Friday, April 24, 2009

Why Can't We Have A Decent Fantasy Show Part Duex

Earlier, I lamented the fact that our latest concesion to fantasy entertainment was Krod Mandoon and afterword, I felt that I'd given the show short shrift. After all, I'd only ever seen one or two episodes (hard to tell whether that premier was two episodes pasted together, or if it was actually a double length episode). It's bound to get better right?

So I decided that the least I could do was give it another shot and see if it wasn't worth following. So, I watched last night's episode hoping for something to move beyond what the pilot had given us, and I'm impressed to say that it succeeded in going well beyond what it was, just in the wrong direction. Such stunning lines as the "mage" talking about his companions "little brown starfish" really set the tone early on as the "plot" was a thinly veiled excuse for an extended encounter with a so called "bi-clops" (a pansexual cyclops that is) and the entire episode devolved into a running series of sex jokes about Aneka and her . . . ahem . . . experience culminating in her riding off with the rival love interest carting a 2 quart gourd full of lube.

I will say, though, that Dongalore's little side trek to "rescue" the woman he had abducted only a few days earlier out of love was relatively good in comparison.

This all makes me uneasy about the upcoming (hopefully by Christmas) A Game of Thrones television series produced by HBO who did a marvelous job with Rome. Hell, if this series can do for fantasy literature what Rome did for, well, Rome, then I at least will be very happy. I worry, though, that this will end up junked and destroyed by the fact that it's an unpopular genre that seems to play better as parody than straight.

All that, and judging by what HBO did to True Blood, a by all accounts decent novel series, it's possible and even likely that this might turn into plot with porn. Or, for the less charitable than me, porn with plot.

One good rumor about the whole project, though, is that Peter Dinklage is the most likely to play Tyrion Lannister, which is a good thing.

One can only hope.

6 comments:

  1. I've never been a fan of A Game of Thrones and its sequels. They always seemed like fantasy that lacked the courage of its own convictions. "Look how little magic and traditional S&S adventure elements we can utilize! We're totally Serious Literature!"

    It seems to think it's too good for the genre and feels like reading a real world medieval history with made-up names in place of the real ones and lots of profanity and supposedly "adult" content added to establish how Not Childish Like Most Fantasy it is. Yawn.

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  2. Not sure how entirely fair that assesment is.

    I'll admit, there's a great deal of "adult" content in the form of a great many four letter words (not to mention some, let's be kind and say "less than wholesome" sex), and I'll admit I was repulsed just a bit at first from some of it. But then I sat back and realized that my day to day life was just as crude, if not more so at times.

    On the whole, I found the thing entirely realistic.

    As for the fantasy elements, I don't think it has anything to do with wanting to not be stuck in the genre. If anything, Martin has shown that he's a tremendous fan of Swords and Sorcery type stuff. This is just something different. It's not swords and sorcery, or high fantasy, and that's why I like it, especially since most of the recent fantasy stuff is absolutely atrocious.

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  3. "But then I sat back and realized that my day to day life was just as crude, if not more so at times."

    I really hope you mean in terms of the language used and not... :)

    I see what you mean. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree there.

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  4. Yes, I mean language used.

    And yes, this is an agree to disagree moment. It's always going to be about personal taste.

    At least it isn't Anite Blake.

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  5. Go over to hulu.com and catch Legend of the Seeker. The pilot is a bit weak but it gets better going on. I feel it is earning a solid B as far as fantasy series goes.

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  6. "I worry, though, that this will end up junked and destroyed by the fact that it's an unpopular genre that seems to play better as parody than straight."

    I think patience is in order on this front, Fantasy is an incredibly popular young adult genre of fiction right now, and a lot of it is quite good. Wait for the Gen Y and Z kids to reach the right demographic to both drive the production and the consumption of TV and Movies and I think we're gonna see a big Fantasy boom in the next decade or so.

    The one thing we'll need to do is not be all... grumpy old man about it. I think my generation of geeks (i'm 40) is the grouchiest of generations. A lot of us hated the LotR films (i didn't), but trust me, the Gen y kids ate it up! I think the generation that grew up on Harry Potter is gonna bring us some rocking good fantasy flix in the near future, as long as we're willing to give them a chance.

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