Early "Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King" responses

[dianeduane]

A mixed bag, as I kind of suspected. (But nearly all funny, one way or the other.) My favorite (surprise, surprise) comes from the paper of record:

It's all a little reductive and soap-operaish, and viewers unfamiliar with the source material may find themselves a little puzzled about the relationship between the evil characters Alberich and Hagen, or even to learn, almost as an afterthought, that bathing in the dragon's blood has rendered Siegfried invulnerable. On the other hand, "Dark Kingdom," which was shown on European television nearly two years ago, is not unwatchable. Made for about $25 million, it looks as if it cost much more, with lots of Nordic-seeming ice and mist, and a dragon that, for once, really looks like a dragon, squatty and lizardlike. The director, Uli Edel, who also made the 2001 Arthurian mini-series "Mists of Avalon," has a feel for scenery and pageantry, and for the most part he tells the story straightforwardly, without condescending or camping it up.

By far the best thing in "Dark Kingdom" is Brunhild, played by Kristanna Loken, Arnold Schwarzenegger's nemesis in "Terminator 3," who was a molten, shape-shifting cyborg that most often assumed the form of a blond hottie. In "Dark Kingdom," with her furs, her blond dreadlocks, her martial-artsy way of wielding a spear, she's fierce and sexy -- a true Valkyrie, a warrior both on the ice floes and in the bedchamber. When King Gunther, who has won Brunhild's hand by deception, tries to claim his husbandly rights, he is instantly unmanned with weakness and performance anxiety.

(chuckle) "Not unwatchable": that'll do nicely. ...And herewith a few responses from out in the blogosphere:

This feature premieres as a mini-series on SciFi this week, but it's also being released on DVD at the same time. I scratched my head when the commercials hyped it as the best story to pre-date the Lord of the Rings. With the world's blandest title, I somehow doubted it. After doing some research, I see that its original (European) title was Ring of the Nibelungs. Now that makes more sense. Yes, the germanic myths that were the basis for Wagner's operas did have a certain influence on Tolkien. I guess the SciFi Channel didn't trust its audience to watch anything with "niebelungs" in the title.

Ding! Correct. (Probably, anyway, since this complaint kept coming up as regards other English-titled versions. We kept hearing from Channel Four in the UK, "No titles with 'lungs' in them. Sounds too gross.")

I'm in the middle of the Sci Fi channel's "Dark Kingdom" miniseries. The story looks good, but the leading actor can't act for crap. I think they were going for Viggo Mordenson and had to settle. At least he's kinda' pretty to look at.

(innocent look) No comment.

Oh crap it's back on. *cries* Wait wait, no, NO! I'm going to watch it anyway! I've waited this long, I'm at least going to see what comes of things!

Exactly how I felt about year three of this project.

Just finished watching Scifi's Dark Kingdom. Pretty generic fantasy story but I enjoyed the lounging time with the cat anyway. Gotta love naked men bathing in dragon blood (ewww) and meteors that make women horny. LOL! It sure seemed to me like every character, male and female, were so arrogant. I will check out tomorrow's installment since I don't work until late.

You have no idea how much trouble they had with that blood. As for the meteor...ah well. Never mind about the meteor.

They have switched the parts around completely! *returns to head palm* It is not Kriemhild that Siegfried loves - it is Brünhild. Oh, and Siegfried arrives in 'Burgundy' (Worms? oh, where's that?) a peasant son of a Blacksmith. Hagen is still his wonderful Hagen self. Fafnir has been reduced to an overgrown Iguana. And Alberich is now a Gollum wannabe. Only hairier, and thicker (I mean he is a dwarf after all... lol).

But that's the problem with the Nibelungenlied. No matter which version of the story you try to tell -- and there are many -- you absolutely aren't going to be able to please everybody.

It has Sam West. In chainmail.

So true.

Vera Farmiga (especially when she was in "Roar") and Benno Furmann (from "Dark Kingdom: the Dragon King") should play twins. They have the exact same eyes and facial structure -- it's eerie!

Note: This should in no way be taken as an endorsement for Dark Kingdom! There's only so much Julian Sands one can take (although he's somewhat more fetching as a brunet).

That's the first time I've seen anyone use the masculine version of "brunette" in years. You get a gold star and a cookie.

The movie is surprisingly awesome. I just didn't know what it was going to be about.

Fair enough. Occasionally, in mid-rewrite, neither did we. ;)

...And there are many other comments out there, both positive and potentially crushing. Good thing we're both in the middle of other movies at the moment, and don't have the time to get particularly crushed.

This one, though, I have to wind up with, from the SciFi boards. Re Kristanna Loken:

I would very much like to enjoy her company in the meteor burrow of her choice.

Ding!

Tags: Dark Kingdom, The Dragon King, Sci-Fi Channel, Diane Duane, Peter Morwood, Uli Edel, Kristanna Loken

Comments

[cjmr.livejournal.com]

We're waiting to watch it all in one piece. Hopefully Wednesday evening. I'm looking forward to it.

[windcedar.livejournal.com]

"Ring of the Nibelungs" is a much better title, but "The Nibelungenlied" would have been still better, I think...oh well. :) I suppose not enough people have ever heard of the Nibelungenlied.

*makes note to go rent DVD soon*

[bodhibird.livejournal.com]

*goggles*

I am simply *amazed* at the number of people who aren't familiar with this story! Hasn't everybody heard of Wagner's Ring cycle? Hasn't everybody read books about the sources of The Lord of the Rings? Hasn't everybody read the D'Aulaires' books and Padraic Colum's The Children of Odin (with the beautiful Art Nouveau line drawings by Willi Pogany)?

You mean they haven't? *cries*

[dduane.livejournal.com]

(snort) Tell me about it. I've heard "No, no, really, it did come before Tolkien" almost as many times as I've heard "No, no, really, she did come before J. K. Rowling..."

[bodhibird.livejournal.com]

*cries some more over the mass stupidity*

Let me add my voice to the chorus: while I really liked the first four HP books, I think the YW series is far superior, in writing, in theme, in characterization, oh, in pretty much everything. I've lost count of how many times I've re-read some of them; I think I read Wizard's Holiday three times in six months.

And in conclusion: [Tick reference] "Read a book!" [/Tick reference

[terani.livejournal.com]

As I don't have TV, I'm ordering the DVD and maybe I'll get to drool over those nekked male bits?

OK, a little dragon blood is ok. I can live with that as long as they still put the toliet seat down.

And I'm ordering the CD of music. Blackmore's Night contributed to the series. Have to have it. :)

[cjmr.livejournal.com]

"No, no, really, she did come before J. K. Rowling..."

Especially since you were writing what has become a classic piece of Young Adult literature (IMHO, at any rate) at the time she was still studying for her A-levels.

[wetdryvac.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. Occasionally, in mid-rewrite, neither did we. ;)

...coffee. Everywhere.

I grew up on Das Rheingold and surrounding stories - it always throws me when someone doesn't know at least one of the variations on the tale. I blame Wagner and industrial music for my having to learn my smattering of German, but in a good way.

[dduane.livejournal.com]

Ditto on the Wagner. However, we made a conscious decision to avoid it, as he hung all kinds of tropes on the basic Nibelungenlied material that weren't native to it.

...That said, every now and then I have to confess to an Evil Deed that I wish I'd done, but didn't because I was too chicken. My college library had a beautiful white calfskin-bound edition of the complete libretti of the Ring Cycle, bound with tipped-in plates of the great Rackham illustrations. Nobody ever touched that book but me: when I took it out for the first time, it hadn't been out of the building since the college was founded. I really regret (wicked though it would have been) not stealing it.

Ah well...

(hojotohos off into the distance)

[dduane.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't grudge her her luck, or her skill. And we work in very different patches of the same field. I'd say there's room in this world for both of us.

Yet in the normal course of things, there will eventually come a day when there won't be any new Harry Potter...and there will be new Nita and Kit. (I'm presently beginning the outlining for books 10-12.) This hardly means that I win. But the game does at that point pass into a new phase...

[dduane.livejournal.com]

Aww, thanx.

...but get ready for more. I really suspect that A Wizard of Mars is going to be one of those read-it-again books. In particular, there are two new characters that I just luurrrrrrrrrve. (Despite having to kill one of them. Well, not kill, but the character gets dead.)

(Peter looks over my shoulder and then turns away, muttering, "'Duane dead', or dead dead?" ...Excuse me, I feel some discipline coming on.) (snicker)

[singer-mn-lead.livejournal.com]

* will cry if her aunt didn't record it for her.*

[lovefromgirl.livejournal.com]

It has Sam West. In chainmail.

Now, whose feet do I have to kiss for making that happen? :-)

[cjmr.livejournal.com]

Well, whereas I have been heard to say (of HP books), "If Diane Duane had written this, she would have...(insert compliment here)" I have never said (of a YW book), "If J.K. Rowling had written this, she would have..."

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I keep meaning to tell you this and hadn't got around to it: I honestly cannot remember how I first saw stills of this movie (I think a Kristanna Loken fansite webmaster may have actually sent me a link back when I was still attempting to run a full movie news site), but I immediately went, "Girls with swords and pretty costumes! EEEEEE!" Eventually I realized it had been shuffled off to TV overseas and I figured I'd never see it--and now suddenly it's on Sci-Fi. My point is, I spent a year or two hunting for pictures (my folder is named "Kingdom in Twilight," and the earliest image file date is 2004, if that gives you any idea), and now the movie's all over TV and it turns out you worked on it and EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED!, so I am basically in a state of cosmic whoa these days. : )

[mhari.livejournal.com]

Agreed. For this alone I may have to break my habitual TV ban. :9

[dduane.livejournal.com]

(grin) That would be our producer Rola, I suspect. The line forms to the right. :)

[dduane.livejournal.com]

(laughter) Wow, had I known that, how much STUFF I could have told you. And I have a fair bunch of those pictures, too. You still want some? for iconage purposes, perhaps?

[sarekofvulcan.livejournal.com]

...almost as many times as I've heard "No, no, really, she did come before J. K. Rowling..."

Last night I finished SYWtBaW with Ael, and when Nita threw the battery at the door, Ael immediately referenced future-Hermione throwing the rock and hitting past-Harry in PoA. Sorry. :-)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Oooooooo! Yes please! It may sound silly, but I kind of collect movie stills anyway. Mostly because I love pretty costumes. And Brunhild's dreadbraids are totally fierce.

[dduane.livejournal.com]

Sure: I'll go digging.

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

*joins line up*

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

(Who gets the roses for the wedding night *spoiler* *spoiler *spoiler* no really I'm here for the plot, I swear I am OMG *spoiler*?)

Though let it be said, the burden of my great squee about this was OMG DIANE DUANE WROTE IT AND SAM IS IN IT?

Life was let me tell you a glorious cycle of song around here when I found out you'd written it.

[angevin2.livejournal.com]

The presence of Sam West in chainmail atones for a multitude of sins! ;)

[dduane.livejournal.com]

I really think his was one of the stronger performances in this. Gunther is a difficult part to play at the best of times: he has to be likeable, but also fatally flawed: and weak, but not so weak that you completely lose patience with him. Yet when he starts to act badly toward the end of the story, you have to be able to believe that too. I think Sam pulled it off.

And yes, absolutely, he looks good in mail. Also, I'm really fond of his speaking voice.

[cjmr.livejournal.com]

And because of the unfortunate delay in being able to bring SofX/Dark Kingdom to US audiences, people are going to forever think that you got Cedric Diggory to play Giselher--not the other way around. Unless they are IMDB fanatics like I am.