# POLL: (Spinoff): Which Icelandic saga would you like to see as a period drama? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 29, 2013, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-spinoff-which-icelandic-saga-would-you-like-to-see-as-a-period-drama/677398 "2013-12-29T08:02:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynhildr_Budladottir)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-spinoff-which-icelandic-saga-would-you-like-to-see-as-a-period-drama/677398/1 "2013-12-29T08:02:59Z")
(Spinoff from sagas thread) For a while I’ve thought that the Icelandic sagas (using the term in its broadest sense) would make good period dramas-- a good change from most of the shows set in historical periods which usually tend to be set in the 19th century. And there’s a lot of (melo)drama and personal conflict in the form of blood feuds or love/marriage problems driving the narrative. Basically these are the original soap operas. The characters have some great dialogue that it’d be great to hear translated into English and spoken. And plus there are usually some incredible fight (and other) scenes. In particular I’d like to see Grettir’s fight with Glám in _Grettis saga_ and the Battle of Hleidragard between King Hrólf Kraki and his sister Skuld, including a monstrous boar and warriors being constantly resurrected after they fall in battle at the end of _Hrolfs saga kraka_ in terms of fight scenes. That’s why it bothers me that except for [this 1981 Icelandic movie](http://http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083267/) based on\* Gísla saga - and the occasional Viking-themed movie mentioning or even featuring Ragnar Lodbrok and one of his sons (usually Ivar) as a character and the TV show \*Vikings \*(and maybe the movie _Dark Kingdom/Ring of the Nibelung/Sword Of Xanten_) there haven’t been any saga adaptations (_Vikings_ isn’t really an adaptation of Ragnar Lodbrok’s sagas-- it’s inspired by it). So I started a poll to find out if anyone shares my opinion on this (my first SMDB poll!) ---
**Author:** ![Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynhildr_Budladottir)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-spinoff-which-icelandic-saga-would-you-like-to-see-as-a-period-drama/677398/2 "2013-12-29T08:15:47Z")
EDIT: I chose TV series because I personally think the best way to do a screen saga adaptation would be in an episodic format to give a sense of these being events occurring over a number of years, which can’t really be done with a movie. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-spinoff-which-icelandic-saga-would-you-like-to-see-as-a-period-drama/677398/3 "2013-12-29T15:22:05Z")
What I want is to see Loki deal with giving birth to Sleipnir - I envision it as a sitcom. That seems to be Prose Edda rather than focal of any of the sagas listed in the poll, though. ---
**Author:** ![Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynhildr_Budladottir)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-spinoff-which-icelandic-saga-would-you-like-to-see-as-a-period-drama/677398/4 "2013-12-29T23:01:13Z")
@elfkin: How would you stretch that out over several seasons/episodes though? ---
**Author:** ![Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynhildr_Budladottir)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-spinoff-which-icelandic-saga-would-you-like-to-see-as-a-period-drama/677398/5 "2013-12-30T02:24:09Z")
EDIT: does anyone have a favourite saga in the poll? Vote for it 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynhildr_Budladottir)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-spinoff-which-icelandic-saga-would-you-like-to-see-as-a-period-drama/677398/6 "2013-12-30T02:34:41Z")
Further edit (to an _edit post_. That’s two in one day-- I’ll try and report posts for changes from now on, so I won’t clog up my own threads). (I see Springtime for Spacers voted for both _Brennu-Njáls saga_ and _Laxdaela saga_. One of the most difficult parts of the \*Njála \*to film would be the scenes dealing with Hrút’s curse-- vary easy to overemphasise the sexual aspect for the wrong reason.) As for Laxdaela, the best scene would be the ghost encounter after Thord Ingunnarsson’s death Does anyone vote in their own poll? (Just added two votes of my own) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-spinoff-which-icelandic-saga-would-you-like-to-see-as-a-period-drama/677398/7 "2013-12-30T17:35:50Z")
> [@Morwen Edhelwen](#): > > @elfkin: How would you stretch that out over several seasons/episodes though? **Accidentally On Purpose** and **Pramface** both stretched out a pregnancy as the focal plot over a whole season, so I think it’s doable here too. ---
**Author:** ![Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynhildr_Budladottir)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-spinoff-which-icelandic-saga-would-you-like-to-see-as-a-period-drama/677398/8 "2013-12-31T03:19:18Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > **Accidentally On Purpose** and **Pramface** both stretched out a pregnancy as the focal plot over a whole season, so I think it’s doable here too. Who would you want to play Loki? ---
**Author:** ![Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynhildr_Budladottir)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-spinoff-which-icelandic-saga-would-you-like-to-see-as-a-period-drama/677398/9 "2014-01-01T03:12:07Z")
And also, anyone want to do some hypothetical casting? ---
**Author:** ![Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynhildr_Budladottir)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-spinoff-which-icelandic-saga-would-you-like-to-see-as-a-period-drama/677398/10 "2014-01-02T05:01:40Z")
bump ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-spinoff-which-icelandic-saga-would-you-like-to-see-as-a-period-drama/677398/11 "2014-01-02T17:18:56Z")
> [@Morwen Edhelwen](#): > > Who would you want to play Loki? Jason Behr or maybe Jim Sturgess ---
**Author:** ![Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynhildr_Budladottir)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-spinoff-which-icelandic-saga-would-you-like-to-see-as-a-period-drama/677398/12 "2014-01-02T22:32:31Z")
Why Jim Sturgess?