It's the lip syncing that really blows my mind if I'm honest

August 6, 2017 9:37 AM

Episode Four: The Search for the Black Spider. A live-action Adventure Zone fanfilm directed by Curtis McOsker.
posted by Narrative Priorities (22 comments total)

Love it! The old selfish shallow Taako! He's adorable!
posted by Countess Elena at 9:48 AM on August 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

TAZ doesn't really do it for me but this is aces fan-work!
posted by curious nu at 10:21 AM on August 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

Huh. I just finished listening to this episode after trying to get into podcasts again and then this shows up here.
posted by Zalzidrax at 10:31 AM on August 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Oh wow, this is so amazing! The cutting between playing D&D and the Adventure Zone world was so perfect. I'm still way behind on TAZ (I'm still listening to the Eleventh Hour) because I'm trying to really ration it out, but I'd watch the entire run of the podcast like this if it was possible.
posted by yasaman at 10:37 AM on August 6, 2017 [5 favorites]

This is good as hell.
posted by saladin at 11:07 AM on August 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

How much money do they need to make the whole 69 episodes?
Can I give them all of mine?
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 1:16 PM on August 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

^ Netflix needs to get on this. Graphic novel(s?) aside, this seems to be the perfect medium to adapt the story.
EDIT: Also I wonder if this would be a good way to introduce friends to the Adventure Zone? hm.
posted by bigendian at 1:45 PM on August 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

This kept popping up on my YouTube recommendations and I kept ignoring it assuming it would be a giant trash fire. I finally watched it last night and WOWZERS it is damn good, and even more impressive because in the hands of 99.999% of the rest of the world it would be a giant trash fire.
posted by Anonymous at 2:23 PM on August 6, 2017

If you'd told me they were going to be lip-syncing the whole thing I would have assumed it'd be mediocre at best, but they really nailed it and it's amazing.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:27 PM on August 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

Love it! The old selfish shallow Taako! He's adorable!

I think where TAZ is now is a fantastic demonstration of creativity and storytelling on the part of Griffin And The Tres Horny Boys. But gosh, I miss the silliness and fucking around in the earlier arcs. I can re-listen to them in a way that I'm probably never going to re-listen to, say, The Lost Century.

Obligatory caveat: there are plenty of TAZ fans who feel the exact opposite. It's really about what you want out of a podcast of people playing a role-playing game.
posted by Anonymous at 2:30 PM on August 6, 2017

Ohhhh I was hoping this would go to Magic Bryan's final riddle, still one of the best moments of The Adventure Zone.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 3:28 PM on August 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

I guess the giant spider was out of the effects budget, but it does mean we miss out on "Abraca-Fuck you"
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 3:51 PM on August 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

What's an "ADVENTURE EONE"?
posted by runcibleshaw at 10:23 PM on August 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

That was incredible. I would legitimately watch an entire series of TAZ this way, and still listen to the podcast as well. Netflix please?
posted by pseudonymph at 1:04 AM on August 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'd love to see a blended live-action/animated TAZ series with the McElroys doing live-action around-the-table role playing that transitions into and out of animated versions of their characters living out the game.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:25 AM on August 7, 2017

I think that would be great (It's essentially Dan Harmon's approach on HarmonQuest) but what I like here is that it's retrofitting on to something that was envisaged to be a wholly audio thing being so impressively adapted.

I wouldn't want TAZ to be rerecorded or anything. But yeah a new series and new adventure recorded that way would be amazing.

There's one point in this that I really like (well, impressed by? I guess?)
At 1:09 Griffin audibly sniffs and so "Griffin" (Nicolas Saenz) matches that. It's such a nice attention to detail. Makes me wonder how often they all must have listened to this to get the syncing just so close.

Oh also "Travis"'s facial expression when he's thinking about if he's going to rush in Foolhardily or not.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 6:31 AM on August 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

This was really well done, and I love how the addition of the video really enhances the sense of fun that this episode had; it captures the idea of D&D just being a fun time with friends really well.
posted by nubs at 7:18 AM on August 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's essentially Dan Harmon's approach on HarmonQuest

Oh, huh. I've never seen it, and I thought it was all animated from the promo images I saw on SeeSo (she sees SeeSo shows on the seashore).

I wouldn't want TAZ to be rerecorded or anything. But yeah a new series and new adventure recorded that way would be amazing.

I think TAZ could be tightened up a fair bit. Maybe not re-recorded, but certainly some editing and maybe some ADR-type stuff. There are a lot of great jokes/lines/bits that get stepped on to some degree, and it would be good to clean those up, and a lot of the rules-looking-up can probably go as well.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:49 AM on August 7, 2017

I think what they're currently doing in way of TAZ adaptation (turning it into a comic) is the best possible thing to do with it. As an added bonus I've noticed Clint seems more invested in the show since he started editing/writing the comic version.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 7:54 AM on August 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

Yeah, you could clean and tidy a lot up. (Like episode 1.5 I guess, where they cut down the heavy rulesy start into a sleeker episode) I wouldn't want too much in the way of tidying though.

I think some charm would be lost if you also lost the occasional rules lookup, or reminding clint which dice to use, or that sort of thing. I like the occasional reminder that it's being played for real. You get a sense of personality from the chaos.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 8:29 AM on August 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

This is so much better than I expected! Excellent structure, visuals, amazing lip-syncing.

And a nice reminder that it's been remarkably entertaining all the way through, right from the very beginning. (I'm someone who relistens to Stolen Century episodes, like right now have Parley cued up, so yeah.)
posted by epersonae at 3:05 PM on August 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

As a thought experiment, I went through the transcript of one of the Rockport Express episodes with an eye towards editing out what I would consider chaff, and of the 39 and a half pages, I excised about 4 pages worth of Griffin complaining about his neighbor mowing his lawn, and figuring out which enemies were damaged and how much and so forth. I did leave in a bunch about Clint trying to sneak eat some popcorn. I think it would hold together very well as an episode of an animated series.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:15 AM on August 8, 2017 [2 favorites]