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D&D Trailer 292

Posted by michael from the +5-Holy-Avenger dept.
hubersan writes "The new trailer is up at http://www.seednd.com Oh MAN. Lotsa nice CG.." I suppose it would be rude to link directly to an Akamai URL, so I won't do it. Quicktime, naturally. Conscience strikes: should I see this movie and give my money to Time-Warner? Update: 10/26 6:09 PM by michael : Sadly, we've been asked to take down the direct link to the file.
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D&D Trailer

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  • Re:Conscience? (Score:5)

    by MAXOMENOS ( 9802 ) <mike.mikesmithfororegon@com> on Thursday October 26, 2000 @11:51AM (#672406) Homepage
    Lawful Good: Pay to watch the movie. Buy a copy on tape or DVD for the family.

    Another take on it:

    • Lawful Good: Doesn't see the movie, as tempting as it may be, because s/he knows that that money is going to trample on our rights
    • Lawful Neutral: Hunt down counterfeiters on the Web and turn them in to the MPAA
    • Lawful Evil: Work for the MPAA, on their legal team.
    • Neutral Good: Figure out what's worse: not seeing the movie and possibly harming the role-playing-game genre as far as the corporate public goes, or seeing the movie and paying the MPAA to trample on your rights. Go with your conscience.
    • True Neutral: See the flick. Or don't see the flick. Depends on your tastes.
    • Neutral Evil: Work for a major movie studio as an advertising executive.
    • Chaotic Good: If you must see the movie, sneak in. If the cops hassle you about it, explain that it's a political protest.
    • Chaotic Neutral: Buy movie ticket, eat it. Beat up usher with a trout.
    • Chaotic Evil: Become a prodcer.

    But that's just me.

    fearbush.com [fearbush.com]

  • ISTR it was Tactical Studies Rules, oddly enough. But I've not cracked open a TSR product for quite some time...
  • So why don't they fix it and release the final trailer?
    Don't tell us they are still working on it 6 weeks from the release date on December 8th...
  • Well, if there is enough support, we could have a full length feature film of "Knights of the Dinner Table" by the end of 2001.

    -Vel

  • Re:CG? (Score:1)

    by Pxtl ( 151020 )
    I believe it was Dragon magazine that said, and I quote:

    "Do not trifle with dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup."

    Yes, I know its a Tolkein spoof.
  • It is flamebait. This whole thread, starting with the top level that's been moderated up for no good reason, is a stupid bit of offtopic flamebait. "Oh, /. is so hypocritical. They say boycott the MPAA and then see geek movies." There's nothing constructive in that post, there's nothing even interesting. Yes, there are many people posting to /., and some of them have different opinions from each other.

    If you want to actually display hypocrisy, you'll have to find the SAME PERSON saying opposite things. And even then-- who cares? Simply pointing out hypocrisy is a pointless kid's game. Identifying real issues and finding solutions is something that's actually worthwhile. Yes, we're all upset with the MPAA. But we're also very interested in their product. Are we dedicated enough to boycott? Or perhaps there's a way to hurt the MPAA without a boycott? Is there an idealistic conflict here, or not?
  • The comment about the trailer being "unfinished" and "unauthorized" refers to the French trailer released some time ago. This is the honest to god real theatrical trailer.

  • Re:Simple. (Score:3)

    by Twid ( 67847 ) on Thursday October 26, 2000 @10:54AM (#672413) Homepage
    >Every time you see an $8 TW movie, send $16 to
    >the EFF. That's $24 a movie, so it will make you
    >evaluate what you see more critically.

    I really like the concept of this. This isn't unlike some of the ideas to use services like PayPal [paypal.com] to compensate music artists (long /. discussion here [slashdot.org].)

    In a way, this is kind of a self-tax, where you get to decide where your tax money goes to. This is a neat idea! Worried about polluting the earth, but you have a long commute? Give 50 cents a gallon for every gallon of gas you use to your favority charity. This is a really interesting concept, thanks for sharing...

    By the way, the link to donate to the eff using paypal is here [eff.org].

    -Twid

  • And then they thought, "You know what this trailer needs? Orff's Carmina Burana!"

    But don't you see? Carmina Burana makes EVERYTHING better!!!!
  • Here you go [jedinet.com]

    --
  • X-Men was a Fox release.

  • um yeah... if people start bringing dates over to their houses to watch a low quality recording on a 17" monitor, the movie industry is is *serious* trouble

    ---

  • MPAA boycot rules/ideas (Score:3)

    by tolldog ( 1571 ) on Thursday October 26, 2000 @10:58AM (#672418) Homepage Journal
    You know that not all videos that are released to theatres are from members of the MPAA. And that sometimes they use the big boys for distribution... so it looks like an MPAA movie.
    If a serious boycot was done, it could end up hurting the smaller, independent studios, the ones that need our support. Is giving a few cents to an evil empire so bad that you don't want to help those small rebel forces trying to make good film?

    I suggest that before you decide to boycot a movie, look at who is producing the movie, not who is distributing it and base the decision on that.

    As sort of an analogy...
    I was a paper boy once. The paper had an editorial cartoon that offended the local Unions in our town. The union then boycotted the paper. But, the union, in all fairness, suggested that those that recieved delivery to still tip the paper carier (and maybe a little extra because we got payed per paper) to prevent a loss of revenue to the little guy.

    We should all follow this idea.

  • hmmm (Score:3)

    by niekze ( 96793 ) on Thursday October 26, 2000 @09:39AM (#672427) Homepage
    Lets boycott MPAA...unless a geek movie comes out. It surprises how 'dedicated' /. people are

  • Conscience? (Score:5)

    by Ptolemarch ( 11506 ) <davidhand.davidhand@com> on Thursday October 26, 2000 @09:39AM (#672432) Homepage
    Conscience strikes: should I see this movie and give my money to Time-Warner?

    It all depends. If you're Lawful Evil aligned, there's no problem at all with seeing a Time-Warner movie. (If you're Chaotic Evil aligned, you might want instead to sneak into the movie. Chaotic Good might also do this, as they might rationalize that it's not evil since you'd not be giving money to Time-Warner.)

  • Shoulndn't this movie have been made at around 1982? Like, you know, around the first edition AD&D rules?

    Of course, the anti-D&D Crowd back in the day beat TSR with the wonderful "Mazes and Monsters" starring Tom Hanks. Fortunately, Tom Hanks went on to much better movies in his career, like Bachelor Party and Joe Vs. The Volcano.
  • So the bus boycotts in the 60's were wrong since they were harming the profitability of the bus drivers? It isn't they're fault that civil rights didn't exist at the time. idiot


    Yeah, those bus companies were instrumental in passive civil rights legislation... geez...
  • Although this has nothing to do with D&D, I figured it to be the time to ask:

    Has anyone managed to get a QuickTime viewer working under Linux? Apple unfortunately didn't have any Linux support on their website last time I checked (I wonder why), and the few Linux QuickTime articles I found on the web were no help. Any slashdotters out there who have gotten this to work, please let me know!
  • Unfortunatly, there is a long list of drivers who thought they could drive without regard for the speed limit or basicly any other traffic laws. Of course, some people will say "those people were just bad drivers to begin with, or drunks, or total idiots who couldn't tie thier own shoes much less change lanes on the interstate at 85mph while talking on a cell phone" Yeah and D&D is just a game! Like people who think they can play around with drugs, sex, or windows me, the person who drivers a motorized vehicle is just getting in line to die. The evidence is clearly stacked against them. The interstates are too carefully designed to cause death to avoid. Yeah, right.
  • Yeah, this is the kind of fucking insightful kind of response I expect to see on /. these days.
  • Which when I last checked was part of the lawsuits.. it's not Time-Warner, but I believe they were named as a plantiff.

  • "Those people were just weird or losers to begin with." There, I said it. The tiny number of people who lose touch with reality while playing RPGs were pretty far gone anyway. I'm pretty sure that just about anything could've pushed the over the edge. If it wasn't D&D then it could've been professional sports, depressing poetry, Road Runner cartoons, etc.

    Just for comparison, bow many people are killed each year in fraternity hazing incidents? All because they so desperately want to be part of an abusive and manipulative group that they're willing to debase themselves, place their lives in danger, commit criminal acts, and lie to protect their abusers? That commonly accepted social behaviour seems far more dangerous than any game of medieval cops-and-robbers could ever be.

    In fact, I think that some of the most brilliant religious minds in history would've been ardent fans of D&D. Look at Milton's 'Paradise Lost', with a downright sympathetic view of the fallen angel Lucifer. Heck, large chunks of D&D's original mythology were lifted straight out of Dante's classic works. Were those authors, so revered by the church in their time, also whistling in the dark while invoking demonic forces?

    The world is full of destitute, foolish, unstable, and depressed people. IMHO, the church's true mission is to help these people and illustrate by example. This goal is _not_ served by endlessly engaging on one foolish witch hunt after another. Most churchgoes know better than to fall for this sort of nonsense. Try using the brain God gave you, and maybe you'll find youself joining them.

    -Bryan
  • ...I'm waiting for the Rolemaster one!

    I'd pay good money to see how they visualize each '66' on the critical damage tables :D

  • Peter Jackson rules. Ever seen "Braindead"? (aka."Dead Alive"). The scene where Timothy mows down a room full of zombies by walking up and down holding a lawnmower at head height is a classic!

    Consciousness is not what it thinks it is
    Thought exists only as an abstraction
  • Um, the thing is, when you look at the number of RPG players (or even solely the number of D&D players) and count the number of violent crimes perpetrated by them, you find that these game players are, in fact, only 10% as likely to commit a violent crime as the general population.

    On the other hand, football players are more likely to commit violent crimes, as much as ten times as likely as the general population.

    Hence, football players are one hundred times as dangerous to society as D&D players.

    I wish I had a link to the appropriate stats. I know they're out there; I hope someone finds and posts the link.

    And, Nathaniel, every single one of your cited sources is spurious at best and a full-on lie at worst.
    --

  • Re:Great visuals, poor acting... (Score:4)

    by Zak3056 ( 69287 ) on Thursday October 26, 2000 @11:18AM (#672472) Journal
    The use of the word "kinda" in a fantasy setting.

    Actually, the one that got me was something along the lines of "Dude, that musta been some like major magical experiment gone wrong or something!"

    *sigh*

  • Because then it's not a medieval world. It's a bunch of Road Rules contestants whose challenge is to hold a renaissance fair.

    "Dude, I totally wanna be the knight and do all that stuff like kill things and rescue chicks in trouble." "No way, I'll be the knight. You can be the jester." "That guy from Top Gun?" "No dude, those midgets that make you laugh." "But I'm not a midget." "So crawl on your knees, bee-yaawwwtch." And then the person dressed as the knight slaps the other in the ass with a sword, leaving a welt that causes a rift between the two cliques in the Winnebago as half see it as a by-product of playful fun while the others see it as a sign of the increasing violence of one of their number.

    Yeah, I'm waitin' in line for that one.

  • Sadly, I don't give a fuck what New Line Cinema thinks i can link to.

    Here's the crappy trailer [apple.com]

    Here's a direct link to the file, broken up. I couldn't past it in entirely because apparently slashdot thinks long strings are lame. Which is lame. Ironic, huh?

    http://a784.g.akamai.net/5/784/51/4cba529b0c96fb /
    1a1a1aaa2198c627970773d80669d84574a8d80d 3cb12453c02589f25382f668c9329e0375e81785ea61cd36a4 09389c0a6e/dnd__480.mov

    If this post is removed, slashdot censors.

  • Fine how about this ... the statement that the original post made, that x is OK if enough people say x is OK, is among the more asinine pieces of "logic" I've heard lately.
  • Shall we make a list of all suicides by Christians each year?

    and compare the percentages?

    What are the odds that a) it's a wash, or b) the percentages are the wrong way?

  • Re:Come on! (Score:3)

    by fudboy ( 199618 ) on Thursday October 26, 2000 @12:31PM (#672489) Homepage Journal

    hey, lay the hell off.

    haven't you read your Joseph Campbell [jcf.org]?

    There are only so many plots and story elements to work with, if you intend to make a satisfying piece of work. So why not focus on those elements that hit closest to home? like getting the girl, defeating the villian, etc. these elements are metaphors for challenges you'll be facing all the rest of your days.

    To prove my point, I guaruntee that a wizened old man will send the main character off on his journey in the D&D movie. Because HE, the old man, is an element common to almost every epic, myth or parable that can be considered an 'adventure', throughout all of human history, from every culture and continent.

    ok, so I'm out ill today. I have a really good point about this, and if it coming off incoherently, I apologize. Maybe someone else could back me up in a more eloquent fashion? I'll shut up now...

    :)Fudboy
  • Many? There have been one or
    two reported cases, of
    previously distrubed individuals
    commiting henious acts.

    However, there has never been
    any conclusive proof that occurences
    of said sort are higher in the role-playing
    community than amongst the regulars. There
    have been a few studies that show a lower
    occurance of violence amongst role-players...
    but they did have some questionable aspects
    to them.

    Even for those few sick individuals who
    did commit some horrible act, you can
    not that they would or wouldn't
    have done these things w/o exposure to
    role-playing games.


    ---
    RobK
  • Well, thanks to being posted here, NewLine/Apple have apparently yanked all of the trailers. Huge isn't even an option, and the other three sizes all end up at apple.com with error_dnd.mov. Or is there something I'm missing? I didn't have any problems at all with the first trailer...

    Eric
  • I'll assume this isn't a troll... It's a fake. The scenes are from other movies that the actors have appeared in. Didja notice the scene where all the jedis are in a battle charging down a hill... in KILTS!?! Snip from Braveheart, color the swords like light sabres, et voila... instant jedi battle.

    You can even find this 'trailer' on adcritic, where they admit that, even though it's a fake, it's a cool fake, so they're hosting it.

    Eric
  • Please, please, PLEASE warn us next time yo link to a Quicktime/ Sorenson movie. I don't know if you noticed (:-)) but some of us run our machines on Linux and don't have the ability to view the Sorenson Codec.
    ( 4 minutes to download a 26Meg video, just to find out that I can't play the stinking thing!. )

    --------
    As for boycotting Time/Warner: that's where the rubber hits the road. It's easy enough for me to boycott something that I wouldn't see anyways. (whoop de doo). It's not a boycott unless you don't purchase/see things that you would if it weren't for the boycott. Either shit or get off the pot (or get off your high horse if all you're going to do is shit us).

    It's somewhat like when Ghandi started asking people to boycott the British Textile mills and start wearing homespun. It's not like people liked homespun. What they liked was the idea of getting the british off their backs. To do that, they took (cool-looking and often better made) british cloth off of their backs.

    If you're going to take on the fight, you've got to be willing to take the hit.

    Those who aren't willing to fight for their freedom don't deserve it.
    Malcom X
    `ø,,ø`ø,,ø!

  • Well, hell Slashdot.. (Score:5)

    by BilldaCat ( 19181 ) on Thursday October 26, 2000 @09:43AM (#672507) Homepage
    You guys went and saw X-Men and did a review on it, so the point is moot, isn't it?
  • Who then passes (after creative Hollywood accounting) something on to the weasels at TSR...

    Evil, evil, evil... Just can't match that in the movies.


    --
  • At least ripping off Carmina Burana is a tradition as old as Excalibur, but man, ripping off the Stargate soundtrack (which is played briefly just before Carmina in the trailer)... that's just sad.

    Not that uncommon, really. Music from Braveheart was heard in a sizable percentage of trailers over the past year (or more.)
    --


    • Lawful Good: Doesn't watch the movie because of Time-Warner. Also pickets the movie.
    • Lawful Neutral: Talks friend into buying their ticket, doesn't buy snacks (where the cinema _really_ makes its money).
    • Lawful Evil: Tricks a Time-Warner employee into paying for their ticket to see the movie. Snacks, too.

    • Chaotic Good: Downloads a copy of the movie from the Net, watches it on an open source-based machine. If they like it, they'll pay to see it, or buy it when it comes out on video.
    • Chaotic Neutral: Whatever the most convenient method is.
    • Chaotic Evil: Kills someone who reports on Aint-It-Cool-News and assumes their identity. Uses that person's ID to get into the sneak preview of the movie. Dislikes the movie, and murders everyone who had a hand in making the movie, and eats their livers with fava beans and fine Chianti.

    • Neutral Good: Sneaks into the movie, writes an accurate review for Aint-It-Cool-News.
    • True Neutral: Steals money from Time-Warner employee to pay for movie tix & snacks. Brings a date.
    • Neutral Evil: Steals money from friends to get ticket to movie & pay for snacks. Frames Time-Warner execs for theft.
  • what about all the other fantasy settings that deserve a film we've not seen many... a cartoon LOTR, a half arsed Dune, a passable battlefield earth maybe its time for fresh inspiration.

    Theres a few fantasy films that I'd love to see made:

    Dragonlance: Either from the D&D adventures or the orignal books. If only to have Tas and Raistlin in a movie...

    Fafhrd & The Gray Mouser: Weird plot lines, weird characters,weird leopard boats... would make a great film and Terry Pratchett obviously took his Death persona from these books.

    Elric: The series would tranfser to film very well, the ending might put a damper on any sequels though...

  • OK maybe I should chew on my foot for awhile...

    Perhaps the update shoud have written, "We have been informed that direct linking screws up load balancing, please go here [seednd.com] instead" and not "Sadly, we've been asked to take down the direct link to the file." which really sounds like legal bullying.

  • Oh I can't resist: "Crusaids? Isn't that what the 'don't ask don't tell' crusaders came down with?"

    Or how about: "Didn't Willie Nelson's great great great great great great great ... great grandfather play the Crusaids concerts to raise money for the crusaders?"

  • As I said, I went there and was told I'm not eligible (because I'm not logged in, which I clearly am logged in). Yeah, well fuck-all if I don't feel like kissing taco's dick because he tried but failed miserably.
  • The logical response to this would be to post all those suicides and murders that were motivated by Christianity.

    But I doubt that slashdot has enough storage.

  • Yeah, I know about meta-mod. Never used it, have no idea how to use it, and am told that participation in it (by following that link) is something I am not eligible for. Not sure I would do it anyway, but it's nice to know that I suck enough to not be allowed into that little area too.

    My point was, we have to have something that is based on actual thought process. Right now we have it so that the trolls, karma-whores and slashbots can all participate in the moderation system and all it amounts to is 'stay with the flock or you are totally fucked' type of moderation. How about seeing a truly insightful but not quite majority opinion comment get moderated up? It isn't going to happen. Or if it does it will quickly get meta-modded to 'overrated' and that will be that. What a waste.
  • Are you kidding? I grew up on all the movies you mentioned! And yes, I spent my teenage years watching those movies and thinking, 'Gosh! The Sorceress must be at least 14th level to cast such a spell!' and such things. I remember losing it when a friend asked if Rambo should be considered a high-level Fighter.

    I can't help thinking 'My god! This is gonna suck!' and yet I'm excited. Will I go watch this movie? You bet. It's like a childhood dream come true, and no way I'm gonna pass on that geekfest!

  • Simple. (Score:5)

    by mwalker ( 66677 ) on Thursday October 26, 2000 @09:47AM (#672549) Homepage
    Having a conscience doesn't mean you can't see Time Warner movies. It just makes life more expensive.

    Every time you see an $8 TW movie, send $16 to the EFF. That's $24 a movie, so it will make you evaluate what you see more critically.

    It's not like we don't have enough expendable income in this country. Today, at my local best buy in rockville, they called in the riot police because the people who lined up at 5 am for Playstation2's were trying to beat up the people who lined up at midnight and fell asleep.

    Try going to the local line of rabid PS2 shoppers and tell them that the PS2 is selling their fair use rights out the window. I bet you they'll all ask you if they could sign away their "fair use" thingies for a lower number in line.
  • Usenet isn't worth posting to. Actually, slashdot probably isn't either if it wasn't for the entertainment value. On usenet people just ignore any sort of comment they don't agree with. Here you get four hundred angry idiots telling you you'd better shut up if you try to say something they don't agree with. Not sure why, but that seems a little more interesting.

  • A little let down (Score:5)

    by xmalenko ( 127203 ) on Thursday October 26, 2000 @09:47AM (#672552)
    I was hoping to see a home movie of a bunch of kids rolling dice, playing the game, not a CG extravaganza. Oh well, I guess Time Warner knows whats best.
  • Sneak into the movie without paying for it.

    Problem solved!
  • Man . . .

    I remember taping paper covers over my D&D books* in high school-- circa 1977 -- so no one would know what I was carrying around.

    It wasn't a matter of getting beat up for being such a geek . . . it was having to explain what the hell the things were. I think there was one other guy in school who knew about gaming, and he was too busy trying to get into M.I.T. to start a campaign.

    Now . . . movies? D&D appearing in sitcoms? Geekdom is really in yer face these days.

    Stefan

    * Second printing of the original three-book set, now signed by Gygax hisself!

  • Yeah, now the famous Who fan luck takes over - he'll appear onscreen for about 60 seconds and deliver two lines.
  • from the looks of the trailer, and by the way the upper lips curled up on all who viewed it here, I can see this movie going bosoms-up at the box office.

    And then boys and girls, it is a sure bet that every (and there are quite a few, looking to cash in on pre-LOTR swords and sorcery mania - look at all the mar's movies made/being made recently) every fantasy picture in pre-production is going to get shit-canned by nervy executives eyeing the Hindenburg-like demise of DnD.

    Further to this, come xmas 2001 when Peter Jackson's LOTR fucking blows the DOORS off theaters around the world; we will see a horde of shoddy knock off's hastily produced only to die horribly, and the cycle beings anew. I'd be surprised if there weren't a few sucesses, but for the most part they will be about as satisfying as Mission To Mars.

    And just a word on the trailer - pretty-boy main characters spouting dialogue lifted from Scream?? No, no, no, no, no.

    Also speaking as someone in the FX industry - film schedules are hellish, political beasts. Whoever pulled the FX off for this look like they were asked to produce a TITANIC amount of shots in probably a very short time, and almost certainly with infighting among the people driving the project (happens EVERY time). What I saw here, taking into consideration what must have been a grueling post-production peroid, was very impressive for what it is. Jurasic Park/Dragonheart quality is very expensive to produce when you consider the cost of just one Softimage seat, the SGI/Wintel box to run it, the per-CPU cost of licensing an advanced renderer like Pixar's PRMAN (you should see that bastard do lizard skin) the cost of the operator, the compositing suites, the film scanning and recording, shader development yadda yadda yadda. Not to mention the sheer volume of research, motion tests, building and testing working IK/FK rigs for each character (skeletons, basically). Frankly I'm amazed they pulled it off and if some of the CG looks, well, CG-ish, just consider the amount of work that was put into it. Frankly if I saw a job like that come across my desk it'd give me a case of the screaming heebie-jeebies.

  • I was hoping to see a home movie of a bunch of kids rolling dice, playing the game, not a CG extravaganza. Oh well, I guess Time Warner knows whats best.
    Actually, I figured it'd be about a bunch of high school kids sitting around in their basement rolling dice, playing the game, and trying like hell to still get laid.
  • Well, it looks like the official site [seednd.com] is slashdotted. Might as well spread the fun. If you really want more information check out dndmovie.com [dndmovie.com]. Lots of photos, a few interviews, and generally a fun fan site which got some good behind the scenes information.
  • that young Princess reminded so much of the one out Star Wars Epi 1 that I am fearful of watching it....

    Actually, I thought she looked just like the princess in "The Neverending Story".

  • http://slashdot.org/metamod.pl [slashdot.org]
    ;
    The whole "Bug in Slashcode" thing sounds like a crock of shit to me. I just think they don't want people getting into it unless they are caring enough to figure out how to get there.

    Personally, I think placing it semi-prominently in the FAQ should be good enough. Here you are, knock yourself out. Better yet, knock out an overzealous moderator.
  • I heard recently that Apple and RealNetworks both agreed to make the next versions of their players stop taking over everything when installed. Here is a press release [apple.com] about it. I'll quote the relevant part for you here:
    RealNetworks and Apple also agreed today to support the principles of the "Ask, Tell, Help" initiative, which promotes good 'Internet manners' by ensuring that each company's player applications will inform and ask the user before changing the user's default player selection for common media formats.

    So, starting in the next release, you won't have to worry about that anymore. Of course, that doesn't help for the current release...

  • No kidding, my first thought was "why do we need another D&D movie when we have E.T.?"
  • How the _hell_ is this
    off topic? I was directly
    responding to the arguements
    the guy put forward.

    It's too late now(no one is reading
    this thread) but that is pure
    unabashed bullshit.
    ---
    RobK
  • Conscience strikes: should I see this movie and give my money to Time-Warner?

    Um, sure... how else are you going to see it?

  • Come on! (Score:5)

    by B-Rad ( 66696 ) on Thursday October 26, 2000 @10:01AM (#672601) Homepage
    Holy sweet Jesus, could it get any more formulaic? From the wise-cracking black guy (at least it's not a wise-cracking black guy being CGI rendered as Jar-Jar), to the pseudo-heroic main character who gets the girl in the end, to the evil guy who's trying to take over the entire world because it's his destiny, there aren't many generic points that haven't been touched. Quest for a magical item? It's there! Creepy sidekick to the bad guy with weird facial features? He's there!

    Jeremy Irons, how low you've slipped. For shame.
  • As a consultant out onsite Akamai, I wonder what they are doing about direct links like this...

    and if only I knew the system better, would it be cool to replace it with one of the Mac-using-but-Intel-advertisors Blue Man Group commercials?

    --
    Gonzo Granzeau

  • This message is to warn all consumers not to confuse D&D (the movie) with a cheap ripoff, called MUD (the movie).

    Although they may seem alike in some respects (both are set in a fantasy world with fantastic creatures, monsters, magic, etc.) one was produced by Hollywood studios for millions of dollars, while the other was produced by a band of computer geeks who barely know each other and wanted all the thrill of a role-playing game without much of the actual role-playing. While MUD (the movie) does have a cast of thousands of characters, all of them have (mostly) the same items, with the lead characters having an insane amount of gold and experience. What's worse, they fight the same monsters over and over again, sometimes into the wee hours of the morning, with long breaks where the characters do nothing but sleep. The characters start saying things for no apparent reason (what does 'lag' mean anyway?) and sometimes disappear or end up frozen in place for no apparent reason.

    While there is nothing illegal about MUD (the movie), we are concerned that unscrupulous theater managers and video vendors may try to pass off MUD (the movie) as D&D (the movie). Don't settle for immitations. The real D&D movie is not yet in theatres, nor are tapes of it available. If someone should represent MUD (the movie) as D&D (the movie) please contact the MPAA immediately. It is vitally important that the MPAA not be denied the money it needs to dest^H^H^H^Hprotect artistic freedom. Thank you.

    fearbush.com [fearbush.com]

  • There are only so many plots and story elements to work with, if you intend to make a satisfying piece of work.

    I'm sure anyone in film or the lowliest film student would disagree with that. Its called mass-marketing and a generic overly-used formula. There's tons of creativity out there, I've seen more 'satisfying pieces of work' at iFilm.com with a budget that is around what it costs to film 1/300th of a second of films like these.

  • Scathing review of this travesty at Gamegrene.com (Score:5)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 26, 2000 @10:03AM (#672613)
    Check out www.gamegrene.com [gamegrene.com] for a full synopsis and blistering review.

    Plus they also have an ongoing series reviewing some of the best fantasy movies of the 1980s.

    Good to see a comparison, and how bad this new one is compared to the old classics.
  • Even the stereotypes here are embarassing, they're not D&D sterotypes they're big studio types like, "Okay we need a wise-ass black urban kid who's streetsmart but in the end has a warm heart." I can't accept a 20th century wise-cracker and then this dramaticly role-played villian in the same movie based in a fictional past world.

    Keep your characters and setting consistant, please. Not only does this look a lot like TPM, it'll be just as silly.
  • AOL keyword: DnD
    Internet keyword: DnD

    Did I misread it? If not, what is an internet keyword? My browser (IE5 - I'm at work) thinks I want to go to MSN when I type DnD in the address box.

    --
  • A few people have alluded to this, but I'm going to come right out and say it: This trailer looks like a cross between Lord of the Rings and The Phantom Menace.

    We've got:

    • cute/innocent chick ruler (From Ep1)
    • Nasty council/advisor types (From Ep1)
    • Marlon Wayans vs. Jar Jar (From Ep1)
    • Way cool CG cities (From Ep1)
    • Way cool CG dragons (From LotR)
    • Kids with swords (From both)
    • Bad guys with stupid makeup (From Ep1)
    • Creepy Goblins (From LotR)
    • Lightning from finger tips (okay, that was EpVI...)
    • Extremely dramatic music (From LotR)
    • Interesting arial battles (From Ep1)
    • Kids with swords (From LotR)
    • "Kill them slowly... AHHHH!" vs "Wipe them out, all of them... AHHHH!" (From Ep1)
    All that said, this looks really cool, and as someone mentioned, this will be good filler while we wait for Lord of the Rings. And Marlon Wayans is funny, unlike Jar Jar.

    --brian

  • This [apple.com] looks pretty poor. And I'm an pretty easy to please guy when it comes to movies. It looks like not enough people involved with the production of the film have ever played D&D - or any other role playing game for that matter. Or maybe they just have a very shallow interpretation of it all. After this movie, people who have never used their imagination will think "Oh yeah - I know all about D&D". Six weeks later it will all be forgotten.

    I'm pretty excited about Lord of the Rings [apple.com], though.

  • Re:Conscience? (Score:5)

    by cribeiro ( 105971 ) on Thursday October 26, 2000 @10:04AM (#672623)

    The Complete Alignment Table

    First, the lawful characters:

    • Lawful Good: Pay to watch the movie. Buy a copy on tape or DVD for the family.
    • Lawful Neutral: Pay to watch the movie. Sleeps inside the theater.
    • Lawful Evil: Does not need to pay to watch the movie. They have contacts in the entertainment industry and have seen the premiere.

    Now the chaotic ones:

    Chaotic Good: Download a copy of the movie from the 'Net. Watch it on a Linux machine.

    Chaotic Neutral: Rolls a dice. 50% chance of paying to watch the movie.

    Chaotic Evil: Buy a pirate copy of the movie. Hates the end of the movie, where the good guys always win.

    Now the neutral bastards :-)

    • Neutral Good: Don't care. Wait for the movie top be released on cable TV.
    • True Neutral: Don't care. The last time it has seen a movie it was 40 years ago, in the gold years of Hollywood.
    • Neutral Evil: Don't care. Wait for the movie top be released on cable TV, and then ask a friend to record it for him.

  • Waiting for LotR (Score:5)

    by Enoch Root ( 57473 ) on Thursday October 26, 2000 @10:04AM (#672625)
    There's a couple of problems with that movie from the onset of the trailer... To name a few:

    The impossibly goody-two-shoes empress who believes everyone should be nice is gonna be the leader of the good guys?

    Thanks to that Scary Movie guy for proving once again that in action movies, black guys should play the scared comedic thief with no morals and a thirst for easy cash.

    Blue lipstick??? That's supposed to look evil?

    If the dragons look like CGI at this resolution, can you imagine them on a movie screen?

    "Then we'll make them go through a dungeon! Yeah! Because, you know, we've got dragons, but where are the dungeons? Huh?"

    My little brother DM'ed stories that sounded more original when he was 11.

    That being said, for some reason, I still find this exciting. First, it's gonna be a filler while we wait for LotR... And if they can make something that slick with the shoestring budget and two-bits director they have, can you imagine what Peter Jackson and a decent budget will turn up?

    If I had a time machine, I'd go straight to Christmas 2001!

  • Well, just make sure that you don't use DeCss when you rip it... Easy enough to do, and all the better to confound the MPAA's lawsuit.
    `ø,,ø`ø,,ø!
  • And I had to scroll almost to the bottom of the page to find your post?
    Where are my mod points?

    Not that I feel like downloading the trailer, but why the heck does /. give in to lame requests like that? When did linking become illegal?

  • A good chaotic evil character (that's good ias in interesting, not good as in .... You know what I mean), would probably sneak into the theatre, lock the doors in the middle of the first reel, and then start throwing molatov coctails into the theatre from the projectionist boot, where he could safely watch people panic when they realize that they're about to burn to death.

    Then he'd steal the movie. (wouldn't want to miss it, whould he?)
    `ø,,ø`ø,,ø!

  • Somebody goes out and shoots the guy that's been teasing him for the last 2 years and, when they find out that he's played D&D, they try and ban D&D.

    Another guy goes into the military, gets demolitions training, then comes out and blows up a couple hundred Oklahoma civilians. Do you see them trying to ban the military???

    NOOOOOO!!!!!!

    Now, that's hypocracy for you.
    `ø,,ø`ø,,ø!

  • Re:Give money to T-W (Score:3)

    by Maryck ( 84 ) on Thursday October 26, 2000 @10:09AM (#672633)
    Actually, TSR long has not existed as a company for awhile now. Wizard of the Coasts owns the D&D franchise along with the TSR trademark and is doing its best to avoid the mistakes TSR made in the past. Of course WotC is owned by Hasbro I believe.
  • Wow! They came up with the plot for an action movie full of lots of swordfighting! And then they thought, "You know what this trailer needs? Orff's Carmina Burana!"
  • I have spent some time to get the QuickTimePlayer Version 4 running under WINE, it plays the trailer now, but only with some tricks (getting it to open the file is rather tricky).

    Don't worry, I'll pursue this further ;)
  • For added authenticity, the characters, plot and theme of the D&D film were all rolled randomly and the results turned into the script. I expect the sequel will feature even larger quantities of both cola and chips.
  • I was actually picturing a lot of Slashdotters in somebody's parents' basement, rolling dice, drinking Jolt, wishing they were instead getting laid.

  • Download 28 Meg file

    *twiddle thumbs*
    *twiddle thumbs*
    *twiddle thumbs*
    *twiddle thumbs*
    *twiddle thumbs*
    *twiddle thumbs*
    *twiddle thumbs*
    *twiddle thumbs*
    *twiddle thumbs*

    Windows Media Player pops up

    (CrudMaster.dll rolls dice)
    Invalid File Format
    (nothing in cache directory, either)


    --

  • Re:Last frame of the trailer (Score:4)

    by Rupert ( 28001 ) on Thursday October 26, 2000 @10:11AM (#672645) Homepage Journal
    Interestingly, the top 10 links in the MSN search [msn.com] are all for the Canadian military. And then IE5 GPFed on me.

    Is Dungeons & Dragons really a Canadian conspiracy [standonguard.com] as many have suspected all along?

    --
  • Why are they bad again? Are they bad because they merged with AOL, or is there more?

    Just curious, and my brain is rather fried right now from trying to fix my network, so I really can't remember what they have done.


  • At least the black wisecracking sidekick isn't named 'Superfly'....

    --
  • Well, considering that Akamai uses a little intelligence in it's cacheing algorithms, I'd assume that doing a direct link to the file can break the cache, effectively preventing it from distributing the load (as it's designed to do).
    Thus, doing a direct link actually screws up the net a little for everyone, or at least prevents it working in the way it's designed.
    Note, it was a REQUEST.
    As far as I can see, /. received a sensible request (please, use the original link, so that the files can be cached correctly and make things better for everyone), and did the sensible thing (they modified the posted link, to exactly the same content, so that it worked, and didn't break anything, like the hard link could have).
    I'm sorry, but I consider posting hard links to the akamai cache, especially after what seems a reasonable request rather than a legal vulture stomping session, is akin to 'polishing' a car with a sledgehammer with a cloth wrapped around the head, using repeated full swings, and justifying it saying 'it gives a deeper shine'...
    Akamai's there for a good reason, and it works.. Please, don't go breaking it just for the sake of sheer bloody mindedness.

    Malk
  • I request that someone Moderate The parent of this thread [slashdot.org] back up... For two reasons:
    1. It looks like it's a genuine, honestly held belief.
    2. You may disagree with it, but that's not the point of moderation.
    3. I can't count.
    4. It's led to some serious discussion, but most people are now missing the source of the discussion by default.
    5. The issue of free speech gets it's real test when you have someone honestly speaking something you viciously disagree with.
    6. Don't you wish that book-burning christian sites would allow the geek reply in their space?? Well, here's a chance to live by example.
    I defend to the death your right to speak your stupid opinion (and my right to respond).
    `ø,,ø`ø,,ø!
  • The issue isn't giving money to time-warner... its if my loan will be approved so that I can afford a popcorn and drink.


    -- Don't you hate it when people comment on other people's .sigs??
  • This refers to "Internet Keywords" (tm) from Real Names [realnames.com]. I don't know a soul who uses them, though, except possibly Mado nna [realnames.com].

  • Conscience... (Score:3)

    by Mike1024 ( 184871 ) on Thursday October 26, 2000 @10:18AM (#672667)
    Hey,

    Conscience strikes: should I see this movie and give my money to Time-Warner?

    Why not go to your cinema, pay to see a small, independent movie then when they let you in, 'accidentally' go into the wrong screen (These big multi-screen cinemas sure are getting big nowerdays) and watch it, whilst giving your money to the small independents?

    It's not really legal, but as has ben said so many times before: It's not stealing unless something is missing.

    Michael

    ...another comment from Michael Tandy.

  • Re:Conscience? (Score:4)

    by Ptolemarch ( 11506 ) <davidhand.davidhand@com> on Thursday October 26, 2000 @10:18AM (#672668) Homepage

    I don't agree with your table. The Good characters couldn't give money to Time-Warner. For the Lawful Good character, this means you can't watch the movie (unless perhaps you have a friend who already legitimately owns the movie, and you're watching it there, but even then a truly Good character might balk at it). The Neutral Good character is off campaigning for Nader, so he doesn't have time to watch movies. The Chaotic Good character snuck into the theater, and probably snuck in some snacks, too.

    The Evil characters have no problem with giving money to Time-Warner. The Lawful Evil character has to pay in order to see the movie (but he probably already has contacts in the industry: good point). The Chaotic Evil character might pay, might not, but would definitely put his feet up on the chair in front of him, and would probably strew popcorn about and loudly make obscene comments during the movie. The Neutral Evil character goes to the movie, pays (it's easier that way), and at some point probably engages the Chaotic Evil character in combat sometime during the movie just to shut him up.

    Those of Neutral Good/Evil alignment don't care about Time Warner. Of course, the Lawful Neutrals still pay. It's the other two Neutrals I don't know about. (And I've really never liked the idea that Chaotic Neutrals always roll dice to make their decisions for them. They don't like randomness, they like Chaos. They probably sneak into the movie precisely to make obscene comments.)

  • the saddest thing.... (Score:4)

    by Papa Legba ( 192550 ) on Thursday October 26, 2000 @10:35AM (#672671)
    The saddest thing is that they have made a movie about a game that is about your imagnination. How ironic can you get?

    How can we tell that this is a D&D movie over any other type of movie? Dragonheart was a D&D movie right? So was conan the barbarian , etc. Are we going to get to see a character get knocked over by a wayward dice roll? That would be the only definative way to tell it was a D&D movie.
    They all owe their life to Lord of the Rings anyways so can't we say this is just a trailer that movies coming out? sorta like a compare and contrast thing with LoTR.
  • Hey,

    when I type DnD into IE5... it leads me to think this movie is some sort of plot by the Canadian Armed Forces

    These canadians have a thing called the Department of National Defense, leading to the acronym DND. This is in thier domain names (like http://www.dnd.ca/ [www.dnd.ca]).

    Search engines tend to give priority to keywords found in domain names, because they tend to have more chance of having a relationship. This is happening here.

    Michael

    ...another comment from Michael Tandy.

  • This is probably the biggest trailer that I have seen yet. This is NOT a lowband trailer. It is almost 30 megs. Good thing for workplace and highspeed lines.

    I don't want a lot, I just want it all!
    Flame away, I have a hose!

  • From IMDB:

    Recommendations
    If you like this title, we also recommend...

    Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991) [imdb.com]

    Erm....'nuff said.

  • Great visuals, poor acting... (Score:5)

    by Sinistar2k ( 225578 ) on Thursday October 26, 2000 @10:39AM (#672681)
    I was incredibly excited about the D&D movie until I watched this trailer. For some reason, I was certain that this film would hold me over until Lord of the Rings is released next year. But, there were a few things that struck me as warning signs:
    1. The bad, evil sorcerer keeps his hair parted, and when wind blows into his coiffed creation, he looks like Buster Poindexter.
    2. It co-stars Jar Jar Binks. Oh, wait, no, I guess that's just Marlon Wayans. Same thing.
    3. The main character says, "Trust me," right there in the trailer. The use of the phrase "trust me" in a trailer is a sign of impending crap storytelling 90% of the time. To my recollection, the only film that really bucked that trend was Raiders of the Lost Ark, which used "Trust me" in the trailer, but then didn't suck.
    4. The male lead looks like he's fresh from a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers casting call. It just seems "seriously wrong".
    5. The use of the word "kinda" in a fantasy setting.
    It seems like this is pointed squarely at the teen movie market, but one would think that the market who would connect best with D&D is the 18-34 market (y'know, people who were alive when parents across the US were afraid that their role playing kids would become involved in the occult and commit suicide when their characters died).

    Admittedly, I don't know the story here. Maybe it's the same as the old D&D cartoon - a couple of kids are magically transplanted into the game and have to play it to get out. In that case, all this hokey teen crap works, because they would be from a different world, but if we are to believe that these characters were part of this world from day one...

    Please, Peter Jackson, deliver us from bad fantasy films.

  • You're forgetting a major point. Dungeons and Dragons has Richard O'Brien. With RoB, you can "time warp" to 2001 (and then do it again... and again...). So you probably want to see D&D after all.

    -Chris
    "But it's the 5D100 that really drives you insa-a-a-a-ane."
  • It looks like Jeremy Irons is doing a bit of overacting in the trailer alone....

    As for the modern day dialog in a fantasy setting, look no further than any dialog in Xena.
  • I would have never though the fourth doctor(Doctor Who, for all you youngins) would be crossing the genre barrier into this.

    This will be a geek extravaganza! Expect people camping in front of movie theaters for this and centerfolds in Starlog!

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