Sean Malone
12-16-08, 03:14 PM
I recently came across an article that mentioned an Oct ‘08 announcement made by Columbia Pictures that they are in development of bringing the Deryni Chronicles to the big screen. This caused a wave of nostalgic warmth to wash over me as the Deryni Chronicles were my second favorite fantasy series when I was 12ish (second behind the LotR) and I read the first trilogy numerous times during that period.
If done correctly this could be a refreshing change to the fantasy movie genre for a few reasons. First, the books were written by Kathryn Kurtz. She has a masters in medieval history and that knowledge really comes through in her writing as she paints a very detailed picture of a royal lifestyle from that age. From the politics and relationships between the throne and the church to the detailed descriptions of the castle hierarchy to the details of the characters apparel (I recall complete paragraphs dedicated to the description of what the protagonist was wearing). A solid story with plenty of political intrigue and just a smattering of magic without all of the tiresome goblins, trolls and centaurs (the open source creatures) that plague other fantasy series.
So if you or your kids aare fans of the genre and haven’t read them you may want to before the movies come out. Lord of the Rings movies got my daughter into reading and one of the things she asked for for Christmas this year was the Narnia books because she loves the movies.
Producer Jimmy Miller is attached which looking at his films leaves me a tad worried as most are Will Ferrel comedies but I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
Now all I need to see is Piers Anthony’s Xanth and/or Apprentice Adept series made into movies and I can die a happy geek.
If done correctly this could be a refreshing change to the fantasy movie genre for a few reasons. First, the books were written by Kathryn Kurtz. She has a masters in medieval history and that knowledge really comes through in her writing as she paints a very detailed picture of a royal lifestyle from that age. From the politics and relationships between the throne and the church to the detailed descriptions of the castle hierarchy to the details of the characters apparel (I recall complete paragraphs dedicated to the description of what the protagonist was wearing). A solid story with plenty of political intrigue and just a smattering of magic without all of the tiresome goblins, trolls and centaurs (the open source creatures) that plague other fantasy series.
So if you or your kids aare fans of the genre and haven’t read them you may want to before the movies come out. Lord of the Rings movies got my daughter into reading and one of the things she asked for for Christmas this year was the Narnia books because she loves the movies.
Producer Jimmy Miller is attached which looking at his films leaves me a tad worried as most are Will Ferrel comedies but I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
Now all I need to see is Piers Anthony’s Xanth and/or Apprentice Adept series made into movies and I can die a happy geek.