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[Wulfen]

Ive noticed that the Fantasy genre seems to get the short stick when it comes to TV. I cant remember a non-animated/kids show fantasy series.
And by Fantasy I mean Elves, Dwarves, Goblins, Dragons, Magic and so on. There's huge amounts of materiel for possible series and a ready-made audience (think LOTR) so why not? I mean Sci-Fi, which is generally lumped togethor with Fantasy, has several new series created all the time.
What does people think? We need to address the lack of adult-maturity Fatasy show?

[shrimp]

Thats cause the stuff they did do was AWFUL... See Xena Warrior princess and Hercules. Dreadful CGI monsters and godawful scripting...

[ASturge]

Hercules was funny!!!

I think one reason is that all the costumes/makeup/effects would cost a complete shitload.

[LiterSize]

ROAR. now.  It had Druids, Romans, even allusions to Jesus!  OH MY.  I think Xena and Hercules were the big return to that, but yeah.  Maybe if it was "Law & Order:  Dragon Victims Unit" or "CSI:  Shangri-La" then they'd be back.  As it stands, I guess Stargate is the closest we get?

[practicality]

I think it's hard to get a large enough budget so that sets, special effects, costumes, etc don't look cheesy, and to get a good script that's not too cliched.
Fantasy books let the mind give the setting all the details that it wants.

[ASturge]

No truer words have ever been said

Apart from "Sturge is so sexy, i want to do him right now" ....


....

[AbsolootGeek]

ROAR.

ROAR FTW!  Seriously, that show was pretty good.  Too bad it only lasted, what, a couple seasons?

[Glyph]

Yeah, the main reason not too many TV shows are fantasy these days is because is so easy to do wrong, or at least really cheesy. I like cheesy stuff sometimes, but it would be nice to have a serious (semi-serious anyway) adult fantasy series. I think the most recent two series that could be called fantasy were Buffy and Angel. Not exactly what you were referring to I know. Sometimes we have to take what we can get.

[Wulfen]

Stargate. That was cool but it was definitaly Sci-Fi. The new Dr. Who. Battlestar Gallactica. all sci-fi with enough budget to make costumes and special-effects etc. work.
Is it really so difficult to cast tall lithe people and short stocky people? Add some slightly lenthened ears and some false beards youve got your elves and dwarves.
And theres heaps of places to get armour and weapons etc. so props are rarely difficult to obtain.
In the same vein, scenery is relativaly easy. Id say its easier to shoot a scence in a forest for a fantasy episode then create an 'alien' environment for a sci-fi. And for fantasy cities you can shoot in all sorts of old cities and villages that still have historic arctiecture.
Cgi accounts for most special effects, so theres your dragons and spell-effects.
And finally: The excuse "theres not enough of an audience to justify funding a fantasy series" cuts no cheese. How many converts do you think LOTR created? How many comp games are fantasy-orientated? How many readers would like to see their own favorite authors. Id also mention the popularity of Harry Potter (even amoung adults) which is heavily fantasy. The movies only real let down is due to the neccassery use of kids.
Anywho.    /rant

[Stranger Dan]

And by Fantasy I mean Elves, Dwarves, Goblins, Dragons, Magic and so on.

Why does every single goddamn fantasy have to be a rip off of Lord of the Rings?

[Wulfen]

actually i was thinking more along the lines of D&D etc. And just cuz a fantasy piece has elves and dwarves in it dosnt make it a LOTR rip-off. thats like saying every sci-fi is a rip off of star wars.

[5thWheel]

Neverwhere has Angels, Demons, Vampires, Warriors, Magic.  I know it is not what you're asking for but it is the best/closest I have seen.
If you fancy a film you could try Dungeons & Dragons, or you could just spend 107 minutes sticking forks in your eyes
edit: ^^oops, I wasn't being nasty to any of the forum ppl here, I was being nasty about the D&D movie. edit2 bah, forgot to type text between linkies!

[Ozymandias]

Why does every single goddamn fantasy have to be a rip off of Lord of the Rings?

Read A Song of Ice and Fire.

I am one of the few who is not scared to say that it takes LotR and spanks it over and over until its ass is bruised and it has to go to school the next day, but can't sit down and the teacher notices and tells the school counselor and they contact A Song of Ice and Fire to question in, but then realize they can't begin to contend with its awesome power and fear gettign spanked their own selves so they just quitely turn a blind eye while LotR is abused into submission because of its obvious inferiority for the rest of its life, even after it becomes successful because an overgrown fat hobbit made it into movies.

Everyone who reads it thinks that though.

[Wulfen]

Read A Song of Ice and Fire.

Who's the author?

[shrimp]

THe Author is George RR Martin, that series rocked my little tube sox off!

[yipjumpmusic]

*agrees about ice and fire series*  Very well written and not too heavy with the magic/so on stuff which I like.  Though it seems to be just slowly increasing its use which is fine too.

Though the reason for not much fantasy shows is maybe just the lack of people in the position to make those shows happen or the better success of other shows which would be what is most desirable now by kids shown by test market research which then in turn merely recycles current ideas that worked?  *shrugs*