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| SmashBros.com |
The news was reported Friday afternoon by the Wall Street Journal's Ben Fritz, and my reaction upon reading said news was as follows...
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| FunnyOrDie.com |
Part of it is because after 1993's Super Mario Bros. movie was a complete mess, pretty much anyone who follows Nintendo thought that the company wouldn't go anywhere near Hollywood again, much less anything live-action.
And although the track record on television is a little better, it's not anything considerably special. There were Zelda and Mario Bros. cartoons in the late 1980s, but they each lasted one season, and the Zelda show is known more for one line than anything else.
Then there was that nightmare-inducing, CG-animated Donkey Kong Country show in the 90s, and the Kirby cartoon in the early 2000s that I don't really remember much about.
The only thing that really makes Nintendo's resume stand out in other entertainment mediums is Pokemon (somehow still going strong), but that is going to have to be a post for another day.
Anyway, in short; save Pokemon, Nintendo's history in movies and TV isn't good, so curiosity as to why Nintendo would want to take a stab at something like a live-action Zelda series is justifiable based on the past.
But then there is what is known about the current project itself, which is little because of how early into development it is, so much so that there is still a good chance that none of this comes to fruition.
From the Wall Street Journal article:
For the record: I don't have HBO, so I don't watch the show.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but Game of Thrones revolves around families fighting for control of land. The Zelda franchise, meanwhile, has never been about that, focusing primarily on adventure and discovery. So it's a bit confusing that a family-friendly Game of Thrones is what's being used to describe a Zelda show, when the games don't really have that much in common with George R.R. Martin's world once you get past medieval setting.
I think the question here is; how is a Zelda series going to work? And because it's so early in the process, it could be one that Netflix is still trying to find an answer to. The thing is, with a franchise like Zelda, there isn't any one way to approach it.
The franchise is almost 30 years old, with multiple games that have expanded the lore and the scope of the world Nintendo created with each new entry. Hyrule Kingdom has grown into a pretty complex place with what has become a very deep past.
The simple way to explain it is like this: each game takes place at a different point in Hyrule's history, offering a different lay of the land, a new, but extremely similar looking hero and a different story (Click here for a chart that might help clear things up a bit more).
As a result, Netflix has tons of different avenues it can take. It could create each season to cover an individual game in the series. Or, you know, it could create its own original story within Hyrule. That's always an option too.
The point is, there is a lot of room for creativity, while still remaining true to what the Zelda games have already established, which is where that bit of optimism I mentioned earlier comes from. If this is handled right, then a Zelda live-action series could turn out to be something special.
And based off of Fritz's report, Netflix is supposedly working closely with Nintendo on the project, and Nintendo has become notoriously more protective of its properties since the Mario Bros. movie released more than 20 years ago.
So it's a pretty safe bet that if Nintendo doesn't feel strongly about where the show is heading, it will stop it before it goes any further.
With that all said, however, this is assuming that development goes any further than the early stages.
But then there is what is known about the current project itself, which is little because of how early into development it is, so much so that there is still a good chance that none of this comes to fruition.
From the Wall Street Journal article:
"The video streaming service is in the early stages of developing a live action series based on “Zelda,” about an ordinary boy named Link who must rescue a princess named Zelda and save a fantasy world called Hyrule, said a person familiar with the matter. As it seeks writers to work on the show, Netflix is describing it as “Game of Thrones” for a family audience, this person said." - Ben FritzThe first half is par for the course in the Zelda franchise. The second, though, a ""Game of Thrones" for a family audience" not so much.
For the record: I don't have HBO, so I don't watch the show.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but Game of Thrones revolves around families fighting for control of land. The Zelda franchise, meanwhile, has never been about that, focusing primarily on adventure and discovery. So it's a bit confusing that a family-friendly Game of Thrones is what's being used to describe a Zelda show, when the games don't really have that much in common with George R.R. Martin's world once you get past medieval setting.
I think the question here is; how is a Zelda series going to work? And because it's so early in the process, it could be one that Netflix is still trying to find an answer to. The thing is, with a franchise like Zelda, there isn't any one way to approach it.
The franchise is almost 30 years old, with multiple games that have expanded the lore and the scope of the world Nintendo created with each new entry. Hyrule Kingdom has grown into a pretty complex place with what has become a very deep past.
The simple way to explain it is like this: each game takes place at a different point in Hyrule's history, offering a different lay of the land, a new, but extremely similar looking hero and a different story (Click here for a chart that might help clear things up a bit more).
As a result, Netflix has tons of different avenues it can take. It could create each season to cover an individual game in the series. Or, you know, it could create its own original story within Hyrule. That's always an option too.
The point is, there is a lot of room for creativity, while still remaining true to what the Zelda games have already established, which is where that bit of optimism I mentioned earlier comes from. If this is handled right, then a Zelda live-action series could turn out to be something special.
And based off of Fritz's report, Netflix is supposedly working closely with Nintendo on the project, and Nintendo has become notoriously more protective of its properties since the Mario Bros. movie released more than 20 years ago.
So it's a pretty safe bet that if Nintendo doesn't feel strongly about where the show is heading, it will stop it before it goes any further.
With that all said, however, this is assuming that development goes any further than the early stages.
But in the end, I guess the idea of a Zelda series on Netflix is way more likely than there ever being another Mario movie again....
Wait...What?
Wait...What?
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