Friday, December 16, 2005

Well, I didn't see THIS coming!

Remember how sucky the SciFi Channel's EarthSea miniseries was? How they butchered Ursula LeGuin's novel in an attempt to turn it into Harry Potter lite? Well, it looks like EarthSea is on its way to the silver screen by way of Studio Ghibli:


Studio Ghibli has officially announced that their next feature film will be Gedo Senki (Gedo War History), directed by Hayao Miyazaki's son, Goro Miyazaki. The film will be an adaptation of Ursula K Le Guin's "A Wizard of Earthsea," and will be released in the Japanese theatres in July 2006.

The Studio's official site has also undergone a revamp. Details of the new film can be found there. There are also dedicated sections of production diary and director's diary. Goro Miyazaki has posted some comments on his father's opposition towards his work as a director.

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Our Tales of Earthsea page is now up.

Ghibli World has a translation of a section of Goro's blog/diary with thoughts about his reason for directing and his father's reaction.

I'm pretty jazzed about this. It's won't be a remake of A Wizard of EarthSea however. According to Anime News Network, indications are that it's either an adaptation of the third book in LeGuin's series, The Farthest Shore, or a combination of that book and the fourth, Tehanu. In any event, fans can be certain they won't be getting a slavish, word-for-word interpretation of the books. Ghibli's Howl's Moving Castle film was composed of perhaps 50 percent of the original Dianne Wynne Jones novel, and 50 percent Hayao Miyazaki's imagination. That movie was flawed, sure, and didn't approach the brilliance of Spirited Away, but it's still a thing of wonder to behold. I expect this new EarthSea movie, titled the very anime-ish Gedo War History, will follow similar lines. Which will still make it about 90 percent more faithful than the SciFi Channel mini!

Now Playing: Donal Hinely Midwinter Carols: Fourteen Selections on Glass Harmonica

2 comments:

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  2. I love it when the wild-eyed loonies show up, and I get to delete them.

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