Nintendo has conspicuously shut down a Zelda fan film on copyright grounds, disappointing fans who held the work in high regard.
“The Legend of Zelda: Hero of Time,” a 100 minute live action fan film inspired by ocarina of Time, was released late in 2009, but seems to have attracted the attention of Nintendo, who promptly shut it down.
The trailer is still visible for the moment:
The creators “voluntarily” withdrew the film from circulation:
Hey, everyone. We just wanted to let you know that Dec. 31 was the last day that The Hero of Time was available for viewing.
We came to an agreement with Nintendo earlier this month to stop distributing the film. In the spirit of the holiday season they were good enough to let us keep the movie up for you to watch and enjoy through the end of 2009, but not past 2009.
We understand Nintendo’s right to protect its characters and trademarks and understand how in order to keep their property unspoiled by fan’s interpretation of the franchise, Nintendo needs to protect itself — even from fan-works with good intentions.
Curiously, Nintendo generally leaves doujinshi and other such unauthorised derivative works alone in Japan, where even semi-commercial fan-works with purely pornographic intentions pass completely unmolested, with the relationship between fandom and publishers understood to be a symbiotic rather than adversarial one.
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Once again companies show their two-facedness.
you wouldn't want fans shitting all over you franchises either
Nintendo sucks balls.
And te wii is a fag console to gays who like to pee sitting.
Saw the trailer? Had that been my franchise I'd do everything possible to stop such western faggotry.
If only the guys who sold Dragonballz to Hollywood realized the same thing...
Doubt you will do something better; stop being so Nintendo about it...
hero of time was alright the last part of the movie was the best i would say great swordplay.
dont judge it unless you've seen it. also its better then supermariobros the movie.
Nintendo has been doing this for years even when Poketmonster fans wanted to share Information on stuff. Nintendo kept trying keep Poket Monster fans on a lid on stuff even Enforce there copy right laws agianst fans it seems if Nintendo wants to sue people just using there Image is being used as a Parody or something far worse then your going to find that fans won't buy your products.
When i read the article, is went Nintendo FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU, but then i saw the trailer and thanked Nintendo from the bottom of my heart for shutting down this blaphemy to Link's quality name.
Movie is a piece of shit. Every character is horribly miscast and is a terrible actor. Link looks like a cross between Tidus and Raiden from MGS. Or just a gay pornstar.
I hope that Capcom has the balls to do this with the Mega Man shitfest that is being made.
Oh, and I'd rather fap to Zelda than play watch this video diarrhea. I am pretty sure Nintendo agrees with this too.
Yeah you are a faggot. At least they tried to make something interesting.
Kudos to them for trying to make something interesting, unfortunately it did indeed look like shit. I don't think Nintendo should have stepped in, but I don't think of this as something I'd want to watch either (really, it's the same kind of bastardization we in the west are known for).
actually from the trailer this seems so bad it might qualify as a parody which is an exception to copywright laws. that's how sat night live and mad tv get away with all the crap they do.
Yes, because individual fans apparently have the production power of Hollywood.
Over-expecting, much?
This is trademark law which is different than _Copyright_ laws.
A company has to actively defend the use of their trademarks or else they lost it to common usage.
Copyright = a right. Not Wright.
Watch the trailer, it looks beyond stupid and like a high school play that was shot before hand and had a budget for some early 90's special affects.
Ironically enough,they actually would allow a doujinshi manga where link took a shit on zelda.
Actually I thought I remember seeing a different trailer to a independent film of zelda about a year 1/2 ago or so... it looked a hell of alot better than this - but now I'm starting to wonder if its the same or what X_X
Dreck, you're thinking of the April fools day joke done by IGN, I believe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBCzkz3gHb8
That trailer was a well made april fools joke done by IGN. Shame it wasn't real, because it almost looked decent.
That's actually WHY they made this film.
It's gonna be available as a torrent for long, long time.
Congratulations Nintendo, you have created the Streisand Effect.
OMG, completely. I had the unfortunate willpower to sit though and watch all of the fanflick. Man was it one of the worse crap-fests I have ever seen. If only nintendo had moved sooner so I would have missed it.
Movie was shit, actors were shit, plot was shit. OoT may be an awesome game, but it would be a horrible movie.
"Doubt you will do better" or "If you haven't seen it, don't comment" are both entirely irrelevant and illogical arguments. If you brought that up in any respectable debate, you'd get shot down faster than a cannon fodder gundam facing the Freedom.
Whether or not the commentor has the ability to do better is entirely irrelevant as to the actual quality of the work (and the commentor's right to comment about it). If it is bad, it is bad.
Ever seen Assassins Creed fanmade movie?
Well, it was crap! So would have this movie be if they did not stop it.
It was stopped a month after distribution.
Does that not denote to you the status of it's completion?
well the trailer is still crap so the complete work is crap
Compared to all the utter masterpiece fan-made works you've had the pleasure of viewing I imagine?
Lord of the Rings fan-made pretty good imo
Just fuck nintendo, no one needs that shitty company anymore!
sorry but this fan movie was an insult to the Zelda fanchise. If you actually liked this movie, you are not a true Zelda fan at all. Fuck off with your faggotry. This fan movie was complete shit. The actors were complete shit. And WTF Saria is Links adopted mother??
Think before you speak. It was shut down because it insulted the series. If I never played a Zelda game in my life before and saw this movie first, then I would think Zelda is a piece of shit.
Glad Nintendo took action. Not only was this movie bad, but the creators of it had a giant ego and wanted to look like a Hollywood blockbuster. Doing tours around the US and then wanting to release it on DVD. And yes, They were making money off of this shit. They were just covering up their asses.
There's nothing "curious" about tolerating doujins but not this movie. That'd be because comapnies like Nintendo are litterally many-faced, being multinationals, ie aggregates of several companies that actually each have their own policies. Nintendo's japanese component tolerates doujins, and Nintendo of America doesn't tolerate fan movies. Two different companies, two different policies.
Its Nintendo America is why we can't stand Nintendo anymore. They're complete idiots that push hardware, casual shovelware and other crap we don't care about.
"Curiously, Nintendo generally leaves doujinshi and other such unauthorised derivative works alone in Japan, where even semi-commercial fan-works with purely pornographic intentions pass completely unmolested, with the relationship between fandom and publishers understood to be a symbiotic rather than adversarial one."
Generally true, but Nintendo did go after a circle in Japan for a Pokemon hentai doujin back in the day IIRC (and was thus maybe the only company to do so aside from Shogakukan for a Doraemon doujin?), so... yeah, maybe it's just a Nintendo thing.
Regardless, that sucks.
THAT'S FUCKING WHY YOU SHOULD MAKE Pr0n INSTEAD!!!
good because it looks terreible
wtf is up with that hair
Hey, don't drag Doujinshi into this. What if they go after that stuff as well?
Nintendo doesn't seem to be the good company that it used to be.
I am very disappointed at the double standards that they have set
Except, they have always been uptight about copyright issues, especially their policy on ROM emulation.
But as mentioned, nothing as petty as this.
why?
because it would surely be terrible (the trailer is indication of that) nothing is worse than weaboo fan movies (except maybe weaboo fan dubs). i hate you all
don't worry, we hate you too :)
the legend of zelda Evolution XD
gj nintendo
I haven't heard about this movie until today. Saw this, immediately nabbed the torrent. Now I get to watch it and pass it along forever.
Thanks Nintendo!
This looks really good for fan-made garbage. I want to see this.
In the end though, I haev the feeling a fan-made movie probably wouldn't do justice to the characters. For example, the reason Link never has any dialogue in his games is that Miyamoto knows that a lot of people have subconsciously created a personality that they think Link would have. Publishing a film that has a set personality for him would have a negative effect on a many a viewer for sure.
Besides, the creators of this film had no ties with Nintendo whatsoever, which means they can in no way truly create the "Legend of Zelda" feeling that Miyamoto always does.
Everyone knows the disaster that was the cartoon that Link starred in. I'm sure the film is probably better, but I won't blame Nintendo for being afraid their characters might get molested again if they leave the production of a(n) animation/film to a different company again.
They managed pretty awesome manga sets fairly recently though so it's not like every spin-off or adaptation turns to shit.
The mediums were to blame. CD-I and a Sunday morning cartoon were going to be shit anyway.
Where-as the manga's were great and I've yet to see a movie trailer that didn't look epic.
A personality has nothing to do with speaking. For all we know, Link could be thinking how much of a spoiled bitch Zelda is. What truly makes a personality is how the character deals with their choices and consequences.
Yeah, it's hard to replicate same feel of the original creator. But that doesn't mean you can do it, or just come really close. And I didn't know you were such a big fan of The Wind Waker. Because we all know that was one of the better Zelda games, right?
I disagree, this looks groantastic! The kind of movie that it so bad it good, I would never accept this as an official movie, but as a fan movie this is great!
Let me repeat that, if Nintendo hired Michael Bay I'd never pay to watch it, and will mock anyone that did, but as a free and fan made work it's fine, it's supposed to suck, the fun is in making it.
Considering how often Game to Movie adaptations are...
I'd rather leave it in the hands of fans then leave it to "professionals" who have Daring and Innovative visions of a game in their attempt to "properly portray the spirit" of the game and it's meanings in their attempted recreation of the game into a movie...
Seriously, most games to movies sucks balls to begin with.