TV Show???

[Serra]

OMGOMGOMG I'm like a huge fan of these books!!! And I think there really needs to be a TV series like there is one for Game of Thrones! I really want to see these characters come to life!!! Though to make it completely good it might need to done in CGI..

[Pawki he/him]

It's a nice thought, but it would never be done any justice.

[Master Elodin]

OMGOMGOMG I'm like a huge fan of these books!!!

If you're on this forum, I think that's obvious already.

[taveren he/him]

to early for tv only 1/5 through the series

Edited April 7, 2016 by taveren

[Erunion he/him]

Would be incredibly hard - almost everything would have to be CGI and the makeup department would have to go crazy: Rosharins (Rosharites? Roshani?) aren't ethnically the same as Terrans (that's us, btw. We're Terrans).

 

Most Rosharins have a blend of ethnic traits: Alethi have the skin colour of Polynesians, with epicanthal folds on their eyes, but with a 'classical', almost Greek-god-like build and bone structure, and light coloured eyes among the Nobility. And that's just one Ethnicity! The Shin appear to be ethnically northern-European (skin tone, no epicanthal folds), but have a tendency to round bone structure, shorter stature and 'child-like' features. 

 

More likely to see as an animated series due to these restrictions, but the stigma associated with animated film/TV as being childish is a major problem. 

[Three1415]

Would be incredibly hard - almost everything would have to be CGI and the makeup department would have to go crazy: Rosharins (Rosharites? Roshani?) aren't ethnically the same as Terrans (that's us, btw. We're Terrans).

 

Most Rosharins have a blend of ethnic traits: Alethi have the skin colour of Polynesians, with epicanthal folds on their eyes, but with a 'classical', almost Greek-god-like build and bone structure, and light coloured eyes among the Nobility. And that's just one Ethnicity! The Shin appear to be ethnically northern-European (skin tone, no epicanthal folds), but have a tendency to round bone structure, shorter stature and 'child-like' features. 

 

More likely to see as an animated series due to these restrictions, but the stigma associated with animated film/TV as being childish is a major problem. 

 

Yeah--consider the fact that Roshar is a pretty alien place: Vastly different ecology, weird landforms, highstorms...All of that would have to be CGI, which is not really practical for a television series. 

 

I concur with regards to the animated series evaluation; I think if it were properly done, the concept could work quite well, but there is the vicious cycle of "Anime etc. is not taken seriously due to the lack of serious content"/"There is little serious content because anime etc. is not taken seriously" to contend with...

[Samaldin he/him]

I would be happy about any of Sanderson books as a film or TV-series, but i believe Stormlight woud be one of the most dificult to adapt because of the money (GCI would be needed for: the spren, the surges, the wildlife, actually nearly everything). If they make a series or film i think mistborn or warbreaker would be the easiest to adapt

[Argel he/him]

Why does everything think American TV or live action? The DragonLance animated "movie" was horrible, we saw what happened to the Wheel of Time, etc.

 

My first thought is an Anime series. Get Kenji Kamiyama (Moribito, GiTS:SAC) or the team that did the Twelve Kingdoms. Either could do a great job with it. And several others could do a decent job. Odds of something half-way decent coming out of Japan are way higher than here in the US.

Edited April 7, 2016 by Argel

[NE Windrunner he/him]

I've said this before but I think anime would be a fabulous medium for Stormlight just need to wait for a few more books to come out!

[DSC01 he/him]

The problem that I have with an anime adaptation is that it has a specific "feel" that distinctive to anime, like it's a genre all its own. Anime that is very clearly telling a high fantasy story doesn't come off as high fantasy to me. It comes off as anime. Sure, if you're a big anime fan, the distinctions are probably pretty clear, but that doesn't change how the majority of the potential audience are going to view such an adaptation. I think it's kind of like how fans of electronic music can name 200 different genres, but to everyone else, it's all just techno.

 

The primary objection to doing a Stormlight series is that the effects, sets, makeup, etc, would be too much for a TV budget. Basically, you need a CGI-heavy summer blockbuster's budget, and that can't be sustained for an entire season (and, of course, a movie is just too short to tell the story). 

 

The solution to that is pretty simple: wait, and the technology will get better. A show like Game of Thrones couldn't have happened even 10 years ago. I bet that the stuff they're doing with the dragons in current seasons wouldn't have worked 5 years ago when the series started. Technology is changing very quickly.

 

There isn't enough of the series out yet to start thinking about an adaptation, anyway, so just give it time. If people are clamoring for a new, awesome live-action fantasy series in like 2030, then it will probably be Stormlight's time to shine.

[NE Windrunner he/him]

So I recently watched the Heroic Legend of Arslan anime and it really communicated a middle age/ fantasy feel that was pretty unique for anime and I felt that it had a tone that reflected the tone that I read in Stormlight. It still had the emotional aspect that all anime's contain ( sort of each character having introspective portions of the episodes) but I think this would actually work well for Stormlight given all of the emotional baggage that each character has.

 

I agree with the sentiment that an anime adaptation would be difficult to pitch to the masses but I do think there is real potential there. Live action TV adaptations are well and good but for every "Game of Thrones" success you have like 5 Legend of the Seeker/Shannara Chronicles. The problem with live TV adaptation, as I see it, is that you have to be able to bank on the realism of the story and its setting to be the meat of the production while using the more fantastic elements as (admittedly awesome) filler. This seems to counter what Stormlight brings to the table with the crazy Rosharian geography and the story centering on Surgebinders and their developing abilities to fight these fantastic inhuman void bringers.

 

In most of the successful film and TV adaptations I have seen the producers and writers always downplay the fantastic elements of the story instead focusing on the more realistic elements and while this works well for things like GoT and LOTR I just don't see it for Stormlight. Not saying it couldn't work but I would be afraid of it failing because of the above reasons. Maybe I'm totally off base but those are my thoughts lol.

[DSC01 he/him]

In most of the successful film and TV adaptations I have seen the producers and writers always downplay the fantastic elements of the story instead focusing on the more realistic elements and while this works well for things like GoT and LOTR I just don't see it for Stormlight. Not saying it couldn't work but I would be afraid of it failing because of the above reasons. Maybe I'm totally off base but those are my thoughts lol.

 

I've seen a lot of people make that argument, but I really don't think that's the problem with shows like The Shannara Chronicles. That's not to say that it couldn't be true, but I can't point to a single fantasy show that had strong characterization, an engaging plot, good acting, etc, and also did nothing to downplay the fantastic elements of their stories. As far as I can tell, the problem with Shannara Chronicles wasn't that unabashed high fantasy doesn't work on TV; it's that it was a bad show.

 

I think the problem is that people producing TV shows think that if they have a fantastic world, they have to shine a spotlight on it all the time and make the show about this amazing world that they've created. If producers would back off on the dramatic symphonic soundtracks heralding panoramic shots of splendor and just focus on a good story and good characters, I think a pure fantasy story would work just fine.

 

Look at, say, The Walking Dead. It's a drama first, but it never shies away from being a post-apocalyptic zombie show (except in the 2nd season). No, it's not all zombie chases followed by zombie fights followed by [insert additional zombie movie cliche here], but there are zombies around in the background all the time, and the settings constantly remind us that we're in a world with zombies. Stormlight certainly isn't magic, magic, more magic, and now a monster! 

[CaptainRyan he/him]

If the team who produced the Nickelodeon show "Avatar: the Last Airbender" could be convinced to do "the Stormlight Archive" then I think it would a smash success. A:tLA appealed to young and old, had great voice acting, beautiful art and a compelling story. If they bumped up the age level a bit and had Sanderson to help with adapting the story to an episodic form then I could easily see each SA book being a ~20 episode season.

[Argel he/him]

The problem that I have with an anime adaptation is that it has a specific "feel" that distinctive to anime, like it's a genre all its own.

 

Anime is animation from Japan. It's not a genre. Yes, there are common tropes and common genres within Anime such as all the moe coming out these days but there are other styles and other genres of Anime. 

 

And I specifically listed two that 1) break the mold and 2) are generally considered the best Anime fantasy world building. If you haven't watched Moribito or Twelve Kingdoms I recommend you do, because you will see that fantasy can be really well done in Anime.  Edit: And for any Sci-Fi fans out there, check out Planetes. Edit2: The animation in Avatar: The Last Airbender is a blend of common Anime styles and American cartoons, which could definitely work for a SA animated series.

Edited April 8, 2016 by Argel

[natc]

The phrase "like a genre all its own" is a simile, and would imply that anime, itself, is not a genre, so there was really no need to correct that.

The way Avatar balances (no joke intended) the two styles should work if we tone down the humor slightly.

[Argel he/him]

Avatar does seem to be the best recent example. The X-Men of Saturday morning from many, many years ago was actually pretty good. Or at least I remember it that way. Anyway, I think there are more examples of Anime that show Japan could do a decent job on it than here in the US. And we certainly have "hit too close to home" examples here in the US of series done horribly wrong (like TWoT and DragonLance that I mentioned). I will take a decent Anime even if it misses the High Fantasy mark a bit over utter garbage.

 

So, side question: has SA been translated to Japanese and if so, do we have any hint at how sales are over there?

[DSC01 he/him]

TWoT is kind of a bad example because they weren't even trying to make a good show; they just wanted to hold onto the rights.

 

I haven't seen the Dragonlance cartoon, but if it had been live action, I probably would have. I mean, I watched the preposterous Dungeons & Dragons movie. Also, I never watched Avatar. I did see The Last Airbender live action movie, even though it was terrible. See the pattern there? And I watch more animation than a lot of people. Whatever their assessment of the quality of Batman v Superman, most people agreed that seeing the big two heroes onscreen together for the first time was a big deal. Not a one of them said, "Whatever. They've been together in tons of animated projects."

 

My point isn't that animation sucks, mind you. It's that live action has more impact; it inspires more excitement and awe. If Stormlight was animated, sure, I'd watch it with great interest. Because I love The Stormlight Archive. If there was an anime version done, it would get the prized position of 5th or 6th anime I've watched with any interest in my entire life. And I'd pitch it to my friends and try to get them to watch it, and most of them wouldn't.

 

But those same friends are absolutely in love with Game of Thrones. Most of them will never read the books, but they just can't wait for new episodes of the show to come out. If someone approached a Stormlight adaptation with the same seriousness as HBO's adaptation of ASoIaF, I could absolutely talk all of my friends into a frenzy of excitement for it to be released, if they even needed my encouragement. I'm sure that The Stormlight Archive would make a great anime, but not many people would care. A live action version could become a cultural sensation, just like Game of Thrones.

 

As for the side question, I'm pretty sure that only Elantris and the first Mistborn trilogy have been translated to Japanese,but I'm really not sure.

[Rasarr she/her]

 

As for the side question, I'm pretty sure that only Elantris and the first Mistborn trilogy have been translated to Japanese,but I'm really not sure.

 

Actually there exists Japanese edition of Way of the Kings  (In three parts, whose covers display glittery Shardplate, literally armless Shallan and bishii Kaladin in that exact order), although I can't tell you about WoR, though the publishing house of Japanese edition of WoK has rights to it as well.

 

Re: Stormlight Archive on big screen, I don't think this would have nearly enough money to present Roshar in satisfactory way, and even if it would, it'd probably leave just barely enough for some good screenwriting and acting, which would doom the series. One of the options may be to cut down on the number of spren and strange creatures, but that wouldn't be really Roshar, now would it? I mean, horses instead of Chulls?   Besides, while stories like Game of Thrones are largely built around humans and their politicking and interactions, in SA the world is pretty much yet another character, or even entire set of those, so it's not really something you can throw away. 

 

Then again, if SA somehow managed to keep up with its planned 2-years-per-book schedule (and we can be doubtful about that, considering there were four years between WoK and WoR, and now Oathbringer delays), it'll be 2023 before first arc concludes, and 2033 before the entire series is done. For all we know, tech advancements would make CGI live-action Roshar actually affordable by then.

[CaptainRyan he/him]

I'm sure that The Stormlight Archive would make a great anime, but not many people would care. A live action version could become a cultural sensation, just like Game of Thrones.

 

I would be absolutely horrified if the Stormlight Archive was adapted in a way similar to Game of Thrones. GoT is already a much, for lack of a better word, raunchier and darker story than SA but HBO took the vulgarity of GoT and magnified it beyond even what the books had. Can you imagine Brandon Sanderson's epic story reduced to using sex and violence to sell itself? Even the scenes in SA where there is a chance to show something of the sort (e.g. Jasnah's bathing scene where Shallan is her attendant or the many battle scenes of Alethi vs Parshendi) the focus is never on the (possible) sexual nature or violence of the scene but always on the characters and the story. HBO (or any other TV producer willing to shell out the money create a realistic Roshar) would also want to "hook" audiences with shots of Jasnah's chest or with excessively gorey fights. No thanks. One of the great things about Brandon Sanderson's work is that he never needs to use these sorts of tropes to hook his audiences.

 

I would much, much, much prefer a well-done animated version (ala Avatar: the Last Airbender) and have it be less "well-known" than to have the Stormlight Archive reduced to peddling smut and graphic violence to hook people too disinterested in the genre-defining story that Sanderson has created to watch it otherwise.

 

 

 

Note: I recognize, after proofreading this a few times before clicking "Post", that I might be coming off a bit passionate in my defense of the Stormlight Archive and any theoretical adaptation of it. Hopefully, anyone reading this will recognize my passion is based in the hope of a fantastic TV series being made and not in tearing down anyone else or their idea of what would make a fantastic adaptation.

[DSC01 he/him]

I would be absolutely horrified if the Stormlight Archive was adapted in a way similar to Game of Thrones. GoT is already a much, for lack of a better word, raunchier and darker story than SA but HBO took the vulgarity of GoT and magnified it beyond even what the books had. Can you imagine Brandon Sanderson's epic story reduced to using sex and violence to sell itself? Even the scenes in SA where there is a chance to show something of the sort (e.g. Jasnah's bathing scene where Shallan is her attendant or the many battle scenes of Alethi vs Parshendi) the focus is never on the (possible) sexual nature or violence of the scene but always on the characters and the story. HBO (or any other TV producer willing to shell out the money create a realistic Roshar) would also want to "hook" audiences with shots of Jasnah's chest or with excessively gorey fights. No thanks. One of the great things about Brandon Sanderson's work is that he never needs to use these sorts of tropes to hook his audiences.

 

I would much, much, much prefer a well-done animated version (ala Avatar: the Last Airbender) and have it be less "well-known" than to have the Stormlight Archive reduced to peddling smut and graphic violence to hook people too disinterested in the genre-defining story that Sanderson has created to watch it otherwise.

 

 

 

Note: I recognize, after proofreading this a few times before clicking "Post", that I might be coming off a bit passionate in my defense of the Stormlight Archive and any theoretical adaptation of it. Hopefully, anyone reading this will recognize my passion is based in the hope of a fantastic TV series being made and not in tearing down anyone else or their idea of what would make a fantastic adaptation.

 

Please note that I said (with added bold for emphasis):

 

If someone approached a Stormlight adaptation with the same seriousness as HBO's adaptation of ASoIaF, I could absolutely talk all of my friends into a frenzy of excitement for it to be released, if they even needed my encouragement.

 

I certainly don't want someone adding a bunch of sex scenes to Stormlight. It doesn't make any sense for the story.

 

I just mean that when HBO created Game of Thrones, they approached it as something serious. The history of genre adaptations is that it is very difficult to get studios to accept that science fiction, fantasy, comic books, etc, should be adapted as if they are something to take seriously. Look back over years of adaptations, and one finds that most have at least something that is ridiculous or corny or needlessly deviates from the source material.

 

When I say that Stormlight could be like GoT, I only mean that it could be filmed as a serious drama and taken every bit as seriously.

[CaptainRyan he/him]

Please note that I said (with added bold for emphasis):

 

Thank you for the gentle correction. I appreciate that you were very civil in your reply! 

 

I certainly don't want someone adding a bunch of sex scenes to Stormlight. It doesn't make any sense for the story.

 

I just mean that when HBO created Game of Thrones, they approached it as something serious. The history of genre adaptations is that it is very difficult to get studios to accept that science fiction, fantasy, comic books, etc, should be adapted as if they are something to take seriously. Look back over years of adaptations, and one finds that most have at least something that is ridiculous or corny or needlessly deviates from the source material.

 

When I say that Stormlight could be like GoT, I only mean that it could be filmed as a serious drama and taken every bit as seriously.

 

For the record, I did not think you were advocating for the Booblight Archive adaptation haha. I imagine that most people on these forums are here because they are huge fans of the work Sanderson does and would not advocate for anything of the like.

 

What I was trying to get across, in a somewhat poorly worded way, was that I think GoT is a huge success, in large part, to the "grittiness" of the show. HBO has a very tried and true formula of drama + decent story + sex/violence = success. (see: the Wire, True Blood, Game of Thrones, the Sopranos etc.) I absolutely love how well-made HBO shows are and I never watch them because they are basically porn (both sex porn and violence porn) with a great storyline. I mean, the catchphrase "sexologue" was coined to refer to how HBO manages to share "boring" plot information with their viewers during an "attention grabbing" sex scene. 

 

With that background on how I view HBO's production process I hope it is a bit clearer as to why I was horrified about the idea of the Stormlight Archive being compared to an HBO show.

 

Few things in life would make me as happy and excited as a TV live-action adaptation of the Stormlight Archive that had a massive budget, a serious production crew and the backing of Brandon Sanderson. In all seriousness, whenever people play that game of "what would you do with $X insane amount of money" I always answer that I would hire people to make incredibly well-done adaptations of my favorite Fantasy and Sci-Fi books/video games into incredible movies/TV shows.

[DSC01 he/him]

I believe it was in fact "sexposition," but I get what you mean. I do watch GoT, and I believe that the nudity has actually been toned way down. It seems like they hooked everyone with the sexiness, then started just doing the show as a serious drama. It's still there, but there's nothing like the first season, where Littlefinger goes off on a monologue containing important plot information with a couple of nude prostitutes in scene, just to keep viewers staring at the screen.

[CaptainRyan he/him]

I believe it was in fact "sexposition," but I get what you mean. I do watch GoT, and I believe that the nudity has actually been toned way down. It seems like they hooked everyone with the sexiness, then started just doing the show as a serious drama. It's still there, but there's nothing like the first season, where Littlefinger goes off on a monologue containing important plot information with a couple of nude prostitutes in scene, just to keep viewers staring at the screen.

 

Ah, that is the word! Thanks!

 

It is pretty hilarious to me that you referenced that episode because that is literally the only episode I have seen. I was over at a friend's place and they were watching GoT and I thought "Hmm, why not give it a chance. I like the books, right?" and then BAM! Lesbian prostitute action as the attention-grabber so the audience would not get bored while Littlefinger shared plot info. Ugh. I just walked away then and have never looked back.

[DSC01 he/him]

The Stormlight Archive doesn't need nudity to hold people's attention. There will be spren.

[Stormgate he/him]

And skyeels. Skyeels are cool.

There's also the tendency of eyes to smoke after they are killed via Shardblade.