In my article talking about bringing various fantasy franchises to life, there was one rather obvious one that I ignored. No one said anything about it, but given the reverence many people have for this franchise, I wouldn't want to snub it. As a peace offering, I am going to talk about adapting this franchise and this franchise solely. The franchise in question? The Legend of Zelda (like it wasn't obvious from the title).
Link is Nintendo's best icon character (screw Mario, that guy annoys me). The video games are well loved and have developed a fan following akin to Tolkien. Hyrule is to gamers what Middle Earth is to Lord of the Rings fans. Gamers wait eagerly for new adventures so that they can take another trip to Hyrule and save the world from the evils of Ganon.
I'm not much of a gamer. Even when I was, for one reason or another Nintendo seemed to get the short end of the stick. I grew up with the Sega Genesis as a child and as of now, I have an Xbox 360 that remains unconnected. Sure, we had game boys as kids, but Zelda never seemed to make it into our video game library. Even so, I see a boat load of potential for this.
When I originally came up with the idea for this article, I envisioned the story unfolding in an epic animated or live action television show. The more I thought about it, the more I realized it might not work. The episodes would get pretty redundant and many may not watch as they probably still have nightmares about the animated mini-show that appeared on The Super Mario Bros. Super Show.
Unlike, King's Dark Tower series that wouldn't work on the big screen, but would work perfectly as an animated saga; The Legend of Zelda would work perfectly as a movie. It could be live action, it could be done in traditional animation, or it could be CGI; really any style works as long as you do it well.
Video games have a bad reputation for being adapted to the big screen (though I found the first two Resident Evil films enjoyable enough and Silent Hill was really well done) this is the perfect franchise to wipe the slate clean. You'd be able to draw the gamer crowd, the fantasy crowd, along with general moviegoers. You don't have to set anything in stone as far as sequels go, however, if things go well and there is another movie worth making, the option is certainly open.
One small request, going back to the old mini-cartoon, for all that is holy do not have Link utter the phrase "Well excuuuuuse me, Princess." Don't even do it as a quick one-note joke as a wink. If you do that, it will ruin the whole movie regardless of how well it is done.
If you do make this movie, hire a fan to write and direct it. The idea of having someone who genuinely cares for what he's working on has worked time and time again. It shouldn't be too much to ask that you do the same with this. If it is made with the care and passion that it deserves, this could be a huge moneymaker as well as an amazing cinematic experience for us viewers.
Part 2
I already suggested making a feature film out of the iconic Legend of Zelda franchise. I didn't really go into much detail as I had only a passing knowledge of the mythology. Well, my roommate has been playing both the original NES game as well as Link to the Past, and I've done a little bit of research. I'm still no expert, by any means. I do, however, think that I can give film studios a few hints to make the franchise as epic, glorious, and awesome as it should be.
Stay with one Link: In the games, there are multiple Links and Zeldas. The Zelda repetition is actually explained in the second NES game, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. As Zelda works best as either a solo film, or at most an epic trilogy, there's really no need to bring in more than one. You can address the fact that the original Zelda is in a mystical slumber and that every female in the royal bloodline is named Zelda, but aside from that it will work better if you just focus on one set of characters.
Keep the timeline straightforward: Dear God, if the games have one serious flaw it's that the timeline is screwed up beyond repair. They only went forward once, choosing instead to keep leaping backwards with prequels and sequels to said prequels. Start at the beginning and work your way forward. If you want to adapt a game like Ocarina of Time or Link to the Past that's fine, but do those first and then follow them up as opposed to going backwards or sideways.
Start with Ocarina of Time: As this game deals with time travel, I think it's best that you open with this one if you're going to use it to help avoid confusion. This is regarded as one of, if not the, best Zelda game so you'd be pleasing the fans. It will raise the bar, but that just gives the crew more reason to do their best to get it right. You can also address whether the events split the timeline or not. You see, in the game, Link starts off as a young boy and is then transported seven years to the future when he's an adult. After he defeats Ganon, Zelda sends him back to live the years that he missed. Now, Nintendo released a sequel that picked up where OoT left off, following young Link after Zelda sent him back. However, they also followed up the future story where Ganon returns, and without Link there to fight him he is able to conquer Hyrule, which results in the gods flooding it. As the Zelda games usually deal with dual worlds, the split timeline will be a good way to address this. The crux of the trilogy can be the heroes trying to re-unify the split timeline.
Have Zelda be competent: One of the problems with the Zelda games is that most of them involve the title character getting captured and needing to be rescued. If you bring the franchise to life, you'll need to find a way to work around that as that wouldn't fly today, especially on the internet. The one thing the Zelda cartoon got right was making Zelda a tough and independent character. I don't think that they should overdo it to the point that she overshadows Link as that's just as sexist as having Link rescue her, but they could easily be portrayed as equals. Much like Batman is seen as Superman's equal due to his intelligence, so can Zelda operate in a similar fashion. She is usually seen as the embodiment of the Tri-Force of wisdom so it would be fitting for the character.
Those are just a few of my own thoughts on how a movie would work. There are a bunch of Facebook groups that agree with me in saying that a Zelda movie would translate incredibly well to film. If done right, it could be something unlike anything we've ever seen before. I doubt my two articles alone will be enough to convince the bigwigs, but hopefully people keep bringing up the idea and maybe Hollywood will get the hint and get to work on one. I have no doubt that a well done film adaptation of this game would bring in massive bucks for whatever studio decides to release it.
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