Ursula K LeGuin was very unhappy with the SciFi Channel version of her first two books. Obviously everyone was unhappy with it because it was a SciFi Channel production, and the only thing they’ve gotten right so far is the new EarthseaBattlestar Galactica. But LeGuin was really upset that the network changed the races of her characters, changing the lead character from a reddish-brown guy to a white kid. Read her rant about it here.
Now there’s a new chance for it to be done right – Studio Ghibli, the amazing animation studio behind Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, will be adapting Wizard of Earthsea, the first book in the series, into Gedo Senki – Gedo War History. Ged is the name of the lead character in the series who does all sorts of fantasy novel stuff. Beats me what that actually means.
Hayao Miyazaki’s son Goro will be directing. I imagine that his four arms make him quite the animator.
But will the problems LeGuin had with the SciFi Channel be repeated here? A look at the poster for the July 2006 release indicates that Ged is… a honky again.