Kingdom Keepers

[Sotiris]

On a recent episode of the Fatman Beyond podcast hosted by Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin, discussion began about the unique way “The Mandalorian” was shot for Disney+ (you can hear it beginning at 2:05:25 [There is strong language]). Smith then mentions something interesting:

"I saw that wall in real life, when we were working on the Disney, uh… when we were working on the potential Disney+ show Kingdom Keepers. They brought me in for, like, a tech day, and they were like, ‘this wall here can duplicate any background.’"

There hasn’t been any official word of a Kingdom Keepers show in development for the streaming platform, but it seems producers at Disney+ are circling the idea. In terms of using the technology “The Mandalorian” used for Kingdom Keepers, they could be testing out ways they can potentially shoot a series that takes place in the Disney Parks without having to actually be in a park the entire time.

Source: https://attractionsmagazine.com/is-a-ki ... or-disney/

[UmbrellaFish]

I read the first two books as a kid, mainly because they used the Virtual Magic Kingdom (VMK) as a plot device. But the books were so slow to come out— the first book was released the first year VMK was online and then by the time the second one came out, the game had already been shut down— and I aged out of them.

But the books are a really cool concept and tbh I’d probably watch a TV series adaptation today if it was filmed on location or at least convincingly looked that way. But why in the world would Kevin Smith be involved???

[JeanGreyForever]

I only read the first book which I did enjoy so I would love to see this as a TV series. It would be a perfect live-action series for Disney+ imo or even an animated show (preferably 2D).

[UmbrellaFish]

Kevin Smith added this on Twitter:

That was a blast to write 2 years ago. It was planned as one of the first shows to launch on what would become @disneyplus. Then a new exec was put in charge of the app and he killed KK. Said we used too much @Disney IP in one project (every character in the park comes to life).

Maybe this is why House of Mouse never showed up on the service either?

[blackcauldron85]

^ House of Mouse wouldn't be a problem to add to D+, I'd think, since it already exists. I can understand for making a new show--maybe it's too expensive to use "too much IP," but what would it cost to put HoM on D+?!

[Clindor]

Finally this project is happening

[JeanGreyForever]

I'm guessing the issue was that they wanted to save their most classic and prestigious Disney characters for future projects rather than thrust them all together in one so that the unique appeal of seeing them onscreen together in live-action won't be lost.

Finally this project is happening

Wait, did I read it wrong? I was under the impression the show was cancelled.

[Sotiris]

Kevin Smith: That was a blast to write 2 years ago. It was planned as one of the first shows to launch on what would become Disney+. Then a new exec was put in charge of the app and he killed KK. Said we used too much Disney IP in one project (every character in the park comes to life).

Q: That new exec sounds like he has no idea what people would and wouldn't watch.

Kevin Smith: The Disney+ exec may have scrapped Kingdom Keepers, but he's also the guy who said “Let’s do Star Wars & Marvel Studios shows!” So as much as I would’ve liked to make my show, I’m much happier watching The Mandolorian and can’t wait for WandaVision. #FanFirstFilmmakerSecond

Source: https://twitter.com/ThatKevinSmith/stat ... 6402342920

Kevin Lively: I was asked to review the treatment and let out an audible “Hell yeah!” at a certain point. It was marvelous.

Kevin Smith: Thanks, man! It was written with love by a kid who grew up watching “The Wonderful World of Disney” with his family every Sunday night. I renamed the main characters after the original team of Imagineers who worked w/ Walt. Felt like they overpaid me to write Disney fan fiction!

Source: https://twitter.com/ThatKevinSmith/stat ... 9318978560

[JeanGreyForever]

Sounds amazing. I hope one day they consider returning to this project, perhaps when that executive is no longer there. Although I agree, I'm also glad we are getting shows like Mando and Wanda/Vision although their existence shouldn't be mutually exclusive from KK.

[DisneyFan97]

Kevin Smithäs humor is super GROSS and UNFUNNY !

[Sotiris]

In the beginning of the life of Disney+, the Disney Channel was put in charge of the creative. My agent called me one day and said 'The folks at Disney want to meet with you.' This was a couple of years ago. I came up with a storyline and wrote this outline for what it was; basically wrote the pitch down. In Ridley's books, they pick one of the villains and stick with that villain. When I was told this is what they're looking for, they were like 'Just go Disney-nuts, man.' And so, I took that to be like this is the Avengers of Disney so I can use every IP that the parks got. There's some obvious like you know...you wouldn't want to touch Star Wars and stuff like that, but the classic park. It was going to be set in Disneyland. So, all that stuff was fair game. Walt was a character. Mickey Mouse, of course, was a character. He didn't pop-up until later, but he was always around. The main villain was Captain Hook, who I wanted Russell Brand for.

So, I went in and pitched that. They went for my pitch. It was crazy. They were like 'We like it, let's do it.' They made a deal and I started writing the show for Disney+. I wrote the pilot script and there was a full Bible for the entire arc of the first season which would have basically told the story of the first book. I met with a producer up in Vancouver while I was working on an episode of Supergirl and went through budgets and potential places to shoot. It just kept inching more towards reality. They were like 'This is going to be one of our first shows. We've already greenlit High School Musical: The Series and this is next. That'll start it and then this is going to happen, Kingdom Keepers.'

I was over in England visiting J.J. when he was shooting Rise of Skywalker staying in Slough and I got an email from my agent going like 'Kingdom Keepers has been killed.' And I was like 'What? What happened? Are you kidding?' He went like 'there's a new exec that was brought in on the app and he read it...' I was like 'Oh my God! Did the new guy not like the script?' It wasn't that. He said 'There's too much IP in the show. You used every damn Disney character in one. He didn't think this was a good idea.' So, it got killed.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avX6Az57oAU

[blackcauldron85]

That exec wouldn't have greenlit OUaT either then, huh? (I only saw a little of OUaT...I have the same issues with that show that I do with the live action remakes...it's just hard for me to watch them).

So, um, Walt would be a character?! Would he be a voice, a live actor, CGI? And all the Disney characters, like Mickey; would they be CG? I've never read these books but I want more info on the show!

[Farerb]

That exec wouldn't have greenlit OUaT either then, huh? (I only saw a little of OUaT...I have the same issues with that show that I do with the live action remakes...it's just hard for me to watch them).

So, um, Walt would be a character?! Would he be a voice, a live actor, CGI? And all the Disney characters, like Mickey; would they be CG? I've never read these books but I want more info on the show!

Not necessarily. OUAT didn't use all the IP at once and they were more focused on fairytales than Disney (only in season 4 it became a Disney cosplays party).
I think they would have used an actor for Walt.

[JeanGreyForever]

I sorta understand what the Disney exec meant. If all the Disney characters were crammed into the first season, I can see why the appeal would be lost for later on. They should be spaced out more like in OUAT which introduced classic characters every season. The first season of OUAT only really had a handful of Disney characters in major roles and then some in minor roles and they were balanced out by the non-Disney fairy tale characters like Farerb said. Even something like The Avengers took years to build up rather than introduce everyone all at once which is what Justice League tried to do and spectacularly failed.

I'm also not a fan of Captain Hook as the main villain. That doesn't even make sense when Maleficent was the villain of the first book which the first season was based off of. And with far more evil characters like Maleficent, Grimhilde, Jafar, Ursula, Chernabog, etc. how could Hook possibly be leading them? I'd even believe non-magical characters like Lady Tremaine, Frollo, or Cruella would be more capable of leading seeing as they're rotten to the core whereas I can't imagine these villains ever following a buffoon like Hook.

[Disney Duster]

Maybe Hook was written differently to be more evil and powerful?

But maybe that's changing the character too much. Maybe he is like the original Hook, which I agree, would be hard to accept as leader.

[JeanGreyForever]

That's what I was thinking because I could buy the Hook from the book/play in that role. However, this project wasn't like OUAT where they use different takes on the characters. Which reminds me that even Emma makes fun of the Disney Hook in OUAT to Killian.

[Disney Duster]

Hm. Yes. True.

[JeanGreyForever]

This does seem like the type of project Disney might reconsider looking into one day for their Disney+ catalogue especially considering how much work they put into it. They do seem to recognize that it would be very lucrative considering how many of their valuable IPs are involved.

[Disney Duster]

We had Once Upon a Time and Descendants using so many Disney IPs. I don't see why they couldn't just stagger the IPs throughout the seasons since it sounded like too much IPs in one season was what got it canceled.

[JeanGreyForever]

We had Once Upon a Time and Descendants using so many Disney IPs. I don't see why they couldn't just stagger the IPs throughout the seasons since it sounded like too much IPs in one season was what got it canceled.

Agree with you that they should have staggered all the characters. I've read the first book and while it's been some time, I do remember that every Disney character ever was hardly featured throughout. It was just a handful and Maleficent was the most prominent villain. There were a few others I think but really the focus was not on the Disney characters.