Nintendo Pulls Zelda Fan Movie

By Jorge Ba-oh 02.01.2010 32

Nintendo Pulls Zelda Fan Movie on Nintendo gaming news, videos and discussion

Nintendo recently pulled fan-made Zelda movie The Hero of Time from being viewed online after allowing producers to air during Christmas.

The Hero of Time is a feature-length tribute movie to one of Nintendo's most loved franchises, telling the tale of good ol' Link who battles his way through evil Ganon's minions to save Zelda - following closely, but not entirely, the Ocarina of Time chapter. However due to licensing issues and to protect its franchises Nintendo ordered the studio to stop distributing and streaming the film.

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.

This has been quite an adventure for us and we have a real sense of peace bringing the project to a close. Between the screenings and the online release many of you were able to see the film and we hope to not have only inspired those of you that live, breathe and dream Zelda but we also hope to have inspired all of you aspiring filmmakers out there! Thank you again for all your patience with the project and we hope you had as much fun watching our movie as we did making it. Thanks for all your wonderful messages of encouragement and support! I'm sure our next project will be right around the corner! No, it's not Majora's Mask.


  • For more information, see the Hero of Time fan page.

    • Box art for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
    Developer

    Nintendo

    Publisher

    Nintendo

    Genre

    Action Adventure

    Players

    1

    C3 Score

    Rated $score out of 10  9/10

    Reader Score

    Rated $score out of 10  10/10 (176 Votes)

    European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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    Keven is offline. Keven 04.01.2010#26

    welshwuff said:
    If you wanna see a more desent Zelda related live action thing, watch "The Ledgend of Neil", it's hilarious.
    http://effinfunny.com/legend-of-neil

    Oh man, I just started watching that a couple of weeks ago after I finished watching all 3 seasons of The Guild, which has Sandeep Parikh in it, the writer/director of The Legend of Neil. It's quite funny.


    The former top user was Keven! You'd probably give birth to yourself 1000 times over until you sprout wings to fly away into the fading sun, that or you'd just turn into a lesbian. Who knows @_@ - L, 12/06/09
     
    Darkflame is offline. Darkflame 04.01.2010#27

    Toon SuperLink said:
    Darkflame said:
    Be fair, most of them are rubbish too.

    Fanfics aside, you mustn't have seen many fanarts and fangames if you think most of them are rubbish.
    Even then, better to have a 3:4 ratio of good:bad fanart than just one very crappy fanfilm.

    Ive seen lots of great fanart and a few good fangames, but mostly its awfull.
    Theres some saying though that 99% of everything is crap, so its to be expected.

    With a sample range of 1 (serious) Zelda fanfilm, there isnt much data to build a sample from.
    I dont think its as simple as 1 film = lots of good fanart.
    Remember also that the skill of fanfilm makers increase over time. Those that finish go onto make better and better stuff.
    We need more people having a go and finishing these things. More people as ambitious as these.

    As far as comedy goes though Legend Of Niel covers that end. But I want more serious attempts at Zelda.
    And, in fact, more fanfilms in general.
    When they are done well they can be excellent, and grow and expand the universe in ways beyond their source mediums.

    http://www.fanficmaker.com <-- Tells some truly terrible tales.
    Last update; Mice,Plumbers,Animatronics and Airbenders. We also have the socials; Facebook & G+. 
     
    Anonymous (guest) 04.01.2010#28

    Nintendo made the correct call. Is that supposed to be link? It looks like a gay Fabio with a bad hair day. It looks like Nintendo learned their lesson from the Super Mario Brothers movie.

    Keep up the good work Nintendo

    MasaMuneCyrus is offline. MasaMuneCyrus 05.01.2010#29

    Honestly, I'm sick of these defenses of companies: "Well, they should have known that this was a risky project, anyways."

    Bullcrap. Parody exists. Black Mesa: Source has not been shut down by Valve, Saturday Night Live regularly makes fun of (and makes money off of) spoofing and making fun of real products, and in the land where Nintendo comes from -- Japan -- Doujinshi (i.e., fan-made parody works) are a way to make a small living.

    The simple fact of the matter is that a fan-made movie of Zelda is legal, and the only reason that Nintendo can get away with this is because nobody wants to go up against a team of corporate lawyers in court. There should be no defense of Nintendo in this case.

     
    E-Dracon is offline. E-Dracon 05.01.2010#30

    MasaMuneCyrus said:
    Honestly, I'm sick of these defenses of companies: "Well, they should have known that this was a risky project, anyways."

    Bullcrap. Parody exists. Black Mesa: Source has not been shut down by Valve, Saturday Night Live regularly makes fun of (and makes money off of) spoofing and making fun of real products, and in the land where Nintendo comes from -- Japan -- Doujinshi (i.e., fan-made parody works) are a way to make a small living.

    The simple fact of the matter is that a fan-made movie of Zelda is legal, and the only reason that Nintendo can get away with this is because nobody wants to go up against a team of corporate lawyers in court. There should be no defense of Nintendo in this case.


    Actually... the people who made the movie did sell tickets to watch it at two theaters, the movie itself gives no credit to Nintendo (copywrites and all that) from what I remember, allowing the company to take it down. Black Mesa Source has been ordered by Valve to be renamed to Black Mesa so that people don't confuse it as an official Valve game, besides you still have to own Half-Life2: Ep2 to play it. And Doujinshi are legal because they state the copywrites of who the characters belong to and such. Same goes for Legend of Neil which is protected by being a parody.

     
    Erowers (guest) 15.01.2010#31

    I was not impressed by the movie. I have seen better Zelda movies, and many better fan movies.

    This one had an undriven story, bad acting, odd lighting, and it was very unoriginal. If you do a fan movie, don't just reenact a game. Write something new with your inspiration.

    daynon (guest) 18.01.2010#32

    all of you guys are rubbish! try watching the series of Zelda. it was a great start for Link and friends to hit the screen. toons they were then; people now. it's like 101 Dalmations. who fussed? no one. who's fussing about this movie done by a low-buget crew who pulled all stops? nintendo. AND I HAVEN'T SEEN IT! making ads and homemade movies with cybertricks don't make money! i say let link and friends mark history this way. what does nintendo have to loose? their originality? money? history? NOT EVEN RESPECT WILL BE LOST! so all of you please, just muzzle it!

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