The Malazan Fallen discussion

One thing is irrefutable. The Malazan series is seriously underrated. There is literally no exposure. Some people stumble upon it when looking for a fantasy series or as in my case a series similar to GOT.

GOT book sales were outrageously boosted by the arrival of the TV series. Up to that point I am sure there were fans of the books all over the globe but the arrival of the TV series saw an unprecedented level of imminent interest in the series. To be fair, the GOT TV series are brilliant. It is currently the second highest rated series in IMDB.

So if GOT can achieve such success, then what does that mean for the Malazan? I have read all 5 books of GOT and it is good but not extraordinary. The Malazan series on the other is well, there is no other word for it but EPIC. I have never read such an awe-inspiring, soul-stirring, majestically crafted series ever. The genius of Erikson is unparallelled, atleast in this era.

Imagine if you could get to see all your favorite characters on video? Unstoppable Karsa, unconquerable Icarium, Anomander and his Dragnipur, Kalam the bull, funny but wise Kruppe, Whiskeyjack the leader and the list goes on. I sure would love that.

However all this is a far-fetched wish. The Malazan series might one day find itself as a TV series if someone realizes its true potential else. But my biggest hope is the books are read by as many fantasy lovers as possible. It would be totally worth it. Erikson has given us maybe the crown jewel of high fantasy in this era and I fervently wish for its recognition.

Jude wrote: "One thing is irrefutable. The Malazan series is seriously underrated. There is literally no exposure. Some people stumble upon it when looking for a fantasy series or as in my case a series similar..."

A line of thought that has been mirrored by most Malazan fans and asked by many.

I gave up on GRRM long ago when he decided to take a 10 year hiatus in writing the series and the fact that he really has no love or respect for his fans. That said, Game of Thrones translates to the small screen so well because that is how GRRM writes, his background is TV script writing.

Malazan Books of the Fallen is too big for TV or film in my not so humble opinion. Too many characters and the whole aspect of dropping the reader (viewer) into the middle of the mess would not go over well with the masses.

The only way I can see any of this happening is by going back to the original screenplay that became Gardens of the Moon and just having the show take place in the world setting with limited characters. Unfortunately, that would only appeal to Malazan fans and likely not hold the interest of the masses.

Not many fantasy shows survive. GRRM's biggest criticism is also his biggest appeal, and that is his willingness to off characters. The show also plays up the roles of many of the females. Daenarys gets way more face time in the show then she does in the books.

So to end the rant, would love it, don't ever see it happening unfortunately.

I agree with Zayne. I also think it's too high fantasy to hook mainstream audiences. Game of Thrones is fantasy but it's familiar and easily accessible. Malazan is so complex and so intelligent that I think it would turn viewers off. Their loss, obviously.

I don't think there's a TV budget in existence that could do justice to Malazan. Too many sophisticated special effects would be required. One reason GoT adapts so well to TV is that there is comparatively little magic, and only really dragons as non-human characters (CGI works well for the dire wolves).

I think it would work as an anime. Maybe in the style of the final fantasy spirits within movie.

Anime makes me think of whashisname, Matsuki? The one who did Howls Moving Castle, Spirited Away. But there's so much philosophy even something like wouldn't be able to capture the interior aspect that a book can,

So wtf I can't edit on my iPhone? Should be something like that...

CGI wise you would need a movie budget, but it would take normally 2-3 tv seasons to cover the later books and they wouldn't have the money for the effects...

...or the actors. The Marines alone would need a format like Band of Brothers or The Pacific.
And the cast would be way too big. There are characters that would need to pause for a few seasons, but need to be bound by contract to re-appear, cause they play a bigger role later on.
The only thing to avoid this would be to let all plot lines from Genabackis, 7 Cities and Lether run parallel, which would lead to time consistency issues as well and would -again- be way too big.

It's just too big on any scale and every half-assed attempt to just cut out one piece and make it happen would ruin the complexity.

It might be done by a really dedicated anime-team, cause they have series with a couple of hundred episodes, so the scale might be possible.
But most of that shows have a smaller cast and you would still need to cast a ton of reocurring voice actors.

Whenever these discussions come up, my idea is always the same. It should be made as a Muppet movie. I see GoTM for example with Kermit playing Ganoes, and Ms. Piggy as Tattersail. Rake,of course, is The Count.

Duffy wrote: "Whenever these discussions come up, my idea is always the same. It should be made as a Muppet movie. I see GoTM for example with Kermit playing Ganoes, and Ms. Piggy as Tattersail. Rake,of cours..."

Duffy, you made my night!

Mpauli wrote: "CGI wise you would need a movie budget, but it would take normally 2-3 tv seasons to cover the later books and they wouldn't have the money for the effects...

...or the actors. The Marines alone w..."

Its a good idea about making it into an anime series.
But I think if handled properly it could make a good Tv show as well. After all there is a lot of interest in fantasy right now and GOT has proved that TV directors can do a good job when handling epic fantasy.

I think its always a challenge to convert any fantasy fiction to fit into a screenplay which is not even 10% in length of the actual book. What's more challenging is giving justice to the book. For example take Harry Potter, fitting the whole book in a movie of 2 hours. I don't know how did they manage to do it. But as a book reader I never liked the television adaptation of any book I've read (Even Lord of the rings, Although I loved it for different reasons all together). I watched first few episodes of Game of Thrones and I didn't enjoy them at all as I've read the books. But there is whole bunch of alot of people out there who didn't know about Game of thrones before the television series, but now they really love it. Their version of Game of thrones is different from the book readers version of Game of thrones but both these groups love their version very much.

So my point is if Malazan series ever gets adapted into a movie(assuming each book is a movie of 6-7 hours :P ) or a television series, there will be people who will love watching it. And as a Malazan fan I would really love to see that happen.

since Gardens actually started out as a screenplay, there must be a copy of it lying around somewhere!

Though it would be sensational if done correctly not even HBO would have the budget, innovation, or talent to pull this piece of material off. First off i know many people thrown off by GOT intricate plot and its expansive assortment of characters and geography and Malazans plot is 100X more intricate and it has many characters weaving in between books. Also in terms of budget with all the magic, demons, and all that other good stuff i guarantee you would be looking at about 10 or so times the budget of any tv show just based on the amount of CGI that would need to be used which i gurantee you would be needed on most episodes.

To do this they would have to cut storylines and marginalize these great books so even if it were made then i probobly wouldnt watch it out of respect to the work. Some things should stay on the page and this is one of them

They already filmed Book 2... only, they called it Battlestar Galactica.

If somebody does decide to make a show out of these books( bad decision IMO) I bet netflix would be the best option to pull it off

Stan wrote: "They already filmed Book 2... only, they called it Battlestar Galactica."

Haha. Great observation.

That would be so great. I would absolutely love a TV Show for Malazan. Game of Thrones is my favorite show and I think Malazn could be equally as good if the right people did it. It has boundless potential.

I think a Malazan TV show would never be able to satisfy the readers. I'm only in book 2 but it's so full of history/information, translating that to television would be impossible.

I see a lot of Game of Thrones fans who read the books having problems with certain developments in the series. I can only imagine how much worse that would be with Malazan.

Actually, TV writers would have two problems to deal with at the same time. What information to eliminate. And what to reveal that Erikson keeps hidden. We fans would probably object to both, but they would really be necessary for TV.

On some things, they would have to give away the delayed reveal. How would you hide that Karsa was Shaik's Toblakai guard?

And imagine the revolt when each new season starts with a totally new set of characters.

Actually, there was talk for a while about making a standalone movie of the Chain of Dogs, but it doesn't seem to have come to anything. It would be great, but you'd need to cut one or two of the battles along the Chain for budget/time reasons.

I recently re-read Dust of Dreams as preparation before reading The Crippled God (I haven't finished that one), and thinking: Man, If I have endless supply of money, I would make the whole Malazan mythology into an anime TV series taking hundreds of episodes and put it in youtube! This book is perfect for anime in the like of Cowboy Bebop, Ninja Scrolls, and Ghost in The Shell!

1 book could probably take like 2 seasons with all the different characters. This thread has made me think about writing a tv script for this series. Any ideas on where to start? This is just for fun mind you. I am not a tv writer but who knows what will come of it.

I want a TV show that is based solely on the Crimson Guard for the 1st season which paints the Malazans as utter bastards. We can then bring the Malazans in for season 2.

Me and a friend also want a pre empire tv show set solely in Ammanas' tavern. We would pitch to the TV execs as Cheers meets GoT.

Mikeiwo wrote: "Jude wrote: "One thing is irrefutable. The Malazan series is seriously underrated. There is literally no exposure. Some people stumble upon it when looking for a fantasy series or as in my case a s..."




why do you think GRRM has no respect for fans?

Bas wrote: "I think a Malazan TV show would never be able to satisfy the readers. I'm only in book 2 but it's so full of history/information, translating that to television would be impossible.

I see a lot o..."

Totally agree. Reading the 10 books once isn't enough for readers, definitely the TV series will not satisfy fans. The Malazan series will be a nightmare for anyone that wants to adapt it for TV. What characters should be excluded, how much of the story be simplified without it losing its essence. How many seasons should it be, 10, 15, or 20? Who will play Karsa Orlong, Dancer or Tehol Beddict's role satisfactorily? That said, I would still like to see a TV network and director make an attempt.

I'd rather see an original story, so they can introduce the races, gods and so on at their own leisure, don't have to cast a couple hundred actors and it wouldn't confuse the heck out of non readers.

That being said, I don't want a TV series at all. Just keep new novels coming.

They did reduce a significant amount of plot lines and character for the GOT tv series and have made gradual diversions from the books. My biggest gripe is how they fk up Dorne. But some of the shifts away from the books do work. And GRRM is so slow....

I've always envisioned an all animated show but more akin to beowulf. That would look incredible and it would still draw a large audience if done well.

You get around actor availability if it's animated.

Do the animated series in the style of Frank Frazetta and people will watch it worldwide!! But it would cost a zillion dollars

I think they would have to dumb it down if they want the mass audience appeal. While some scenes would be amazing I'm not sure some of the empathy would translate. Part of SE's appeal is character interspection which would also be tough to portray. Do you narrate that, change it to spoken word or have a constant flow of muffled speech to give the message that it's a character's thoughts?