Do Make Say Think
& Yet & Yet
- Jun 26, 2007
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Russo brothers to produce Netflix show based on Magic: the Gathering
- Thread starter Do Make Say Think
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Tawnos
A guy with a bass
f*** yes.
Though it's mostly a card game, MTG has a hugely rich story background to it, a lot of which blends fantasy and sci-fi. I stopped following it after a major stopping point (similar to Endgame), which was about 9 or 10 books deep. I'm hoping that's the arc the Russos want to tackle.
Edit: you should change the title of the article. They're not directing... they're executive producers.
Though it's mostly a card game, MTG has a hugely rich story background to it, a lot of which blends fantasy and sci-fi. I stopped following it after a major stopping point (similar to Endgame), which was about 9 or 10 books deep. I'm hoping that's the arc the Russos want to tackle.
Edit: you should change the title of the article. They're not directing... they're executive producers.
Do Make Say Think
& Yet & Yet
- Jun 26, 2007
- 51,167
- 9,909
I can't imagine the show focusing on the Brother's War or any of the old school story lines unfortunately. That being said, the recent arc that concluded with War of the Spark was pretty cool and offers good potential that couldn't be fully realized on just the cards (I have not read the novel).
Good call on the Russo Bros. producing. I got pretty excited a bit too fast
Tawnos
A guy with a bass
I can't imagine the show focusing on the Brother's War or any of the old school story lines unfortunately.
Good call on the Russo Bros. producing. I got pretty excited a bit too fast
Just judging from the synopsis of stuff that came after, the Urza/Phyrexian Invasion storyline is easily the most compelling. Given their age, old school storylines might appeal to them.
But the line "The animated series will revolve around the magic-wielding Planeswalkers" makes me think you're probably right, since a large portion of that arc takes place with Urza as the only planeswalker character.
Do Make Say Think
& Yet & Yet
- Jun 26, 2007
- 51,167
- 9,909
Old walkers (Urza, Serra, Freyalise etc...) were essentially god-like so they wouldn't make great characters: they could do almost anything.
The Mending was an event that de-powered them (Time Spiral block) and gave us the current crop of planeswalkers. They will definitely focus on them, they are the current face of the game: Chandra, Liliana, Jace etc...
Tawnos
A guy with a bass
Being so powerful is exactly what made those planeswalkers so compelling at characters in a story though. How do they handle the power? How does it make them mad, since it always did in one way or another? How do they work with the non-planeswalkers surrounding them and what do those people end up like? That last is the central reason behind my user name, actually, because this kind of thing gives you a really deep and interesting character like Tawnos (even though Urza wasn’t yet a planeswalker when he was around).
God-like planeswalkers are the thing that set the MTG storylines apart from other more standard fantasy stuff that had wizards of one kind or another and made it interesting.
We will see what they do. Either way it should be interesting.
Do Make Say Think
& Yet & Yet
- Jun 26, 2007
- 51,167
- 9,909
I don't disagree but that sounds like those being influenced would be the focus of the story, not the planeswalkers.
Old Walkers could create entire worlds/planes: this makes them very hard to challenge and thus not the greatest protagonists. You could do some cool stuff in how near-unlimited power and immortality affects them but that isn't something you can make a series out of unfortunately. Protagonists have to be challenged to be compelling.
This is for mainstream appeal. I don't think WotC is interested in making high-brow storylines just yet
Tawnos
A guy with a bass
I don't disagree but that sounds like those being influenced would be the focus of the story, not the planeswalkers.
Old Walkers could create entire worlds/planes: this makes them very hard to challenge and thus not the greatest protagonists. You could do some cool stuff in how near-unlimited power and immortality affects them but that isn't something you can make a series out of unfortunately. Protagonists have to be challenged to be compelling.
This is for mainstream appeal. I don't think WotC is interested in making high-brow storylines just yet
I mean, they already did it by making Urza both a protagonist and an antagonist simultaneously, as well as facing a "big bad" type of external threat throughout. And I think you can do it in a series. It took Urza 2 books to get over his madness (though it could easily be argued that he just moved into a different madness). How many episodes would that bring you? Just for comparison, Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett's book Good Omens was just made into a mini-series that was 6 1 hr episodes long. That's one book. It's totally doable to turn it into a series. And look, in those early books, Urza is a central character, but after the Brother's War stories really focused on the people around him or the people who were the result of his machinations. Those would be characters like Xantcha, Barrin, Jhoira, Karn, Rayne, Gatha, and Gerard (who then had his own surrounding cast).
This kind of thing, in my opinion, is what would make an MTG show unique in the sci-fi fantasy genre. The basis for it is already there. Almost in a West Wing sort of way, where the story is about the President and the challenges he faces, but is as equally about his staffers. But I guess in that sense, maybe the idea is too high-brow
And like we mentioned... if they're talking about it revolving around the planeswalkers, it's not going to be them in the old-style.
