Sounds even cooler than I thought it would be. Could still be bad, but very interesting so far. Of course, I haven't read the Chronicles in years...and this will be just the first book. *Damages brain trying to remember what all happened in the first book*
Eh...it was like, Tanis and Flint meet Tas outside town and kill some goblins, then everyone meets up in the Tavern, but something happens and they all flee town. Then they meet up with some Draconians and Sturm gets injured and crazy and meets the Forestmaster who whips up an awesome steak dinner....thinking...is hard...
Then there was some more wandering around and everyone gets captured by Draconians. But they get away, and Tas gets stuck in a whicker dragon, and then there was the whole thing with the Black Dragon, the dungeon full of Draconians and Gully Dwarves, and Raist starts getting super angsty and grab his first spellbook by Fistie-whoosit. Oh, and they get the disks of Mishakal too. (Keeps flipping through book, trying to jog memory)
Ah, yes. Everyone goes back to Solace and gets captured by bad guys. Again. Except this time it's Hobgoblins. This is where they pick up Tika too, (With her trademark frying pan and big...eyes.) and Fizban starts to become more noticeable. Oh, and Gil's here too. It's like the ultimate prisioner reunion caravan.
This is where they get rescued by the Elves, and we find out why Tanis is so darn moody all the time. This is also where Laurana joins the team, bringing the major character count up to about 23.5.
At this point, the heroes explore one more dungeon, off a Dragon Highlord, and then the book ends with a wedding. Nice happy way to end the first chapter.
Soooo...thinking about it in movie terms, there's a lot of stuff going on. On the other hand, the first book is a lot more linear and straightforward than the other two books, where you have flashbacks, seperations, and intertwining storylines all over the place. First book is just everyone walking around in a big group, while fighting bad guys and being angsty and getting captured and stuff.
It sounds like this is a pretty serious project, which shouldn't be suprising....if the first movie is a big hit, that's when you get to start raking in the sequel money and putting out 23 different dvd versions and Caramon toys and stuff.
Going with animation has a lot of advantages, too. First of all, it lets you try to capitalize on the success of Lord of the Rings without looking like a Lord of the Rings clone. Also, Dragonlance has like a Gi-normous cast of major characters, all of which, unlike say, Lord of the Rings, have very specific physical descriptions. It's a casting nightmare really, especially if you're also looking for a lot of good actors who also happen to look the part and don't expect to be paid a fortune.
Oh, and you still have to try and not look like a Lord of the Rings clone. So ripping of LoTR actors is probably not a good idea. I am very interested in seeing the style of animation, though I find it very interesting that they're bringing the Wotc art supervisor for Dragonlance on board. That's pretty cool, since Dragonlance does have a certain distinct look to it's artwork compared to other D&D settings.
