First Posting/Impossible to Expect A Good Covenant Movie

[Rukh]

I have been posting in the Runes section ever since I got onto this site. Honestly, I think that it is absolutely impossible that they will make a good adaptation of any of the Covenant stories anytime soon. First, in order to do them justice, they would have to make them on the scale of the Lord of the Rings movies; though this is remotely possible, there would still be to many other problems. First and foremost, they would not be able to portray Covenant as he was in the stories. Do any of you really believe that a major film studio would have a film where the primary "hero" rapes a woman? And, that is just the tip of the iceburg, in terms of the less than admirable things that are laid at Covenant's door. Don't get me wrong, I would love it if some studio would be willing to take the risk of doing this story, but I just don't see it happening.

[Myste]

Welcome to the Movie Forum, Rukh! There's a lot of people who would agree with you, and a lot of people who wouldn't--and a lot of people who are just having fun imagining what a first-rate Chrons: the Movie ought to look like.

I hope you'll join us all in our despairing acknowledgment of reality/hopeful anticipation of possibility/wishful thinking! Take a look around, grab yourself some popcorn!

[Nav]

Welcome to the Watch Rukh!

I couldn't disagree with you more about the movie though. I think we all agree about the strength of the source material and the way I see it, if the eproject can attract clever writers (and it appears that we already have at least one on board), a creative director and a supportive studio then I see no reason why the TCTC movie couldn't be a masterpiece. Those are 'ifs' of varying sizes I realize, but I think it's worth us supporting the project. That way we won't be left wondering 'what if'.

[Edelaith]

When I heard of the LOTR films, I took a stance against the Purists. The Purists were those who wanted a literal (down to the last word) translation from the books to the film.
That was because I thought the spirit of Tolkiens' work could be translated without an absolute, Pure, translation.

In the case of the First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, I AM a Purist. I am a Purist because I believe the spirit of those Chronicles can only be delivered through an exact translation.
If they are going to make changes of any sort, I feel those changes must espound on the principles and ideals set forth in the book, without changing those principles in the slightest degree.
For example, if they wish to expand on the Lillianrill and Rhaemaer. conceptions, that's fine, but they must expand on the actual conceptions, not change them in any way. That is, NO wood is used in a Stonedown, NO stone is used in a Woodhelven. And no exceptions to this rule.
Covenant does not understand White Gold. He eventually learns how to trigger it. If they wish to show the Wild Magic triggered more, that's fine. But to show Covenant learning and understanding Wild Magic? Not acceptable to me.

Major deletions to the story due to perceptions of audience reaction is not acceptable to me. (Hey, I don't run Hollywood, but I am entitled to an opinion about what they do.)
The rape of Lena was a fundamental part of the story. Delete it, and you delete one of the main elements of the story. Sort of like deleting Gandalf from LOTR, and about as productive.
This might well earn the film an R rating. So be it. The First Chronicles had enough pain and blood to go around in any case. Lord Foul is a sociopath. Thomas Covenant is also a sociopath, and only long, harsh lessons in the Land break him out of that and make a half decent person out of him once more.

The butchery of the Unhomed was an R scene, if ever there was one. And yet, sanitized it ... just the very idea of sanitizing the murder of the Unhomed, is enough to make me sick.
The final horror of the Unhomed, their decision to mass suicide, and the abhorrent nature of their deaths, is something that needs to be shown. It is a part of the extravagance and angst that led Covenant to move against Foul. And it is a fundamental part of the setting. I, at least, would not applaud them sanitizing it for the sake of a weak stomached audience.

If I sound unreasonable here, consider what just happened with the Earthsea Miniseries. In no way does it resemble the actual books, and the spirit of what was written was not adherred to. And it ruined it, at least for me.
I say, if they wanted to do A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan, they should have had the decency to do it right. It isn't like they didn't have the resources or special effects needed. It's more like, like Thomas Covenant himself in the First Chronicles, they didn't want to do it right.
I just think Donaldson deserves better than the treatment afford Ursula Le Guin.

[Scorn the Terrible]

Silly, silly person! Don't you understand that Earthsea's movie was Sci-Fi's half-brained attempt to lure LOTR nerds into watching that channel?

*Sigh.*
Books and movies are seperate mediums. I hate it when they try and cross the two.

[Ellester]

Silly, silly person! Don't you understand that
Books and movies are seperate mediums. I hate it when they try and cross the two.

Interesting that you state that you understand that novels and films are two separate mediums… from the posts that I have seen by you I could infer that you refuse to acknowledge that they are separate when judging the film.

A movie could never follow a book literally, unless it was 150 pages in length, even then it would be very questionable. Some things work better in books, and others work better in movies. A movie adaptation of a book takes this into account when creating a screenplay. Some things have to change to make it entertaining. God, I could only imaging how boring the LOTR’s would have been if it literally followed the book. Boy, that would have been great watching the last 90 minutes of the Two Towers and following Frodo’s travels to Mordor. Damn, it was boring as heck reading the book; I could only imagine how horrible it would have come across in the theaters.

[Ellester]

Do any of you really believe that a major film studio would have a film where the primary "hero" rapes a woman? And, that is just the tip of the iceburg, in terms of the less than admirable things that are laid at Covenant's door.

I agree 100%. I do believe it will be a hard sell. These novels are not a feel good series; just like the Gap series they can be very depressing. The hero of the story rapes Lena, and her parents hate his guts. One is forced to take him to Revelstone even though she hates him and the other goes insane. His unbelief is unsettling to many of the other characters in the books and they hate Thomas because of it. Thomas is not a loveable character as a hero. In fact it's hard not to hate him (at least in the first novel).

Also, Donaldson has a penchant for destroying everything that is beautiful. You fall in love with the Giants, and then they get destroyed. Basically what Donaldson does is show you something beautiful so you will care about it, and then later in the book, or in the next novel he will destroy what was beautiful. Heck everything you loved about the Land was destroyed when we got to the second chronicles. And a lot of it is done because of Thomas. Not a lot of fun. It’s more emotional heart wrenching than fun.

I will be surprised if anyone picks up the movie because it is not a feel good fantasy like Tolkien. But I hope so.

[IrrationalSanity]

This is why I posted my suggestion of starting with the 2nd Chronicles. They simply are better movie material in so many ways. Prologue and Flashback to any 1st Chronicles info that is needed. It will flow perfectly, as there are already flashbacks built-in for Linden's secrets, the plight of the Haruchai, etc...

[jacob Raver, sinTempter]

It wouldn't garner enough interest from the public if started at WL. LFB done right is the only hope, IMO.

Welcome to the Watch Rukh!

I couldn't disagree with you more about the movie though. I think we all agree about the strength of the source material and the way I see it, if the eproject can attract clever writers (and it appears that we already have at least one on board), a creative director and a supportive studio then I see no reason why the TCTC movie couldn't be a masterpiece. Those are 'ifs' of varying sizes I realize, but I think it's worth us supporting the project. That way we won't be left wondering 'what if'.

?? e-project?