D&D Movie/TV Dragonlancing TV show being worked on by WotC confirmed

[bguy]

I reread the original trilogy (and the Lost Chronicles, which fill in some of the gaps in it) in the leadup to SotDQ being released last year. It really struck me that you'd need to do a bit of work to make ANY of the characters particularly likeable by modern lights, to be honest. Sturm is again and again a judgmental stiff-necked prig, Raistlin is a snide and selfish gaslighting user and jerk, Gilthanas is pretty awful, Tika and Laurana and Silvara (and even Goldmoon, early on) continually chuck their pride and dignity out the window trailing after men who constantly dismiss them in favour of other priorities, Tanis spends his time 'leading the group' by manipulating everyone rather than genuinely listening to their concerns, and Tasselhoff is the source of ALL the worst kender cliches.

That's rather unfair to Laurana. Yes, she initially joined the group to win back a man who had dismissed her, but once she joined the group she proved willing to stand up for herself against Tanis (witness her insisting on continuing her work with the refugees even when Tanis threw a jealous fit about it and her escaping on her own in Neraka which involved her literally dumping Tanis), and there were also multiple instances of her setting aside her feelings for Tanis when necessary for her duty. These included:

-her overcoming her grief in Tarsis when she thought Tanis had been killed to go and help Tas;
-her shaking off Feal-Thas's magical attack and telling him she would kill him even if it meant her losing Tanis forever;
-her passing on a chance to go with Sturm to Sancrist (when Sturm even suggested that Tanis might be there) in order to stay with the rest of the group because she felt they were in danger from Silvara;
-her agreeing to go to the High Clerist's Tower rather than head out to find Tanis; and
-her not falling to pieces after first Kitiara and then Gilthanas told her that Tanis was with Kitiara but instead committing herself to the war.

Thus the vast majority of the time Laurana set aside her feelings for Tanis to do what needed to be done. The only two exceptions are an act right at the beginning of her story (before any of her character growth took place), and an act that occurred under very special circumstances (when she genuinely and not unreasonably believed Tanis was dying and that she could safely go to him to comfort him in his last hours.) Showing compassion and forgiveness for a dying loved one is hardly chucking aside your pride and dignity. It just shows what a big heart Laurana had.

That's very true. Which is why it was so annoying that she went back to 'idiot girl suckered by a transparent bluff' and 'damsel in need of rescue' in the third book, and the that in the end she took Tanis back after he'd run off and spent the best part of two books knocking boots with Kitiara.

And that's even more unfair. Laurana wasn't being weak or stupid in that moment. Wanting to be with the person you love when you think they are dying and asking for you is a perfectly natural and understandable desire, and Laurana had objectively good reason at that point in the story to believe that Kitiara was an honorable enemy that didn't want to harm her based on their prior encounter at the High Clerist's Tower where Kitiara already had the perfect opportunity to kill or capture her (when Laurana confronted Kitiara and Skie on the tower wall, and Laurana was alone, unarmed, and so exhausted from having just used the Dragon Orb that she could barely even stand) and didn't take advantage of it. It's perfectly logical for Laurana to think that if Kitiara wanted to harm her then she would have already done so at the High Clerist's Tower and that since Kitiara didn't take advantage of that perfect opportunity then Kitiara must genuinely not want to harm her (probably out of respect for Tanis's feelings) and thus the message must be true.

Nor was Laurana just a damsel in need of rescue in the third book since she ended up escaping on her own without Tanis's help. (An escape that saw her not just defeat Kitiara in a one on one fight but also set the Dragonarmies to destroying themselves and thus essentially won the entire War of the Lance.)

As for her taking Tanis back at the end, he infiltrated the very heart of evil on Krynn and faced down both a goddess and a death knight for her, and then proved that he would rather die protecting her than have the entire world with Kitiara. Under those circumstances I think it's understandable she was willing to give him another chance.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

That's rather unfair to Laurana. Yes, she initially joined the group to win back a man who had dismissed her, but once she joined the group she proved willing to stand up for herself against Tanis (witness her insisting on continuing her work with the refugees even when Tanis threw a jealous fit about it and her escaping on her own in Neraka which involved her literally dumping Tanis), and there were also multiple instances of her setting aside her feelings for Tanis when necessary for her duty. These included:

-her overcoming her grief in Tarsis when she thought Tanis had been killed to go and help Tas;
-her shaking off Feal-Thas's magical attack and telling him she would kill him even if it meant her losing Tanis forever;
-her passing on a chance to go with Sturm to Sancrist (when Sturm even suggested that Tanis might be there) in order to stay with the rest of the group because she felt they were in danger from Silvara;
-her agreeing to go to the High Clerist's Tower rather than head out to find Tanis; and
-her not falling to pieces after first Kitiara and then Gilthanas told her that Tanis was with Kitiara but instead committing herself to the war.

Thus the vast majority of the time Laurana set aside her feelings for Tanis to do what needed to be done. The only two exceptions are an act right at the beginning of her story (before any of her character growth took place), and an act that occurred under very special circumstances (when she genuinely and not unreasonably believed Tanis was dying and that she could safely go to him to comfort him in his last hours.) Showing compassion and forgiveness for a dying loved one is hardly chucking aside your pride and dignity. It just shows what a big heart Laurana had.



And that's even more unfair. Laurana wasn't being weak or stupid in that moment. Wanting to be with the person you love when you think they are dying and asking for you is a perfectly natural and understandable desire, and Laurana had objectively good reason at that point in the story to believe that Kitiara was an honorable enemy that didn't want to harm her based on their prior encounter at the High Clerist's Tower where Kitiara already had the perfect opportunity to kill or capture her (when Laurana confronted Kitiara and Skie on the tower wall, and Laurana was alone, unarmed, and so exhausted from having just used the Dragon Orb that she could barely even stand) and didn't take advantage of it. It's perfectly logical for Laurana to think that if Kitiara wanted to harm her then she would have already done so at the High Clerist's Tower and that since Kitiara didn't take advantage of that perfect opportunity then Kitiara must genuinely not want to harm her (probably out of respect for Tanis's feelings) and thus the message must be true.

Nor was Laurana just a damsel in need of rescue in the third book since she ended up escaping on her own without Tanis's help. (An escape that saw her not just defeat Kitiara in a one on one fight but also set the Dragonarmies to destroying themselves and thus essentially won the entire War of the Lance.)

As for her taking Tanis back at the end, he infiltrated the very heart of evil on Krynn and faced down both a goddess and a death knight for her, and then proved that he would rather die protecting her than have the entire world with Kitiara. Under those circumstances I think it's understandable she was willing to give him another chance.

But it’s more in vogue to cynically dump on things other people like, you see.

 

[Oofta]

But it’s more in vogue to cynically dump on things other people like, you see.

That does seem to be the standard for most threads around here.

 

[zedturtle]

Then you have the kender problem. Not the usual RPG kender problem, but the problem of making them not look rubbish on screen (thinking of no D&D movie in particular). The Peter Jackson approach is too expensive and slow for TV, we know how bad green screening normally proportioned actors looks. You might cast a child - but then how do you make it clear the character is not a child? Or (I think this is the best option) you could go the Willow route and cast a small actor. I think Tass is too important a character to cut, but they could be gender-swapped without making much difference.

Willow's daughter (who I believe is the actor's real life daughter) was a standout of the new Willow show and is now free after it was cancelled, so maybe?

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The kenders have got the body proportions of a children, not an adult human who suffers dwarfism, said with the due respect.

Today the technology for fake-face is very advanced, even by amateurs. Add kenders, not only Tas, would need time and money, but not impossible. With CGI it would be even faster and cheaper than animatronic puppets.

 

[Queer Venger]

I would seriously love to read Manganiello's script. I hope it gets into the inter webs...

 

[QuentinGeorge]

I reread the original trilogy (and the Lost Chronicles, which fill in some of the gaps in it) in the leadup to SotDQ being released last year. It really struck me that you'd need to do a bit of work to make ANY of the characters particularly likeable by modern lights, to be honest. Sturm is again and again a judgmental stiff-necked prig, Raistlin is a snide and selfish gaslighting user and jerk, Gilthanas is pretty awful, Tika and Laurana and Silvara (and even Goldmoon, early on) continually chuck their pride and dignity out the window trailing after men who constantly dismiss them in favour of other priorities, Tanis spends his time 'leading the group' by manipulating everyone rather than genuinely listening to their concerns, and Tasselhoff is the source of ALL the worst kender cliches.

It reminds me a little of later-season Buffy, with the character dynamics. You keep getting TOLD that these people are friends, but you're SHOWN them fighting continually and treating each other unforgiveably in the name of drama and character development. You'd need to balance the fights with scenes of them actually being friends, or you end up wondering why these people are actually hanging around together if they hate each other so much, and feeling like spending time with them is a miserable and emotionally draining experience. You need more stuff like the book scene when Raistlin, Tika, Caramon, etc spend time working as entertainers for a while and actually enjoy each other's company, or when Sturm makes a very uncharacteristic joke to Raistlin about 'the Great Worm Catyrpelius' which is a genuine compliment for something clever Raistlin did a book and a half earlier.

Based on my reread one of the only characters who isn't terrible on some level* is Elistan, and Weis and Hickman ultimately hated writing him and wanted to kill him off on several occasions..

*Flint would be the next closest, but he literally rages himself to death.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Based on my reread one of the only characters who isn't terrible on some level* is Elistan, and Weis and Hickman ultimately hated writing him and wanted to kill him off on several occasions..

*Flint would be the next closest, but he literally rages himself to death.

"Make you protagonists deeply flawed" is Creative Writing 101.