Castlevania (Netflix series)

This might not generate much buzz, but I thought it'd be an interesting thread anyhow.

Six days ago, Fred Seibert, co-founder of Frederator Studios and CCO of Wow! Unlimited, appeared on the Nickelodeon Animation Studio podcast, where he talks about his career and his reflection on the animation field. Near the end of the podcast, Seibert dropped this vague but possibly eye-opening statement in the interview:

"We have a project now that we're doing that needs to go unnamed, based on one of the most world famous video games of the last 30 years, that we've had in our shop for twelve years without being able to get it started. But there were great characters and a great story, and eventually we got it going."

Speculation has since arose on what kind of project Seibert was talking about, with Nintendo Life speculating that Nickelodeon had reached a deal with Nintendo to do an animated series or film based off Super Mario or some other property besides Pokemon (for obvious reasons). However, given that Nintendo isn't mentioned at all in the podcast, the fact that Nintendo is extremely protective of IP use, and since it's never actually implied Nickelodeon will have anything to do with it (Frederator/WOW! is not owned in any way by Viacom, Nickelodeon's parent company), I have serious doubts that such a project would go that far.

Nintendo Life backs its speculation up based on prior statements by Nintendo executives of being open to making animated films. However, those statements indicate they, not other companies, want to have a creative say or active involvement in those movies.

Because of this, I'm calling this thread "Untitled Frederator Studios Project" and not "Unititled Frederator Studios Nintendo Project" because there's a good chance it might have nothing to do with Nintendo whatsoever. It may be, say, a series based off a game from Sega, Capcom, Namco, Atari or other game companies back in the 80's. That, and Nickelodeon may very well not have anything to do with it.

Should more info be revealed about this and if it is, in fact, a Nintendo-related project going on at Nick, it would be a case of Hilarious in Hindsight since The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! was syndicated by Viacom during its original broadcast run, when the company was in its original form as a syndication company.

edited 26th Dec '16 1:17:17 PM by Mario1995

"The devil's got all the good gear. What's God got? The Inspiral Carpets and nuns. Fuck that." - Liam Gallagher

Super Mario seems pretty gosh darn optimistic to me.

I'm going to go with a Rocket Slime-oriented Dragon Quest series.

Wait a minute...

I distinctly remember a guy from Frederator saying he was doing something on Castlevania.

This was from last year... Could this untitled project that Mr. Seibert evidently spoke about be that same Castlevania project we heard not too long ago?

I got a feeling that's exactly what it is.

Although the fact that he called it "unnamed" is puzzling. Couldn't he just call the series Castlevania?

Plus, I've searched through the trademark database, and I can't find anything about the "Castlevania" trademark being registered for a TV show.

This can go any way at this point.

edited 26th Dec '16 6:15:28 PM by Mario1995

"The devil's got all the good gear. What's God got? The Inspiral Carpets and nuns. Fuck that." - Liam Gallagher

Well, if it IS Castlevania...

Konami is going to be Konami (largely incompetent) about it.

If (IF!) it is indeed related to Castlevania, he probably didn't want to say the name right off the bat because people will associate Castlevania with Konami, and if you haven't noticed (although I'm positive you have noticed), Konami's not exactly the greatest game publisher right now...

As such, Mr. Seibert probably left the project untitled to avoid ruffling any Konami-hating feathers. Or alternatively, he did it to generate buzz. (But I'm sticking with the former.)

---

Of course, it's widely possible that this is actually a different game that isn't Castlevania, because I dread to imagine the response of being even partially associated with what is hands-down the worst game publisher currently out there. It'd be pretty crazy if Mr. Seibert didn't already know about Konami's situation. (Exactly how savvy of a media fellow is he?)

I would joke that it might really be a Klonoa series, but that's already got an anime movie in the works, so never mind.

edited 26th Dec '16 6:54:38 PM by TargetmasterJoe

It could be Dankey Kang Cocktry 2.0. Who knows except them?

"We be we baby!"

If it really is Castlevania, that's interesting. It would mean Nick is starting to ease away from the aversion to "dark" content that skewered several of their projects in the 2000's. Even Avatar is more of a bombastic Eastern adventure series with a lot of weighty content, but if you've got stuff like bloodsuckers, demon lords and vampire slayers and the like it's going to be much harder to avoid.

For fun, however, it'd be hilarious if instead got - psyche! - Mina and The Count.

edited 27th Dec '16 12:45:34 AM by KnownUnknown

"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.

Except Mina and The Count didn't start off as a video game and it certainly isn't 30 years old.

Also, is this necessarily gonna be on Nickelodeon? Because from Fred's words, it didn't sound like it would be on Nick.

Unless the fact that it was announced on a Nick podcast is already proof that it's coming to Nick...

It was a Castlevania joke, not a video game joke.

edited 27th Dec '16 9:20:52 AM by KnownUnknown

"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.

Leaked still of Simont Belmont.

This song needs more love.

If they DO actually make a Castlevania movie that isn't TOO bowdlerized I'd be interested in seeing it.

Sorry, but my knowledge of Castlevania only extends to the following:

• knowing who Koji Igarashi is,
• the "Nothing but a pile of miserable secrets" line,
• the supposed fact that Symphony of the Night is one of the greatest games ever,
• the fact that there was a Castlevania game series co-produced by Kojima Productions
• and it recently got an erotic pachinko machine that nobody asked for.

But beyond that, my knowledge of Castlevania is nonexistent.

So in other words, you're gonna have to explain the joke.

Well there was a movie about Castlevania III that's in Development Hell.

The Big Bad of Castlevania is Dracula (he's the one who makes the "miserable pile of secrets" line).

This would actually be the second time Frederator Studios did a project featuring Dracula in a major role - the last being a Cult Classic series of shorts called Mina and The Count, a cute gag series where a reluctant Dracula ends up as best buddies with a little kid version of Mina Murray. Sort of like Billy And Mandy, with a little less Black Humor and a little more adorable stuff.

The gag is the idea that it'll look like a straightforward Castlevania series, but then we meet Dracula and it turns out to be that Drac instead.

edited 27th Dec '16 10:29:17 AM by KnownUnknown

"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.

Whelp!

With nobody noticing it, the cat's out of the bag! And it's headed for Netflix, come this year!

So I guess we should rename this thread "Frederator's Castlevania"?

ha, I love this article writer.

They've got several seasons worth of material at least to use for this series, so I look forward to it. I've always thought the mythos of the Castlevania games were better suited to a TV series (though that might just be because I suck at the games).

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Well, this otta be good.

"We be we baby!"

So, the series finale will be Juilan VS Kid Dracula, right?

This could be good. An animated series, finally! This really is the way to go adapting games, not more live action movies that can be maxed out at three hours tops. There's just no time for that, and there's too many constraints of film-making to make that easier.

Animated shows have more expressiveness and can play with the medium more in a way that suits games.

I like they went with calling him Trever Christopher Belmont, nice reference to the Gameboy games.

Not sure how much plot you could really get out of this, but it sounds like there's a lot of room to put in original content and develop these guys, so I'm all for it. And they've said it won't skimp on the blood, which is good.

"No will to break."

Apparently, the art direction will take cues from the likes of titles such as AKIRA and Ghost in the Shell.

We've never seen Frederator use an art style like those two works, have we?

Most, if not all, of Frederator's titles would appear very stylized and cartoony, so it's going to be really interesting to see them using an art style that's leaps and bounds nothing like My Life as a Teenage Robot or Adventure Time.

...I also wonder if they'll take stabs at how sucky Konami has become as of late.

Considering Animation Lead Time I think it's doubtful we'll see that type of thing.

Yeah probably not because based on what was said on Facebook they already have through Season 2 written already.

Edit* I misunderstood. I thought it was Season 2 but it is Season 1 Part 2 which will release next year.

edited 9th Feb '17 9:58:32 AM by Halberdier17

Batman Ninja more like Batman's Bizarre Adventure

Maybe it'll be an anthology show where it starts a new game every season. That would be cool, even if we're getting ahead of ourselves.

So we know there's gonna be a lot of gore, the creator's said as much and will be r-rated. I hope it'll explore the dynamic of these characters as they go through the castle together, and get some remixed game music in the background.

"No will to break."

Reposting from the Castlevania thread:

The first poster for the Netflix Castlevania series just dropped online.

Have fun storming the castle!

...The very dark, very grotesque, castle.