Cosmere TV shows

[Johhny_Eastland]

An HBO mini series would be the best format for Brandon's books. HBO being our best option because it could have a decent budget. One major reason is that Cable TV shows won't work is they have to stretch out the content to fill a regular season. This means we would probably get a lot of filler episodes that may not be super great.

To the point on anime. As a big fan of the genre you are all wrong lol. Mistborn and Stormlight would work best there because I can tell you only a film with the budget of the Avengers 1 would have enough money to make the special effects look good. Anime can make those effects look amazing for a lot less capital. Personally I'd have the team of Avatar the last Airbender as that world, art style, and action scenes fit with those worlds. And yes the last airbender is an anime. But anime can't work because a single season is 12 episodes (or 24 due to various factors). That's too ridged to shoe horn his works into that schedule, as much as I want it.

I listen to the Super Best Friendcast and I agree with their sentiment on film. Feature films no longer need to be the end all be all of every medium. One major factor being that it's hard to translate good works into good movies. The Harry Potter series being a good example. Good movies but the books are better. Video games have never made good movies. How do you translate Final Fantasy (a series Brandon likes) which a single game is 80 hours on the low side into a film?? You can't.

My last point on translating his works into anything but an HBO mini series (and it actually still applies to HBO) is this. No matter who picks it up they will want to change things to appeal to the general public. Movies are especially bad about this. The American Ghost in the Shell being my prime example of butchering its source material (the movie is okay but in no way treats its source material with any respect). Brandon's works have so much thought and detail built into them that no visual medium I can think of will give it the respect it deserves except a mini series for each novel. Now just like GoT HBO could try and change things to fit the story they want to show, but a mini series would be our best bet for a good special effects budget (since there's not as many episodes to spread across) and we won't get filler added to the story.

Fin.

[Fatikis]

All I want to see is Wax and Wayne series which is more based on the characters and ideas rather than the actual story. The Noncanonical Adventures of Wax and Wayne.

[Fanghur Rahl]

On 2018-04-08 at 9:19 AM, Ashspren said:

I third this.

 

Also, if they make a screen adaptation for any Sanderson books, they’d better stick to the books. There have been a ton of books that got turned into movies, and the movies just ruined them. (*cough cough Percy Jackson cough cough*) Sanderson should approve the final script— if he has, then let the movies begin!

*cough* Eragon *cough*... *coughs until he dies from lack of air.

In all seriousness though, I completely agree. I’d rather no movies be made than have a movie that’s ‘Stormlight’ in name only like the piece of cinematic blasphemy that was the Eragon movie; even after all these years, I’m still extremely bitter about that.

 

[Scion of the Mists]

Quote

Brandon Sanderson

A writer I once read got asked what he thought of the bad movie that got made from his book. Actually, the phrasing of the question is, "What do you think of what they did to your book?" And I have always remembered his response, which was, "My book is the same. It's right there. They did nothing to my book; they made a bad movie." My dream is not to make movies, my dream is to write books, and I am living that dream right now. Now, the chance of having a good movie come out is exciting to me. I wouldn't have sold the rights if I didn't want to take that chance, and hopefully we'll get some great movies and great television shows, but if we don't, I still am writing books, and my books are what I started this to do. I am going into this with my eyes wide open. I have had some good friends who had some terrible movies made of their films and I have talked to them about their experience, and I am willing to risk that happening. You can't get a Game of Thrones if you don't risk an Eragon.

source

Relevant

[Johhny_Eastland]

1 hour ago, Fanghur Rahl said:

*cough* Eragon *cough*... *coughs until he dies from lack of air.

In all seriousness though, I completely agree. I’d rather no movies be made than have a movie that’s ‘Stormlight’ in name only like the piece of cinematic blasphemy that was the Eragon movie; even after all these years, I’m still extremely bitter about that.

 

I forgot about that!!! It was so bad.

49 minutes ago, Scion of the Mists said:

Relevant

I agree with Brandon's point. His books are good and no bad movie will retroactively ruin them. But what they can do is sour a new audience to his works. Movies are easy to recommend due to the time commitment and I understand why anyone would be excited if it finally came into fruition.

[Fanghur Rahl]

1 hour ago, Johhny_Eastland said:

I forgot about that!!! It was so bad!

 I wish I could forget about it.  And the TV series based on the Sword of Truth books wasn’t great either. 

[Fatikis]

17 minutes ago, Fanghur Rahl said:

 I wish I could forget about it.  And the TV series based on the Sword of Truth books wasn’t great either. 

To be fair. The Sword of Truth wasn't that great. By book 4 the main characters just gives 90% speeches about Randian libertarianism.

Edited August 20, 2018 by Fatikis

[Ripheus23]

How about a Cosmere theme park? Each "ride" would be a different Shardworld... Holographic spren, inter-ride regions that look like Shadesmar, who knows...

[Fanghur Rahl]

11 minutes ago, Fatikis said:

To be fair. The Sword of Truth wasn't that great. By book 4 the main characters just gives 90% speeches about Randian libertarianism.

 With respect, I have to disagree with you on this. Sword of Truth is actually one of my all-time favourite fantasy series (along with Thomas Covenant, Eragon, and as of recently the Cosmere), and it’s actually a lot less hardcore Randianism than is commonly claimed; sure it uses some of those themes, but of a very moderate (and in my opinion quite reasonable all things considered) type. Don’t get me wrong, the series does have quite a few problems with it in hindsight, but that isn’t one of them, anymore than the fact that the society on Roshar is based on a decidedly immoral social system is a problem with Stormlight. For the record, yes, I think Cosmere is much better.

[Wyndlerunner]

While it's unlikely to happen, I really think Warbreaker would work 2D animated. Breath, the vibrant colors, and the general exaggerated visual flare of Awakening, even the somewhat visual exaggerations of the Returned's physical appearance would fit a stylistic animated show/film. (think 2d Clone Wars, although I grew up on the 3d Clone Wars). 

On the anime issue, there are times where it works. I;e Avatar:TLA or the Netflix Voltron reboot. However, there are times where it doesn't work. Equally worth noting, is the general stigma surrounding anime, which might keep the general public from accepting it. (note that I don't necessarily think that that stigma is a good thing, and I have nothing against those who enjoy anime) 

[Fanghur Rahl]

I think it very much depends on exactly what you mean by ‘anime’. I mean, the original Pokémon and Attack on Titan and Sword Art Online are all technically ‘anime’, but they clearly also belong to completely different reference classes, only the latter of which  is even remotely suitable for the Cosmere.

[Wyndlerunner]

32 minutes ago, Fanghur Rahl said:

I think it very much depends on exactly what you mean by ‘anime’. I mean, the original Pokémon and Attack on Titan and Sword Art Online are all technically ‘anime’, but they clearly also belong to completely different reference classes, only the latter of which  is even remotely suitable for the Cosmere.

Were you responding to me? If so, I will admit to not being very knowledgeable about the genre. I don't watch anime primarily because it has never really appealed to me, quite honestly.

[Fanghur Rahl]

2 minutes ago, Wyndlerunner said:

Were you responding to me? If so, I will admit to not being very knowledgeable about the genre. I don't watch anime primarily because it has never really appealed to me, quite honestly.

Yeah. My point was just that the term ‘anime’ is very broad and can cover a wide range of quality.

[Johhny_Eastland]

30 minutes ago, Fanghur Rahl said:

I think it very much depends on exactly what you mean by ‘anime’. I mean, the original Pokémon and Attack on Titan and Sword Art Online are all technically ‘anime’, but they clearly also belong to completely different reference classes, only the latter of which  is even remotely suitable for the Cosmere.

 

4 minutes ago, Fanghur Rahl said:

Yeah. My point was just that the term ‘anime’ is very broad and can cover a wide range of quality.

Avatar The Last Airbender, Gurren Laggen (Or anything from Trigger), Full Metal Alchemist, and I would include Attack on Titan in that list. Mistborn and Stormlight specifically. Those series fit what anime does best which is high octane action. He would need the right studio like Trigger to make this a reality though. This is not to say that we cant have tv shows that are live action along side the anime or even movies. That happens all the time. But generally book movies are bad, tv shows dont get the right budget, and certain styles of anime dont appeal to the masses.

Putting his work into multiple mediums would eventually find a hit. I just believe there is a greater chance for these two series in particular to look their best in anime. Right now the only studio probably capable of making a live action Mistborn or Stormlight movie would be Marvel. They currently have the best special effects and knowledge to translates Brandon's work from the page to the screen. 

[Fanghur Rahl]

I don’t think you’d need to go the anime route with Mistborn; there’s absolutely nothing in Mistborn that would require any more CGI than pretty much any superhero/supernatural series currently on TV. Stormlight is the one that would likely require a colossal budget, not Mistborn.

[Johhny_Eastland]

5 minutes ago, Fanghur Rahl said:

I don’t think you’d need to go the anime route with Mistborn; there’s absolutely nothing in Mistborn that would require any more CGI than pretty much any superhero/supernatural series currently on TV. Stormlight is the one that would likely require a colossal budget, not Mistborn.

I disagree only because I've seen super hero shows like Luke Cage and Jessica Jones 100% ruin their action scenes. Dare Devil is the only one where it's action was good but no one flys in that show. The Metallic arts will not look good without a good budget. People flying around without a good budget Always looks bad. A lot of Mistborn is people flying around (Vin, Kelsier, and Wax).

[Fanghur Rahl]

I never said that Mistborn wouldn’t need a big budget to be good, only that it wouldn’t need nearly as big of one as Stormlight would. 

[Wyndlerunner]

Honestly, as long as it's a good adaptation, doesn't really matter what form it takes. 

(honestly, Warbreaker is the only Cosmere book that I have specific hopes for, adaptation wise) 

(also, I just started taking an Adaptation class, where I should learn more about the process of transferring stories through vastly different mediums. I'll pop back in if anything there is particularly relevant to the plight of the Cosmere.)

[Fanghur Rahl]

5 hours ago, Wyndlerunner said:

 (honestly, Warbreaker is the only Cosmere book that I have specific hopes for, adaptation wise) 

Honestly, I don’t know about that. I haven’t actually gotten around to reading Warbreaker yet, I’m still getting through Era 2 Mistborn, so what I’m about to say may be just completely wrong, in which case please feel free to correct me and smack me upside the head, but from what I do know about Warbreaker’s magic system, it seems to me to be by far the most whimsical and the bad-fairytale-esque of all of them. I mean people ‘breathing’ in and out colours to enchant things? I can’t help but think that that would just look ridiculous in a visual format. I could be wrong though.

[Wyndlerunner]

3 hours ago, Fanghur Rahl said:

Honestly, I don’t know about that. I haven’t actually gotten around to reading Warbreaker yet, I’m still getting through Era 2 Mistborn, so what I’m about to say may be just completely wrong, in which case please feel free to correct me and smack me upside the head, but from what I do know about Warbreaker’s magic system, it seems to me to be by far the most whimsical and the bad-fairytale-esque of all of them. I mean people ‘breathing’ in and out colours to enchant things? I can’t help but think that that would just look ridiculous in a visual format. I could be wrong though.

I do think it would look ridiculous in anything outside a highly stylized animated show/film. The very stylized nature of BioChroma itself is well suited to animation.

[tmnsquirtle]

4 hours ago, Fanghur Rahl said:

Honestly, I don’t know about that. I haven’t actually gotten around to reading Warbreaker yet, I’m still getting through Era 2 Mistborn, so what I’m about to say may be just completely wrong, in which case please feel free to correct me and smack me upside the head, but from what I do know about Warbreaker’s magic system, it seems to me to be by far the most whimsical and the bad-fairytale-esque of all of them. I mean people ‘breathing’ in and out colours to enchant things? I can’t help but think that that would just look ridiculous in a visual format. I could be wrong though.

That's not quite how breath works. You don't really breathe the colors in or out, per se - the 'enchanting' drains color from around you as part of a cost of the action. After that it would just look like a normally inanimate object acting, well, animate.

[Fanghur Rahl]

10 minutes ago, tmnsquirtle said:

That's not quite how breath works. You don't really breathe the colors in or out, per se - the 'enchanting' drains color from around you as part of a cost of the action. After that it would just look like a normally inanimate object acting, well, animate.

I stand corrected.

[Wyndlerunner]

I suppose that it also depends on your definition of a good adaptation. Plenty of adaptations get the story/plot down, but miss the spirit of the book entirely. Ex: some of the earlier Gatsby adaptations. 

Also, @Johhny_Eastland, I wouldn't say that most book films are bad, per say. LOTR was fairly good, as were the HP films.

[Fanghur Rahl]

48 minutes ago, Wyndlerunner said:

I suppose that it also depends on your definition of a good adaptation. Plenty of adaptations get the story/plot down, but miss the spirit of the book entirely. Ex: some of the earlier Gatsby adaptations. 

Also, @Johhny_Eastland, I wouldn't say that most book films are bad, per say. LOTR was fairly good, as were the HP films.

 The first three Harry Potter films were good, but after that it completely went downhill.

[Johhny_Eastland]

2 hours ago, Wyndlerunner said:

I suppose that it also depends on your definition of a good adaptation. Plenty of adaptations get the story/plot down, but miss the spirit of the book entirely. Ex: some of the earlier Gatsby adaptations. 

Also, @Johhny_Eastland, I wouldn't say that most book films are bad, per say. LOTR was fairly good, as were the HP films.

That's usually my biggest fear which is missing the spirit or message of the book (specifically sci fi/ fantasy novels). It's also hard to cut down books into a 90 minute format. But you are right most are fine. That said nothing hurts me more than it turning out bad or as a 6. I'd rather have nothing. A world where Avatar the Last Airbender and Eragon films don't exist is a happier place xD. I don't mean to sound like a grouch lol.