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Fantasy Epics I’d like to See as Movies

Fantasy Epics I’d like to See as Movies

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by May 5, 2020 Guide

The smash success of The Lord of the Ring and Narnia as films has created a market for high fantasy to be translated onto the silver screen. Everyone has their favorites. Here are mine.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien – It would seem to be a given that with Peter Jackson’s interpretation of Tolkien’s epic trilogy, that the prequel novel Tolkien wrote, a children’s story about how the hobbit Bilbo came by the One Ring to start with, would be a no brainer. Peter Jackson would once again write and direct. Ian Holm would reprise his role as Bilbo Baggins. Ian McKellen would return as Gandalf the wizard. There would be dwarves, elves, heroic humans, and one big, scary dragon. The use of the elvish word for friend will be beneficial for the audience. A market of fantasy will be created through the poet for the engagement of the audience. 

Unfortunately the project, which is under development, is mired in legal wrangling. There is some doubt that Peter Jackson will even be involved in the project.

Magician by Raymond Feist – Magician is the first of a long series known as the Riftwar. The story concerns a young man named Pug who becomes a mighty magician in a pseudo medieval land. Several elements make the story work better than most of this kind. First, the crisis concerns the invasion of an army of a race of pseudo Asians from a parallel universe. Second, is Feist’s excellent writing and story telling skills. Finally, the characters are fun and well drawn. There are battle scenes, palace intrigue, and roman galore.

The Belgariad by David Eddings – The Belgariad is a five book series concerning the adventures of one Garion, a country boy with a great destiny in the coming fight against evil. The Belgariad is different in many ways from other is in genre in that it isn’t based on the whole human/dwarf/elf infrastructure, it has a much more sophisticated political system, it had a different and unique form of magic, and finally the quest is more interesting. The story is well told and the characters (including a thief/spy named-I kid you not-Silk) are entertaining. If making the Lord of the Rings meant doing three films at the same time, this project would mean making five. But that would surely make for a greater revenue stream.

The Palace by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro – The Palace is the second in Yarbro’s series about the inmortal vampire, St. Germain. I find it a better written story than the first book, Hotel Transylvania, and in an era, the Italian Renascence, that is not only more interesting but under used in film. St. Germain is living in late 15th Century Florence of Lorenzo di Medici where he finds romance with two very different ladies and peril at the hands of the fanatical friar Savonarola. There’s lots of historical detail and, unique among fictional vampires, St. Germain is rather moral and attractive person.

A Midsummer Tempest by Poul Anderson – The premise of this novel is that everything in Shakespeare’s plays are literally true. It’s set in a different England during a different English Civil War with one Prince Rupert of the Rhine as the hero. There are 16th Century steam locomotives, locales and characters from a Midsummer’s Nights Dream and the Tempest, and a cameo by King Arthur and his knights as Prince Rupert goes on a quest to find a way to stop the triumph of Cromwell and the Roundheads.

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