Live-action Thief movie or TV series ? Meh ! How about an animated one ? - by Petike the Taffer
Petike the Taffer on 1/1/2009 at 21:29
(NOTE : Relax, taffers ! Just some brainstorming, no feeble attempts at a "screenplay"...)
What do you think ? I think it could work pretty well - but with :
1.) Rustmonkey's animation (or animation based on it)
2.) quality and mature writing / style for each episode (e.g. Batman : TAS)
3.) using the main plot of each installment in the series as a backbone for a season
4.) having a maximum of 3 seasons (1. TDP, 2. TMA, 3.TDS)
Whatcha think ? :cheeky: :angel:
jtr7 on 1/1/2009 at 21:57
A movie made entirely in the style of the pre-TDS cutscenes and briefings, but without the compression artifacts and loss of resolution, has been my ultimate Thief movie fantasy. Live silhouettes, and digitally-manipulated paintings made with real paints on canvas. TDS is beautiful but is too creamy smooth, shows faces way too much, lacks simple silhouettes too often, not dark enough, and isn't rich with basic primary and secondary colors enough to match. Plus, all the sepia scenes were done in-engine, with crude models, rather than painting figures over filtered screenshots. By themselves, the full-color TDS cutscenes are fantastic, yet have a commercial quality that makes me prefer the rawness of pre-Rustmonkey Thron's LGS days! The lower budget made something special happen, there. Dan Thron's still doing matte-painting work these days, and "movies are [his] whole dang life!"
A television series would have to be a commercial endeavor, with sponsors and Korean artist painting in-between the key frames. The writing would suffer without someone who could understand Thief and mimic Terri Brosius, Laura Baldwin (she's more important than people realize!), Mike Chrzanowski, Randy Smith, etc. And it would likely die like Firefly.
I wonder if Mark Lizotte and the other artists would be willing to lend a hand, for a price, or if they've put Thief behind them, now.
Petike the Taffer on 1/1/2009 at 22:11
I thought Rustmonkey already existed during the making of TDP. No matter...
Well surely it would have to be a little commercial (even the games weren't very indie at all, just novel and fresh), but even commercialy succesful movies/TV series can be art, if they're done properly. I didn't use the B:TAS reference for nothing... ;) The fate of Firefly is probable, but I believe an awesome enough AS wouldn't get cancelled as quickly - mainly if it would really ve captivating and all...
jtr7 on 1/1/2009 at 22:42
Of course, I had to go looking. It's a common misconception, so I have to make sure I hone in on the facts for myself. Just discovered the Rustmonkey site is gone, now. :(
Anyway, from an interview posted (
http://www.newenglandfilm.com/news/archives/04april/rustmonkey.htm)
Thu, 04/01/2004:
Quote:
How did you form RustMonkey?Thron: Brian
[White] and I worked together at the video gaming company. I was the creative director there, Brian was the senior artist, and we had been warned of each other's ridiculous egos! It turned out that we had hugely similar interests, and demanded the same things all the time, so when we worked there we got into a great partnership. When that company collapsed, we'd both been through a couple of companies collapsing, and had both grown tired of working for other people. There was too much we wanted to get done. So, we decided to go into business together about three and a half years ago
[2004.33 minus 3.5 equals late 2000/early 2001]. The gag is that we do all this stuff that we enjoy doing, like ad work, and animation. We want to take all the enormous profits from that and make our own actual movies, because we're nerds. We want to make better movies, movies that we'd like to see, like science fiction movies.
As far as I can tell, the only video-gaming company that lists Dan and Brian together is
The Adventure Company.
Commercial monies are fine, budgets are fine, sponsors making changes are not, studio heads catering to the sponsor lobby or not understanding the material are not. Since we know that the real threat is the powers-that-be choosing how to spend their money, suggesting changes, and putting a television show in a deadly time-slot, or a movie in a deadly month, or just not marketing the product well, I wouldn't ever expect a
Thief show to do well at all. It would seem like a Sam Raimi
Hercules/Xena ripoff, though highly experimental looking, but certainly I would hope it surpassed their quality and ability to engage viewers.:thumb:
Without specifics, it sounds possible and passable--especially in the mind, where it's great. :)
Petike the Taffer on 4/1/2009 at 01:08
Sure.
What I would like to see in a possible "Thief : TAS", would be delving a little deeper into the very character of Garrett as a person, and the years of his Keeper apprenticeship. Look, I really loved the way, how Nolan in Batman Begins showed us a believable and convincing vision of how B. Wayne became the legendary modern hero that is Batman... So, I would also want to see the same thing with Garrett... Not just "DA-DA-DAM, from urchin boy to Master Thief !" :p ;) Exploring Garrett's youth and personality and his early thieving career after leaving the Keepers could be very interesting... It would gradually bring us to the scattered episodic stories of the first TDP missions and the main plot of TDP would kick in somewhere in the middle or the start of the second third of the first season... Of course, the introductory episodes would have to be done in an appropriately captivating way, show some scattered references to the main story arc and set the whole tone of the show... familiarize the audience with the whole surreal fantasy universe of Thief.
That's my 2 cents. :)
jtr7 on 4/1/2009 at 01:31
You know, quite a lot of us would really like to see that. It's not necessary to the story, but it could be geeky fun. :)
We just feel a need to say we're not happy with the thought it would end up being rubbish.:laff:
So...how can we make sure it's not our fault if it were botched? I would think if it was done faithfully, it would show much more about the Keepers than Garrett. But, if it was written to get under Garrett's skin, then I think it would undermine the established story. It would have to impose drama and melancholy on Garrett to break him open and spill his secrets. I wouldn't want that. I like him as a wry, sardonic cynic with a single passion, who was always that way from having to live on the streets. I like him keeping his mind on the mission, never undermined or distracted by internal feelings, but using them to fulfill his short-term goals, if acknowledging them at all.
And now for something completely off-the-wall. What if the prematurely-aged Caduca, who saved his life on more than one occasion, was...his mother? :wot: :weird: :eek:
:cheeky:
Jarvis on 4/1/2009 at 04:04
I'd like to see this done live action, to be honest. I think if it had a chance at being successful it would have to be. That aside, as much as love the animated style of the original cut-scenes I think they'd get quickly "over done" and tiresome. No, I think live action is the way.
To me, the key is in how it was written. It's hard to make a show focus on one character, but triple as hard if that character is as solitary as Garrett. If you want a show about Thief to work, Garrett shouldn't be the main character. Nor should the Keepers even be revealed to begin with.
The trick would be to wrap the viewer into the world and factions of the Thief universe. Have the primary cast be a collection of thieves trying to break out of picking pockets and try to go "professional" by finding a reliable fence to start feeding them good jobs. I would choose thieves because they are neutral, and can have interactions with all other factions. They could bribe the City Watch. Maybe one member has a brother in the Hammers. Maybe one used to be a Pagan. They can be at odds with the Hand Brotherhood. It allows them to get caught in the middle between the Hammers and the Pagans, all the while trying to stay one step ahead of the City Watch and the City Wardens trying to control them and dip into their profits.
Once you have them well established, then you start introducing Garrett as a side character, who you barely see at first. Maybe he's after an object in the same mansion the main crew is trying to hit, or maybe they have a mutual fence and have a few run ins with him. Slowly, and I mean slowly, Garrett starts getting more and more screen time. It builds him as a "Boba Fett" character, allowing him to maintain his distant cynicism. He's around just enough for the viewer to like him and respect what he can do, but not quite enough that they fully understand him.
To give examples of similar type characters: Omar from: The Wire. Book from: Firefly. Jubal Early from: Firefly. Boba Fett himself. Titus Pollo and Lucious Vereno from: Rome. Riddick from: Pitch Black (and only Pitch Black).
"Bad ass" characters are almost always delivered the best when put against a strong cast of primary characters. If you put the Bad Ass in the spotlight, then the viewer feels as though the writer is just trying to sell how awesome the main character is. A story centered around Garrett would probably fall into this trap.
To make this happen, the main story of Thief would have to be altered, which is what I would prefer. It worked great for the video game media, but that doesn't mean it'll work in a TV series or a movie.
Herr_Garrett on 5/1/2009 at 15:44
Quote Posted by jtr7
And now for something completely off-the-wall. What if the prematurely-aged Caduca, who saved his life on more than one occasion, was...his mother? :wot: :weird: :eek:
Then Garrett would be able to read the prophecies and control Glyphs :p
Actually... I think you could choose one character from each faction - maybe, for DP, Constantine (for the sake of the plot strictly as Constantine, until he reveals himself, so nothing magical about him as yet), Artemus or Nate, naturally Garrett, and maybe the young Drept for the Hammers. I'd put my money on Drept and Artemus to maintain the coherency and continuity of the series - there are three
main stories, after all:D Also, changes would have to be implemented, and the City of DP revised in accordance with that of MA's and DS's.
Anyway, so if we have four main characters, then the whole thing could shown from more angles, with more explanation, and - that is the good part - more mystery. There is, I think, no need to make up more info than there is in the games anyway, just show it from than one point of view.
And to familiarise the audience with 'Thiefdom' - well, how about Garrett
actually pulling off the visit to the Hammer cathedral he wanted to do after buying stuff from Farkus? That way, we could percieve in one 'event' both the Hammers and Garrett, while parallely the construction of Constantine's mansion could be shown, with the Keepers info gathering about it (and, of course, their being flabbergasted about his appearence in the Propheticus [yes, I know it wasn't the Propheticus, but, hey, Americans would watch it, too :cheeky: :angel: ]). And so on...
