AdapNation: The Legend of Zelda TV Series

In which I make the case for film and TV adaptations, sequels and remakes.

Welcome to the premiere of AdapNation: an article series in which I argue the case for film and TV adaptations, sequels and remakes.  While I won't address anything that's currently in the works - like Warcraft or Wonder Woman - anything that's not been announced or is currently stuck in Developmental Hell is fair game.  And as luck would have it, I've had to scratch off two potential topics already, as plans for a Mulan remake and a Hawkgirl movie were just announced.  Still, every potential project that I can't discuss here can only be a good thing.

I figured that an apropos start to this series would be to discuss a project that seemed to get everybody excited, but was recently announced to not actually be in the works: a live-action Legend of Zelda TV series.  Nintendo has been understandably guarded about their intellectual property since they allowed that God-awful Super Mario Bros movie to go into production, but their reservations have prevented them from making use of a full library of cinematically viable properties.

Metroid, Mega Man, Star Fox and to a lesser degree Pokemon have been denied their chance to prove that themselves on the big screens.  The one that stands the best chance of making it big, however, is The Legend of Zelda.  And while Nintendo's denial wasn't strictly dismissing the possibility of such a project in the future, it did strike down the possibility that it was an idea that the company was moving forward with.

The timing for a series like this couldn't be any better.  Technology has finally caught up with the human imagination in its ability to physically render the heroes and monsters of our childhood.  Look at Gollum, Caesar or Rocket Raccoon.  All of these characters were possible because of advanced motion capture technology and look as perfectly real as anything surrounding them.  Dragons, Balrogs and Leviathans have all been convincingly rendered on screen, and all of them are creatures that Link is likely to square off against in a live-action adaptation of the series.

Furthermore, Fantasy as a genre has never been this mainstream nor this popular before.  The Lord of the Rings was so insanely popular that they turned The Hobbit - a relatively short children's book - into a trilogy.  Game of Thrones is the must watch TV show on the air right now, and that's on HBO.  Even Warcraft has been able to overcome the video game stigma and is set for a 2016 cinematic release.

The Legend of Zelda series boasts a massive host of entries, all of which are fraught with cinematic potential, dynamic characters and expansive stories.  The problem with adapting The Legend of Zelda into a movie is the inherent brevity of the medium when weighed against the inherent breadth of the games.  Link often has to fight through double digits worth of dungeons - sometimes across multiple dimensions or time lines - most of which would have to be cut out when limited to 90-120 minutes worth of screen time.

A TV series has the luxury of letting its story and characters breathe, however.  If it went for hour long episodes, then it would have upwards of 24 hours to tell its story, as opposed to 2.  This would allow for the full nuances of the games' stories to play out in full: every dungeon, every quest, every epic showdown.

A Legend of Zelda series could potentially adapt one game's worth of story per season, inherently giving it 17 seasons worth of stories from the start.  Since the series officially features multiple generations of Links over multiple time periods, the series could go into one of two directions.  It could either streamline the series' expansive canon into a single man's quest to save his kingdom and princess or it could split every season (or set of seasons) up into a technically different cast and story (ala American Horror Story).

Although die-hard Zelda fans will invariably hope for the latter, its the former that would best work in a television series, which primarily aims to develop dynamic characters over far-reaching stories.  In theory, you could start with the first season as an adaptation of the incessantly popular Ocarina of Time, which largely features Link as a child.  This can continue into its direct sequel, Majora's Mask, and then potentially lead into Link's Awakening, where he is caught in a storm and stranded on an island.  Between A Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds, Twilight Princess and the dozen other unnamed entries, it would be an expansive series with boundless narrative potential.

And remember, that's not even considering the possibility of original stories, nor adaptations of the franchise's spin off media (of which I'm especially fond of the comic that loosely adapted A Link to the Past).  Given to the right talent, there's absolutely no reason to expect the same mess that we got with Super Mario Bros.  Batman & Robin existing didn't keep Batman Begins from being awesome, nor did Ang Lee's Hulk prevent The Incredible Hulk from finding its stride.  And more to the point, Daredevil the movie won't keep Daredevil the series from working as its own story.

So would you watch a Legend of Zelda series?  If so, what stories would you want to see adapted as part of it?  Which ones should they simply leave alone?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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