this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023
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The Witcher
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Cavill could've been the Sir Ian McKellen to Gandalf, the William Shatner to Kirk, the Harrison Ford to Indiana Jones.
He could've been immortalised as being Geralt. When people picture Geralt, they could have pictured him.
But the producers and writing staff fucked it all up. I still feel a bit jaded every time I hear about this absolute trainwreck of a TV series.
They fucked it up when they decided to write their own trash instead of staying true to the source material.
This kind of arrogance is prevalant throughout the whole sector and seriously ruins any attempt at making a proper translation of beloved franchises to any form of filmed media.
The moment I hear "the writing team has taken some creative liberty" I am 100% done with your new project. The only thing you need to do in order to litterally print money is hire a scriptwriter and director that has read and is a fan of the source material. No need for writing teams, no need for adaptation to different audiences, just cater to the fans or fuck off.
With Cavill leaving the show the only redeeming quality is gone and I doubt many people will be interested in sticking around for the whole crash and burn that will follow.
Ehhhh sometimes I think you need to make some changes to adapt the content to the new medium.
The Witcher 3 changed a bunch of stuff, it's still a great game.
The Lord of The Rings trilogy changed a lot and IMO they are absolute masterpieces.
The difference being, as you say, you need people involved that are fans and care about the existing art, rather than trying to make it their story out of ego or because they think the original story is dumb.
Those people aren't there for the story, the characters, the universe that was lovingly crafted by the original creator, they just want a popular IP they can stamp their name on and steal the success of. And it doesn't work.
We have leaks of writers from this show literally mocking the original writings. That's a travesty. No wonder they completely butchered the show.
I do agree with you there. Though I don't consider small changes that are weighed carefully to be in the same category as completely inventing (controversial) story events that go directly against established canon. Or even plain retconning some things to make your half-assed original story work.
Disney fucked this up when they acquired the Star Wars IP: They took a beloved world where lots of authors have spent years carefully and respectfully filling plot holes, expanding upon the source material and they had to wipe it all and do their own thing.
Tons of concepts that neatly integrated into the established canon at the time thrown into the trash, and for what? A clever take on space nazis? Bleeding crystals? A movie we've seen before? Grumpy, whiney grandpa Luke? A ripoff of Jacen Solo that was executed badly? "Somehow Palpatine Returned"? All of these concepts sound wild because they are, they make no sense.
The only sane piece of grey area canon we have left is the whole Old Republic era (both the KotOR games, comics, books and the MMO). If those get the same treatment I'm never touching anything Disney again.