For me the problem isn't just that the showrunners want to change a lot of things in their adaptations. It's that they often dislike the source material and feel they can do better. And they always fail in that regard.
Why adapt The Witcher if you don't like the books/stories? And as a content provider why hire showrunners that feel that way? Beyond that, the content providers spend hundreds of millions on these adaptations but hire unproven showrunners.
I think it's fair to say that the showrunners of The Witcher, The Wheel of Time and Rings of Power all produced stories that aren't close to doing the source material justice. And in most cases the changes they made to the source material resulted in less interesting material.
Of those three I've only stuck with The Wheel of Time. And I can't say I remember much from it or am excited for the next season.
The Rings of Power have completely botched the characters of Sauron and Galadriel to the point where I can't watch the show anymore. I'm going to guess that Amazon forced them to include Hobbits(Harfoots). And frankly they have no business being there.
If the original IP cannot be honored, they should create a new one. Create all you want - but label it honestly.
This is always my fundamental complaint. If you feel the need to make massive changes to something... why not just make something new?
Time after time folks pay for rights to a project that they then butcher and cause fan anger. And the IP rights aren't cheap. Amazon paid over a quarter of a BILLION just for the rights.
Damnit man... I do NOT want to see the Gollum Chronicles or anything like that. You know how many NEW TV shows could have been created for the price of the rights and 16 episodes of Rings of Power? That's over a BILLION spent. The WItcher and WoT cost $10M an episode. That means we could have had a hundred episodes of big budget new Fantasy or Sci fi created. Probably more if they laid in some fresh/self-developed properties. Sure, a bunch of those would have failed, but maybe they would have launched a few NEW franchises by doing that.
If you want to make a ton of changes anyhow, why not just try a few new concepts? I mean, The Ark show has super lame writing and story development that makes me feel like it's a High School drama assignment but it's NEW and I watch it with no prejudice. Or something like Stargate that was an original IP/movie and spawned a ridiculous amounts of future movies, TV shows and novels. Star Wars was a fresh idea (or at least repackaged).
Go create something NEW!
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
So I find this headline from the IGN review of Wicked to be very interesting...
"A dazzling adaptation of one of Broadway’s most beloved musicals brings Stephen Schwartz’s Wicked Witch of the West origin story to brilliant life on screen with clear care for its source material."
Now I haven't the slightest interest in Wicked but it's curious that now, being faithful to source material is a positive, yet other times from the very same publication, they give high marks for updating and changing source material. Heck, I don't even know if it's true and if it's faithful at all. But I found it interesting and on-topic here that now reviewers see valuing the source material as a good thing.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
They want to eat their cake and have it too. They want to have the name recognition, the built in audience but then they want to flex their creative muscles. The problem is that sometimes there's a lot of ego there.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Comments
Why adapt The Witcher if you don't like the books/stories? And as a content provider why hire showrunners that feel that way? Beyond that, the content providers spend hundreds of millions on these adaptations but hire unproven showrunners.
I think it's fair to say that the showrunners of The Witcher, The Wheel of Time and Rings of Power all produced stories that aren't close to doing the source material justice. And in most cases the changes they made to the source material resulted in less interesting material.
Of those three I've only stuck with The Wheel of Time. And I can't say I remember much from it or am excited for the next season.
The Rings of Power have completely botched the characters of Sauron and Galadriel to the point where I can't watch the show anymore. I'm going to guess that Amazon forced them to include Hobbits(Harfoots). And frankly they have no business being there.
Time after time folks pay for rights to a project that they then butcher and cause fan anger. And the IP rights aren't cheap. Amazon paid over a quarter of a BILLION just for the rights.
Damnit man... I do NOT want to see the Gollum Chronicles or anything like that. You know how many NEW TV shows could have been created for the price of the rights and 16 episodes of Rings of Power? That's over a BILLION spent. The WItcher and WoT cost $10M an episode. That means we could have had a hundred episodes of big budget new Fantasy or Sci fi created. Probably more if they laid in some fresh/self-developed properties. Sure, a bunch of those would have failed, but maybe they would have launched a few NEW franchises by doing that.
If you want to make a ton of changes anyhow, why not just try a few new concepts? I mean, The Ark show has super lame writing and story development that makes me feel like it's a High School drama assignment but it's NEW and I watch it with no prejudice. Or something like Stargate that was an original IP/movie and spawned a ridiculous amounts of future movies, TV shows and novels. Star Wars was a fresh idea (or at least repackaged).
Go create something NEW!
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
"A dazzling adaptation of one of Broadway’s most beloved musicals brings Stephen Schwartz’s Wicked Witch of the West origin story to brilliant life on screen with clear care for its source material."
Now I haven't the slightest interest in Wicked but it's curious that now, being faithful to source material is a positive, yet other times from the very same publication, they give high marks for updating and changing source material. Heck, I don't even know if it's true and if it's faithful at all. But I found it interesting and on-topic here that now reviewers see valuing the source material as a good thing.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Godz of War I call Thee
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
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2024: 47 years on the Net.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018