OT: Sword of Truth coming to television Fall 2008

Agrajag · #1 February 1st, 2008, 05:57 AM

Song of Ice and Fire should probably be turned into a TV series, not a movie. There's just way too much content to be contained by movies.
Take a look at the LOTR movie, it had 3 movies, each 3 hours long and they still had to drop all sorts of stuff. Song of Ice and Fire has more books, each with more pages, each page with more words (I think), and more of it has really important content.

BigandScary · #2 February 1st, 2008, 09:35 AM

What I want to see is a movie of David Gemmel's "Legend"

Endoperez · #3 February 2nd, 2008, 03:39 AM

Quote:

BigandScary said:
What I want to see is a movie of David Gemmel's "Legend"

YES! Even as a book, it felt more like there was an epic movie being played in my head. And the fact that Druss is old, and his axe unpossessed, and the battle is taking its toll, and he still beats everyone up just makes the skin crawl in your back.

Meglobob · #4 February 2nd, 2008, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Endoperez said:

Quote:

BigandScary said:
What I want to see is a movie of David Gemmel's "Legend"

YES! Even as a book, it felt more like there was an epic movie being played in my head. And the fact that Druss is old, and his axe unpossessed, and the battle is taking its toll, and he still beats everyone up just makes the skin crawl in your back.

Love Legend, I think its David Gemmels best book.

If done correctly, with the right actor playing Druss and some matrix style combat scenes (except with a bloody big, formerly demon possessed battle axe) and a good supporting cast, it would be a great film.

Sadly, hollywood has a track record of ruining fantasy films based on good books.

Btw, did someone mention Lucy Lawless? I can watch her all day...

BigandScary · #5 February 2nd, 2008, 05:39 PM

Who would you cast as Druss? I would say Sean Connery, but he doesn't have the right build. I don't rally know of any hulking, aging men who are good actors.

S.R. Krol · #6 February 2nd, 2008, 06:17 PM

"Legend" was the best ten cents I ever spent.

At the time I was able to fit in reading a lot more than I can today, and because of that I spent a lot of time in used book stores. I was browsing the fantasy section of one such store and came across "Legend". At the time I had never read anything by Gemmel and was completely unfamiliar with the book. I picked it up on a whim, and with my store credit the cost came to a dime.

Sat down that evening at dinner and started reading it and was completely amazed. One thing you learn from picking up books on the cheap, there are *a lot* of really bad fantasy novels out there. "Legend" was not. Totally blew me away.

I sought out other stuff from Gemmel but I have to say nothing seemed to equal that first taste.

HoneyBadger · #7 February 2nd, 2008, 08:48 PM

A few, random thoughts:

It's a shame about the Sword of Truth series. I started reading the first book, got through about three chapters (which weren't bad), lost interest, lost the book (my cousin "borrowed" it, which is ok, because I turned around and "borrowed" his extensive collection of Magic: The Gathering cards.), and then heard that the rest was so much slop.

I stuck around longer (than I should have) for the Wheel of Time series. Here's some advice: just go read Dune.

I'm surprised noone mentioned the Riftwar saga. There's another series that started out really strong and then slowly but less-than-inevitably sunk like the Titanic.

Song of Ice and fire was great for the first two books. I kind of got lost by the third "let's scar/deform/ cripple/massacre/sideline all the characters" book, and have yet to return.

I just don't have enough hours in my day to fit in an ill-recommended, ill-concieved, ill-continued, or ill-fated series of books.

David Gemmel was great.

Sean Connery is not only too old, he's retired from acting. If you absolutely *need* an aging Scottish actor in your life, I suggest you start looking at Billy Connolly. He's amazingly talented.

For Druss, I'd suggest Vincent Regan, he played the Captain in 300.

If you could dry him out and clean him up, and if he could still do the physical training, Nick Nolte might make an amazing Druss. If you don't believe me, rent Farewell to the King sometime. It's not the best movie ever, but it's one of the best war-movies, and a movie that should be seen.

Ofcourse, I'm always up for the part

I'm a big guy, I'm aging badly, and I can handle an axe (I used to do a lot of land-scaping).

S.R. Krol · #8 February 1st, 2008, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Agrajag said:
Song of Ice and Fire should probably be turned into a TV series, not a movie. There's just way too much content to be contained by movies.

That's what's happening with it. HBO is turning it into a series, not a movie, so it should get a decent treatment. You'll still lose stuff, but that's always going to happen, but it will definitely be better than trying to abridge it down to 2-3 hours.

Tuidjy · #9 February 1st, 2008, 06:10 PM

I cannot see a series being faithful to Song of Fire and Ice. Too much stuff - too
many viewpoints and plot lines, too many major characters dropping off like flies,
and way too much 'War is Hell' lately. I suspect the author is an anti-Iraq-war
activist, judging from his latest two books.

DrPraetorious · #10 February 1st, 2008, 06:42 PM

And another character went blind, so he must be agitating for vitamin A supplements in the third world, the hippy.

"A Feast for Crows" was the provisional title for novel #4 back during the Clinton administration. You think that if not for Iraq it would've been full of fluffy bunnies?

I don't think the current military environment is what shapes his plotlines.