I disagree, mostly because any story that is loaded with filler is going to be boring. Thinking more about how the books were written, I think the stories can be reinterpreted rather well, without filler, and still make for engaging episodes. If anything, delivering each episode with rather abrupt endings will be a bigger draw than squeezing a conflict/resolution in every single episode.

Why always do things the way they've been done anyways?

Why not? Budgetery concerns aside, animation would allow the series to be best expressed. If they translated Mary Grand Pre's cover art (the American HP book artist) into an animated work, it'd look pretty damn awesome IMO. There are some other amateur HP artwork I've seen that would make for a good animated work (I think Bioplague linked them on some thread, I'll link it if I find it). Besides, you know that Rowling would insist on her 'Brits only' nonsense, yet be lazy about the casting; the only two people that really fit their roles are Alan Rickman and the first Dumbledore (who's dead). Every other major character sounds like I imagined, but they don't really look the part.

I suppose that if a live series were considered in the future, more people would try out, and the powers-that-be would pay more attention to who was cast, but animation eliminates those concerns handily.

 

Really? I wouldn't think of anyone other than Maggie Smith as McGonagall, she just seems to fit somehow, then theres Davis as Flitwick, if he acts and looks like he did in the first book then he was Flitwick for me. Staunten for me didn't look like Umbridge, but she acted quite like umbridge for me.

 

Meh, I'll concede Flitwick, I had forgotten about him.

Maggie Smith just wasn't what I pictured. She's decent, and a step above the rest of the casting, but she's still too frail for what I pictured McGonagall to be; I suppose she'd be fine if she never moved/spoke. Same with Harris' Dumbledore: he looked and sounded the part, but he needed Gambon's spry-ness.

 

I disagree with Gambons spry-ness, have Ian McKellons spyrness and youre there for me, I always think if he hadn't of done Gandalf then he would have been a brilliant Dumbledore, but it would have been interesting to see harris in OOTP and GOF because he didn't have any spry moments in the two movies he did.

As for Maggie Smith, don't forgot that Smith is pretty old, she's 73 and Gambons only 67, so Smith plays someone who is around 70-80 and thats still just older-middle aged in the wizarding world, but 73 year olds find it hard to not look frail.

 

Yeah see that's the thing - none of them really look their age. McG managing to keep up in a duel with Snape? Dumbledore, in OotP, sprinting down a staircase and firing spells? Their calendar age might be old, but I'd say McG probably looks late 40s to mid 50s, with Dumbledore in his mid 50's to 60s (fascination with long brey beards nonwithstanding). With that in mind, WB didn't have to cast actual grannies for the adult roles.

As for McKellen, he was never going to do it once Harris insulted his acting ability. Too much (gay) pride I suppose I agree though; he would've been awesome as Dumbledore.

 

At this point, I can't see anyone but Alan Rickman for Snape. He's got that evil-corrupt-contemptuous-dangerous edge. Snape has to come off as smart, as well as nasty.


edited to add:
I like the short-season per book idea.

 

There is only one thing about Rickman for me, he looks far too old to be Snape, but his acting is spot on.

 

I'd only accept an animated series if it was 3D animation, and the animation was of the standard of Advent Children.

2D animation = cartoon. Let's think of some other examples of cartoons. Pokemon, Tom and Jerry, Recess, Stargate Infinity... not the kind of company I'd want Harry Potter to be keeping.

 

Final Fantasy: Advent Children style animation would be my choice.

 

@Taure and Mirk: That was the movie I first had in mind when thinking about an animated HP, but that's Final Fantasy's 'thing'. If I saw an HP series done in that style, I'd constantly be thinking of Final Fantasy rip-off, regardless of the completely different storylines.

The cartoons you referenced are either 50+ yrs old, completely retarded, or...wtf is Stargate Infinity? I feel like if you want the story to be all about HP, then referencing techniques from existing animation won't cut it. Even certain comics are 'darker' than what's expected - Punisher comes to the forefront, but I'm no deep comicbook expert.

 

Okay, now I just had a vision of Harry Potter cartoon in "The Powerpuff Girls" style. No...
And guess what? He just saved the day. Again!

I'm an idiot...

 

Because look at how badly they mangled the Star Wars animated series a few years ago.

It's all well and good to say "But it could be done well..." realistically though, you're more likely to get quality in a live-action.

 

I find the plot of the books too structured to work for TV, I might change my mind if I could get a better feel for the episodes themselves. But I also think WB could have done quite a bit better with the movies.

The movies would have fit better together as a whole had they waited for DH's release before starting on them, and thought of what was to come while working on the set. They should have taken a few lessons from the LOTR filmmakers in that regard. The director and the writers should also have written the first two movies to fit in the time limit, leaving less work for editors to make a mess of things.

I could definitely have done away with the marketing decisions. CoS could have been quite a lot darker and more intense, hearing Harry and Ron speak with their real voices during the Polijuce sequence was extremely stupid and pointless.

What this all boils down to really, is that I can't vote on the poll, since I don't agree with either of the options.

 

Sort of a bump, but it's not too old so meh.

But in terms of animating the HP-verse, the recent United Airlines commercials are what I had in mind when thinking of breaking away from tradtional styles of animation. If you haven't seen them, check'em out; they're a brilliant mix of cgi, stop animation and "live" action. "Two Worlds", in particular, blends normal life and the whimsical in a way that personifies the HP-verse rather well.

Two Worlds
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