Elder Scrolls TV series or Movie

[lostlast]

Has this ever been talked about?
Would it work? Or what would work best.

There would be so many story lines to take, or so many to choose from. What would they cover?

There are books on the series right?
I think maybe a TV series would work.
I was just thinking out loud.



What is a horseshoe? What does a horseshoe do? Are there any horse socks? Is anybody listening to me?

[Dark Spark]

First things first: a horse shoe is what a horse wears when they have to walk on stone or whatnot. Keeps theirs nails (hooves) from chipping. Major bummer when that happens.
Not so Fun Fact: a 'tire' (or 'tyre') is so-named because it is the outer clothing or "attire" for a wheel.

On to the main topic:
You have to start small. Under recent discussions of current cinema, let me say this: the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie was the best because it was 'small'. The first Star Wars movie (Episode IV) worked because it was 'small'.

Storytellers call it the 'hook'. Soul-deprived Hollywood writers call it the 'pitch'. The second-most important of either is that it is interesting. The first-important aspect is that it is short.

You want to hook an audience on your Elder Scrolls-themed pitch? Interesting. And short. And I don't mean in that in screen time (well, maybe...) What I mean, is that you don't pull off a Peter Jackson and throw information dumps at the audience every sixty minutes in your seven-hour long three-film opus.

If you can't get the audience to stop munching their popcorn and have them stare agape at your story within the first twenty-five minutes, you're on uncertain road.

It's like why M&M's are so fun. Sure, you can have a huge bar of chocolate. But small lumps of it work as well, so long as you get plenty of it.

[The SheoDovah]

A film would be best due to the bigger budget involved but like all video game based films apart from the odd one, it would most likely [&@%!] on it's source material. A TV series would be best for a smaller more tighter plot and well, TES is not known for it's plot. It usually consists of you, hero, he evil, you defeat, you save world. And recently, seem to be obessed with having the chosen one cliche. But Game Of Thrones is said to have been a decent fantasy show so i suspect Bethesda could do a decent TES show if they had the budget or if they decided to do it either as an anime, a cartoon or live action. THat said, i suspect Bethesda has no intentions of doing a show anytime soon.

Personally, i would set it during the Oblivion Crisis and focus on the political side of things as well as the province trying to drive back the Daedra. Wouldn't do it during the dragons as well, that's already been done in fantasy shows.

[Alarra]

I've moved this to TES General; I think it fits here better because it's about The Elder Scrolls.

[dzio]

I would prefer the show. Otherwise there's too much of a risk of the thing becoming one huge exposition fest. There's just too much lore that needs to be at least briefly explained to make it work in a movie, even a long one. I don't see how anyone could give the vast source material justice in 120 minutes and I don't see anyone giving the creators funding for a LotR-like massive multi-part epic film.

I'd like it if someone figured a way to write a script that works like TES games do - to translate that organic growth and freedom of choice into a linear story. So no long exposition scenes, a lot of surprises, meticulous attention to detail, characters' choices driving the story (in directions that have little or nothing to do with genre cliches), great music and great visuals...

Okay, I should stop describing a slightly superior version of GoT now. But yeah, that's what I'd want to see, if someone decided to put TES on a different kind of screen - a GoT-like show, combining the wider political picture with the heroes' personal story, just a bit less scattered if possible.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

No. Just no to both. Maybe if it were animated by a respected studio, but live action? I can't see it going well.

[AngryNord]

Oh God, please... Just, no.

[dzio]

Pilaf, AngryNord - I'm curious, why the "oh hell NO" answers?

[Woodhouse]

If you did it, it would need to be a tv show so that necessary lore stuff could be fleshed out. I think the morrowind questline could make a good show, but it'd probally be best animated.

[Dark Spark]

Imagine if it were live-action. How would you see the Khajiit and Argonians portrayed?

[dzio]

The same way there are Orcs in LotR, Silurians in Doctor Who, Na'vi in Avatar and Irathients in Defiance? It's called special effects? I don't see that as a problem at all, we've had technology good enough to make this kind of show for at least a decade now.

[Dark Spark]

That's an answer. It's not a solution.

The solutions would be whether or not you use live actors with prosthetics, motion-capture a human actor with a decidedly humanoid gait, or do you go full-cgi for those fellows whose knees don't bend that way?

[Mod-Loving Wood Elf]

That's an answer. It's not a solution.

The solutions would be whether or not you use live actors with prosthetics, motion-capture a human actor with a decidedly humanoid gait, or do you go full-cgi for those fellows whose knees don't bend that way?

Argonians and Khajiit haven't had knees bending that way since Morrowind, if you're referring to their backwards joints and long-ankled gaits. In Oblivion and Skyrim, they were given more "humanoid" forms, if that's an okay way to say it. So a TV show could easily go with the Oblivion/Skyrim versions.

Also, have you seen Doctor Who? Have you seen the catfolk, and the amazing make-up for them? Look them up; they look kind of like Khajiit!

[dzio]

^And Silurians could be used as a proof that lizard-folk are perfectly doable, even on a somewhat low budget (relatively speaking).

Dark Spark - sorry, I thought you were saying "no way, there's no way to make Khajiit and Argonians in a live-action show/film". If you're looking for a specific answer, I suppose they'd have to go with a combination of human actors in prosthetics and CGI - the same way they do most Doctor Who creatures. They can get some pretty amazing results that way and not going full CGI is much less expensive, from what I understand.

[Kerr]

I'd much prefer that it would be its own story set in the universe rather than something based off any of the games. I'd probably prefer TV series. I mean I'd watch it sure, but I'm not itching for it or anything.

[DikaSmausha]

I wouldn't personally want it, but a TV series would better for it.