!!! D&D info - Saturday night on SciFi !!!

New poster, won't post often or possibly again...

I was downloading some mods and saw this thread and wanted to put in my 2 coppers.

I was satisfied with it but my expectations were VERY low.

Storyline - Good 'ole D&D fare. Even tho the lich felt thrown in, the whole thing reminded me a bit of the 'Tower of Doom' arcade game from the late 80s. And, yes it did scream 'Pilot'.

Acting - Some were better than others but when it comes to playing archetypical characters you really don't have to be that good. What I noticed more between this and a real movie is a lack of ego. With the first movie and many other TV shows staring well known actors you always get a sense of primadonna. With these guys, I had a feeling that they were working stiffs who saw this a step up from a Sinus headache commercial. Unfortunately all female actors did the worst with the woman playing Lux merely being acceptable.

Special Effects - I don't know how many of you noticed in the beginning montage when the showed the kraken coming out the water it was a switch to artwork. Other than the fact I think an Aboleth would been more appropriate, I genuinely liked the desire to get the story out even if they could not afford to make a cgi kraken. What cgi there was good (dragon good) to passable (white dragon and magmin) to awful (Lich's transformation). What was bad was the makeup for the Hobgoblin and the lich. Plus, I saw midgets in the graveyard that were supposed to be halflings. I don't think Peter Jackson will mind other people stealing the techniques he did for hobbits and dwarves. I don't know if midgets have a union but we really need to stop putting them in those roles and get them real work.

Good Points -
Loved the Bastard Sword that the leader carried. Only showing as magic when in use and never pointing out that it is magic. The gem of true seeing too, nicely done. Oh, Ring of the Ram without pointing or saying it was a Ring of the Ram was pretty sweet too.

When the evil dude and his hobgoblin henchmen were enjoying their little evil scheme and the hob said "Good times..." without any sense of 'I'm making a funny' was a good bit of corn without being over the top.

The references/background were excellent and well within the story lines. Jubilex, demon god of oozes. Temple of the Kua-Toa. Obad-Hai, god of nature. I think not taking the time to explain was good too but we are all largely familiar with the D&D world and don't need to ask. For a lay person it might have just sounded like gibberish.

The Dragon God demanding a specific tribute on every new moon of his release. It was totally unnecessary for the story line and I loved that they put it in there.

The party interactions were a good start and I had hoped to see more.

Bad points-
A lich... Hanging out in the woods... Aside from his bad acting, bad makeup and bad implementation at least he proved to be a jerk. They should have had a much more mundane bad guy.

No dwarves? C'mon man! Ya gotta have at least one dwarf!

Awful ending. It just kinda ended. No direct dialogue of good byes and future hints of a series or another movie. I was left with the feeling that not only did I not know whether there was going to be more but they did not know.

Speculation/Hope -
A series. The Forgotten Realms series has tanked long before it ever got into production but if there is enough buzz about this I can see Sci-Fi dipping a little more money into it. Nothing along the lines of BS:G but possibly 5-6 1 hr episodes a season.

I would like to see the world fleshed out more and to take the series in a different direction than series normally take (1 group of people, stickign with them for the duration). If they did the series as 'modules' with different partys with the occasional crossover following one large 'campaign' I think they could hook more people then they could with the standard cookie cutter TV series.

Whew! That is some post but I haven't had a chance to talk about this with fellow geeks yet so it was good to get that off of my chest.

 

Best D&D like movie before Conan, was Hawk The Slayer and then the Archer (or something like that - had the guy with the Heartbow)....since Conan - obviously LOTR is best.

 

Ladyhawke and Dragonslayer were pretty good. At least I thought so when I was in high school. :nerd:

 

I'd have to agree, on both counts. Matthew Broderick as the thief and the whole "if you didn't want me to be a thief, then why, God, did you make me so good at it" schtick was quite humorous.

As for Dragonslayer, i've yet to see a match for the dragon effects in that movie. The old wizard on the cliff top, with Vermithrax spouting fire as he mutters a spell...fantastic! And who wouldn't love to have a spear that cleaves anvils & that can go through a post like so much butter.

 

I couldn't believe the work they did with that dragon. Way ahead of it's time and then some. I have to agree, wholeheartedly, that I have never seen a movie that had a dragon with better effects than the one in Dragonslayer. With the Wizard's "true" sacrifice at the end, one of the best of all time.

I forgot all about ladyhawke.................another hidden treasure. Wonder if these movies made it to DvD? Don't forget about Red Sonja too (not quite as good). Yeah, I like the Conan movies too. Especially Conan the Barbarian.

 

Conan the Barbarian was great in every aspect and is an all-time classic.

Conan the Destroyer was okay. The cute blonde made it better to watch--amazing how that works, eh?

Red Sonya was a good, robust and solid D&D style movie.

Ladyhawke is a gem of an old movie.

Dragonslayer remains an all-time classic.


And please, never forget the final episode, series finale movie version of Lucy Lawless...drum roll please...announcing the most fabulous and wonderful Xena Warrior Princess Series Finale.

* This movie has it all, everything for D&D enthusiasts. If you have not seen it, please treat yourself, rent it or buy it. It's more than worth watching!..get the directors cut version as it has additional footage added to the movie.

-> In the gripping Series Finale, Xena (Lucy Lawless) is summoned to Japan by a long-lost spiritual soul mate. Xena and Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) face their biggest threat ever when they confront the evil Yodoshi and an army of 20,000 elite Samurai soldiers. Their test of strength, resolve, and friendship will be Xena's ultimate challenge.

=> Factoid: In the final season series, it is revealed where Xena learns she is the child offspring of a deity and mortal.
* See if you can remember by whom and let us know!..

 

I've seen Ladyhawke in DVD format, and I'd wager Dragonslayer has made it to DVD too, but can't say I've seen it.

Conan the Destroyer, I have heard, was really quite tongue-in-cheek, and intentionally silly in many respects. I found it much more pleasant after seeing it in that light. It's really a pseudo-spoof, if that makes any sense. The blonde (wasn't she also the older sister on The Wonder Years?) was indeed quite nice. Favorite line: "Lead in the morning; it will be better."

Red Sonja was a decent flik, but suffered horribly from some really poor effects and costumes. The effects I can forgive, since it was, what '86 or something, but those guys in the green rubber "armor" just looked ridiculous. Still, it was a nice no-thinking hack n' slash film.

Anybody remember the Dark Crystal? I think I made my parents rent that for me about forty times. :evil_laug

 

The Princess Bride, thats one I've heard of. I saw a movie a few years ago I think it was called Barbarians but I'm not sure (had no actors in it I recognised), anyway it was really funny especially the bit where you see some gnoll type thing sneaking up on the 2 barbarians while they're raiding a tomb thing, there are a whole lot of POV shots and stuff and it finally pounces... you think it'll be a big fight but the barabrian with the greatsword just cuts its head off straight away.

 

Princess Bride "He's only mostly dead..."

Legend also deserves an honorable mention...in spite of Tom Cruise. Everyone else did ok...but Tim Curry made that movie.

Before anyone brings up Labyrinth, to ONLY thing good in that was Jennifer Connelly...

Last but not least, Masters of the Universe...Frank Langella's Skeletor is absolutly evil. But that's swords & sci-fi.

And Willow...good, but George Lucas ripped off every old fantasy thing he could to make that movie...favorite part...the brownies & the whole dust of broken hearts bit.

 

HEY!!! The Labyrinth, The Princess Bride, Swallows and Amazons they were some of my favourite movies growing up and I still like them.

 

they're fairies not pixies, I was geting told I've seen the Labyrinth to many time the other day when we were watching it, I was saying all the characters lines.