Dresden Files animation

[Yuillegan]

I've said it before, but thought I would bring it up again, a Dresden Files animated series would be great.

I know there is a live-action tv show in the works (although I think it might be in developmental hell currently). But an animated series can show more destruction, do crazier visual things, and doesn't have to worry about cast members aging too much. Really helps with the immortal and semi-immortal beings etc.

I also see it as a great way to re-launch interest in the series which could help the tv show etc.

I am thinking the two main studios I would want to see work on it are Powerhouse Studios (did Blood of Zeus in combination with two korean studios, and did the Castlevania tv series - both are on Netflix - also the opening title for Avatar: the Last Airbender), and Titmouse, Inc. (did the Legend of Vox Machina series).

Just google the artwork style and/or look at some scenes on youtube if you don't want to watch the full series.

Would you guys be interested in watching an animated series of the Dresden Files?

[Eleyctra]

Ah man, as an animation student I would be SO down for an animated Dresden Files. I agree with the studios you listed as well. As long as Netflix (and Fox) doesn't host it, as they have a current trend of cancelling after 1 season for most of their shows. 2D animation has also seen a downward trend lately by being backed up budget-wise. Picking the right service and production team would be careful juggle. Disney obviously has the best budget, but they prefer to aim towards animation for children only. None of their animation is above PG-13, and DF needs to be adult oriented or it'll lose much of its impact.

I can see hour long episodes with 2-3 episodes per book if condensed correctly. I've personally imagined many book scenes can be shown in one minute that takes many pages to describe. I've storyboarded short scenes from the books years ago, though I've lost those scribbles since.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Maggie and Mouse as an animation  in true Scooby Doo Style would be better. If Star Wars can do both Live Action and animation so can the Dresden Files.

Besides they can riff on the classic Scooby Do intro with Mouse replacing Scooby, Bob replacing the Flaming Skull and the MunsterMobile standing in for the Mystery Machine, with Toot and Lacuna standing in for Shaggy and Daphne.

You just then need to convince Harry Carpenter to wear an ascot….

[Melriken]

I would be okay with an Animated series by a studio like one of the two you mentioned (or whoever did Invincible)... the problem is that I don't think Dresden would boil down to episodes very well...  Maybe if each season was a book (multiple seasons in one year would be better than multiple books per season) and each season was made of 4-12 episodes and each episode was 20-90 minutes...

It's nice that Streaming doesn't require every episode fit in either 20 minutes or 45 minutes...

But I think Stranger Things shows that a life action Dresden Files series would be possible.

[Yuillegan]

Ah man, as an animation student I would be SO down for an animated Dresden Files. I agree with the studios you listed as well. As long as Netflix (and Fox) doesn't host it, as they have a current trend of cancelling after 1 season for most of their shows. 2D animation has also seen a downward trend lately by being backed up budget-wise. Picking the right service and production team would be careful juggle. Disney obviously has the best budget, but they prefer to aim towards animation for children only. None of their animation is above PG-13, and DF needs to be adult oriented or it'll lose much of its impact.

I can see hour long episodes with 2-3 episodes per book if condensed correctly. I've personally imagined many book scenes can be shown in one minute that takes many pages to describe. I've storyboarded short scenes from the books years ago, though I've lost those scribbles since.

Yeah Netflix would probably cancel any Dresden IP as I doubt it would ever be crazy popular. I suspect Amazon Prime would be the best bet these days.

Yeah, a season does seem far too long per book (and we don't want 25 seasons!). Quality over quantity and all that. Probably the first three books in the first season or something like that. It would take a very clever show runner to work out the natural arcs in the series. In fact, maybe the first five books in the first series. Five books a series gets five seasons - plus the BAT would have to work out at some stage.

Maggie and Mouse as an animation  in true Scooby Doo Style would be better. If Star Wars can do both Live Action and animation so can the Dresden Files.

Besides they can riff on the classic Scooby Do intro with Mouse replacing Scooby, Bob replacing the Flaming Skull and the MunsterMobile standing in for the Mystery Machine, with Toot and Lacuna standing in for Shaggy and Daphne.

You just then need to convince Harry Carpenter to wear an ascot….

Almost think that the Maggie and Mouse series would have to be done as a separate show (and yes, probably aimed for kids).

I would be okay with an Animated series by a studio like one of the two you mentioned (or whoever did Invincible)... the problem is that I don't think Dresden would boil down to episodes very well...  Maybe if each season was a book (multiple seasons in one year would be better than multiple books per season) and each season was made of 4-12 episodes and each episode was 20-90 minutes...

It's nice that Streaming doesn't require every episode fit in either 20 minutes or 45 minutes...

But I think Stranger Things shows that a life action Dresden Files series would be possible.

Wind Sun Sky and Skybound North were the animators. Don't know much of their stuff other than I think Skybound North is part of Skybound Entertainment, which is the showrunner Robert Kirkman's production company. But yes, I think they also would do a fine job.

So I think the opposite. As I said above, a few books a season would be perfect. The first few books are far too small to sustain an entire season. Later on things get harder as the books get bigger.

But I agree that the episodes would probably need to be around an hour at least to do things justice.

There is a live-action series in the works. Jim was involved a bit more than he was with the first live-action one (which some people like, and certainly helped bring people to read the books, but for me was far too different from the books themselves for me to enjoy). One of the main people who used to run this forum (and still runs the website I believe, although she no longer does the content drops) was also quite involved in the new series. However, given the silence about it for the last few years (damn COVID) I would say the show is on indefinite hold. I don't know that for sure but that's often the reality of Hollywood.

[Melriken]

So I think the opposite. As I said above, a few books a season would be perfect. The first few books are far too small to sustain an entire season. Later on things get harder as the books get bigger.

But I agree that the episodes would probably need to be around an hour at least to do things justice.

I don't actually think we disagree much...

What I want would be fulfilled by doing 3-4 mini-series in the first year, one for Storm Front, one for Fool Moon, one for Grave Peril, and maybe one for Summer Knight... each of those being 2-3 hours of entertainment broken down into episodes of whatever length works best for that part of the story... (20-90 minutes per episode (literally, episode 1 might be 40 minutes while episode 2 is 20 and episode 3 is 53 minutes)).  I would call Mini-Series 1 "Season 1" and "Storm Front" and while I would release 3-4 books in one year for the first year I personally wouldn't connect those together into a season, though I wouldn't object to naming them Mini-Series (or Series) and connecting them together.

Having Season 1, Series 1, Episode 1 be a 67 minute episode and the first half of Storm Front, while Season 1, Series 1, Episode 2 is a 71 minutes and the rest of Storm Front, while Season 1, Series 2, Episode 1 is a 53 minute episode and the first third of Fool Moon, S1s2e2 is 48 minutes and S1s2e3 is 69 minutes and together they wrap up Fool Moon... and so on (Grave Peril being 3 more episodes of season 3 making up series 3, while Summer Knight is 4 episodes of S1s4) would for example I think make us both happy...

I would drop the season designations from those as confusing and use the word season for series and not reset the mini-series numbering between 'seasons'...

I would also be happy with S1E1a, S1E1b, S1E2a, S1E2b, S1E2c, S1E3a and so on replacing the designations listed above. I would be happier if S2E5a were the first part of Death Masks (and S2 didn't have E1-E4 at all) under this naming convention, but I wouldn't push too hard for it... (it would be so different from anything else)

My Preference would be to get 3-4 2-4 episode seasons in the first year, and 1-3 3-6 episode seasons per year there after as it keeps the numbering clean between the books and show (book 5 is season 5 and comes out in year 2).

Long story short, I think we both agree on how much content (minutes) each book should take and how long (in years) it should take to get to each book... we just prefer to name them with slightly different schemes.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

For the Dresden Files you would want the Andor model, three episode story arcs per book. I actually think the success of Andor probably helps the Dresden Files in that regard rather than condense into monster of the week or series long arcs

[Melriken]

The short stories can be tapped to provide either A-Plot for an episode to give it an identity and conclusion, or B-Plot to give the episode a little more run time for short ones or in the case of longer stories to provide a full episode in between books (possibly picking up sub-plots from the books around it that weren't included in the episodes for those books to bring it up to a full episode).

There are more of these as the chronology progresses... and some of them should be told OUT of order... (A Fist Full of Warlocks for example takes place earliest in the timeline but should be after Dead Beat at the very least, and likely would fit best as a Story Lucio is telling Harry while they are dating... Journal takes place just before Turn Coat but shouldn't be included until later (cold days?).

If there are 4 books in season 1 and 3 in seasons 2 and 3 the short stories would fill out those seasons nicely until the books get heavier and can fill a season alone... then when the book count drops to 2 the shorts can again help bridge that gap.

[Cthoniq]

When playing through The Wolf Among Us, it occurred to me that Telltale could make an awesome Dresden Files adventure game. Maybe an original case set some time in the early series, or a remake of one of the first three books? I mean, watch this intro and tell me it doesn't scream Dresden Files.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_BTePQaXgA&ab_channel=NerdRush