Conan the Barbarian Tv Show

[lordyam]

It's happened. HBO or Starz has contracted YOU to help make a series of Conan the Barbarian. The plan is to try and adapt all of the Conan stories but stories like Vale of Lost Women WILL require some editing (largely because the producers would get crucified), and some of the ambiguities howard left in the original texts may be removed so as to create a streamlined saga. Like it or not some changes are going to be made both to fit the medium and to create the story. Otherwise though it's largely the same bar some small editing. You have a maximum 10 seasons to try and make all of the stories, with each season having a minimum of ten episodes and a maximum of 13. 

Go nuts.


My take (though incomplete) is based on theagenes theory back in 011.

A couple years ago he laid out an outline for a Conan tv series. I thought it had a lot of potential so I've tried to modify and update it. I've increased the count to 13 episodes per season.

This is what I have so far

Season 1

Episode 1: Out of the Darksome Hills: Basically adapts the first two issues; we also get the frost giant’s daughter (make it clear that Atali is using supernatural mojo to try and seduce Conan). After all, given the shitstorms over rape in certain shows we still want Conan likable. Having it be that the magic Atali placed didn’t were off (maybe even have her try to cancel the spell).

Episode 2: Capture: First half is issue #3; they catch the Vanir but form a desperate alliance to try and escape. Sjarl and Einar betray everyone like the cowardly shits they are. The second half is Conan getting tortured; he escapes but his fellow escapees die in the process. Episode ends with him grieving, and then deciding to go after Sjarl and Einar.

Episode 3: Blood for Blood: Conan get's revenge on Sjarl and Einar for betraying everyone; he wanders into Nemedia; ends with him meeting Petrias and getting a job

Episode 4: God in the Bowl: Basically God in the bowl; only change I'd add is a fight sequence with the beast; honestly conan leaping forwards and slashing it's head off might work in the books but it's anticlimactic for television


Episode 5: The City of Thieves: Conan gets cheated out of some money he made and decides that damn it he won't let civilization get him; he heads out to the city of thieves. Conan arrives in the City, but has a rough time of it at first; eventually he meets Raffir after overhearing discussion about "fences"; he does a job for Raffir, but anticipates Raffir trying to betray him; he gets the better of Raffir and starts doing business with Osshur;

Episode 6: Tower of the Elephant: Basically Tower of the Elephant.

Episode 7: Original pastiche; Conan does a job with the thief he later meets in Black Colossus

Episode 8: The Magistrate's Wife: Adapts issues 24-25:

Episode 9: Halls of the Dead: Basically the Halls of the Dead adaptation

Episode 10: Conan and Nestor reunite: the episode is them working together, and seeing Conan and Nestor bond. Among other things Nestor helps Conan learn to read, and starts teaching him multiple languages. We start to see Jiara (Conan's ladyfriend) become discontent with her lot and wanting more.

Episode 11: Conan and Nestor hit the guild of thieves; this pisses off the Priest of Anu (who runs the guild) so he tries to capture them. Nestor is captured and hung in the square. Conan tracks down the priest and brutally kills him (not quite as brutal as the way dark horse killed him, but pretty brutal nonetheless.)

Episode 12: Rogues in the House Part 1: Conan is captured by the guards thanks to Jiara selling him out; Nabonidus threatens Murilo, who decides to recruit Conan. Basically everything up to when Murilo meets Thak for the first time.

Episode 13: Rest of the story: have a touching coda at the end where Conan cuts Nestor's corpse down and buries him.


Season 2

Episode 1: Cimmerian adventure: This is similar to the start of cimmerian; ends with Conan heading back out

Episode 2: Swords of Koth - aka Yaralet Part 1: Conan heads south to Koth, deciding to take up Nestor’s advice of being a merc. He gets recruited into a mercenary army working for Koth; it seems simple enough; escort Princess Ereshka to the border of Ophir for her wedding with Ophir’s king. However, as they are passing by the city of state of Yaralet their army is ambushed by an army of demons that wipes out most of the force. Iniri, Ereshka's new friend is captured because she forces Ereshka into a trunk, getting captured herself

Episode 3: Swords of Koth part 2 - aka Yaralet part 2: Conan finds Ereshka and takes her to safety. Conan wants to get the hell out of there, but Ereshka feels obligated to save Iniri for taking her place (and she mentions that Conan won’t get paid); Conan is impressed to meet an aristocrat who actually has a sense of honor and obligation towards her servants so they sneak into the city and manage to save Iniri from Atalis and Than’s dark ritual. They manage to get Ereshka to the Ophirean border in time for her wedding. Strabonus is unfortunately a complete shitbag and gives Conan only a small pittance. Ereshka promises Conan a favor that he can call upon at any time. Conan is annoyed at Strabonus but realizes that he enjoyed the brief camaraderie, heading eastward.

Episode 4: The Duke of Lions: Conan meets Amalric and joins the crew; he bonds with Galan Cashius and Afreet; he also gets into a feud with Aratus.

Episode 5: Black Colossus Part 1: Open with Shevetas raiding Kuthchemes (and a flashback of Kuthchemes fall)

Episode 6: Black Colossus Part 2: Yasmela goes out into the street, and meets Conan the Barbarian;

Episode 7: Black Colossus Part 3: The Duke charges into the fray and gets killed; all battle of Shamla pass; final confrontation with Nathok in desert shrine. might add a more intense final fight with nathok, since he does kinda go down like a chump.

Episode 8: The Rebel Prince: Conan and Yasmela have become a couple (they fuck nightly) but things begin to become strained, especially with the arrival of Prince Julion, one of Yasmela’s old friends. Conan decides to call in his favor with Ereshka

Episode 9: A Daring Rescue: Conan calls in his favor with Ereshka to save Khossus; He learns that Khossus is being held in a prison inside Ophir called the Mountain of the Moon. To aid in the operation, Ereshka has loaned Conan the services of her personal mage, Iniri. Iniri helps Conan and his crew infiltrate the Mountain of the Moon. They manage to save Khossus, but Khossus is injured in the escape

Episode 10: Loose Ends: Almuric’s death, Conan loosing command and peace with Koth. The night before Conan leaves, Yasmela goes to visit Conan; they reconcile and have one last round of sex for old time’s sake (Conan impregnates Yasmela unbeknownst to either). Conan leaves in the morning, and takes the men out into the world to plunder;

Episode 11: The Free Companions: Conan and his friends are kicking ass and taking names all across the east; we see Conan still be “one of the men” despite commanding; one of his friends, Afreet, even teaches him archery (thus fulfilling “learning from the hyrkanians in the east). Unfortunately they run into Sergius again. We also first meet olivia and begin to see the hell she endures

Episode 12: The Free Companions Part 2: Illbars River: Sergius, being a spiteful bag of shit, basically sells out the Free Companions to Amurath. The entire second act is the Illbars river; third act Conan trying to survive before coming to terms with what happened; he finally

Episode 13: Iron Shadows in the Moon, Part 1: Conan gets his bloody revenge on Amurath.

Episode 14: Iron Shadows in the Moon Part 2: Second half of the adaptation


Season 3: Queen of the Black Coast

Episode 1: Bridging: Conan does a successful raid but quickly falls into a trap and the ship is sunk; Conan thinks Olivia died but is unaware Ivanos saved her. Conan decides to head West

Episode 2: Queen of the Black Coast Part 1; First act is Conan’s day in court. We find out what happened last night, with brief flashbacks. Conan escapes; episode ends with Conan meeting Belit for the first time

Episode 3: Queen of the Black Coast Part 2; Big ass battle sequence for the first act; fight ends with Conan and Belit discovering connection (narrator explains that both see the primal side of the other and are impressed with it.) Conan first meets Agora and N’Yaga and bonds with them; Conan learns about Belit’s past and why the crew follows them; We end with Conan’s first raid on a stygian ship

Episode 4: A Growing Reputation: We see Conan and his friends planning an attack on a stygian treasure fleet;

Episode 5: 

Episode 6: Attack on Khemi

Episode 7: The Derelict Ship

Episode 8: The Death

Episode 9: A strained relationship: 

Episode 10: Abombi part two: Conan and Belit try to take Abombi; Conan faces inner demons and defeats the chieftain; his brother shits himself and runs. The two pillage the place to high heaven; I'd have it that Conan left SOME survivors as an act of mercy.

Episode 11: light hearted breather.

Episode 12: The Song of Belit Part 1

Episode 13: The Song of Belit Part 2:




Season 4:

Episode 1: The Bamula

Episode 2: Raid on Galthandu

Episode 3: The Vale of Lost Women

Episode 4: To Shamballah

Episode 5: Demon in the Dark

Episode 6: Back to Civilization

Episode 7: The Damned Horde

Episode 8: Xuthal of the Dusk

Episode 9: Crossing the Desert: Conan and Natala must get across Stygia and Shem to return to Hyboria

Episode 10: Blood Oasis: Conan and Natala head to the Oasis of Akrel; they have an adventure where Conan meets Queen Taramis; they hit it off and Conan joins

Episode 11: A Witch Shall be Born Part 1: Taramis is usurped by Salome; failed uprising; Conan is freed from the cross

Episode 12: A Witch Shall be Born Part 2: Conan starts to join with the Zugair, and begins formulating plans in order to get revenge; through flashbacks seen over A letter from Nemedia we see the acts of cruelty in Salome’s Court; women being raped, people sold into slavery be they male or female; Valerius starts gathering the rebels; Episode ends with Valerius discovering the truth about Taramis and Salome

Episode 13: A Witch Shall be Born Part 3: Conan overthrows Olgerd; Valerius and the others make their move; We see the final battle. Ends with Constantius nailed to a cross.

Season 5:

Episode 1: A test of wills: The Zuagir horde runs into a band of Kozak; the leader offers a deal; he fights Conan in single combat, and if Conan wins he gets control of the Kozaki as well. Unfortunately the bastard doesn't plan to play fair. Conan is hindered but still beats the bastard AND exposes his treachery. The guy is executed and Conan is now wielder of a massive army.

Episode 2: Pastiche story of Conan and the horde launching a raid

Episode 3: The Devil in Iron

Episode 4: The fall of Kharwazeim

Episode 5: The Red Eagle: Yezdigerd dispatches his most dangerous general, Fassir of Shusan (also known as the Red Eagle) to defeat Conan and his horde. Fassir tries to lure Conan into a confrontation by attacking communities that Conan has become aligned with (The Zuagir Kozak coalition are seen as liberators against the Turanian Horde.) Conan must find a way to defeat Fassir.

Episode 6: Kerim Shah

Episode 7: Death Trap: Conan and the Horde are manipulated into attacking Sultanaphur the second largest city. Unfortunately it is a trap and most of the horde is wiped out. Conan manages to ensure the survival of 1/4 of his troops, but the rest are forced to scatter in order to ensure survival.

Episode 8: Obligation: Conan finds that some of the captured leaders are going to be beheaded in Sultanaphur's main square. Conan doesn't have much time but he feels obligated to save his friends. 

Episode 9:

Episode 10

Episode 11: The People of the Black Circle Part 1

Episode 12: The People of the Black Circle Part 2

Episode 13: The People of the Black Circle Part 3


Season 6:

Episode 1: Shadows in Zamboula

Episode 2: Back to the West

Episode 3: Betrayed

Episode 4: The Red Tower

Episode 5: The Two Kings

Episode 6: Cities at war 

Episode 7:









Season 9: The theme here would be Conan growing into his role as King of Aquilonia; he’s reluctant at first but he soon has to start dealing with various problems

Episode 1: The Phoenix on the Sword

Episode 2: They Shall be Lords Again Part 1

Episode 3: They Shall be Lords Again Part 2

Episode 4: A Matter of Justice: A peasant manages to visit the king, demanding justice for his daughter, who was raped by the son of a powerful nobleman. The only problem is that Conan has just put down an uprising from the nobles and this situation stands to anger many nobles. Conan manages to work out a compromise; the son will be tried in a court of law, and both the nobles and the royals will accept the verdict. Conan offers a potential deal to the father to make him agree. During the trial itself Conan has to counter the father’s machinations; jurors are kept in hidden locations

After a lot of skull busting and intrigue the verdict is decided….the son is guilty and must pay recompense to the girl’s family.

Conan ultimately manages to get enough evidence to nail the son in a court of law and the son is convicted. This sends a loud message to the rest of the kingdom. Even noble are not above the law

Episode 6: Uprising

Episode 9: The Scarlet Citadel Part 1

Episode 10: The Scarlet Citadel Part 2

[BlackHeart]

Excellent post, lordyam Indeed, there is a continuity and good ideas in this post of yours. Believe it or not, more than once I thought of a possible tv show of 8 to 10 seasons, and each time I had a lack of inspiration when it comes to filling the gaps. As you already know, the problem with such show lies in the selection of valid skillfully writers who would deliver as far as possible Howardian stories. To cut - Pastiches! And this is a sore point for many orthodox REHs fans.
 As far as individual parts (as all things belongs to the same people) I think that I (myself) would turn to solid number of individual Marvel stories than those of DC Comics. No one is denying the genius among the DC writers but there are some things (such as "Queen of the Black coast") where I prefer the Marvel release. And if this wiould on good part be based on the comic books, I would employ Thomas, Conway, Truman, and other heathens of Conan comics to sit down together and draw up a completely new stories for adaptation to the small screen. I would first go down that road. It remain a big question what on the end? HOW TO END SAGA? How to bring tv show to falling curtain, and his main protagonist to the end of the story?
 I do not think any of us wants to see an adaptation of "Conan of the Isles (although I like some parts of that story, here I admit, like them). Or if producers come with the idea that mythical figure like Conan is deserves the kind of end just as his life was - in the grand fight, bloody, epic (as well it should be)... Whoever would want to do something like this no doubt will try to put an ideas of his own. As you have already said: "The plan is to try and adapt all of the Conan stories but stories like Vale of Lost Women WILL require some editing (largely because the producers would get crucified), and some of the ambiguities howard left in the original texts may be removed so as to create a streamlined saga. Like it or not some changes are going to be made both to fit the medium and to create the story. Otherwise though it's largely the same bar some small editing." 

[johnnypt]

Here's my unfinished breakdown of a seven season model. It was mostly put together when 13 episodes were more the norm, but a GOT-like 10 episode season works just fine for a lot of them:

CONAN: SEASON ONE

Episode 1-Born On the Battlefield-Conan is born on a Cimmerian battlefield during a Vanir raid. As he grows up, becoming a skilled hunter and warrior along the way, he proves his manhood by breaking the neck of a wild bull. He later earns the right to join the raiders attacking the Aquilonian outpost of Venarium.

NOTES: This episode will combine all the stray bits of Cimmerian info Howard spread through his writings, published, unpublished and letters. Events highlighted will be Conan’s birth, his battle with the Cimmerian bull and sack of Venarium.

Episode 2-The Frost Giant’s Daughter-Conan joins a band of Aesir to fight his old enemies, the Vanir. At the end of the battle, a wounded Conan is visited by Atali, the Frost Giant’s Daughter, who tempts him but learns he is no one to be toyed with. On their way back home, they are captured by Hyperboreans on a raid. After a month of torture and seeing his friends die, he escapes and heads to the south.

Episode 3-The God In The Bowl-Conan enters the city of Numalia and is talked into breaking into a temple and stealing some jewels. But he soon finds out he’s a pawn in a political struggle that is soon overtaken by a proxy battle between warring sorcerers and a demon the likes of which Conan had never seen.

Episode 4-Tower of the Elephant-Conan arrives in the Zamoran City of Thieves in search of the famed thief Taurus, but hears of untold riches in an ivory tower. He tries to break in to discover Taurus is there as well. They team up to get inside but the tower hides many secrets that date back to the dawn of time.

Episode 5-Hall Of the Dead-Conan becomes a thorn in the side of the Zamoran authorities who send a mercenary army after him. Out in the desert, Conan springs a trap that kills all except the Gunderman Nestor. Their battle leads them to a lost city and the dangers that surround its riches.

Episode 6-Rogues In The House-Conan gets revenge on the priest who killed his friend, but ends up captured and imprisoned after being betrayed by his woman. However, he soon gets caught up in the local political intrigue that centers around the house of the Red Priest and the horror inside.

Episode 7-Yaralet-In his first battle as a hired mercenary, Conan is the lone survivor of a massacre…or so he thinks until he discovers a girl hidden in a trunk by the river. He agrees to return her to her home town of Yaralet which is haunted at night by demons who are somehow related to the people in charge of the city.

NOTES: This episode will use only the two page Howard fragment and avoid the plots made out of it by Lin Carter, Roy Thomas or Tim Truman. Also, Conan will do some training in the Turan/Hyrkanian area to explain his knowledge of archery in Queen of the Black Coast.

Episode 8-Black Colossus Part 1-After a return home to Cimmeria, Conan joins the mercenary army of the Nemedian general Amalric and rises quickly in his service. They agree to aid Yasmela, the regent of Khoraja from rumors of a strange desert leader who hides his face and is in league with unknown powers.

Episode 9-Black Colossus Part 2-Yasmela prays to Mitra to protect her from Natohk the desert leader and is delivered Conan as her savoir. She makes him leader of her armies and they go to meet the desert band. Along the way they meet one of Conan’s former fellow thieves who points out Natohk may be far more than just another desert warrior.

Episode 10-Black Colossus Part 3-The armies of Natohk and Khoraja meet in Shamla Pass where the desert warrior reveals his true identity and his plan that stretches over 3000 years.

Episode 11-Queen of the Black Coast Part 1-Conan arrives in the port city of Messentia and ends up helping a mercenary friend and his girl out of trouble. He is brought to court where he lets his sword do the talking and escapes aboard the Argos. But the ship meets its fate at the hands of the Tigress and its mistress Belit.

Episode 12-Queen of the Black Coast Part 2-Conan and Belit team up to become the scourge of the Black Coast, raiding ports and sacking cities. After being crossed by the twin kings of Abombi, the raiders attack the city and extract their revenge.

NOTES: This episode will gather up many references to events that happened to Conan as “chief of the black corsairs”. Publio from Hour of the Dragon may also appear.

Episode 13-Queen of the Black Coast Part 3-The Tigress heads up the haunted and cursed Zargheba River where the crew and their mistress meet their final fate, leaving Conan to battle the demon of the lost city on his own.

SEASON TWO

Episode 1-Shumballah-A penniless Conan wanders inland from the Black Coast and ends up in the middle of court intrigue where a sorcerer wields power with the help of a bizarre hidden demon.

Episode 2-Iron Shadows In The Moon Part 1-Conan joins up with the Kozaki who battle under the auspicies of a Kothan prince, but end up double crossed and slaughtered on the shore of the Inland Sea

Episode 3-Iron Shadows In The Moon Part 2-Conan is the lone survivor of the Ilbars River massacre and discovers a girl fleeing from the killer of his army. After getting his revenge, the two head out and discover a lost island where ancient ruins hold terrifying secrets of the past.

Episode 4-Iron Shadows In The Moon Part 3-A group of pirates land on the island and Conan must battle their leader as well as a monstrous creature to get off the island alive.

Episode 5-A Witch Shall Be Born Part 1-Conan escapes inland and signs onto the army of Kauran. But he alone realizes something has happened to the queen Taramis and ends up being crucified out in the desert.

Episode 6-A Witch Shall Be Born Part 2-Conan is rescued by the head of the Zuagir warriors. After some time to recover, he takes over the leadership and vows to return to Kauran to discover what has happened to the queen

Episode 7-A Witch Shall Be Born Part 3-The plot of the queen’s twin sister is revealed and only Conan can battle her demon to rescue the queen and her country.

Episode 8-Shadows In Zamboula-Conan arrives in the southern desert town where a combination of disappearing men, a jeweled ring and bizarre characters make for a difficult time for the barbarian.

Episode 9-Xuthal of the Dusk Part 1-Conan rejoins the army of Almuric, but the warriors are trapped and slaughtered between Koth and Stygia, leaving the Cimmerian and the Brythunian slave Natala to escape into the desert.

Episode 10-Xuthal of the Dusk Part 2-Conan and Natala find the lost city of Xuthal and its seeming leader, the Stygian woman Thalis.

Episode 11-Xuthal of the Dusk Part 3-Thalis unleashes her plan to destroy Natala and turn Conan into her slave, but it ends in a battle to the death with the demon Thog.

Episode 12-The Devil In Iron Part 1-Conan takes over leadership of the revived Kozaki and ends up on an island with several other people.

Episode 13-The Devil In Iron Part 2-Conan and Octavia must battle the giant Khosatral Khel to make their escape from the island

SEASON THREE

Episode 1-People of the Black Circle Part 1

Episode 2-People of the Black Circle Part 2

Episode 3-People of the Black Circle Part 3

Episode 4-People of the Black Circle Part 4

Episode 5-People of the Black Circle Part 5

Episode 6-People of the Black Circle Part 6

Episode 7-Drums of Tombalku Part 1-Conan joins the fleet of an Argossian prince to battle Stygia and befriends Amalric, a young Aquilonian on the run and in search of adventure.

Episode 8-Drums of Tombalku Part 2-Their army destroyed, Conan and Amalric make their way south to escape, but end up separated.

Episode 9-Drums of Tombalku Part 3-Amalric finds a young woman who seems to be older than she looks and during a battle in a lost city is reunited with Conan.

Episode 10-Drums of Tombalku Part 4-Conan brings Amalric and Lissa back to Tombalku where a civil war is on the verge of breaking out.

Episode 11-Vale of Lost Women-Hiding out with a Kushite tribe after the destruction of Tombalku, Conan helps a young woman prisoner escape her captors but during their flight, they discover even more horrors.

Episode 12-Pool of the Black One Part 1-Conan joins the Barachan pirates, but is forced to flee a sinking ship, only to find another and immediately plots to take it over.

Episode 13-Pool of the Black One Part 2-Conan takes outs the captain of the Wastrel but before he can take control of the ship, he must rescue the captain’s woman and escape from the ancient denizens of the island

SEASON FOUR

Episode 1-Beyond the Black River Part 1-Conan’s ship is wrecked and decides to take a trip home to Cimmeria. Realizing he no longer fits in with his tribesmen, he returns to the site of Venarium and ends up joining up with the Aquilonia army as a scout.

Episode 2-Beyond the Black River Part 2

Episode 3-Beyond the Black River Part 3

Episode 4-Beyond the Black River Part 4

Episode 5-The Black Stranger Part 1

Episode 6-The Black Stranger Part 2

Episode 7-The Black Stranger Part 3

Episode 8-The Black Stranger Part 4

Episode 9-The Black Stranger Part 5

Episode 10-The Black Stranger Part 6

SEASON FIVE

Episode 1-The Red Hand Part 1-Conan sacks the Zingaran city of Valedad and ends up getting the entire fleet chasing after him.

Episode 2-The Red Hand Part 2-Conan tries to evade the Zingaran fleet but ends up losing his ship.

Episode 3-Red Nails Part 1-Conan joins up with the brigand Zarallo and crosses paths the new Red Brotherhood and its most deadly member Valeria.

Episode 4-Red Nails Part 2-Valeria kills a member of the brotherhood but Conan chases after her and the two find themselves lost on the southern plains.

Episode 5-Red Nails Part 3

Episode 6-Red Nails Part 4

Episode 7-Red Nails Part 5

Episode 8-Red Nails Part 6

Episode 9-Servants of Bit Yakin Part 1

Episode 10-Servants of Bit Yakin Part 2

SEASON SIX

Episode 1-Wolves Beyond The Border

Episode 2-Conan the Usurper

Episode 3-Day of the Lion

Episode 4-The Phoenix On The Sword Part 1

Episode 5-The Phoenix On The Sword Part 2

Episode 6-The Scarlet Citadel Part 1

Episode 7-The Scarlet Citadel Part 2

Episode 8-The Scarlet Citadel Part 3

Season Seven-Hour of the Dragon in 8-10 parts

I haven't had time to go back over it to rework it as a fully 10 episode model. That one would have Queen of the Black Coast in Season 2. I'd still like to have "Black" and "Red" seasons, so the rest can be adjusted that way.

[lordyam]

I kinda like Johnny's ideas but think he's making a key mistake not showing breather episodes. If you jump from the end of Halls of the Dead right into Rogues, there's no emotional impact in Conan avenging his friends. No build up. No set up. It comes right the fuck outa nowhere.

[johnnypt]

Feb 24, 2016 22:39:59 GMT -5 lordyam said:

I kinda like Johnny's ideas but think he's making a key mistake not showing breather episodes. If you jump from the end of Halls of the Dead right into Rogues, there's no emotional impact in Conan avenging his friends. No build up. No set up. It comes right the fuck outa nowhere.

It depends how it's written.  I had an idea about having Taurus, Nestor and Nabonidus being connected by a thieving guild, so that thread connects from episode to episode.  Like I said this was kind of first pass at it.  I'm now more of a mind to have 10 episode seasons which would require a bit of a rethinking of what goes with what season, at least for the first four, which may become 5 (like I said, the Black & Red seasons stay put). 

I don't think you can really have breather episodes these days, everything has to move the story forward.  You have to develop your plots constantly.  With the way people watch shows now, even one episode in a ten episode season will probably get people annoyed.  Maybe you could do a one off in the second season after things have been pretty well set up.  The first season, you have to come out of the box with all cylinders firing.  I remember Spartacus took three episodes before it really got going.  I don't know if people would last that long these days!

The one thing it definitely should be is its own entity.  Don't do what DeCamp did, don't do what Marvel did, don't do what Dark Horse did.  I have some episode title shout outs, but I'd leave it at that.

[lordyam]

I should have said connector episodes. They connect the main episodes of the series together while having action. Conan avenging Nestor's death would be a full episode of action

[johnnypt]

Feb 25, 2016 13:38:17 GMT -5 lordyam said:

I should have said connector episodes. They connect the main episodes of the series together while having action. Conan avenging Nestor's death would be a full episode of action

I view that as necessary set up for Rogues (sort of like Conan and Valeria at Sukhmet being necessary for Red Nails), so it would work its way into the development. I don't think it'd need a whole episode though.  But that's just the way I see it, Tower/Hall/Rogues as a trilogy with Conan first hearing about the whole situation while in Nemedia during God in the Bowl.  Maybe even hearing about Taurus or seeing his handiwork.

[lordyam]

I still think having a whole episode devoted to a howard tale followed by ANOTHER howard immediately after is kinda silly. There's a three year gap between god in the bowl and rogues so there needs to be some adventures between.

[johnnypt]

Feb 26, 2016 0:30:18 GMT -5 lordyam said:

I still think having a whole episode devoted to a howard tale followed by ANOTHER howard immediately after is kinda silly. There's a three year gap between god in the bowl and rogues so there needs to be some adventures between.

My take was concentrate on the original stories and to go pastiche only when absolutely necessary to fill in specific gaps as noted in Howard (The Red Hand episodes being the most explicit). My ten episode rethink of season one would include at least 5 stories (FGD, God, Tower, Hall, Rogues) with the last three sort of bleeding into one another over 4 or 5 episodes. Not sure if I'd leave Yaralet there in Season 1 or move to Season 2, but even so that would give things a little more room to breathe.


There's 22 years to fill in from Tower to Phoenix, so it 's a matter of how to arrange the pieces. You have 5 big tales that will take up a good part of 4 seasons. Conan is 18 in Tower, so he could be 17 or 18 in God. Not sure where the three years to Rogues comes from, I don't think Howard nailed down when it took place. The fact he pointed out to Miller that it didn't place in Zamora certainly implied he thought Conan was roughly around the same area as he was in Tower, if not necessarily the same time. If someone else came up with the idea that there's three years difference, that's fine and a perfectly reasonable take on it. Like I said, I'm looking just to Howard with minimal reference to what anyone else had done.

[lordyam]

Dale said Conan was 19 or so in Rogues; He entered Zamoria "one year after Venarium".

[ironhand]

Amidst all these outlines of seasons and series, I would like to mention that I have written some Conan screenplays. They can be found at my website "The Scrolls of Ironhand" at
www.scrollsofironhand.us/index.html

I wrote a "Young Conan" series dealing with Conan's youth, intended to replace the fake origin stories of the extant movies. "The Frost Giant's Daughter" is embedded in this series. In addition I wrote faithful transcriptions of "The God in the Bowl" and "Xuthal of the Dusk", just to show it could be done.

[lordyam]

I've read them. They're plenty good. Maybe they can be "Conan: Origins" Series. Conan doesn't dominate the action, since Connacht is also a major player.

One thing I was really conflicted about was adding a Hanumar road arc (albeit with modifications. They wouldn't be heading to Hanumar, but another place that had just as much mystical potency.) I adored the other worldly magic, action sequences and even Conan's friendship with Kal. Janissa....was a problem but honestly Blood Oasis salvaged her character big time, even managing to take a moment from Hanumar road and use it as the impetus for her development (Conan refusing the Bone Woman.) I mean fuck, it even manages to have Conan and Thoth Amon start out with a somewhat credible rivalry; Conan interfered in his attempts to get the Eye, Thoth was pissed but at the same time couldn't help but be impressed. So he kept tabs on the kid.

However, it would require modifications and I didn't want to have too many episodes per season. HBO might not go for it. Starz might, but not HBO.