A new trailer of the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones has been released, this time showing several scenes and giving a good impressions of the look and feel of the series.
The TV show is based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and by the looks of the trailer, the production of the television series is well underway and on the right track!
The trailer
Official Game of Thrones website.
Universal Pictures has released a so-called restricted trailer for an upcoming fantasy comedy movie called Your Highness. The theater release of the movie is scheduled for April 8, 2011.
It may not get up to the list of best fantasy movies but by judging by the trailer, Your Highness will be a very funny movie. And that is quite something, because humorous fantasy is a very rare phenomenon on the screen.
The movie tells the story the arrogant prince Thadeous (played by Danny McBride) and his brother, the heroic Fabious (played by James Franco) who, against their will, depart on an epic quest in order to save their father’s kingdom while falling in love wil a warrior princess (played by Natalie Portman).
HD trailer:
20th Century Fox has released a new trailer for the latest movie in the The Chronicles of Narnia series, called The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
With Peter studying and Susan travelling, the youngest Pevensie children Edmund and Lucy, together their cousin Eustace, enter Narnia through a painting and end up helping King Caspian find the seven banished lords of Narnia.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be in theaters on December 10, 2010.
The new trailer:
The first trailer:
Created in 1986 and having sold about 60 million copies since, Zelda is one of the major game series of Nintendo and one of the best and most popular fantasy game series ever made.
The setting is classical high fantasy with a storyline revolving around magic, gods and artifacts.
The main character Link is an elf-like character who, throughout the games, is continuously trying to save Princess Zelda and/ or looking for pieces of the Triforce in order to prevent evil forces from taking over the world.
Type of game & Popularity
The Zelda games are best described as action-adventures. There is a lot of exploring to be done but puzzle and riddle solving also plays a fair part. It is the combination between action and puzzles that attracts so many people both in Asia and in Europe and the US. Also contributing to the popularity are the charismatic setting and atmosphere of the games and the great music that is used.
Many Zelda games have been made over the last 15 years and most of these games, especially the original The Legend of Zelda, are considered to be among the best games ever made. The latest Zelda game “The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword” is expected for 2011.
List of Zelda games
The list below shows the official Zelda games that were published over the years. However, many spin-offs and remakes were also made.
The Legend of Zelda – 1986
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link -1987
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past – 1991
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening – 1993
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – 1998
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask – 2000
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages – 2001
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons – 2001
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker – 2002
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures – 2004
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap – 2004
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess – 2006
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass – 2007
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks – 2009
The Farseer Trilogy is fantasy series written by Robin Hobb, one of the few successful female fantasy authors. It consists of the novels Assassin’s Apprentice, Royal Assassin, and Assassin’s Quest.
It is a pretty classic story with a hero who at first is quite insignificant and becomes more and more important but it is written well and has original elements, which is why it is in my list of favorite fantasy series.
Story
The series tells the tale of a nameless, young boy, the bastard son of Prince Chivalry, who gets the name Fitz (or FitzChivalry). He makes a pact with his grandfather, king Shrewd, to get shelter and safety in turn for absolute loyalty.
Fitz is taught the ways of an assassin and puts his telepathic Skills to use by defending the kingdom of the Six Duchies throughout the three novels against the Red-Ship Raiders and political ploys at the court.
Style & Themes
Robin Hobb, perhaps because she is a woman, puts a lot of emotion in her writing and the main characters in her books really come to life and develop themselves throughout the series. I believe this is one of the main reasons why her books are that popular and why she is on the list of best fantasy authors.
The story does contain action and magic but is also very much focused at political ploys and intrigues. The focus on character building and the relatively minor role of magic clearly makes The Farseer Trilogy as a more low fantasy series than a high fantasy one.
Conclusion
The Farseer series may not be very action-oriented, but it is well written, has great story lines and plot twists and very solid character building. Hobb has written several other major series like The Liveship Traders Trilogy and The Tawny Man Trilogy but The Farseer Trilogy remains my favorite.
Produced by the BBC, the TV series Merlin tells the classic story of Arthur and the knights of the round table. However, it centers around Merlin in his younger years. The series started in 2008 and a third season has been ordered by the BBC. Merlin is one of the more popular and successful fantasy television series around.
Story
The young Merlin (in the series Merlin is about the same age as Arthur) lives in Camelot is a land where magic is banned. Merlin finds out he has magical powers but and a dragon tells Merlin that it is his destiny to keep Arthur save. Merlin continues to work as Arthur’s manservant but has to hide his abilities for fear of imprisonment or worse by king Uther.
Other Arthurian characters like Morgana (daughter of the king who can see the future and slowly turns evil) and Guinevere (her handmaid with whom Arthur falls in love) also play important parts in the series.
Style and themes
The series is focused on a relatively young audience. It contains humor generally has good story lines and also good acting performances, which is important as the show is mainly character driven. On the other hand, the story doesn’t go that deep but that is understandable for a series that is also focused on children and teenagers.
The visual effects are somewhat poorly done but then again, that is not what the series is about. It is an entertaining, light-hearted series that does contain quite a bit of morality as can be expected from this kind of heroic fantasy.
Conclusion
Merlin is produced by the BBC and like most of their productions the show is quite good. I’m not that much of a fan myself but I can understand this television series being a success.
The New Zealand government has made a deal with the producers of the fantasy movie The Hobbit to have the movie shot in their country. But not everyone agrees with the way this has been achieved.
New Zealand, mainly known for its incredible number of sheep, was also the setting for the Lord of the Rings movies. Besides the publicity and the resulting influence on tourism, the country also expects an impulse in the economy resulting from everything involved in filming and producing the movie. A total amount of 670 million Dollar is reportedly at stake.
However, Warner Bros wanted tax benefits and modifications of the labor law before agreeing to filming in New Zealand. The government agreed to this, resulting in a tax benefit of 7.5 million Dollar and several law changes.
Understandably, not all New Zealanders are happy about this, which resulted in a lot of criticism in the press and some serious discussions in the New Zealand parliament.
Nonetheless, Prime Minister John Key agreed to the changes and benefits, so The Hobbit will be made in the settings we have come to identify with Middle-earth!
When will The Hobbit be made?
There have been many doubts in the past but it is starting to look like the filming of The Hobbit will really start in the near future and the movie will be in theatres late 2012. I will provide more details on this somewhere in the coming weeks.
