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Post by DonDueed on Feb 2, 2020 21:10:11 GMT
We're all excited about the possibility of a Gunnerkrigg Court animated series, but how excited should we really be? We've all seen adaptations go haywire (Last Airbender movie, anyone?). So what should we expect from this potential project?
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Post by migrantworker on Feb 2, 2020 22:18:22 GMT
I suspect the animated series will be quite different from comic canon in terms of plotline, depending mostly on the age of the eventual target audience, and also because 'a show whose plot you can read months in advance on some website' makes less sense as a business case. But world mechanics will probably be either basically the same, or very different.
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Post by Eversist on Feb 3, 2020 4:01:26 GMT
I wanted a "I have no idea what's going to happen" option in the poll.  I touched on this in the other thread, but I think there's a real chance it'll be pretty different. Someone else in the other thread mentioned the possibility of having many "adventure of the week" types of episodes (more like the beginning of the comic, and maybe we'd hear more about this cursed teapot) with hints at overarching plot in the background (Adventure Time). Actual episode length could be short like Steven Universe or Adventure Time (which are on TV so it's a little different with having to allow for commercial time), which would lend itself well to the adventure-a-week method mentioned above. For GC though I think I'd prefer longer episodes. I wouldn't necessarily expect the chapters to correspond directly to episodes, though. Like... Jones' chapter that explains what she is (or... doesn't, hah) could be over two or three episodes, easily, and could be really cool. When Annie/Jack end up in Zimmingham, that could stretch out longer as well. It also depends on how many seasons they think it might get; being able (or having to) stretch the plot across many seasons, or having to cut many plot lines due to fewer seasons would have a big impact on the actual projected content of the show. Whatever it's like, I really hope it keeps the same sense of humor.  |
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Post by madjack on Feb 3, 2020 7:25:28 GMT
Also sitting in the 'no idea what will happen' camp. It's way too early to tell if anything will eventuate and I do not want to get my hopes up.
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Post by jda on Feb 3, 2020 8:42:03 GMT
More like "what do I expect from GKC animated", I'd rather say that I'd see more marketable an approach like what they did with the Witcher books - series, including several non-canon materials, like Paz's background, Tom's Zimmy's latent stories, etc.
I mean, TW books tales are not in a particular order and not an easily guess-able main plotline, and the series kind of adapted it following several timelines concurrently.
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Post by csj on Feb 3, 2020 9:02:13 GMT
Since it's in the Option stage, there's basically no guarantees or limitations to what an animated GKC could be or even that it will happen, since if the people Tom's given the Option to can't make a deal, then the license to make an animated GKC expires... presumably.
Given how long it takes to make an animated show initially, we can probably expect the first few seasons to stick closer to the source material*, especially since GKC has a rather straightforward cast that doesn't really need to be messed with. Only if the show succeeds and starts to outpace Tom's comic buffer would there need to be massive deviations. At that point, we can expect it to become more like how Game Of Thrones branched off in its own direction.
*Assuming execs and the like are comfortable with the narrative and don't decide to chase a trend or make it fit their perceived core demographics (etc).
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Post by Druplesnubb on Feb 3, 2020 9:35:22 GMT
I picked "other" because while I'm uncertain if this project ever gets made, I can't dismiss the idea that it will, and even if it won't there have been less successful webcomics adapted into animated form so I think that now that Tom has gotten his foot in there might be other studios willing to buy the license if this project fails.
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Post by Per on Feb 3, 2020 15:09:36 GMT
and also because 'a show whose plot you can read months in advance on some website' makes less sense as a business case. There are plenty of manga adaptations though that are faithful almost panel-to-panel. |
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Post by Gemini Jim on Feb 3, 2020 16:02:12 GMT
and also because 'a show whose plot you can read months in advance on some website' makes less sense as a business case. There are plenty of manga adaptations though that are faithful almost panel-to-panel. The pacing of Gunnerkrigg is a little different from a manga. The first chapter is basically, Annie builds a robot and releases it. That would be OK. This most recent chapter is, Annie negotiates with the elves, gets confronted by Paz and talks to Zimmy. EDIT: Anime pacing depends upon the source material. Most are from manga. "One Piece," "Naruto," "Fairy Tail," etc. That's where you get the stereotypical "on the next action-packed episode of Dragonball Z!!!" There is also the yonkoma, or four-panel manga. "Azumanga" and "K-On!" are these. Can be a bit choppy if panel-to-panel. And then there is the light novel. "Haruhi Suzumiya." Very long-winded when it needs to be. That might be where later chapters of "Gunnerkrigg" would fit. |
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Post by wies on Feb 3, 2020 16:31:03 GMT
Yeah, the pacing of GKC is pretty unique. Like, this chapter started with some fall-out between Paz and Kat, then a discussion with the Faeries whether they should move to the Court, then Paz returns with an airing of griefs against the Annies about the detoriating of their relationship only for Zimmy to intervene and now we are talking about the specifics of the magic in Gunnerverse. Tom's chapters tend to handle more than one relationship, at least.
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Post by migrantworker on Feb 3, 2020 17:18:29 GMT
and also because 'a show whose plot you can read months in advance on some website' makes less sense as a business case. There are plenty of manga adaptations though that are faithful almost panel-to-panel. I think it's a matter of size of the already existing fandom. I mean, Lord of the Rings film trilogy also followed the plot of the book trilogy quite closely - but it's a classic of English literature which has been read by millions. It was an obligatory read in my high school, and I wasn't even born in an Anglophone country. Gunnerkrigg Court, as much as we enjoy it... is not in the same league. |
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Post by Per on Feb 3, 2020 21:36:35 GMT
Well, that takes care of the "everybody might have read it" problem?
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Post by bgb16999 on Feb 3, 2020 22:44:26 GMT
I think it will be a lose adaption. Not because of fear that the audience might be familiar with the source material: there are faithful TV adaptions of books that a lot more people have read than Gunnerkrigg Court. Rather, I am basing this prediction on the quote
Making it attractive to a big publisher means making changes to satisfy the whims of producers and executives.
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Post by migrantworker on Feb 4, 2020 0:41:36 GMT
Well, that takes care of the "everybody might have read it" problem? If only I could be so sure. I suspect that film adaptations of popular vs. niche stories are driven by two different sets of considerations: A popular story with a fandom in high 100s of thousands or low millions (there are some mangas with that kind of readership, I think?) comes with a critical mass of potential viewers - i.e. so many that an adaptation would pay for itself even if nobody but the existing readers watches it. And those readers read the story because they already like it the way it is. They won't care if the movie replays a plot they already know, in fact they are so committed to the story that they would probably see this as a positive. If you mess with the plot and alienate even a small proportion of fans as a result, then it would still translate into a large number of lost customers. So that's a potent force pushing the adaptation to be as close to the original as possible. But if you take a story which has not reached that critical mass of fans, then you would need to somehow acquire additional viewers - which are different from fans in two important ways. Firstly, they are nowhere near as committed to the story; if they can read a close approximation of the adaptation's plotline (i.e. the original) on the internet, they may decide that they no longer need to also watch the same thing again on TV after all. And secondly, they may not necessarily like the story as it was presented in the original; but perhaps they would like it better once it has been tweaked a bit. This not only puts pressure on the adaptation to be substantially different from the original, but also the smaller fandom does not exert enough force on its own to counteract it: even if you alienate some of them, you can easily make it up by finding an even greater number of new viewers elsewhere. Now I freely admit that I never coverted a comic into an animated series and may be overthinking it all. But then I can't think anybody else's thoughts but my own, you know... |
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Post by bedinsis on Feb 4, 2020 7:07:55 GMT
I voted that nothing will come of this. Animation IS expensive, and I suspect investors would turn their noses at webcomics as a source material.
The thing that speaks against this view is that I believe Mr. Siddell is not self-published. Meaning a would-be investor can be sold on that "it is already a successful comic" with the "web" part being dropped.
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Post by philman on Feb 4, 2020 8:49:11 GMT
Has there ever been a successful animated series that started life as a webcomic? Not saying that GC couldn't be the first, just thinking about how publishers would look at it. Genuinely interested, just have no idea about precedence as don't really watch much animation. There are plenty of manga adaptations though that are faithful almost panel-to-panel. I think it's a matter of size of the already existing fandom. I mean, Lord of the Rings film trilogy also followed the plot of the book trilogy quite closely - but it's a classic of English literature which has been read by millions. It was an obligatory read in my high school, and I wasn't even born in an Anglophone country. Gunnerkrigg Court, as much as we enjoy it... is not in the same league. Huh, averaging between 800,000.1,000,000 hits a month is pretty good! Although the maths then works out at around 60k viewers per page (assuming no re-reads, which is probably unrealistic). |
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Post by migrantworker on Feb 4, 2020 11:53:12 GMT
I think it's a matter of size of the already existing fandom. I mean, Lord of the Rings film trilogy also followed the plot of the book trilogy quite closely - but it's a classic of English literature which has been read by millions. It was an obligatory read in my high school, and I wasn't even born in an Anglophone country. Gunnerkrigg Court, as much as we enjoy it... is not in the same league. Huh, averaging between 800,000.1,000,000 hits a month is pretty good! Although the maths then works out at around 60k viewers per page (assuming no re-reads, which is probably unrealistic). And this was done by one man without access to major advertising channels. Yes, there is a huge potential for growth. |
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Post by Eversist on Feb 4, 2020 21:21:31 GMT
Has there ever been a successful animated series that started life as a webcomic? Not saying that GC couldn't be the first, just thinking about how publishers would look at it. I picked "other" because while I'm uncertain if this project ever gets made, I can't dismiss the idea that it will, and even if it won't there have been less successful webcomics adapted into animated form so I think that now that Tom has gotten his foot in there might be other studios willing to buy the license if this project fails. Can you list some of them? I'm curious! I can't think of any off the top of my head. |
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Post by bedinsis on Feb 4, 2020 21:49:02 GMT
Has there ever been a successful animated series that started life as a webcomic? Not saying that GC couldn't be the first, just thinking about how publishers would look at it. One-Punch Man. Hetalia: Axis Powers. Although I'm not sure if the latter can safely be classified as a success. Edit: thought up another example: Axe Cop. |
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Post by bgb16999 on Feb 5, 2020 4:40:37 GMT
Nimona began as a webomic, was then republished by a major print publisher, and is now being adapted into an animated feature film by a Disney-subsidiary. Whether it qualifies as "successful" is yet to be seen (it is set for release in 2022).
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Post by Per on Feb 5, 2020 8:28:46 GMT
The excellent Camp Weedonwantcha went into hiatus at the beginning of 2018 as the creators pitched an animated series concept to Nickelodeon (where one of them was/is working). It wasn't picked up and they said they wanted to get back to the comic, but so far it hasn't happened.
Edit: If I were to revisit my October 2016 list of webcomics dying or slowing to a crawl, I'd be able to update more than half a dozen as now dead or dying, while a single one returned from hiatus (to being pretty slow).
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Post by Druplesnubb on Feb 5, 2020 11:36:06 GMT
Has there ever been a successful animated series that started life as a webcomic? Not saying that GC couldn't be the first, just thinking about how publishers would look at it. I picked "other" because while I'm uncertain if this project ever gets made, I can't dismiss the idea that it will, and even if it won't there have been less successful webcomics adapted into animated form so I think that now that Tom has gotten his foot in there might be other studios willing to buy the license if this project fails. Can you list some of them? I'm curious! I can't think of any off the top of my head. One Punch Man and Mob Psycho 100 were originally webcomics until the former got adapted into a manga and then both got turned into animes. I don't know how their popularity stacked up to GC before the manga adaptation came along, though. They might actually have been more popular. We Bare Bears started out as a pretty obscure webcomic before being turned into a Cartoon Network show. Crunchyroll also has a project called High Guardian Spice that is based on a tumblr webcomic, but the thing hasn't come out yet. |
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Post by TBeholder on Jan 25, 2023 10:22:17 GMT
Just look at what happened to Star Was… Sounds like any non-abysmal development would be extremely unlikely. Unless it would be done by a Japanese studio, then it’s a coin toss. I think it's a matter of size of the already existing fandom. I mean, Lord of the Rings film trilogy also followed the plot of the book trilogy quite closely - but it's a classic of English literature which has been read by millions. It was an obligatory read in my high school, and I wasn't even born in an Anglophone country. Gunnerkrigg Court, as much as we enjoy it... is not in the same league. Wait, «Employees: 11 - 50»? |
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Post by todd on Jan 25, 2023 13:47:50 GMT
It seems to be a moot point by now, anyway; with no fresh news about the project for so long, it's probably been called off (maybe a casualty of the pandemic).
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Jan 26, 2023 1:42:55 GMT
It seems to be a moot point by now, anyway; with no fresh news about the project for so long, it's probably been called off (maybe a casualty of the pandemic). Yeah the option has probably expired (unless it had a renewal clause) but even if it did get picked up that didn't mean it would necessarily have been made into an actual show. Sometimes things die in "development hell" and sometimes IP just gets optioned so that it won't compete with some other IP. ...doesn't mean it will never ever happen in the future, though... Probably auto-supplied because of traffic level, would probably be a decent range for a random business with a site that gets similar traffic. |
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Post by arf on Feb 5, 2023 3:55:05 GMT
I think every piece of literature gets optioned.
While some things are reproduced frame by frame (ahem! Last of Us) I consider that to be boring, and wouldn't work with GC anyway due the pacing. More interesting would be to interleave events from chapters over several episodes.
The issue is continuation. Netflix bases renewal decisions on the number of people who vieew through to the end of a season.
Who would produce it? Leika? Having just been belatedly catching up with 'Trollhunters', DreamWorks might be a good match.
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