Spotted this on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6429229906
(and no I'm not shilling for this guy.)
Seems it's already out for the Region 3 market. Lucky folks. Didn't they also get the original Star Wars trilogy on DVD first, too? And that *WAY* cheaper X-Files boxed set (with ALL the DVDs for about 1/9th the total cost of the US sets.)
So, all that being said, has anyone watched the complete movie? If so, how was it? Not necessarily looking for spoilers (though ample "spoiler alert" warnings should suffice.)
- Chris Shadowens
Was this a straight to video release? That Doesn't bode well for quality... Nothing is worse for a hobby than a horrible movie about it. Whay couldn't a D&D movie be like Lord of the Rings (and Whhheeewww, It was a good thing that they didn't runi that movie)
ASEO out
I would presume it's a bootleg, given the timing perhaps a copy of a screener, I don't believe it's released in the US for another month or two.
True there but if it's alread in the can or pressed (since it's straight to DVD) then it could be legit copies that hit the Asian market first, right? Granted, they do have an inordinately high bootleg video empire there (generalizing here) so I guess it is possible.
- Chris Shadowens
Was this a straight to video release?
Yup. And while I would normally agree with your outlook of the straight-to-video market I was recently reading an article (print or online, the mediums tend to blur for me nowadays) that was saying how the big studios are putting money in the straight-to-video market for high-priced/high-quality productions. Allows them to take a few more risks since DVDs are cheaper over printing film and can reach a wider aucience for their dollar than hitting key big city theaters and hoping for the best.
Rumor around here has it the movie is good, the GenCon crowd seemed to think so. I'll make the leap and buy it before watching it. Can't be much worse than the first one, right?
- Chris Shadowens
Holy Stinking Clouds!!! No... NOTHING can possibly be worst than the first D&D movie. I was actually drained two negative energy levels while I sat in the theater. Whoever made the movie never actually played or had any idea what this game is about. I'd like to throw a couple of dice-twenties at him if I saw him.
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Holy Stinking Clouds!!! No... NOTHING can possibly be worst than the first D&D movie. I was actually drained two negative energy levels while I sat in the theater. Whoever made the movie never actually played or had any idea what this game is about. I'd like to throw a couple of dice-twenties at him if I saw him.
You can say that again!!! Hopefully this time the director and writers have actually played the game. I also lost 2 energy levels(permanent) due to the brain drain from said movie. Horrible. My 2 cents.
Thoth Amon the Atlantian Mindflayerian
While I have high hopes about the new movie's ability to inspire a younger generation of new players, I can't say that I am personally excited to see this.
What's the deal with bringing back the fighter-type bad guy from the first movie? Maybe it was just the screen at the empty theatre where I saw it. . . but didn't that guy have blue lips?
If the guy still has blue lips in this new one, I don't think I'll be able to deal with it. At least I'll be at home, where my giggling won't spoil the movie for the other guy in the back who sat through the first one with me. . .
Straight to video? No, it's worse!
SciFi Channel Original movie on Oct. 8th.
Ye Gods of Old.
What a HORRIBLE movie. By the end of it, I was frothing at the mouth. There were so many bad parts in that movie, it would take all day to list them all.
Here's to hoping D&D 2 is marginally better - but I'm not crossing my fingers.
D&D two is better than the first one. I am in Iraq and have access to bootlegged movies. It actually makes references to stuff in the core rule books. It talks about the difference between arcane and divine magic. The god they worship is Obad Hai. They even have a halfling rogue. They make references to named spells when they cast. Can't remember which ones right off the top of my head.
As for storyline, its not much better than the first. Damodar is back sans blue lips, but is now a mage. Apparently Profion put an undeath spell on him before he was eaten by the dragon. So this movie takes place a hundred years later (I think).
In the end its up to you if you like the movie or not. Personally, though I was outraged at the lack of actual D&D in the first movie, I thought it was ok. Break out the torches and tie me to the stake. Burn the blasphemer. I think that I'm one of the only gamers who actually liked the original.
sweet, scifi original. Our whole family has bad Scifi Saterday movie night. NO# 1 put me at a permanent wis. of 6 lol.
That explains alot.
Could my spelling be any worse?
My wife liked the first movie, but only because she felt so sorry for it. Bootlegs in Iraq????? My God, the terrorists have won if they can watch D&D 2 before we can!! ;)
Well, its on now and It's BAD! My family and I have saterday bad sci fi movie night. Ive seen them all, frankenfish, alien exprees, alian apocalypse, army of darkness, man with the screaming brain, dracula 3000, ect.
Anyway its really fake but its got a lot more referances to the real rules... oh well still got an 1:30 min to go.
So far the Magmin has been the highlight . . . and I think that was half the budget. Why am I thinking that there were a bunch of people in a production meeting saying, "What can we do to have this movie taken more seriously?"
"I know! English accents!"
I can't wait to see the extended version. I'm dying to see if the mage with the robe of eyes tells the woman that how long she has until she becomes undead depends on her constitution score.
I was also waiting for the knight to nod sagely at the cleric and say, "Truly, you do have a high wisdom score."
So we have gone from ignoring large swaths of the rules to cutting and pasting the SRD into the script.
And yet I have nothing better to do right now, lol.
but! it did mention some of the old modules from 1.0 and 2.0 that the heroes came from, ya much more true to the game. They could have tried to make the graphics better though
Just finished watching... it was slightly less painful, certainly less cutesy, than the first movie. Not terrible. But talk about villains' expositions... sheesh! ;-)
My question on this, though... is this city (or is it a state, nation?) of "Ishmir" (sp?) supposed to be somewhere in Greyhawk? They certainly keep making a lot of GH references.
I can't wait to see the extended version. I'm dying to see if the mage with the robe of eyes tells the woman that how long she has until she becomes undead depends on her constitution score. I was also waiting for the knight to nod sagely at the cleric and say, "Truly, you do have a high wisdom score." So we have gone from ignoring large swaths of the rules to cutting and pasting the SRD into the script. ...
Heh! It's "Ishmir's" Order of the Stick! The lady mage with the necro-curse must have jumped from 9th lvl Wizard straight to 5th lvl. Mystic Theurge in only a few short days! And people have complained about the AoW jump from 1st to 20th in roughly a few months. Heh!
I don't know . . . If I was Falzure's publicist I would be seriously upset right now . . . the first movie has a human wizard making an artifact that summons a hundred red dragons, but Falzure has to attack the city on his own . . . and using fire for a breath weapon no less.
Although I like the fact that the demon thing from Sci-Fi's Earthsea got another job as a lich this time. Its good to see an actor branch out and do new things.
I don't know . . . If I was Falzure's publicist I would be seriously upset right now . . . the first movie has a human wizard making an artifact that summons a hundred red dragons, but Falzure has to attack the city on his own . . . and using fire for a breath weapon no less.
I know, 'twas lame. And for a dragon "god", it was a pretty puny fireball at that. What happened to all that nifty poison gas? Maybe they cut budget on a dracolich halfway through and reconned a "mighty dragon god"? ;-)
Although I like the fact that the demon thing from Sci-Fi's Earthsea got another job as a lich this time. Its good to see an actor branch out and do new things.
Didn't he also have a bit part in that Marion Zimmer Bradley Sci-Fi deal, also? Or maybe he had a bit part in LOTR?
The thing about the mage's familiar was pretty funny... if not played very well. AS IF one of the options is "dove"... sheesh! ;-)
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For what it was it was entertaining. I rather enjoyed it. The constant game references were awesome, especially the mention of Jubilex! The D&D comercials were great. When this comes out on DVD, hell yeah I'm buying it. It's a B movie folks, our fantasy pics can't all be lord of the rings.
That dove isn't a familiar, but a figurine of wondrous power able to become a dove 3/day
Just finished watching this...
and it's a hell of a lot better than the first.
The D&D Commercials were hilarious, in and of themselves. My personal favorite was...
"You know what they say...
...the book is better than the movie."
But about the movie: Definitely had some gamer geek moments (but they were okay), but overall had a fairly well-developed plot. Characters weren't as wooden, they actually were fairly interesting. They did more with the movie in the first 20 minutes than they did with the whole first movie. I'd be curious as to see what scenes, if any, were left out. I'll be getting the DVD, if & when it comes out. Yes, you could see the line between the CGI & the sets, but again, Sci-Fi movies don't exactly have the biggest budget in the world. I'm okay with that particular wrinkle.
For a Sci-Fi Original movie, it was great.
If it was a big-screen movie, I imagine it wouldn't have done so well (tanked, I think, is the word I'm looking for).
For those that haven't seen it, ignore the bad taste that the first movie may have left, and take a 2 1/2 hour break to see the second.
As far as Lord of the Rings is concerned...it is a standard fantasy movies should set themselves to. There is absolutely no reason a decent, well made movie based on any of the numerous D&D novels can't be made. LotR has set the bar by which future fantasy movies should be made.
And dammit, I wanna see a decent, high budget, well made D&D movie. Something like the first Dragonlance chronicles (Autumn Twilight, Winter Night, Spring Dawning), which really got me into how immersive D&D could be. (I did not mention the Mithril Hall/Dark Elf trilogies. Not that I don't like them; I do. I just think we're plenty saturated with dark elves, thankyouverymuch.) No, I don't want to see an Eberron movie. I want old school.
If nothing else, we should aspire to everything that the Lord of the Rings movies did - introduce fantasy, and through fantasy, roleplaying games to a bigger audience.
I haven't seen the movie.
There is no Sci Fi Channel in the UAE (oh well the price one pays for the adventure of working abroad).
Personally, I would rather see a really good campaign consolidated into a mini-series. Than a D&D book made into a movie. I think the interplay of characters thte characters in the best games I have been in has been better than the novels.
No offense to the fans, but the novels (and I've only slogged through about a half dozen from different worlds) are, well not film worthy. I love thhe game and I'm all for novels that try to capture the spirit of the game, but they just aren't up to the standard of "literature" and though I am sure their are exceptions, most of the D&D novels don't (IMHO) measure up to stand alone fantasy fiction. Doesn't mean they aren't fun, doesn't mean I don't get into some of the characters.
If a fantasy film was in order some of the Steven Brust stuff might capture the spirit of the genre better.
Also, novel are very difficult to adapt - short stories or novellas translate better to a 2 hour medium.
A tv series would be awesome, as well. There was a news release
http://www.wizards.com/news/pressrelease.asp?20010918a
that indicated Forgotten Realms was licensed out for a TV series. Does anyone know or heard any rumors as to what happened with it? It's been four years...
Its dead. Thank goodness. I really don't want to see a syndicated TV series, or any movies based on DragonLance or Forgotten Realms if they aren't made by a major studio with serious talents attatched to them. I watched visual reinforcement of that last night.
The D&D Commercials were hilarious, in and of themselves. My personal favorite was..."You know what they say...
...the book is better than the movie."
I like the 3 tips to gaming.
1. Never split up the party (so true)!2. Never let the cleric die (the party from the movie could have done better).
3. Always check for traps(I liked the rogue)!
For a TV movie, it was okay. It was marginally better than the first. Watch it once, and be done with it.
The rogue was my favorite character. My whole gaming group watched the movie together and we all agreed that the rogue laughing his ass off at the wizard getting her familiar zapped was the most "gaming-accurate" moment.
Please, please--no TV series!! I would just rather not see D&D on the screen at all any more.
...That dove isn't a familiar, but a figurine of wondrous power able to become a dove 3/day
Ah! Still pretty hilarious, though! :-)
...I like the 3 tips to gaming.
1. Never split up the party (so true)!
2. Never let the cleric die (the party from the movie could have done better).
3. Always check for traps(I liked the rogue)!
So true! And what happened to the cleric's hammer? That thing was huge and had some power. Maybe the barbarian could've used it (Thorina!). My gamers usually follow a "Tip 4", which is: don't leave behind or bury any good junk. :-)
Contributor
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D&D2 was possibly the worst movie I have ever seen!
At least the first one reminded me of a D&D game, albeit a crummy one, but no less the kind I used to play when I was a 13 (ah the nostolgia).Plus, Jeremy Irons acting was so bad it made me laugh.
The sequel was a struggle to watch. The blurry effect was cheesy and the rest of the effects sucked, the mage said "nobody knows how to cast divine magic" then all of a sudden there's a cleric... It was just a poor attempt at trying to make a fantasy movie and slapping a trademark on it. The most authenitic part was the name dropping of a bunch of old modules.
Oh and if she didn't before, my wife now thinks my hobby is moronic.
Great Game...Bad Movie.
Keeping that in mind, I'm not going to see DOOM.
Keeping that in mind, I'm not going to see DOOM.
Wise choice. :)
The commercials were excellent.
I laughed out loud at every one of them. Of course, I was watching with some of my gaming friends.
Hey guys - say what you will about the film, but don't forget the special features! The DVD has a low-level adventure, written by members of the Dungeon and Dragon staff, that ties in with the movie's plot....
-James
DAMN! Can,t believe their risking it again they should take a que from Peter Jackson and those who did Record of Lodoss War.
I hate to see a good product look like crap just to make a few bucks.
I thought Record of Lodoss War was a good show, but maybe this vampire's old heart's just getting soft.
I never got to see the first D&D movie because I was in the middle east when it came out, and haven't had the time to track it down at the video store. I did catch the 2nd one on the SiFi channel Saturday. All I can say is if people thought that this one was better than the first one, I'll avoid the first one at all costs.
Who at WotC agrees to allow the D&D name on these movies. This was horrible on the level of the Old Death Stalker and Amazon Queen movies but with out all the gratuitous boobage, which is all those movies were worth watching for anyway.
The Lich looked like a Halloween costume I saw at Walmart. And the baddie’s halforc gimp costume was like just one of those $2 bald head wig things. You can even see the seam in several scenes.
The Dragon Special effects were OK, but were not on par with Dragon Heart, more like the old Hercules TV Show.
It was interesting that the characters randomly threw in the names of some old Modules to give it that “Geek gets the joke” aspect.
The Dark Mantels were horrible, and the…Oh never mind…the whole thing was just crappy…I understand why it went straight to video.
It is definitely not something that will improve the population’s view of the hobby or be some sort of recruiting tool.
A very disappointed ASEO out
The commercials were excellent.
I laughed out loud at every one of them. Of course, I was watching with some of my gaming friends.
Was watching it with my gaming buddies, as well. It made it all the more fun.
"Quick! Grab some snacks! We'll hold off the movie as long as we can!"
Ye Gods of Old.
What a HORRIBLE movie. By the end of it, I was frothing at the mouth. There were so many bad parts in that movie, it would take all day to list them all.
Here's to hoping D&D 2 is marginally better - but I'm not crossing my fingers.
I caught the movie on Sci-Fi and I have to say that it was leaps & bounds better than the original. Low budget but that was to be expected, however, they did take the time to actually mention real character classes, spells and creatures. It was a good start.
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Me and my group watched it last night before we started our regular gaming session (one the players had TiVOed it.) Well, the vote was unanimous with group. The movie was kind of better than the first movie but it still sucked. That being said, we still had fun by turning it into our own version of MST3K. If I do watch it again, I will try and see how many whiskey sours it takes before it starts to look good.
Watched it this past week after finally getting the VCR to cooperate.
I will be the first to admit it wasn't great.... but at the same time it was awesome! You have to look to the futre and realise that this is how many great things get started. You have a few stumbles at first, and then learn the tricks of the trade and get the ball rolling. My group has agreed that they should keep trying, and keep putting D&D out in front of the public eye.
It's the best way to bring in the younger players.
but at the same time it was awesome! You have to look to the futre and realise that this is how many great things get started. You have a few stumbles at first, and then learn the tricks of the trade and get the ball rolling. My group has agreed that they should keep trying, and keep putting D&D out in front of the public eye.
It's the best way to bring in the younger players.
Bad movies are not the way to win players. Make a Lord of the Rings Quality D&D movie and you will get more players. I could even see a well done animated DragonLance movie series doing well if the art was well done, but the crappy graphics in this last D&D movie pushed the standard way back to the Hercules TV show where it was painfully obvious that all the creatures were computer graphics. And the acting was much better in that TV show as well…sadly.
Look at all the new Lord of the Rings miniature and CCGs that have come out since those awesome movies were made.
Bad movies don’t set the stage for future success; they put the nails in the coffin of continual failure.
ASEO out
I agree with ASEO on this. If you want to make people want to play D&D, you shouldn't show a craptacular movie. You should put a little more effort into it and make it on the same scale of LotR. LotR didn't just break through most other fantasy movie standards, they set the bar for future movies. No matter what fantasy movie comes out now, it will be compared to LotR. Now like I posted earlier, I did like D&D 1 and 2, though I do wish they would have put more money into their graphics department. It was too much along the lines of cheesy TV shows than a movie. Perhaps the next one will have better graphics, though I won't be holding my breath.
A bit from my Hoarde
I am thinking that the creators of D&D III (if it's ever made) need to forget about expensive CGI and the pressure to create a realistic dragon.
If the CGI monsters look like cardboard cutouts. . . who cares? Back in the old days, you used an engrossing story to suspend disbelief, not a bunch of special effects.
Instead of wasting $$$ on that stuff, focus on creating a very good storyline with fresh, dynamic characters. Shoot on location and stick to make-up and physical effects for your creatures. Narrow the focus to a only a few important players, and make sure their dialogue isn't 1. wisecracks/one-liners 2. restating of the plot 3. explaining the rules of the D&D role-playing game. Allow the audience to care about the characters, and drop the childish need to make them "cool" or "kick-ass."
Let the flick roll along on its own merits, and people will be dying to see it.
I am thinking that the creators of D&D III (if it's ever made) need to forget about expensive CGI and the pressure to create a realistic dragon.
Oh, don't worry - it'll be made. Whether you think this one is lame or a masterpiece, DVD sales will be enough to make it profitable for folks to keep going....
-James
Even LOTR had its lame moments. Remember Legolas surfing down the stairs on a shield and "ski jumping" off the trunk of the oliphant? Everyone I saw that movie with rolled their eyes on both occasions.
I am thinking that the creators of D&D III (if it's ever made) need to forget about expensive CGI and the pressure to create a realistic dragon.Oh, don't worry - it'll be made. Whether you think this one is lame or a masterpiece, DVD sales will be enough to make it profitable for folks to keep going....
-James
Yeah. . . there's an adventure in it from the Dungeon staff, blast you. I'm gonna have to buy it, despite my misgivings.
(mumbles something about effective marketing)
:)
I just tried writing a rather lengthy post, but of course, with my luck around computers, it somehow disappeared into cyber space. Let's try again.
My question is this: Why doesn't someone actually do a good D&D movie? I'm not just whining here. LotR, and even Harry Potter to a lesser extent, have proven there is enough of an audience for high budget fantasy works out there. A sizeable portion of the people who see those movies have never read the original books, either; they just like the fantasy aspect, or movies in general. So, there IS a market big enough to support a good D&D movie, even amongst people who may have never played and never will, even after seeing a good movie about the game.
Given, the other works were based on literature, and LotR has an academic legacy to it that would cause many to classify its entertainment in a different genre as that of D&D. It was done not for profit, but because Tolkien wished to write and epic tale. I think Peter Jackson maintained a great deal of this feeling in his translation of the trilogy to film. I also feel that such a mindset is necessary to make something more than crap. I think that if a D&D movie was done with this feeling, it would actually be good.
So, it's a fact that the audience exists for the endeavor. The game even has the controversy ticket going for it, from all those religious pundits and psychologists that had a D&D-bashing field day years ago (and luckily seem to have mainly gone away at last). But, their legacy remains, and controversy sells! Thus, there really is NO good reason for why we keep getting spam disguised as a movie. I agree, too, that innundating people with junk will not pull them to the game; it will make it a joke.
On a quasi-related topic, has anyone on these boards read the Runelords? The series is one of my personal favorites, and when I heard that there was to be a movie released next year, I was mortified. I looked at the website, and it wasn't too bad. I heard the budget was set at $80 million, so I have some hope that they'll be able to do all the special effects that the series requires, and still get some good actors and a decent director. That was months ago, though, and I haven't heard anything else recently. Anyone have any news?
I also rolled my eyes at Legolas' stunts. He was cool enough without that; pushing the envelope that far isn't bold, it cheapens the character, and the whole work. That was the main complaint I had about some of Drizzt's actions in the Icewind Dale Trilogy (don't get me wrong, I did like it). Salvatore seems to have done away with a lot of the overly-fantastic elements in many of his later works, thankfully.