blog Entries: 2 Points: 3,806.39 Bank: 34,041.06 Total Points: 37,847.45 Donate	^nowai!

06-13-2008, 02:27 AM	#19
PSYCHOKID909 Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: On the run. Gender: Posts: 8,269 Thanks: 57 Thanked 30 Times in 26 Posts Points: 3,416.00 Bank: 2,515.05 Total Points: 5,931.05 Donate	yewai! - You stupid dog!