Why a Warcraft Movie Won't Work for Most

WoWInsider's breakfast topic today got me thinking about movies based on stories (or games or other, etc). When it comes down to it, I just don't think any Warcraft movie would be very good...and this is the key point...according to Warcraft fans.

Does anyone remember that Harry Potter stuff? TANGENT: The 7th book came out HOW LONG AGO? And we're just now, this year, on the verge of finally getting the final movie? Too long to produce, peoples, there are some people who've completely forgotten about HP. Moving on.

Going back to HP & the Goblet of Fire (#4 book/movie), there was a lot of uproar among fans because there were significant changes and omissions from book to movie screen. Granted, the book was much longer than any previous book and therefore more difficult to adapt to the silver screen. There's always a necessity to cut out things from long books when making a movie, that's something that most people understand. But it doesn't mean that the fans of the book necessarily liked it. I'm not saying that fans didn't like the fourth movie, I'm saying that so much was changed or omitted from the fourth (and fifth, I may add) that some fans didn't receive those movies as well as the first three. The director has attempted to appease the fans by making two movies from book 7, to get in as much of the book as possible, so in the end people will leave fairly happy to see their boy hero portrayed as accurately as possible from how they recall him in the books.

The thing about the Warcraft franchise is that the stories are huge, made up of many, many more characters than Harry Potter ever was, and their story arcs are long and deep. Does anyone have any idea how much of the story that we all know is going to be necessarily omitted when they finally do make a movie? Answer: A lot more than HP movies combined. It's a fact, and I think will become a painful one as devoted Warcraft geeks glimpse those things they love fall by the wayside on the director room's cutting floor.

How many blogs or comments or whatever will we see saying something like:

"How could they leave out the story about XXXX or YYYY? ZZZZ clearly is important, every fan knows that, yet these stupid producers just don't have a clue and the movie is the worse for it."

I tell you now, so you're prepared, if there ever is a Warcraft movie made, it will receive more complaints and negative comments than positive ones, and mainly for the reasons I've listed. It will mostly be for all that's left out of the movie, which will make it more difficult for people to focues on the potential good things about it.

Don't tell me that that's never happened to you, where you read a book, then a movie is made from it, you go and see the movie and your brain can't help but make comparisons throughout the movie, sometimes ruining the experience for you, and complaining to your date or whomever on the way home about all the things "they got wrong".

Will I go see a Warcraft movie if it ever gets made? Probably. But hopefully I've learned enough and accepted the fact about story/book/game adaptation to the big screen that I won't want to complain about the omissions to this or that.

Heck, my favorite book in literature, Les Miserables, has had a movie and a broadway musical made about it and both omitt more than half, easily, of everything that Victor Hugo ever wrote in the UNABRIDGED/ORIGINAL version. I've accepted that and simply enjoy the entertainment for what it's worth.

But Warcraft fans are far more geeky and dedicated than someone who likes 19th century french literature. I know, it's just an opinion, but I've seen it happen to so many stories that have been adapted and made into movies, I think it's pretty clear what will happen this time around if a Warcraft movie is made.

If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, and I'd be happy to admit that. But I don't think I will be, and I'm sticking to it!

Call to Frolic!

The world needs more frolicers. Especially the World of Warcraft. Oh sure, you may debate that the world we play in is that of Warcraft, but the FACT is that every army this world has ever seen has set aside time to relax, have fun, let their hair down and maybe, just maybe frolic.

Let's take the Civil War (in the US) for an example. Has anyone ever seen the movie Glory? I'm probably older than most of you, but if you had any taste or sensibility you would find a way to watch this movie.

In short, it's the story of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry made up entirely of African-American men, except for the officers (the story is actually told from the perspective of the commanding officer, Colnel Robert Gould Shaw - a white dude). One of the iconic moments for me in the film is when the 54th is assembled after many long days of training around the troop's campfire. All of their stress, all of their worries, all of their trials and tribulations are absorbed in a musical and religious song - with periodic spoken statements of hope and faith by the soldiers.

Shaw relates in a letter to his father how amazing it is to him how the men can relax and laugh with each other so easily despite the difficult training and living conditions and the knowledge that many of them may very well meet their end one day. It's so easy for them to play games when the day's duties are over. Admittedly I don't recall any frolicing going on, but then again I wasn't actually alive to witness it. I like to think that somebody was having a frolic.

So after a raid, do you frolic? Before a raid, to get your mind free and clear for what will soon become havoc and confusion, do you frolic? Please dont' say "I need to focus before a fight" or "after a raid I just need to sleep". Please! To frolic is to release, to relax one's mind and free it from worry and stress. You will sleep much better if you run around the woods spawning lifebloom and singing to the deer. Not only that but it will make you smile.

You've got to try it, at least once. Frolic! Do something impulsive, merry, fun! Run around singing Phantom of the Opera or reciting Emerson or bellowing out Nirvana, I don't care. Just Frolic!

If, after you've tried it you don't feel better I will guarantee a refund of all your morose, melancholy, moody, stressed out feeling free of charge. I dare say that if frolicing doesn't improve your mood, you probably deserve to feel stressed out and tired. So good luck with that!

As for Glory, don't watch it thinking it will make you frolic, but it's still one of the greatest movies ever made. I fell in love with Denzel Washington because of that movie. But what the 54th teaches us I challenge you to do. When your job of raiding or dailies or randoms is over, take time to relax and enjoy the world around you. Take time each day to frolic...it'll be the best 2 minutes of your day.

Hooray for frolicing!