FOX extends DBZ Live action Movie Domain Rights Another year

Mr.Piccolo · Post by **Mr.Piccolo** » Tue May 01, 2007 7:15 pm

Well, at least its supposed to be in widescreen? Eh, am I right?
-Rick or Harp from Yo Momma

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Tue May 01, 2007 7:21 pm

Oh, come on! I said that like 2 pages ago!

Anonymous Friend · Post by **Anonymous Friend** » Tue May 01, 2007 9:05 pm

desirecampbell wrote: -Wolverine doesn't know who Sabertooth is - and vice versa.
-Spiderman's arguous jounery from nerd to reluctant superhero to bagging Mary Jane took all of an hour - and he's still super emo.

Well ... they did have to compress decades of story and character development into hours of movies. It really sucks, but it had to be done.

I'm guessing that we're all in agreement that changes, both big and small, will take place in the adaptation. With animated programs, we take it for granted the sci-fi, mystical, and other elements that may be presented. With live-action you have to have it somewhat grounded in reality. That means that certain characters have to be sacrificed. Certain relationships have to scrificed. And certain plots points have to be sacrificed as well. But, it's always really nice when the producers make whatever nods or alusions to these things.

SSJmole · Post by **SSJmole** » Tue May 01, 2007 9:21 pm

Anonymous Friend wrote:
desirecampbell wrote: -Wolverine doesn't know who Sabertooth is - and vice versa.
-Spiderman's arguous jounery from nerd to reluctant superhero to bagging Mary Jane took all of an hour - and he's still super emo.
Well ... they did have to compress decades of story and character development into hours of movies. It really sucks, but it had to be done.

I'm guessing that we're all in agreement that changes, both big and small, will take place in the adaptation. With animated programs, we take it for granted the sci-fi, mystical, and other elements that may be presented. With live-action you have to have it somewhat grounded in reality. That means that certain characters have to be sacrificed. Certain relationships have to scrificed. And certain plots points have to be sacrificed as well. But, it's always really nice when the producers make whatever nods or alusions to these things.

Most likely characters like the saibermen.

Post by **desirecampbell** » Tue May 01, 2007 10:39 pm

Anonymous Friend wrote:
desirecampbell wrote: -Wolverine doesn't know who Sabertooth is - and vice versa.
-Spiderman's arguous jounery from nerd to reluctant superhero to bagging Mary Jane took all of an hour - and he's still super emo.
Well ... they did have to compress decades of story and character development into hours of movies. It really sucks, but it had to be done.

Think of it like this: this is the Spiderman movie I was expecting, and hoped for:

-He begins to date Gwen Stacy, and finds himself deeply enamoured. For a nerd in High School, he feels pretty good about himself.
-Peter gains spider powers, starts making money through wrestling circuts, because of his selfishness his uncle dies. He bocemes a superhero.
-Peter eventualy has to make a choice between saving his love, and saving a busload of people (who probably won't even thank him for it). He loses his love, and once again feels the pain of losing someone close to him.

What we got:
-Peter lusts after MJ, who doesn't even notice him.
-Pete gets superpowers, does one wrestling stint and lets his uncle get shanked. He becomes a superhero.
-Peter starts a relationship with MJ - who apparently has lived next door all her life... right.
-He has to make a choice between his 'love' and a busload of people. He ends up saving both. Meaning he's obviously going to be all mopey about not being able to protect his loved ones.

See how the story got shafted because they wanted the recognisable characters to be part of the story? If a DBZ movie is half this badly done, Vegeta will show up to help Goku fight Raditz.

gohan2k · Post by **gohan2k** » Tue May 01, 2007 10:44 pm

MisterFlashdude wrote: But you'd have to ask yourself, do you really think that you'll get more people watching with what you've created after alienating the original audience of the show you're 'adapting'?

Mario sucked because not only did it not appeal to non-fans of Mario, it looked too unsimiliar to the source to appeal to fans who would've enjoyed it if it reminded them of the game. I'm sure when they were 'adapting' the game for a movie, it was one suggestion after another that eventually transformed it from colorful, cheerful Mushroom Kingdom to the post-apocolyptical mutant-lizard world that we got in the movie.

Sure, you can take out a few main characters characters and change the remaining character's appearances and give them new, cooler outfits and change the world the story takes place in, remove events that might've been too 'comical' for your new, dark Dragonball and completely change the tone of the story... (All suggestions already put up here on the thread)
But uh... you might as well just go ahead and change the character name's because I'm sure we'll eventually come to the conclusion that Goku and Vegeta are too Asian-sounding for a wide-spread American release, slap some hip sunglasses on them, and just play the last 20 minutes of the Matrix about 4 times and consider it a feature-length adaption!

Exactly, Mario didn't retain the essence of the game and therefore failed because it removed what made it a success in the first place!

With a live action Dragonball movie the trick is to retain the essence of the show without alienating a wider audience. Because if the movie then fails with the wider audience then at least the fans can appreciate it!

And there are several examples where changing things from the original source material have worked out well such as in Spiderman where originally the web didn't result as part of Peter's tranformation but because Peter came up with a device that shot out web fluid. This was changed for the movie as it was thought no one would believe that Peter had the ability to do this (and I agree with them).

And before anyone says anything Bulma's technical ability should stay as that is part of her character.

Drabaz · Post by **Drabaz** » Tue May 01, 2007 10:54 pm

Think of it like this: this is the Spiderman movie I was expecting, and hoped for:

-He begins to date Gwen Stacy, and finds himself deeply enamoured. For a nerd in High School, he feels pretty good about himself.
-Peter gains spider powers, starts making money through wrestling circuts, because of his selfishness his uncle dies. He bocemes a superhero.
-Peter eventualy has to make a choice between saving his love, and saving a busload of people (who probably won't even thank him for it). He loses his love, and once again feels the pain of losing someone close to him.

What we got:
-Peter lusts after MJ, who doesn't even notice him.
-Pete gets superpowers, does one wrestling stint and lets his uncle get shanked. He becomes a superhero.
-Peter starts a relationship with MJ - who apparently has lived next door all her life... right.
-He has to make a choice between his 'love' and a busload of people. He ends up saving both. Meaning he's obviously going to be all mopey about not being able to protect his loved ones.

At first I thought, "But it was still a decent movie in my opinion." But then I realized that if I was a hardcore Spiderman comic fan I would probably be dissapointed too. So it might be the same for DBZ.

BlueSky · Post by **Kaboom** » Tue May 01, 2007 11:18 pm

Drabaz wrote: At first I thought, "But it was still a decent movie in my opinion." But then I realized that if I was a hardcore Spiderman comic fan I would probably be dissapointed too. So it might be the same for DBZ.

I am a hardcore Spider-Fan (though not sit-in-my-basement-reading-my-5000-issue-collection-till-my-eyes-bleed level, or anything), and I LOVE the movies. Because I realize and am comfortable with the fact that such changes need to be made.

Dark Vegeta-Sama · Post by **Dark Vegeta-Sama** » Tue May 01, 2007 11:51 pm

I am also a Spider-Man fan who enjoys the movies. Sure, they aren't the greatest thing ever, and there is some really bad dialogue here and there, but at least they are faithful to the spirit of the character and have brilliant special effects. When I was a child, all I wanted was a live-action Spider-Man movie, and thankfully I now have those. And, with Venom being in Spider-Man 3 now, my childhood dreams have come true.

The Green Goblin looked ridiculous in the first film, absolutely. However, it's not really like they could have gone any other way, because if he wore what he does in the comics, it'd be even worse.

Doctor Octopus, a villain who I've always considered to be really lame in the comics (and still do), ended up being portrayed really well in Spider-Man 2. Infact, the movie portrayal of Doc Ock is the only incarnation of him that I have ever liked, and I've been reading Spider-Man comics since I was a child.

Anyway, the point is, the movies are well done and I think that the "hardcore" fans of the character who actively dislike the films are actually in the minority. The movies bring these characters to life in a way that leaves the audience satisfied, and doesn't treat them like idiots. Sure, things need to be toned down in order to be more kid-friendly, but not to the point where older people can't enjoy them. I believe that the darkness that Venom is bringing in Spider-Man 3 will be proof of that.

My only complaint? Carnage will never be in one of the movies, unless they want to horribly butcher his character. He is a mass-murderer, and to accurately portray that aspect of his character you'd basically need an R-rating for a film; however we all know that there will never be an R-rated Spider-Man film, unfortunately. Gotta be nice to the kiddies or risk losing those toy sales and hear endless complaints from soccer moms.

Also, a DBZ movie wouldn't work. If there ever were to be one, it should've come out 6 years ago when the show was at the height of its popularity in North America. Like it or not, that ship sailed long ago.

SSJmole · Post by **SSJmole** » Wed May 02, 2007 3:24 am

Dark Vegeta-Sama wrote:Also, a DBZ movie wouldn't work. If there ever were to be one, it should've come out 6 years ago when the show was at the height of its popularity in North America. Like it or not, that ship sailed long ago.

I disagree with this. Simpsons , Transformers , Superman returns and more , Are all films that are made / making when franchise is not as popular. It brings fresh life to the franchise and creates new fans.

If they make a live-action Dragonball Z , Now is the perfect time with today's cgi and comic book movie crazy.

gohan2k · Post by **gohan2k** » Wed May 02, 2007 4:46 am

I also disagree with Dark Vegeta-Sama. While it may have been easier to greenlight a Dragonball Z movie when the popularity was so high there's still plenty of opportunity fot them to make a good live action movie.

It would bring new life to the franchise and prolong its existence. Even introduce new fans who would then go and look at the original anime and manga like people did when the movies X-Men, Spiderman, Batman came out.

SSJmole · Post by **SSJmole** » Wed May 02, 2007 10:44 am

gohan2k wrote:I also disagree with Dark Vegeta-Sama. While it may have been easier to greenlight a Dragonball Z movie when the popularity was so high there's still plenty of opportunity fot them to make a good live action movie.

It would bring new life to the franchise and prolong its existence. Even introduce new fans who would then go and look at the original anime and manga like people did when the movies X-Men, Spiderman, Batman came out.

Bingo. I'm all for live action dragonball z.

MisterFlashdude · Post by **MisterFlashdude** » Wed May 02, 2007 2:14 pm

SSJmole wrote:I disagree with this. Simpsons , Transformers , Superman returns and more , Are all films that are made / making when franchise is not as popular. It brings fresh life to the franchise and creates new fans.

If they make a live-action Dragonball Z , Now is the perfect time with today's cgi and comic book movie crazy.

To add to the discussion, I'd like to point that despite their popularity possibly not peaking at their peak... The Simpsons, Transformers, all Superman/Batman/Spider-man/X-men and all the random Superhero medias... They're all still active franchises. Most of which have shows still airing new episodes once a week, or have comic series that may never come to an end within our generation, and not only a strong fan base in our generation, but extending to generations who've enjoyed these franchises for decades.

Dragonball, on the other hand, has been pretty much over for over 10 years, except for recent merchandise like video games and Neko Majin.

Take from that what you will.

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Wed May 02, 2007 3:39 pm

I'd like to also add another point to MisterFlashDude's post. All those franchises that were named are North American and widely recognized as part of North American pop culture.

And people can point out examples like Prince of Tennis turning out well, but I hardly think you can accurately compare a manga/anime with relatively normal characters about tennis, to a series with aliens, anthros, and others with crazy hair, bodies, and shapes, blowing up planets.

Those are just some thoughts I wanted to throw out there. I just mention them because I think people are simplifying things here too much. Not saying it couldn't happen, but more likely than not it will either be a huge messy letdown or will be a success with general audiences but be so different from the original source that it won't be the DBZ we all know and love.

I've posted lengthy reasons before why I don't think a movie will work and why I don't want it, those reasons haven't changed, but there's no point in my posting them again. It's just too tiring a debate for me at this point and it always ends up the same, as me getting labelled a "cynic", with which I'm inclined to agree.*shrugs*

Xyex · Post by **Xyex** » Wed May 02, 2007 4:51 pm

desirecampbell wrote:Think of it like this: this is the Spiderman movie I was expecting, and hoped for:

-He begins to date Gwen Stacy, and finds himself deeply enamoured. For a nerd in High School, he feels pretty good about himself.
-Peter gains spider powers, starts making money through wrestling circuts, because of his selfishness his uncle dies. He bocemes a superhero.
-Peter eventualy has to make a choice between saving his love, and saving a busload of people (who probably won't even thank him for it). He loses his love, and once again feels the pain of losing someone close to him.

What we got:
-Peter lusts after MJ, who doesn't even notice him.
-Pete gets superpowers, does one wrestling stint and lets his uncle get shanked. He becomes a superhero.
-Peter starts a relationship with MJ - who apparently has lived next door all her life... right.
-He has to make a choice between his 'love' and a busload of people. He ends up saving both. Meaning he's obviously going to be all mopey about not being able to protect his loved ones.

Your movie idea = the suck. What we got = the win. And I'm a Spider-man fan. Not a rabbid fan but a fan. Just like I'm a huge fan of X-men and I loved the X-men movies. Sure, I took issue with Phoenix's implementation at first. But I got over it and I love the way X-3 came out now.

See, here's your problem. You don't get the difference between incarnations of something. Movies based on anything are adaptations. They are their own stories, their own worlds and ideas, using characters and concepts we recognize from elsewhere. A word for word, scene for scene, idea for idea translation of a show/game/comic/manga/anime/whatever to a movie would be three things. 1) Boring. 2) Stupid. 3) Pointless. Simple as that.

As for a live action DBZ movie. It can be done and done amazingly. Yes, there would be changes. But so what? I thought one of the major complaints people were having with the video games was that we were getting the same exact story over and over and over and over again.

And hell, who says a live action DBZ movie has to re-tell the series? A live action movie could do just as the animated movies did. An all new completely original storyline based on the series but not retelling it.

Post by **desirecampbell** » Wed May 02, 2007 5:29 pm

I'm not a big Xmen or Spiderman fan either - but I hate that these movies have stripped the best parts of the stories to make something recognisable and easy to market.

I mean, the first Spiderman movie took one of the best Spiderman stories and put in the wrong girlfriend - and didn't even kill her. The death of Gwen Stacy is unbileveibly important to Parker's character development. The movie took that away. Parker should have had a dead girlfriend and a long while of moping before he's even introduced to Mary Jane. In Spiderman 2, Doc Ock went from mad scientist to, uh, hostage to a robot? Lame.

I have no problem with adaptation: in fact, I love the change in the symbyote's origin (I've loved it since the 90s cartoon). I think that particular change is a benifit to the story - taking Gwen Stacy out (or rather, changing her character completely and sticking her in the third movie) leaves Peter's decicion to hang up his tights to his uncle's death, and uh, a broken scooter. Lame.

What exactly would you want to be changed for a live action DragonBall movie?

Big Momma · Post by **Big Momma** » Wed May 02, 2007 5:31 pm

I say, no matter what happens with this movie, if it's made, I'll go see it because I'm a Dragonballtard(Or Dragon-tard, or Dragontardball. Whatever) If it sucks, I don't care.

He, whenever I think of an anime LAM I remember that English Naruto for the Shuriken(Or as the little Sasuke cos-player said "Sharken") Shooters.

Oh, and that Zabuza sword, the whole commercial is a blure of Suck.

Xyex · Post by **Xyex** » Wed May 02, 2007 5:44 pm

desirecampbell wrote:I mean, the first Spiderman movie took one of the best Spiderman stories and put in the wrong girlfriend - and didn't even kill her. The death of Gwen Stacy is unbileveibly important to Parker's character development.

That's comic Peter. Not movie Peter. Again, you forget that they are not the same person. Nevere were, never will be.

desirecampbell wrote:What exactly would you want to be changed for a live action DragonBall movie?

Whatever changes are called for to make a propper, working, entertaining adaptation of the series. You can't just say "this should be changed" and make it work simply for the fact it's changed. The change needs to fit with the concept the movie itself is presenting.

X-Men presents two prime examples. Sabertooth and Wolverine having a back-history would have interefered with the course of the first movie. Dropping that element kills nothing and allows the movie to flow as intended. In X-Men 3 the same is done with Juggernaut and Xavier for the same reasons and to the same effect.

Post by **desirecampbell** » Wed May 02, 2007 6:01 pm

Xyex wrote:X-Men presents two prime examples. Sabertooth and Wolverine having a back-history would have interefered with the course of the first movie. Dropping that element kills nothing and allows the movie to flow as intended. In X-Men 3 the same is done with Juggernaut and Xavier for the same reasons and to the same effect.

That's the thing, though - yes the back story between Sabertooth and Wolverine couldn't have been brought into the first movie - so why did they even put Sabertooth into the movie?
It really screwed them over for the second movie, where they did go into Wolverine's backstory. They couldn't put Sabertooth into it, since they destroyed that in the first film.
The same thing about Juggernaut - why was he even in the movie? They stripped the most interesting things about his character and slapped him into a role that served no purpose. If you wanted Juggernaut in that movie, keep that he's not a mutant, keep that he's Xavier's brother, but put him on the government's side, rounding up mutants to innoculate.

I'm just saying that while a live action DBZ movie could be entertaining and good - I seriously doubt it'd get made without butchering the story. I know that some things will have to be taken out to fit time and ease in telling the story - I'm fine with cutting supperfluous characters like Oolong, Bubbles, etc - I just don't want Goku to go SSj fighting Vegeta, which is exactly the kind of thing I keep seeing happen in comic book movies.

Mr.Piccolo · Post by **Mr.Piccolo** » Wed May 02, 2007 6:16 pm

A few things:
My fault, Kendamu

. Anyway, The last thing I'll mention about this is that the most logical choice for a DB/Z/GT movie would take place during the Saiyan or Android stuff. And for god's sake, no well known actors. It's simply a horrible idea.

Let me be the first to say that even though a few of you are bringing up good points by comparing a DB movie to one from the Marvel or DC Universes, it doesn't really hold up. I won't list examples from Spider-Man movies or alternative wigs for Bulma but I will say that a live action DragonBall movie would be lame.. An' don't be forgettin' this be a DB forum.

-Rick