WSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series

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Monkey Man
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PostWSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series
by Monkey Man » Fri Feb 06, 2015 9:15 pm

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Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series

“The Legend of Zelda,” one of the most popular videogame series of all time, is in the works as a television show at Netflix.

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.

The “Zelda” games have traditionally included swords and sorcery, like “Game of Thrones” or “Lord of the Rings,” but typically with a more light-hearted, kid-friendly tone.

Netflix is said to be working closely with Nintendo, the Japanese game developer that has made about 20 “The Legend of Zelda” games since the original, which was released in the U.S. in 1987.

Nintendo is very protective of its intellectual property and has allowed few adaptations over the years. An animated “Legend of Zelda” series ran for just one season in 1989. A 1993 movie based on Nintendo’s “Super Mario Bros.” was an infamous bomb.

As it is still seeking a writer to work on the series, Netflix has a long road to travel before a “Legend of Zelda” series actually becomes a reality. It’s also possible that Netflix or Nintendo will kill the project before it gets off the ground.

A Netflix spokeswoman declined to comment. A Nintendo spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2015/02/ ... ix-series/

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Memento Mori
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PostRe: WSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series
by Memento Mori » Fri Feb 06, 2015 9:17 pm

Oh no.

:dread:

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Alvin Flummux
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PostRe: WSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series
by Alvin Flummux » Fri Feb 06, 2015 9:20 pm

This will need to be perfect before Nintendo agrees to green light it.

Benedict Wong to play the Goron leader, yes?

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Floex
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PostRe: WSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series
by Floex » Fri Feb 06, 2015 9:22 pm

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CG, sure why not.

Live action? Not like this.

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Memento Mori
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PostRe: WSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series
by Memento Mori » Fri Feb 06, 2015 9:26 pm

The last Zelda show worked out well:


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Floex
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PostRe: WSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series
by Floex » Fri Feb 06, 2015 9:29 pm

I still say that today :slol:

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Alvin Flummux
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PostRe: WSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series
by Alvin Flummux » Fri Feb 06, 2015 9:30 pm

They need to fit that line in, somewhere. Also the scene where the King laughs heartily for the CDi games.

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PostRe: WSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series
by bandwagon » Fri Feb 06, 2015 10:15 pm

I don't see any problem with this, it's not like there's anything about the Legend of Zelda that means it wouldn't work as live action and Netflix have the resources to do it justice. Only real concern I would have is if Nintendo get over protective of the ip and try and interfere with the creative process, but apart from that I think this is the best case scenario if you'd like to see an adaption so bring it on!

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The Watching Artist
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PostRe: WSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series
by The Watching Artist » Fri Feb 06, 2015 10:35 pm

Only way this would work is if its animated and got the people behind Avatar: The Last Airbender behind it.

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Ironhide
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PostRe: WSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series
by Ironhide » Fri Feb 06, 2015 10:41 pm

Why live action? surely it'd be far better with animation/CG.

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The Watching Artist
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PostRe: WSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series
by The Watching Artist » Fri Feb 06, 2015 10:51 pm

The Watching Artist wrote:Only way this would work is if its animated and got the people behind Avatar: The Last Airbender behind it.



Seriously!

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Bigerich
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PostRe: WSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series
by Bigerich » Fri Feb 06, 2015 11:48 pm

Memento Mori wrote:Oh no.

:dread:

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Cheeky Devlin
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PostRe: WSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series
by Cheeky Devlin » Sat Feb 07, 2015 12:57 am

The problem with doing something like this is that to do it properly, and not have it look utterly ridiculous, you need a proper budget. That's not to mention it has to be very carefully written and cast. Again to stop it looking ridiculous.

Fantasy has to be taken seriously for it to work in TV or Movie form. If the dialogue doesn't fit, or the costumes don't look right, or the whole thing looks too cheap or too "clean" it'll backfire. Basically they need to treat it like LOTR or Game Of Thrones and not something you'd find on SyFy.

That's not to mention how you cast something like Zelda. I know who these characters are and what they look like. I can just about imagine someone playing Zelda. But I'm having a hard time picturing anyone who could pull off Link or Ganondorf and not look like some cos-playing dick. Will Tingle be in the show?

I'm not against the idea in principle. Zelda is my favourite game series, so of course I want to see it. It's just that I feel there are far too many obstacles it has to overcome to be anything other than embarrassing. Though I desperately want to be proven wrong.

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The Watching Artist
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PostRe: WSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series
by The Watching Artist » Sat Feb 07, 2015 1:02 am

Cheeky Devlin wrote:That's not to mention how you cast something like Zelda. I know who these characters are and what they look like. I can just about imagine someone playing Zelda. But I'm having a hard time picturing anyone who could pull off Link or Ganondorf and not look like some cos-playing dick. Will Tingle be in the show?

Exactly why it should be animated.

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PostRe: WSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series
by Cheeky Devlin » Sat Feb 07, 2015 1:26 am

The Watching Artist wrote:
Cheeky Devlin wrote:That's not to mention how you cast something like Zelda. I know who these characters are and what they look like. I can just about imagine someone playing Zelda. But I'm having a hard time picturing anyone who could pull off Link or Ganondorf and not look like some cos-playing dick. Will Tingle be in the show?

Exactly why it should be animated.


Yeah. Animation is the perfect medium for it.

It's weird though because if the topic had been "Netflix and Nintendo to work on making a Metroid TV series", I'd have been far more confident.

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The Watching Artist
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PostRe: WSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series
by The Watching Artist » Sat Feb 07, 2015 1:35 am

Cheeky Devlin wrote:
The Watching Artist wrote:
Cheeky Devlin wrote:That's not to mention how you cast something like Zelda. I know who these characters are and what they look like. I can just about imagine someone playing Zelda. But I'm having a hard time picturing anyone who could pull off Link or Ganondorf and not look like some cos-playing dick. Will Tingle be in the show?

Exactly why it should be animated.


Yeah. Animation is the perfect medium for it.

It's weird though because if the topic had been Netflix and Nintendo to work on making a Metroid TV series I'd have been far more confident.

Suddenly thinking about it now. Robin Williams would have been all over this as a voice actor. :(

You could always just watch......... Metroid: Other M: The Movie :slol:

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Alvin Flummux
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PostRe: WSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series
by Alvin Flummux » Sat Feb 07, 2015 1:44 am

The Legend of Zelda is a pretty flexible franchise to work with - you've got a lot of death and darkness for the teen angst and more adult drama audiences, but half the series or more is based around child Links, which makes an animated show aimed at younger audiences possible for them to do too. It seems like a series ideally suited to multiple different shows, maybe even about the same Link and his many great adventures.

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Cheeky Devlin
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PostRe: WSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series
by Cheeky Devlin » Sat Feb 07, 2015 2:17 am

The Watching Artist wrote:
Cheeky Devlin wrote:
The Watching Artist wrote:
Cheeky Devlin wrote:That's not to mention how you cast something like Zelda. I know who these characters are and what they look like. I can just about imagine someone playing Zelda. But I'm having a hard time picturing anyone who could pull off Link or Ganondorf and not look like some cos-playing dick. Will Tingle be in the show?

Exactly why it should be animated.


Yeah. Animation is the perfect medium for it.

It's weird though because if the topic had been Netflix and Nintendo to work on making a Metroid TV series I'd have been far more confident.

Suddenly thinking about it now. Robin Williams would have been all over this as a voice actor. :(

You could always just watch......... Metroid: Other M: The Movie :slol:


Williams :cry:

As for Other M I'm in the it's not that bad camp. If there's one thing Metroid has it's space to explore Samus back story. The fact that she spends 90% of her time in the suit helps as there's less of an attachment to how she looks herself. As long as the suit is right it's fine. Could very easily do an 8-part series. Sci-Fi is less of a leap for TV than the fairytale aesthetic of Zelda.

Alvin Flummux wrote:The Legend of Zelda is a pretty flexible franchise to work with - you've got a lot of death and darkness for the teen angst and more adult drama audiences, but half the series or more is based around child Links, which makes an animated show aimed at younger audiences possible for them to do too. It seems like a series ideally suited to multiple different shows, maybe even about the same Link and his many great adventures.


For me part of the problem is that Link as a character is a blank slate. That works great for games, when you create your own impression of who he is and can imprint your own values and opinions on him. But adapting that for TV or movies it's a very difficult thing to get right. Get it wrong and you get "Excuuuuuse me, Princess!". A character like Samus (To go back to Metroid) gives you enough of her own inner-monologue to give you a sense of who she is. So you do less imprinting which makes adapting her a far easier job. Especially since it's the same character through every Metroid game, as opposed to Zelda and it's multiple Links and Zeldas.

If they do go ahead with it then I'm not entirely sure what the story would be. Would they take from one of the games? Or would they come up with something original within the framework of the series. Actually, I'd love them to try and adapt Majora's Mask. Lots of weird and interesting characters to use, not to mention the darker tone would make for something quite interesting.

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PostRe: WSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series
by Alvin Flummux » Sat Feb 07, 2015 3:11 am

I would think that any attempt to take an existing game story and adapt it for television would be doomed to failure, given how lofty our expectations would be, and how they could never really be met. I think that the story would probably have to be a new one, fitting into the timelines between two games or at the head of a timeline. The writing staff could work with the team that works on Zelda games to ensure that the plot works, that the characters and locales fit within the world and so on.

Benedict Wong could play a Goron leader, Dichen Lachman could play Impa, Jack Coleman could play a Rito or a Zora, Nathan Fillion could play a great Linebeck, Brian Blessed would be perfect as the King of Hyrule... "Ganon's alive?!" And Zelda Williams could either play Navi or the princess herself.

Danny DeVito as Tingle.

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Lagamorph
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PostRe: WSJ: Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series
by Lagamorph » Sat Feb 07, 2015 7:13 am

Given how well live action superhero shows like Arrow, Flash and Agents of Shield have been done, I want to be cautiously optimistic about this.

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