I recently watched the two part mini-series, The Colour of Magic. This series is based off of Terry Pratchett’s comic novel by the same name. Let me just start off by saying as an aspiring art director, I want to shake the hands of whoever designed the sets. They were amazeballs. The production designer must have gone above and beyond the call of duty. It was obviously a low budget production with mid 80s special effects but that just added to the charm. What I liked most about this mini-series: The story, strong characters, and media crossing potential.
- The story. This was one of the more unique stories I have learned about in this course because it isn’t unique at all. Imagine all your run of the mill fantasy archetypes. Dragons, swords stuck in the ground, evil bad guys. Now imagine all of them with the most hilarious and awesome spins and viola! You have The Colour of Magic. It takes tried and true stories and motifs and makes them fresh again. Which isn’t nearly as easy as one might assume.
- Strong characters. I think character development in this story plays a very important role for not just the main characters, but a lot of the supporting roles go through many dynamic and obvious changes. This is most apparent at the Unseen University (Which in itself is paradoxical. Wizards –The pinnacle of intelligence and their barbaric hierarchy system.) After you watch it you’ll understand what I mean. I don’t want to give anything away here. Teehee.
-Media crossing potential. The two points I stated above blew me away but I also believe that this story has great media crossing potential. What I mean by that is it wont only appeal to TV driven story goers, but also gamers and readers. For starters, it was already based off of a great comic novel so it has that appeal to readers. Also, in 2009 a game came out by the name of Trine. Trine is a puzzle game with an over-the-top fantasy setting. I couldn’t help but see parallels between the two even though they tell completely different stories in completely different mediums.
To end this blog post I’ll leave you with something short and sweet. The Colour of Magic is awesome. It’s on Netflix, (for now.) Go watch it.
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