With only rumors to go on of the first official live-action ‘Legend of Zelda’ TV show coming to Netflix, fans of the series can look forward to this fan made short film, produced by Player Piano, based on the one of video game’s most popular franchises.
The film, aptly titled ‘The Final Battle,’ will be a reenactment of the last boss fight between Link and Ganondorf at the end of the game ‘Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.’ The teaser shows off Link (who, fittingly, doesn’t speak), his horse Epona, and his blue fairy companion Navi as they journey towards Hyrule Castle now under the control of Ganondorf.
For a fan short the quality seems excellent. The landscape is expansive and huge, the music is beautifully composed, special effects polished, and the costumes look to be both accurate and carefully crafted. While there is little to go on, ‘The Final Battle’ looks like it will be both loyal to the original series as well as good in its own right.
Many fans have been wanting a live action portrayal of ‘The Legend of Zelda’ for a while now, if the reactions towards IGN’s prank trailer back in 2008 says anything, but Nintendo has been protective of their franchises for a long time now. Based on their history in movies and television in the past, they have reason to be. An animated ‘Legend of Zelda’ television show back in 1989 aired for only one season and is mostly remembered by fans for its campy dialogue and completely out-of-character portrayal of Link. Nintendo’s other most successful franchise ‘Super Mario Bros’ had a number of TV shows and movies throughout the 80s and early 90s, and while not necessarily all of them were financial failures, they weren’t anything to write home about either. This is probably why in the last two decades Nintendo has kept their franchises well within their video game sector.
As it stands now, we still only have rumors of a Netflix ‘Legend of Zelda’ TV show with no comments from Nintendo or Netflix themselves, and even if the rumors are true the show is still in early development with no signs if it will ever come to the light of day. For now, fans can look forward to Player Piano’s take on the ‘Legend of Zelda,’
which if we can speculate anything on should surely be faithful to the original series, which is more than can be said about many Nintendo TV shows and movies in the past.
There is no release date for ‘The Final Battle’ but the description on the teaser says that it should be released later on this year, along with a ‘Player Piano Zelda music video’. You can find out more on their site, The Zelda Project.
