I just saw the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen trailer.

I’m a big fan of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen so I’ve been keeping an eye on this movie. I was kinda surprised to see this trailer just pop up on tv though (during Cowboy Bebop no less). I guess they know us anime fans pretty well. Or is it just me that likes both?

The trailer looked pretty cool. I just have two minor complaints.

Sean Connery played the part of Allen Quartermain. Now, I can’t really imagine a film in which Sir Sean Connery wasn’t the lead protagonist. However, Mina Murrey is the leader in the comic and should be in the film as well. I thought she was done very well by Alan Moore and part of her character was ‘the leader’. It’s rare to see a competent female lead and I found this a nice change of pace.

Speaking of Mina Murrey, WTF is with the bats merging to form her? I’m assuming they made her into some type of vampire/superhuman with the requisite super powers. In the comic she was badass enough that she didn’t need any special abilities.

/end of my nitpicking

I noticed they referred to the movie as ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ rather then any type of acronym. I’ve seen people go back and forth over this on other boards so hopefully this will appease the comic fans.

So, what do you all think of this coming movie? Are you going to go see it? How does it stack up against the comic? (I thought I’ll start a discussion about a non-Matrix movie for a change.)

I have not read the comic and am not familiar with the characters so I can’t comment on much of your post.

However I think it is safe to say that Hollywood is more likely than not to bend or break what you know from the comic book (or just book as the case may be) to suit their own needs.

It is a rare movie indeed that remains extremely faithful to its source material.

  • Hunt for Red October was close.
  • Lord of the Rings seems to have tried pretty hard.

In fairness it is extremely difficult to translate a novel into a movie. Some things you get from a novel you just can’t manage easily in a movie (character’s innermost thoughts for instance). IIRC a movie would translate (very loosely) into about a 100 page novel. A 300 page book will loose something in the translation.

It is an odd twist that the people most interested in a movie made from a given work will be its fans but they are also likely its most stringent critics and most likely to be disappointed. Here’s a few that have left me severely unimpressed from their source material (soooo much posibility not realized)…

  • Judge Dredd
  • Johnny Mnemonic
  • Lord of the Rings (animated piece of crap)
  • Wing Commander
    (many more but it’s late and I’m drawing a blank right now)

Cletus, if you are a purist, prepare to be offended. They’ve made a lot of changes with the film. Including:

  • Addition of characters of Tom Sawyer (to have an American character for American audiences) and Dorian Gray

*Jettisoned the entire Fu Manch vs. Moriarty plot; the villain is now ‘the Fantom’ who is trying to start a World War

*Mina is a vampire

*Griffin is now ‘Rodney Skinner’, a thief who stole the invisibility potion from an unnamed scientist (presumably Griffin)

*The League tools around in a 20’s-style roadster (you saw it in the trailer)

My guess is that the movie will be more different than like the original.

Allan Quartermain? Wasn’t this the name of the character from the movie in the 80’s with Sharon Stone (sorry, can’t remember the name)? As I recall, the character in that movie was an Indiana Jones type as well. Coincidence, or simply bad naming luck?

I have never heard of the comic book, but the movie looks interesting. I’ll probably go out and see it.

The trailer looked cool, but was it just me, or was it like “Starring Sean Connery…(bum bum buhhh) and some other people you’ve never heard of cause we blew the budget on SEAN CONNERY”?

Boy, it must be a fan thing, because I couldn’t help but think, “Man, does this movie ever look terrible.” No offense.

Nah, I’m not a fan of comics. I am a fan of Sean Connery. Maybe that helps.

Actually Indiana Jones is an Allan Quartermaine type. The movie of the eighties King Solomon’s Mines was based on the 19th century book. Quartermain was the hero in that and the sequel Allan Quartermain.

The comic (League of Extrodinary Gentlemen) is essentially a smorgasborg of the whos who of 19th century literature. The great detective himself is alluded to as well as little visual treats… my favorite is in a museum where there is a Giant Skull, a display case wiith a tiny farmer and a skull marked Yahoo Skull. All three represent three of races that Gulliver met in Swift’s Gullivers Travels.

I fear the movie will not be as subtle or dense in its imagry. I’m sure they will go out of their way to explain everything too.
“This is Tom sawyer… he had many adventures on the Mississppi with his friend Huck Finn.”

This is Captain Nemo… He had a submarine named the Nautilus and sailed 20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea wink wink"

The roadster also bugs me… not quite steam punk is it?

I understand that it’s often impracticable to make an exact translation from book to movie. E.g., I can understand if they don’t want Allan Quartermain introduced as a broken-down opium addict, but it’s sometimes baffling when they make completely unnecessary changes.

Why have the Invisible Man be a different character instead of Griffin? My guess is that they have a problem with Griffin being a homicidal maniac (and, in the book, a rapist of schoolgirls). As I recall, the process by which he turned himself invisible was more complex than simply a “serum”.

What’s with the 1920’s roadster? Is the movie set in 1920 instead of the 1890’s?

And for God’s sake, why would you prefer making up a villain rather than having two of the greatest villains of literature, Fu Manchu and Prof. Moriarty?

Does anyone know more about this ‘the Fantom’ character? I was wondering if he was from some other 19th century literature or if they just created him for the movie.

As for the invincible man, I believe the original is still copyrighted by another media company. So I guess we should be glad there is ‘a’ invisible man in the movie rather then none at all.

Now that you mention it GMRyujin, they did focus more on Sean Connery then any other. I guess they want to use him to attract more moviegoers. Let’s face it, most people have never even heard of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

It’s not a fan thing. I love the comic, and I’m usually cool with movies diverging from their source material, but I still thought that trailer looked bad.

A few days ago we bought a copy of volume 1 of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Fabulous!

It was on the “Recommended Reading” shelf of our local comic book store.

I hope I won’t be disappointed by the movie.

[Nitpick]
Aarrgghh! People, it’s Quatermain, not Quartermain!
[/Nitpick]

I haven’t read the first comic series yet (though I have read the first five parts of the sequel), but his movie looks interesting nonetheless.

Have barely heard of the comic, have not even seen Xmen I or II, but dangit, the trailer looked cool.

Sorry, Doc, it is Quartermain. I’m afraid you’ve wasted a nitpick.

Haggard spelled it Quatermain.

Perhaps the powers that be got licenses to use these characters in ‘print’ (comic book, graphic novel, serial drawn fiction; whatever the cool folks call it) but using them in other media required unacquirable licenses. Marvel held the Fu rights in the '70s. Kinda ruined Shang-Chi’s origin (his grandson) when the license expired.

Similar to a certain episode of Blackadder not being available in the US because it featured the Scarlet Pimpernel. Or keeping Heavy Metal and The Lathe Of Heaven out of circulation for years. Cross media licensing is a mess.

One more, the videogame Frogger. First Sierra gets magnetic media (disks/tapes) rights for computers. Then Parker Brothers gets ROM rights for consoles and computers. Finally, Starpath gets magnetic rights for consoles. Way OT, but it shows the complexities…

Haggard spelled it both ways.

So did the creaters of the Comic… maybe that was a deliberate action because it was spelt both ways. See subtle!
I’ll have to read it again… anyone read the second Volume… I understand they pick up on the War of the Worlds allusions in the first adventure.

I don’t believe that Moore was able to get the rights to Fu Manchu, either. The character was never specifically named in the comic; he was just a generic amoral Asian supergenius hatching a fiendish plot to overthrow Western civilization.