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ElfQuest Movie Rewrite - Discussion please :)

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Kilyle Since: Jan, 2001
#1: Jan 3rd 2012 at 9:02:33 AM

While the EQ movie is stuck in Development Hell, I thought we might talk a bit about the storyboard versions, and perhaps some better ways to stay true to the heart of the original (which is sorta getting lost somewhere).

First, something things are getting simplified; that's good. Movies need to be pithier than comics, to drop or merge redundant elements. So far I've noted:

  • Rather than leave Redlance in the desert and backtrack to heal him, they carry him all the way to Sorrow's End.
  • Rather than part from Picknose and spot him later, they bring him along.
  • Rather than have Cutter and Skywise take off and the gang follow later, they all head off together.
  • Rather than find Blue Mountain and then the Palace, they merge the two, which meshes with other original plot elements pretty well.

All this helps the pace. Useful.

On the other hand, they've taken one of the villains and dropped all nuance, turned him into an even bigger Large Ham and given him classic villain ranting. I don't think it does Rayek justice.

The way I read it, Elf Quest's early (elven) villains were both Well Intentioned Extremists whose flaw was using "I know best" as an excuse to ignore the free will of everyone else. Winnie's the darker type, Rayek the lighter type, but they both had shades of this.

Paint them as power-hungry despots and you lose what made them compelling.

Winnowill: Yes, she's severe, extreme, unsympathetic. She manipulates, mind-controls, tortures. But she strove to protect her people, first by keeping them in the mountain and later by bending all their powers (willing or not) to the task of escape - leaving the planet, returning to their former glory. She'd destroy anyone who threatened that goal. (She gets worse, but that's where she started.)

Rayek: Well, he doesn't start out this way. First he's The Rival, and the bigot who can't welcome strangers in because they dared to mess with his town's natural order. He lacks humility and self-control. But then he leaves, and grows up a bit.

After meeting his mentor, it's a different story. Despite severe character flaws, he wades in to help with the palace war, not afraid to get his hands dirty; he tries to help Two-Edge (with ulterior motives, admittedly) and to do something about Winnowill, even if he's too arrogant to pay attention when people warn him about the mission.

The darkest part for him is stealing Leetah away. Again, it's in the midst of helping out, of trying to do the right thing (find and help these desperate elves who keep calling). He overrides her free will, first by forcing her to go anywhere, and then by thinking that he could make her life easier by hastening Cutter's eventual death. That's a type of villainy, but it's not black-hat mustache-twirling villain; it's a horrible and abusive villainy, to be sure, but still.

So... yeah. That's the first point up for discussion. Other points (pro and con) would also be appreciated.

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