D&D Movie/TV Update on D&D TV Show -- Underdark, Small, 6-10 Episodes

Writer Derek Kolstad (John Wick) has shared an insight into the upcoming D&D TV show with Collider, which he says will be 6-10 serialized episodes with an Underdark element.

His approach is a "tinier sliver" of the world, compared to epic stories like Lord of the Rings. He compares it to Star Wars and Jaws. He mentioned that he's like to go "deeper and deeper into the Underdark".

"In the first Star Wars, you heard about Jabba the Hutt and you don't see him until the third one because you earn at that point, and whatever the budget was for the third one compared to the first one, who cares, right? And I think in Dungeons and Dragons, who has this massive, dedicated community of acolytes, I don't want to suddenly throw everything on screen and say, 'Here's the buffet.' You'd much rather keep the story intimate. When you think of our favorite movies, I'd rather do the First Blood version. It's a guy in the woods being hunted. And it's very small, but you allude to the other things through conversation."

As yet the show is untitled. Kolstad talked a bit about legal meetings and available characters for use. It sounds like he wants to set it towards the end of any 'metaplot' that D&D might have -- "... don't want to go in the middle of the mythos. I want to come near the end where everything is canonical, it's biblical, it's happened. Or, it's about to happen. That way you can revisit certain sequences and storylines that everyone loved in the past through flashback, but where we go is new"

 

[Delazar]

Could work for DnD too. I think a lot of official DnD art portrays dark elves in various shades of greys, going to purple.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Could work for DnD too. I think a lot of official DnD art portrays dark elves in various shades of greys, going to purple.

Indeed, you could do all of that - well apart from the non-character characters anyway. But you could substitute in a complex and diverse society instead.

And it would generate enough nerd-rage to power a small country.

 

[Coroc]

.....

* None of them are female, thus avoiding the "Matriarchies are evil" trope.

The WHAT?

Oki the inet is great i seem to learn something new everyday.

EDIT: So this is the magic bullet then, not only it is a nono that Drow are genereally evil but an absolute nonono that the most evil of them are women ruling them, while matriarchy according to the new code would generally be a yes yes. But i get the point five no's outweight two yes's so that has to be cancelled.

Bye, bye Drizzt good bye

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Didn't we have Dark Elves in the Marvel universe? They were portrayed as generally evil, right? What's the problem?

Not really. If moviegoers even remember Thor 2 -- and it was incredibly forgettable -- there's nothing about the elves that particularly stands out. (They were icy blue, as I recall.) If the film didn't call them "elves," I don't think moviegoers would have thought of them that way.

I think you just have to watch the first D&D episode of Community -- harder to do than a year ago at this time -- to see both how drow can go off the rails and also what will be trotted out constantly as a joke and as real criticism if drow aren't handled extremly carefully in a D&D show or movie.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

If a person has you on ignore, you can no longer see there posts unless they specifically turn that feature off. It can make things confusing.

Really annoying that it doesn't at least put the old "you can't view this content because block" notice, so you at least know when someone is responding to someone, not just speaking to the thread.

This is how the MCU did it:

* They where pale grey skinned.

* They where portrayed by both white and black actors.

* Their leader was evil, but the rest are just personality-less drones, thus avoiding making them "generally evil".

* None of them are female, thus avoiding the "Matriarchies are evil" trope.

Well, that, and they aren't really presented as being like...born evil. Their leader is evil, they were wronged in the past, and are willing to follow a charismatic leader to seek revenge. That is very human.

The WHAT?

Oki the inet is great i seem to learn something new everyday.

EDIT: So this is the magic bullet then, not only it is a nono that Drow are genereally evil but an absolute nonono that the most evil of them are women ruling them, while matriarchy according to the new code would generally be a yes yes. But i get the point five no's outweight two yes's so that has to be cancelled.

Bye, bye Drizzt good bye

"According to the new code" lol wut? No. Gendered rulership is not a "yes yes" from the perspective of modern feminism. Hell, I don't think it's ever been a mainstream feminist goal or ideal.

Presenting the only matriarchal society, one which is a violently enforced matriarchal theocracy, as an evil fetish state full of depraved psychopaths is both offensive and stupid. Drow society is ripped straight from the mind of someone who thinks 50 Shades of Grey is a good and accurate depiction of normal BDSM relationships, and who thinks that just flipping power structures is clever writing.

 

[Coroc]

...

"According to the new code" lol wut? No. Gendered rulership is not a "yes yes" from the perspective of modern feminism. Hell, I don't think it's ever been a mainstream feminist goal or ideal.

....

Well but it is indeed, think quota based on gender, be it in company CEOs or in government structures, to represent equality. It is - to be fair - disapproved by a solid part of female population, they want to have success based on their capabilities, not on their gender, and compete on par with men.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Well but it is indeed, .

No, it isn’t. Try to support your claims with soemthing other than conspiracy theories, please.

 

[Coroc]

No, it isn’t. Try to support your claims with soemthing other than conspiracy theories, please.

Yes my specific example (womens quote in government/company leadership) might not apply to your country, but here it definetely is a topic. Not that it is per se a bad thing, but one has to be careful not to overdo it. It is by no means a conspiracy theory, i do not get were you did draw that conclusion.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Yes my specific example (womens quote in government/company leadership) might not apply to your country, but here it definetely is a topic. Not that it is per se a bad thing, but one has to be careful not to overdo it. It is by no means a conspiracy theory, i do not get were you did draw that conclusion.

Oof. Yeah, no. I’m not entertaining this nonsense.

 

[Coroc]

Oof. Yeah, no. I’m not entertaining this nonsense.

Well you do not have to, and i do not have to do the googling for facts for you, can we agree on that one? it is the wrong forum for that anyway.