Worst Moments in TV & Movie Fantasy History

Also, here's a link to images from Dungeons & Dragons - the Movie, THE worst fantasy movie made, IMO.

That's what I was going to post

I'd also add the animated version of LotR, just because it was a botched job.

Oh, we have a Horror TV channel here which airs straight to DVD, or made for TV horror / fantasy movies - they are always, always, always unwatchable.

 

My God, I haven't seen that since I was six! I quite liked it as well...

 

It made for one hell of an acid trip, though

Honestly, the miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune wasn't all that bad. Given the piteous budget, unbeloved extras, and tough casting conditions, they pulled off a rather impressive film. The overwhelming majority of complaints all revolve around a handful of themes (1: "Paul is too whiney" 2: "The costumes suck" 3: "Leto's asleep" 4: "The backgrounds were moving") which either are 1: true to the source material, 2: making due with their limited resources, 3: the result of the way the part was written for the actor, or 4: just plain false and either coming from a faulty television of straight out of the viewer's imagination. Anyway, I'm trying to say that the first miniseries is being unfairly ripped upon.

Besides, any shortcomings from the first miniseries are more than made up for by the second, which stands today as one of the top ten, if not top five greatest artistic, musical, theatrical, and cinematic masterpieces ever assembled.

 

How about Mortal Kombat: Annihilation?

I think this one is worth double suck-points because it's not just terrible, it's follow-up-to-a-good-movie terrible.

The first MK movie had done what many thought impossible (and many still do): they made a GOOD movie based on a video game. It was no Godfather, to be sure, but it was a well-made, fun, and successful film.

The first disappointment of the sequel was the fact that almost none of the main actors from the first film had returned to reprise their roles. The greatest disappointment of these was the loss of Christopher "the highlander" Lambert, who stole the show in the first film as the wisecracking Rayden, god of Thunder and Lightning. Think OT Yoda but more of a smart-ass.

By the time people realized how few of the original cast members had returned, it was quickly becoming apparent WHY no one had come back: the script was just THAT BAD. Whereas the first movie had astounded everyone by finding a way to make the characters from the game fit together in a narrative that made sense, the sequel seemed to be mostly concerned with cramming in as many characters as possible. As MAD Magazine's Alfred E. Neuman might say: "What me story?" Perhaps three out of more than a dozen new characters had backgrounds CLOSE to those in the games.

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation wasn't necessarily that much worse than the Super Mario Bros. or Street Fighter movies, but its failure was deepened by the fact that its predecessor had given it such a fantastic setup.

 

Worst Moments in TV & Movie Fantasy History???



LORD OF THE RINGS!!!!!






























just kidding.

 

Actually the animated version of Lord of the Rings is EMBARASSING. As a HUGE LOTR fan, this movie only makes me cringe. Director Ralph Bakshi made this 70's film using a blend of animation and rotoscoping. The dialogue needs LOTS of help. Not to mention the way the characters look. I hate to say it, but the hobbits look like they are seriously demented. Aragorn and the rest of the men have NO pants. *shudders* Perhaps I should just let some of the pictures speak for themselves.

[image=http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/LilyCat03/Boromir.jpg]

Hey! It's Boromir the viking!

[image=http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/LilyCat03/Galadriel.jpg]

Galadriel and her 'twinkling' ring.

[image=http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/LilyCat03/GandalfHandWaving.jpg]

Gandalf waving his hands...nonstop.

[image=http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/LilyCat03/Legolas.jpg]

Legolas

[image=http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/LilyCat03/SantaSaruman.jpg]

And finally, the Evil Santa Saruman! Oh and by the way his name is not Saruman anymore...It's Aruman.


And don't get me started on the animated version of The Hobbit...

 

I'm only seeing broken links

 

Really? Weird...I can see the pics. I found them here.

 

Ah, viking Boromir. Good times, good times.


I watched that cartoon before I saw the actual movie and I thought that cartoon Boromir with his funny helmet and crazy beard looked like movie Gimli. I hadn't read the books and couldn't remember anyone's name and so I therefore drew the conclusion that Gimli died at the end.

I must say that I was well peeved when Boromir died when I watched the film, and was also slightly confused.

Also with the animated film Merry and Pippin look exactly the same, but Merry has slightly darker hair. And Elrond looked a bit like a Roman Emperor and Aragorn didn't wear trousers.

I liked Gollum and Frodo in it though.

 

See, the thing is, changing his name would not be that bad. What's bad is that they call him Aruman half the time and Saruman half the time. I mean, how hard would that have been to spot? I mean, seriously? Let's get together on, at the very least, the pronunciation of the names!

I remember laughing out loud when Gandalf recites the ring poem while spinning in circles and waving his arms about.

 

The only animated LOTR I've seen is the one ending at Helms Deep (I think), and Gandalf was celebrating by throwing his sword in the air....or something. It's not bad, but it was cartoonish. Worth watching at least once IMO.

Now, let me respose to the Dune post...

The overwhelming majority of complaints all revolve around a handful of themes (1: "Paul is too whiney" 2: "The costumes suck" 3: "Leto's asleep" 4: "The backgrounds were moving") which either are 1: true to the source material, 2: making due with their limited resources, 3: the result of the way the part was written for the actor, or 4: just plain false and either coming from a faulty television of straight out of the viewer's imagination.

1: "Paul is whiney" is TRUE to the source material? Wow, thank God I'm not a purist, they'd crucify you for saying that. In the book, Paul was not whiny, he did not act like a teen. In the banquet scene, he was called "a child that acts like a man". Certainly, I find it hard to believe the 'book Paul' would be so rude to Irulan, if she had been in that scene in the book.

2: The suckiness of the costumes has nothing to do with resources, it has all to do with the crappy designs. Just bloody horrible. The only saving grace was the stillsuits, much better than the 80s movie (Arabic-like desings, has a hood, and they have the cloaks just like in the book!)

3: Then it was a stupid choice for the writer/director to write Leto that way. He was supposed to be charismatic, he's not supposed to be on Prozac.

4: I've never stated the backgrounds moved, hell the backgrounds NOT moving is the problems. They are so OBVIOUSLY fake, I cannot emphasize this enough. There's no excuse for this sort of low budget. Other miniseries (the Sparticus remake, Hallmark's 'Merlin', 'Empire', and of course Dune's sequel 'Children of Dune') all could afford bluescreens, and while the FX is not ILM/WETA quality, it was sufficient enoough for a TV production. Dune's backgrounds are embarrassing even when compared to classics made 50 years ago ('The Ten Commandments' had better FX! ).

any shortcomings from the first miniseries are more than made up for by the second, which stands today as one of the top ten, if not top five greatest artistic, musical, theatrical, and cinematic masterpieces ever assembled

We can agree on this. CoD, especially the first part, is one of the best things I've ever seen on TV. However, this makes me hate 'Dune' even more.

 

Anyone seen the TV series 'Beastmaster'? Now, that's embarrassing.

 

Oh man, Beastmaster used to be on during my lunch break at work. Absolutely classic. I especially liked seeing Aunty Jack trying to be a magician.

My favourite part of the D&D movie was when a Beholder was outsmarted by throwing a rock.

 

Why has no one mentioned power rangers? That show was embarising and 100%camp.

 

That show with Dean Martin's son and Courtney Cox from around 1985 or so.

I think it was called "Misfits of Science". One of the stupidest things I have ever seen.

 

Just wanted to set something straight. Clive Revill was never Boba Fett. He was the voice of the Emperor in the original theatrical version of The Empire Strikes Back.

Jeremy Bulloch was the man in the Boba Fett suit for both TESB and Return of the Jedi, but he was voiced by Jason Wingreen until the DVD change to Temura Morrison's voice.

FWIW

 

Power Rangers, originally at least, wasn't as bad as some kids shows of the 80's lol

 

If we're going down that road I'll say that the PowerRangers was a great idea executed perfectly - they just let it run too long and jumped several sharks. Nice combination of Japanese monster movies combined with cheesy american acting and comedy - it worked for me, even as a teenager.

You could expand the fantasty which isn't too bad to cover TMNT which worked well as a cartoon, and made a watchable movie.

 

Haha, I never caught that. Would be hilarious.

 

I cant believe no one said Michael Crichton's Congo,

Good god I read the book and it was great. I thought it was going to be a great film.

OMG, that was the worse movie I had ever saw. It sucked on a level of battlefield Earth.

Battlefield Earth was so predictable it sucked. But Congo had so awesome as a book and was butchered beyond belief as a movie.

 

The entire 3rd season of Roswell.

I spent that entire season going "WT*!?"

malkie edit can't use that expression

 

^Yeah, like the original Pink Ranger. [face_drool]

And that critique of the animated LOTR was priceless!

 

Yor, the Hunter from the Future

Shirtless guy with weapon, hot girl as companion, an "Overlord" villain, blah blah blah.