OoTS TV series?

[Cybertoy00]

I suppose I'm going to go to Hell for suggesting this, but after reading the OoSt film thread, I had an idea; What if an Order of the Stick show was produced? Animated, of course.
After all, if shows based off of comic books, children's literature, video games, and other motion pictures can be cranked out, why not one based on a widely popular web comic?
The intro could start out with a sequence like the cast page, with the narrator this deep, dark, epic voice. Then we do a montage of several action sequences, finishing with a close-up on the 'the ORDER of the STICK was here' carving Elan did in #17 'Rapier Wit' as the title.
This is all, of course, under the assumption that Rich Burlew would allow something like that to happen.

[the_tick_rules]

It'd be hard to sell. Unless they cut out the D&D humor which would in effect not make it not OOTS if they did it'd have trouble appealing to people outside the gaming community. Not the largest demographic overall.

[Valifor]

It'd be hard to sell. Unless they cut out the D&D humor which would in effect not make it OOTS if they did it'd have trouble appealing to people outside the gaming community.

i dont exactly agree with that. the early strips had a lot of D&D humor, yes, but as many people have pointed out before, once the strip started to be more popular with non-D&D players, it stopped relying on that humor so much and made it more mainstream. you'd just have to either start the series in a different way, or just make different jokes to replace those. i think it could be done with some tweaking, which has already happened. heck, if done right, it might just help make D&D more popular, assuming the show would be popular.

[Faleldir]

I imagine the only way it would work is to be converted to 4e. You can't make a cartoon about a game that's not for sale.

[Rhydeble]

saturday morning OOTS?

I wonder if anyone could write a nice starting tune :smallbiggrin:

[SPoD]

I imagine the only way it would work is to be converted to 4e. You can't make a cartoon about a game that's not for sale.

Ridiculous. Rich doesn't work for WOTC, he shouldn't care what is or is not for sale by them. Just strip out the rules jokes but keep the premise of the world intact: a fantasy world where everyone knows the clichés and gimmicks of fantasy literature.

[Faleldir]

Ridiculous. Rich doesn't work for WOTC, he shouldn't care what is or is not for sale by them. Just strip out the rules jokes but keep the premise of the world intact: a fantasy world where everyone knows the clichés and gimmicks of fantasy literature.

And how do you propose Rich might get the money to make a TV series?

[GSFB]

I don't think it needs to have appeal to non-gamers to be a tv series. There are niche channels on cable/satellite like G4 that could run a show with limited appeal to a gamer audience. The question is, how much would it cost to make the show, and could a limited audience provide enough viewers to draw advertising revenue to turn a profit?

this would depend on the production cost of the show. real animation is expensive. but something like this might work well with lower cost computer based "flash" type animation. it wouldn't have the same production value you see on a show like The Simpsons or Family Guy, but then we ARE talking stick figures here, so this could work.

[Marnath]

Rich doesn't even have time to get the comics done on a regular basis, what makes you think he'd have time for a TV show?

[SPoD]

And how do you propose Rich might get the money to make a TV series?

Investors? I have no idea. That wasn't really my point, since I doubt he has any interest in making one at all.

I guess you think that WOTC would swoop in and offer Rich a deal to make OOTS as a big advertisement for D&D? That's pretty damn unlikely. If they were going to do that, they would have done so five years ago, or be publishing his books, or something. Remember that Rich has written books for them and they hosted his short-lived Five Foot Steps comic, not to mention being in Dragon Magazine, so there was no lack of contact between Rich and WOTC back in the day. No, WOTC clearly has no interest in backing OOTS officially, so any attempt to produce a TV show would have to be financed elsewhere. And if that's the case, it's actually counter to Rich's interest to update the show to 4E.

[SPoD]

Rich doesn't even have time to get the comics done on a regular basis, what makes you think he'd have time for a TV show?

Hypothetically speaking, he would simply license its production to a company capable of doing animation. He wouldn't have to do much more than approve scripts and final products at that point.

But again, I don't really see this happening.

[Marnath]

Did i miss something in the past week that says double posts are ok? :smallconfused: It seems like every thread on the boards has double posting now....

*edit i thought we were supposed to edit anything in we had to say, like this?:smallconfused:

[The Dark Fiddler]

Did i miss something in the past week that says double posts are ok? :smallconfused: It seems like every thread on the boards has double posting now....

It's been happening for as long as I've been here, and probably before. New people don't know not to, old people forget (I mean, we are mostly human, after all). The forgetting is mostly in double posts like 2 minutes after one another, I think they quoted a new person meaning to edit it in and forgot they were doing that and hit submit instead. Or something.

[Scarlet Knight]

Rich doesn't even have time to get the comics done on a regular basis, what makes you think he'd have time for a TV show?

Outsource to Korea?

[SPoD]

Outsource to Korea?

Nah, everyone would assume O-Chul's total badassery had been added in by the animators.

[Faleldir]

I guess you think that WOTC would swoop in and offer Rich a deal to make OOTS as a big advertisement for D&D? That's pretty damn unlikely.
I guess you think some animation studio would produce a word-for-word copy of a niche webcomic, just out of the goodness of their hearts? If you're starting from the assumption that Rich wouldn't have to compromise his artistic vision to get it done, there's nothing to discuss, because we've already seen it.

[Vaynor]

If at all this wouldn't be until OotS has finished, at least. But even then it's doubtful.

[SPoD]

I guess you think some animation studio would produce a word-for-word copy of a niche webcomic, just out of the goodness of their hearts?

No, I would think they would do it because they thought it would be a success from which they would make money. That's how making TV shows work. (Alternately, Rich would pay them, in which case they would do whatever he asked them to do.)

I think you dramatically underestimate the number of people who read the comic. It's not a niche, it's one of the 4 or 5 most widely read webcomics that exist, and all the ones that have more readers are gag-a-day strips without a coherent overriding plot (i.e. xkcd, Penny Arcade, Ctrl-Alt-Del, Cyanide and Happiness) Rich has pegged the number of readers at about half a million before. And most of its fans don't play D&D. They read it for the plot and characters, and those don't have to change one bit in an animated adaptation.


If you're starting from the assumption that Rich wouldn't have to compromise his artistic vision to get it done, there's nothing to discuss, because we've already seen it.

No, I'm starting from the assumption that Rich WOULDN'T compromise his artistic vision, even if that meant NOT getting it done. Because he doesn't need to get it done at the cost of having to change everything about it that makes it what it is.

[Vaynor]

I think you dramatically underestimate the number of people who read the comic. It's not a niche, it's one of the 4 or 5 most widely read webcomics that exist, and all the ones that have more readers are gag-a-day strips without a coherent overriding plot (i.e. xkcd, Penny Arcade, Ctrl-Alt-Del, Cyanide and Happiness) Rich has pegged the number of readers at about half a million before. And most of its fans don't play D&D. They read it for the plot and characters, and those don't have to change one bit in an animated adaptation.

It was number one on a few of those comic ranking sites for quite a long time. If I remember correctly, Rich took it off of the lists himself to give the other comics a chance. :smallwink:

[Scarlet Knight]

Let's just do what alot of the saturday morning shows do. Take the characters, make them high schoolers, ignore everything we know about their canon history, and just put out crappy sitcom plots as the wacky teens try to pull shananagins over professor Durkon and Principle Vaarsuvius.

:smallsmile:

[licoot]

people seem to be forgetting oots's international audience, a tv show wouldn't succeed because the people who would watch it aren't concentrated enough, no broadcaster would profit from it, it would therefore have to be hosted on the internet, and how do you earn money foe that

[GSFB]

am thinking the only way it would get on real television if from a small cable/sat company. a satellite channel could reach an international audience, but still would be hard pressed to take in enough advertising dollars to make it worth while. channels are overflowing with paid advertising content infomercials. for a channel to pass up on this to fill air time, there needs to be both a high probability of drawing enough viewers to sell ad space that pays more than the infomercial and a low enough purchase price for the program.

Something that costs more than a few thousand dollars per episode is not going to make it on even a niche channel. So a high-quality animation, or even crappy stuff farmed out to a third world country, is not going to be cheap enough. it would have to be something that a handful of artists/programmers could bang out fast and cheap using Flash or something like it, with minimal salaries to voice over artists/music/sound effects people.

this is hard, but not impossible. the scripts are already there in comic form. just takes the animation and sound. and of course, permission from Giant and someone to actually do it. then, it would probably have to a free video online for a while, to demonstrate to television programmers that it can work and that people are watching it. prove that it can attract viewers first, and then you'd have a chance at marketing it to a real tv channel.

that is a whole lot of ifs. the biggest if would be Giant signing off on it. i'd imagine he would never consider it without full editorial control, and then it would be hard to get anyone else to work on the production - most folks in broadcasting don't want to touch something unless they can modify it (just ask Joss Whedon).

so speaking of Joss, another possible route is to do it the Dr Horrible way. make a low budget program, offer it as a free video online, bring in viewers, then sell DVDs directly and end the free online issues. but even Joss Whedon couldn't get any real TV stations to broadcast Dr Horrible, even after millions of online views and a top-selling DVD.

so color me pessimistic.

[PallElendro]

I wonder if anyone could write a nice starting tune :smallbiggrin:

The Order of the Stick left the town that day,
not to find the dragon to slay,
but a lich to boot,
and we got the rogue that takes the loot.

Meat and shields just can't go well
but the hit points lost will tell (hey!)
heals and d4,
Might as well stop wizard gore.

The Order of the stick left the basement,
went onto clean pavement,
and plunged into town the next.

[Cybertoy00]

I've been thinking about the voices, and I might have a few for the main cast. These are only suggestions, if you have your own ideas, please say so.

Roy Greenhilt- Phil Morris
Durkon Thundershield- Kevin Michael Richardson
Haley Starshine- Tara Strong
Vaarsuvius- Aliki Theofilopoulos
Belkar Bitterleaf- Barbara Goodson
Elan- David Kaufman

Xykon- Mark Hamill
Redcloak- Sam Riegel
Monster In the Dark- Dan Castellaneta

[Dr.Epic]

TV series? Nah, it should be a web series. And Felicia Day should be Haley and Neil Patrick Harris should be Elan. They've never played characters in a web series that were each others love interest, right?

[Capt Spanner]

TV series? Nah, it should be a web series. And Felicia Day should be Haley and Neil Patrick Harris should be Elan. They've never played characters in a web series that were each others love interest, right?

Now I come to think of it, Nathan Fillion could do a really good job playing antagonist to Neil Patrick Harris. He could definitely do Xykon pretty well and I'd love to see him across screen from NPH.

[Scarlet Knight]

The Order of the Stick left the town that day,
not to find the dragon to slay,
but a lich to boot,
and we got the rogue that takes the loot.

Meat and shields just can't go well
but the hit points lost will tell (hey!)
heals and d4,
Might as well stop wizard gore.

The Order of the stick left the basement,
went onto clean pavement,
and plunged into town the next.

...and had trouble with the movement hex?

I LIKE it!

[Dr.Epic]

Now I come to think of it, Nathan Fillion could do a really good job playing antagonist to Neil Patrick Harris. He could definitely do Xykon pretty well and I'd love to see him across screen from NPH.

What? There's only one role for Nathan Fillion and that is...

:thog:

[JessGulbranson]

Well, I'm sure anything like this would have to be fan made to start. I think we can dispense with any 'Joss Whedon regular' fantasy casting to start.

Think of it this way... OotS the strip wasn't started as a mainstream publishing effort. It was, and is, an indie webcomic. That's now ridiculously popular. Out of the half million readers, there are probably professional quality animators, screenwriters, voice actors, audio engineers, etc. How many of us would jump at the chance to work on something like this?

I think the best way this project could get off the ground, would be to have some fan-made official shorts that weren't based off any existing strips. That way, people who saw the shorts and thought they were funny could be driven to the comic to see the actual story, and vice versa. Once it was established as a successful medium on its own, then maybe it could be kicked up to the next level, picked up by a production house, and the existing stories could be produced.

My $0.02.

[Bedinsis]

Browsing the Internet, I found this (http://sequentialtart.com/article.php?id=467) interview with Mr. Burlew from 2007:


I pretty much insist on maintaining control of everything when it comes to merchandising or adaptation of the comic. I have considered (by way of an example) an OOTS animated series before, but I wouldn't be interested in doing one unless I was able to control it myself. Most of the projects for OOTS that I've passed up required that I give up some degree of control over the implementation, so I don't really regret not biting. And similarly, some of the projects I've regretted doing involved companies that were aggressively attempting to persuade me to sign the rights to OOTS to them, which required protracted battles to extricate myself that my lawyer has advised me I shouldn't discuss publicly.

Emphasis mine. So unless Mr. Burlew has changed his views about direct control, or he changes them in the future, a video series is unlikely. Unless he finds a way to get direct control, which if I've understood correctly he doesn't have the time for.

[Nimrod's Son]

And thank god for that, too. I hope OotS is forever a magnificent example of a comic strip and nothing more. Let too many people market things their way and before you know it, it's Garfield.

[Darthteej]

I've often thought about this, and I think that it should be a miniseries based off of one exiting arc, if it was ever to happen of course. Specifically, the War and XPs one begs for a spotlight on the bronze screen.

[Morgan Wick]

It'd be hard to sell. Unless they cut out the D&D humor which would in effect not make it not OOTS if they did it'd have trouble appealing to people outside the gaming community. Not the largest demographic overall.

How would that not also apply to a movie?


i think it could be done with some tweaking, which has already happened. heck, if done right, it might just help make D&D more popular, assuming the show would be popular.

OOTS didn't make me a gamer, but it did get me a lot more interested in role-playing games.


And thank god for that, too. I hope OotS is forever a magnificent example of a comic strip and nothing more. Let too many people market things their way and before you know it, it's Garfield.

You (and/or Rich) wouldn't happen to be a Calvin and Hobbes fan, would you?

An ongoing OOTS series could be fun, with each book filling out a season, but each episode would probably cover only 8-9 strips in that case. The pacing of DStP would have to be very different to maintain interest, since each episode focusing on a completely different aspect of the cast doesn't really work in a serial medium. Maybe it could be a limited series with only 8-10 episodes a season?

[Nimrod's Son]

You (and/or Rich) wouldn't happen to be a Calvin and Hobbes fan, would you?
Can't speak for Rich, but as for me: Oh my yes. :smallsmile:

I first read Bill Watterson's thoughts on licensing when I was in my early teens and I found it incredibly inspiring that someone would care so much about their creation that they refused point-blank to compromise it in any way, despite the fact that with just a couple of signatures they could be very rich indeed. So I salute Rich for taking a similar stance.

There's also the fact that an OotS TV show would be practically guaranteed to totally suck, of course. :smallamused: At best, it would be "What's the point of this? We already have the comic," and at worst it could butcher it so terribly that it put people off the comic as well, purely by association.