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Many fans have the dream that one day there will be a Zelda movie. Others believe a Zelda film will ruin the franchise. A Zelda movie is one of the hottest topics for debate, and across Zelda message boards, fans fiercely defend or attack the notion. But there are a few who are trying to bring Zelda closer to the silver screen. Or maybe just a TV screen near you.

One such fan is Joe Morriss, who dreams of directing and illustrating his own rendition of a Zelda motion picture. Of all the Zelda film projects, his is probably the furthest along. Joe apparently is a part time film teacher and began work on this film project years ago. His concept is to take the style and story of A Link to the Past and turn it into a film.

As you can see, Joe Morriss is working very hard to make his dream a reality, but there are still fans who view his work as detrimental to the series. From the image above and below, you can see that Joe's film uses a distinct style that really isn't reflective of the official artwork for A Link to the Past. Some just think the style is too different from what they believe Zelda should. Additionally, there's the issue every fan who's dreamed of a making a Zelda film has had to deal with.

A fan film can only be allowed so long as it is under the radar. You see, if anyone ever wants to make their multi-million dollar epic, they're going to need Nintendo's permission. Even if your dad was the president of New Line Cinema, and your uncle were Steven Spielberg, and you were as rich as Bill Gates, you still can't just make a Zelda film. You see, intellectual property is still legally reserved by Nintendo. If they don't want a film, it won't happen.

But apparently for one fan, this isn't an obstacle. Meet Joe Cracker, who is working on his own series entitled "The Light of Courage". Joe Cracker claims he is working with DIC and is producing an animated series based loosely on the Zelda Cartoon series. You can view two trailers for this film here and here. Be warned, they may conjure up memories of the CD-i games.


You can see from the above promo that this is nothing you will be seeing on your TV set anytime...ever. But still, the fact that so much work went into a hideously bad project (although I still believe it is a hoax) shows how much fans want a film or new cartoon series. What about the track record of video game movies to date? Most of them flop, and even the ones that do well at the box office still disgrace the franchises they represent, right?

The sad fact is video games are hard to translate into a two hour, non-interactive medium like film. But many of the films to date have had very low budgets and B-list actors. Actually, all of the modern video game films have had A-list actors (except for the obscure video game films like Alone in the Dark and House of the Dead). Doom had The Rock, Tomb Raider had Angelina Jolie, and Resident Evil had Milla Jovovich. Super Mario Bros: The Movie had Dennis Hopper, John Leguizamo and Bob Hoskins. Yet, video game films are still viewed as a joke and not taken seriously.

So maybe they need higher production values and a more serious crew making them. Well, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was made by Hironobu Sakagutchi, the creator of Final Fantasy. It's the worst big-name video game film of all time (okay, not worse than Mario or Street Fighter). Yet, fans still have hope. Halo, arguably the most popular franchise at the moment next to Grand Theft Auto, and popular amongst the more mainstream culture, is going to be headed up by Producer Peter Jackson. Yes, that is the same Peter Jackson who is of Lord of the Rings fame. But Peter Jackson did make "The Frighteners", and that movie was horrible.

So, no matter how much money and talent you throw at a production, the sad fact is there is no set formula in Hollywood to make a film succeed. Even for video game adaptations. So, many fans believe it is just a waste of time to make a Zelda film. Especially if it is live action. But what about other formats, say...an anime series?

Sure, there was a Zelda Cartoon series in the late 1980's that was laughable at best. But that was a marketing ploy, not a quality franchise. Anime is extremely popular with the video game culture, and it also has a big following in the mainstream. Even MTV had its own anime, Aeon Flux. So perhaps allowing Nintendo to make an anime series wouldn't be so bad? While I personally now believe an anime series for Zelda headed directly by Nintendo would be awesome, I still think fans would have one issue to get passed. That is the fact Zelda is very personal, moreso than other series. And anyone else's interpretation and presentation of Zelda is not the same as another's necessarily.

The fact is that it's nearly impossible to get this to become a reality. With all the logistical hurdles, the financial hurdles, the cultural hurdles, and the creative hurdles...I just can't see how a Zelda film will ever be made. And even if one was, would it do well even if it was made with the utmost love and care? Chances of this happening are about as good as seeing Miyamoto reveal the timeline tomorrow in a breaking news conference. It could happen, but it's not. I still hold out a faint hope that Nintendo's new animation studio kicks out a Zelda series, or at least adds more storytelling elements to the games. Because quite frankly, the in-game cut scenes are as close to a Zelda film as we are ever going to get.