Kiefer Sutherland Headlines Dragonlance Movie

Pre-production on the animated Dragonlance film is continuing apace, and the voice casting for the Companions has been completed. Kiefer Sutherland will be headlining as the voice of Raistlin Majere. Other case members will include Michael Rosenbaum (Justice League's Flash) as Tanis Half-Elven, Lucy Lawless as Goldmoon, Michelle Trachtenberg at Tika Waylan, and Jason Marsden as Tasslehoff Burrfoot. From the site: "The film is based on the first book in the Chronicles series, "Dragons of Autumn Twilight". The director is comics and TV animation veteran, Will Meugniot, and the screenplay has been adapted by George Strayton with plenty of involvement from Margaret and Tracy."

Oh great

How am I supposed to ogle an animated Lucy Lawless?

Justice League's Flash?

He's also Smallville's Lex Luthor! It's a much bigger role.

Sutherland as Raistlan? I'm not so sure...

I have a lot of trouble putting Sutherland and Raistlan together. It's probably just the whole Jack Bower thing, but Keifer Sutherland has built such a tough-as-nails, show no mercy personna around himself thanks to 24 that I'm having a lot of trouble picturing him as the sickly, yet sinister Raistlan. Granted it's a voice acting gig, so hopefully that will help with any potential suspension of disbelief issues some may have with this casting choice. :\

Re:Sutherland as Raistlan? I'm not so sure...

Yeah, but think about the breathy, nervous scientist in Dark City. I think he'll definitely be goot as ol' Raist.

This article is a clumsy fake

Not one of those names is replete with the required f'antasy punc'tuation.

I read that in High School

It's my understanding that the book was basically an edited transcript of a Dungeons and Dragons game run by the authors. Is that in fact the case? Regardless (and this is of course just my opinion) it made me never want to read a book based on a game ever again. I can't think of a single thing I liked about it. If D&D really was the instrument of Satan then the guy has remarkably questionable taste.

Re:I read that in High School

that is actually true, the entire series apparently spawned from one of the author's theatrical performance of his D&D character one night.

Personally I found the main arc of the series to be really good (the Dragons of * books, didn't really care for any of the others.) I think I may have enjoyed it only for the characters.
As far as game related books, I do believe the Battletech book series was spawned by the table top RPG, and I find for the most part they were excellent.

I think the one thing that makes a successful fantasy/sci-fi book is the authors. I know that Micheal A Stackpole authored many of the Star Wars novels, as well as most of the battletech books I enjoyed.

now onto another topic, wasn't there already a Dragonlance cartoon in the 80's, and didn't it suck hard (removed violence to make it a kids show or something)? Hopefully this will be more oriented towards a mature audience.

always been a fan

I have always been a fan of the Dragonlance books. For a year or so I even sat on the Whitestone council who does the new 3rd Edition D&D books for Dragonlance. Went to GenCon met Margaret and Tracy got recognized at the Dragonlance Author Reception etc... was great. Now I am slightly... well I don't like the idea of an animated Dragonlance film. Its something that can do JUST as well at the box office as LOTR did... and I just have a feeling that this MIGHT just MIGHT destroy it for me. I want to see a live action version of the movie.

Also what happened to Aron Eisenberg playing Tasslehoff? He volunteered to play it years ago and hes being pushed off? WTF? (BTW Aron is Nog on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for those of you who don't know.)

I am going to take this with a gain of salt for now I suppose. It has potential... but I don't like the idea of animated movies from a book. I didn't even like the animated version of LOTR. Can't connect with it as much. Ah well.

Kiefer is a horrible choice.

Raistlin is a subtle, quiet-spoken, calm, cold and calculating character. Kiefer could not be more different. Based on his antics in 24 and other roles, he does everything over-the-top. His gestures and voice are always exaggerated and phoney. As silly as it may seem, Sir Ian McKellen, speaking softly might do it (I honestly do not mean to type-cast him, but the man is could be perfectly suited for this). (And damn, there is another actor I am thinking of who would be just as good, but I cannot remember the name at the moment.)

Re:Kiefer is a horrible choice.

On reflection, I disagree. Kiefer was quite good as an anonymous voice in Phone Booth, which is similar to the calm malevolance needed for Raistlin. Add Kiefer's general raspy overtone and you've got the vocal parts for the character. I'm a little more skeptical of the Lawless choice though.

Re:Kiefer is a horrible choice.

You must be thinking of Samuel L. Jackson.

It's going to be crap

How do I know? In browsing their website I found these two little nuggets:

Who's written the script for the film?
The script for the film has been adapted from "Dragons of Autumn Twilight" by George Strayton. Strayon has penned several episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and was a key staff writer on Xena: Warrior Princess.

What will be the running time for the film?
The movie is an animated feature film and will have a running time of approximately 90-100 minutes.

So it's written by a guy whose best work is absolute tripe. The dialogue of Xena and Hercules is one of the worst parts of those shows. And 90-100 minutes is not "feature length" for a book adaptation like this. 120 minutes would be a bare minimum, and 150 would make me feel a lot more comfortable. I would love to think this movie is going to be decent, but right now it looks like a disaster.

Re:It's going to be crap

Here is a quote from Margaret Wies:

...Suffice it to say, Tracy and I have been working with the production team for over a year now. They've been wonderful to work with! They've allowed us to have script approval and asked for our suggestions. They've shown us all the art work and allowed us approval on that (as well as the WoTC art director in charge of Dragonlance)...

Weis and Hickman haven't lost complete control (yet), so let's reserve judgement untill we start seeing more material. They'll have a say on the script, and I don't think they are willing so mess this chance by jumping the shark on their fans.

I do think, however, that 90-100 minutes will be way too short. I'm actually more worried that the movie is animated! :-( If it looks like a Don Bluth film, I'm gonna cringe.

Ten Novels I'd Rather See Made Into Movies

1. Neuromancer
2. Bridge of Birds
3. Eon
4. Permutation City
5. The Shadow of the Torturer
6. Childhood's End
7. The Diamond Age
8. Perdido Street Station
9. Hyperion
10. A Fire Upon the Deep

What all these have in common is that they would be based on original novels, rather than, say, spinoff novels based on a particular campaign setting based on a particular Role Playing Game based loosely on The Lord of the Rings. Really, do we need a movie based on Dragonlance anymore than we need, say, a novelization of the video game Doom? (You've got to hand it to Linaweaver and ab Hugh for written four books based on a game who's actual description would be "He ran. He ran. He shot the monster. He ran. He shot the monster. He flipped a switch. He shot the monster. He got a bigger gun. He shot the monster...")

How about making a movie based on the best speculative fiction has to offer? Sure, 9 times out of 10 Hollywood is going to screw it up. But that's true of anything Hollywood touches. Why not at least reach for greatness?

i for one, welcome our draconian overlords

i've been a fan of the Chronicles since i first read them probably 10 years or so ago. they've been the favorite books for me and my group of friends, and I know there are others out there who are just as pumped about this as we are. plus, with 24 star Sutherland aboard, it's bound to get much needed publicity.

i'm curious as to why they chose to do it in CG... perhaps they're going for a younger demographic? that would be unfortunate, as the Chronicles had a sinister tone to them. (closer to the LotR trilogy than to the Hobbit, for those of you who have never read Dragonlance)

You know what I like about Slashdot?

It's that, every so often, you guys make me feel like less of a dork, if only by comparison.

Raistlin = Conner McLeod

Chris Lambert should voice Raistlin. Just check out his Raiden in Mortal Combat.

Why use "actors"?

Why bother with Keifer and Lucy at all? Why not hire some real voice actors to bring some personality to the characters? That way we could become involved in the story and the characters without having to think of Xena at all.

Billy West is right... this is a strange trend of animating characters around who you want to do the voice rather than the other way round.

I wonder

I wonder if we'll see a ring of dwarves thrusting hauberks at the heroes.
Or whether the 'good' priest will disappear for a while just like in the books, where even the authors found him so dull that they forgot to include him for several chapters.

Priorities

I was just scrolling through /. this morning, and I was like "Oh.. Inflatable space station, huh? That sounds kind of interesting, future of mankind and all that.. I'll check that out.. OMG DRAGONLANCE MOVIE FTW!"

I haven't even read Dragonlance for over a decade, but I'm stoked. Even if the movie is terrible, its like tasting some forgotten candy you haven't had since you were a kid, even if you found the candy in the couch.

Re:Priorities

I haven't even read Dragonlance for over a decade, but I'm stoked.

I have, and I'm scared :(.

The Chronicles were good, as were the Legends, but after that quality went down faster than a dragon that's been turned to stone mid-flight, and the ending of "War of Souls" had to set some kind of record in sheer stupidity. Constant retcons didn't help either. Or maybe it was because Dragonlance gods were turned into glorified janitors a la Forgotten Realms that it got a bit difficult to take the whole thing seriously. Takhisis, especially, became truly pathetic, in more ways than one... Oh well, another cash cow milked to death and beyond.

So, this movie might be good, but more likely it's a thinly veiled commercial that sucks harder than the whirpool of the Blood Sea.

Intro

My name is Raistlin Majere, and this is the longest day of my life.

Keifer Sutherland? Great...

His lines are all going to be:

1) Dammit!
2) We are running out of time!
3) Dammit, we are running out of time!
4) DAMMIT!

I'd be worried if it is like the books

If making this movie is anything like the books, I would half expect the recording studio to explode after the actors leave the building.

It drove me nuts in Margaret Weiss' books. Every friggen place blows up the instant the heroes leave. Even if they win it blows up. "Yahoo, we just defeated the 'more baddest creature yet', for good measure, lets set it on fire, taking out everything in a 30 mile radius as well. Also, I peed in the well. Before we go, lets stab this guy trying to build a road."

Don't use the latrine, it is rigged with C-4. Maybe thats why they needed Jack Bauer?

TSR/WoTC movies

This opens the gates for a more D&D movies Dark Elf Trilogy [wikipedia.org] or IceWind Dale [wikipedia.org] movie. Or Magic The Gathering [wikipedia.org] movies would be cool, too.

Riftwar Saga anyone?

Dragonlance is a big deal - can't wait to see it but I was personally hoping for some Raymond E. Feist action coming to the big screen. Ever since Dragon Heart came out I'd been thinking that it was now possible to bring all of these great books to the screen - hopefully this opens more doors (just like lord of the rings did).

Somewhat off-topic - Dragonlance video games

One of the first CRPGs I ever played was a Dragonlance game. I recognise all of these names, but I can't remember what the name of the game was. I remember that the goal of the game was to take your paltry band of adventurers (including Tanis, Goldmoon, and so forth), make your way down this hexagonal grid, finding items and rescuing refugees along the way, and then fight your way through a mountain cave that was only open certain times during the day. Does anyone have any idea what the name of the game was?

He's not new to animation...

he played Littlefoot's daddy in The Land Before Time X. Don't ask me how I know...

Keifer. That'll do.

David: Now you know what we are, now you know what you are. You'll never grow old, Michael, and you'll never die. But you must feed! , the creepy doctor from Dark City, and the son of Donald Sutherland. I think his voice will match.

Oh boy.

I remember reading the first book when I was fifteen. It had a nice cover and the story was engaging enough. Nothing spectacular, but worth the cover price I suppose.

I tried reading the next one in the series, but I just sort of stopped caring about half way through. "The writers actually recorded their own play sessions? Really? No, seriously. --They write these books from their game notes? Really? You're joking, right?"

I just couldn't get past this aspect, and I don't know if my response was entirely fair. Just because my D&D games happened to be dumb didn't mean that a group-created novel would necessarily stink. --And it didn't stink. It just wasn't particularly brilliant. There were no big ideas or grand vision to be found in the Dragonlance series. --Though I'm told that as the books progress, the story becomes filled with Mormon imagery to reflect the writer's religious bias, but that's hardly a selling point. Otherwise, it's just a fun swords and sorcery yarn. Innocent Popcorn; good hearted but ultimately meaningless. Kind of like Salt Lake City.

Whatever the case, I just couldn't manage to get into the series. --Although writing a book series based on a D&D game was also perhaps one of the most clever marketing tactics I've seen in publishing. I mean, they still keep those books in print after all these years! Not many pulp fantasy novels can make that claim.

-FL

I Can See It Now

Caramon: There is a big dragon coming towards us!
Raistlin: Caramon, you and Sturm get the sword protocols! I will open a socket to the magic protocols while Tanis handles the arrow protocols!

Conan: Red Nails

On a related and, to my mind, more interesting note, this [conanrednails.com] animated film is supposed to be coming out later this year, based on one of R.E. Howard's final Conan stories, with Ron Perlman (as Conan) and Mark Hamill providing voices-- both of whom have actually done extensive voice work, for that matter.

More here [imdb.com].

Lost Boys

I've got faith in Sutherland after he did the Lost Boys. I know he can play a sinister type very well. So, erm, there. :P

Also starring....

Alan Rickman as the pessimistic yet lovable blue-crystal staff!

The Following was posted from 3pm to 4pm

It is going to be horrible seening all those mythical creatures be taken down soon after meeting Jack Bauer.

Various lines have already been released for this film lets read some of the lines, shall we.

"Everybody down on the ground now! It's an Orc terrorist attack!"

"Don't lie to me, mysterious hermit witch! Who are you working for!"

"The army of dead creatures is comming and it has a weapon of magicial destruction hidden some where in the king's castle! The alchemy used will literally turn everything to glass and destroy to terrorize the pesantry and to launch a full scale attack against the kingdom!"

"They've sent agents from far away to retaliate for the kings decision to join the crusading armies."

"That woman weighs as much as a duck! She is one of the terrorirsts! Everybody get down, now!"

Also slated to star in the film might be Samuel L. Jackson...

"We have snakes on a motherf***ing flying machine!"

Will Meugniot

I haven't read TFA, or all of the posts, but Will Meugniot was the executive producer of Exosquad. I don't know much about his other work, but in my opinion, this is good news for fans of Dragonlance.

oh it's animated!

Thank god...for a second there, I was wondering how Michelle Tratchenburg was going to "fit the role" (in a manner of speaking) for Tika.

I only remember DragonLance...

as the worst fantasy series I had read to date. It was just bad writing with no suspense or irony, cardboard cutout characters who were only defined by some vague labels and the magic items they carried, the cracks filled with an alphabet soup of terms that were somehow supposed to impress me. It was the crappiest writing I had ever read.

But to be fair, I hadn't read Dune yet.

Sutherland as voice actor? please, NOT AGAIN!

Sutherland is a good enough actor, but my first (and only) experience of him as a voice actor was in the form of Armitage the Third: Poly-Matrix.

Simply put, he was AWFUL. I have honestly hardly ever heard anyone as bad as he was for voice-overs. Lacked ANY sense of emotion in his Ross Syllibus character.

I still remember the trailer to that movie: Every major character had his voice actor named and we heard it's voice thereafter BUT for the Syllibus character, which showed him(the character) on screen after the Sutherland credit, yet the character was completely silent. It felt out of place that he didn't talk like the others in the trailer.
When i watched the movie with a bunch of friends, we all have understood why he was silent.

What?!

Same guy for Flint as Fewmaster Toede? Thats almost a slap in the face ^^

Re:Ding!

Fall 2007 is the target according to the website

Re:A more sinister voice...

I don't recall his name but he played Rochford in the Three Musketeers movie from the mid 90's or so... That guy has the evil-like raspy voice that Raistlin needs.

That would be Michael Wincott, who also played the bad guy in The Crow. Do you really want to think "Aw, this is already boring the shit out of me. Kill him!" every time a bad guy starts making grand pronouncements?

Come to think of it, that wouldn't be a bad idea. One way to get the running time below 100 minutes.

Re:I for one...

Who moderates this stuff? In what way is that trolling? Granted it's a bit weak - but it's not trolling! Presumably the mod never read the Dragons Of Autummn Twiglets, or Dragons of a Damp Mattress ?

Besides - didn't they already make this into a movie - it had Devito and Schwarzenegger - "Shirt of the Twins" or something...

Make a proper movie or not at all. Where's Peter Jackson when you need him?