The Chronicles of Prydain

[Eegah]

I recently started this series, and I've been gobbling it down like popcorn. Lloyd Alexander had a true gift for dialogue, and even if the stories weren't as great as they are, it would be a treat just to watch these characters chat with each other. It's also quite fun to see how obviously Star Wars was inspired by these guys even if AFAIK Lucas has never cited it as such. I mean, you've got the farm boy, the more experienced fighter, the wise old master, the princess, the snooty complainer, the really hairy thing, and the smaller one who doesn't speak normally and carries important secrets. Highly recommended to anyone who hasn't read them, and I very much look forward to Disney's upcoming live action adaptations after their first attempt The Black Cauldron was such a disaster three decades ago.

[Athena]

I really enjoyed this series as a kid. It was my second complete fantasy series after Chronicles of Narnia. The ending of this series is a bit more interesting and I remember being fond of "Taran the Wanderer" too. I am glad Disney is going try them again which makes me want to reread the books.

[proserpina65]

I love these books and tend to re-read them every couple of years.  But I dread having Disney take another shot at turning them into films after the abomination that was their last attempt.  I wish it was someone like the BBC doing multi-part adaptions instead.

(Edited to note that their recent live action version of The Jungle Book does raise my hopes slightly on this front.)

Edited June 3, 2016 by proserpina65

[TheGreenKnight]

I haven't read these since I was a child, but I always wished Disney would make a live-action series of these since they had the rights. This and the announcement of an adaptation of The Lost Years of Merlin have me itching to re-read both book series now.

[Eegah]

From what I've been able to find, Lloyd Alexander's own opinion on the Black Cauldron movie was pretty much "It's nothing like my story, but it's a pretty good story in itself." Mostly I was just outraged at what they did to Gurgi.

[ulkis]

On 6/1/2016 at 11:01 AM, Eegah said:

I recently started this series, and I've been gobbling it down like popcorn. Lloyd Alexander had a true gift for dialogue, and even if the stories weren't as great as they are, it would be a treat just to watch these characters chat with each other. It's also quite fun to see how obviously Star Wars was inspired by these guys even if AFAIK Lucas has never cited it as such. I mean, you've got the farm boy, the more experienced fighter, the wise old master, the princess, the snooty complainer, the really hairy thing, and the smaller one who doesn't speak normally and carries important secrets. Highly recommended to anyone who hasn't read them, and I very much look forward to Disney's upcoming live action adaptations after their first attempt The Black Cauldron was such a disaster three decades ago.

ooooh, they're going to have a live action version?? That's cool.

I honestly don't think the cartoon version is a disaster though. Not amazing, but it was fine. I agree with what LA said here:

On 6/5/2016 at 6:13 PM, Eegah said:

From what I've been able to find, Lloyd Alexander's own opinion on the Black Cauldron movie was pretty much "It's nothing like my story, but it's a pretty good story in itself." Mostly I was just outraged at what they did to Gurgi.

And I find Gurgi equally annoying in both mediums, so that was just six of one half dozen of the other for me. 

On 6/3/2016 at 1:26 PM, proserpina65 said:

I love these books and tend to re-read them every couple of years.  But I dread having Disney take another shot at turning them into films after the abomination that was their last attempt.  I wish it was someone like the BBC doing multi-part adaptions instead.

(Edited to note that their recent live action version of The Jungle Book does raise my hopes slightly on this front.)

I'm not worried (well, mostly not), the fact that they're re-doing it shows they probably know to skew closer to the books.

[proserpina65]

13 hours ago, ulkis said:

ooooh, they're going to have a live action version?? That's cool.

I honestly don't think the cartoon version is a disaster though. Not amazing, but it was fine. I agree with what LA said here:

And I find Gurgi equally annoying in both mediums, so that was just six of one half dozen of the other for me. 

I'm not worried (well, mostly not), the fact that they're re-doing it shows they probably know to skew closer to the books.

I will confess to not having liked 99% of the movies Disney has made since the 1960s, so that does color my view.

[ulkis]

20 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

I will confess to not having liked 99% of the movies Disney has made since the 1960s, so that does color my view.

Not even Robin Hood? That one's the best! ;)

[proserpina65]

19 hours ago, ulkis said:

Not even Robin Hood? That one's the best! ;)

Well, yeah, I love that one, and a lot of the stuff they did IN the 60s, both animated and live action.  But since then, not so much.

[TheGreenKnight]

I've been re-reading these. I'm near the middle of The High King (and then I'll read the short stories). Even though I enjoy them as books, somehow I think they could be difficult to translate to film, particularly the fourth book--if they were to get that far without dropping the series, like they did The Chronicles of Narnia. I could actually see this working better as a trilogy in the right hands, cutting here and there while condensing elsewhere. I hope they find a perfect Eilonwy. She's easily my favorite character. Another reason to condense, since she's mostly off-screen for the third book and absent entirely from the fourth, which I've always found disappointing.