Wizards (Netflix Series)

Wizards is an American adult animated post-apocalyptic science fantasy television series created by Ralph Bakshi and co-produced along with George Lucas. The series is a retelling of Bakshi's 1977 animated film Wizards.

The series features the battle between two powerful wizards. Avatar, the good and kind wizard who represents the powers of magic and his twin brother Blackwolf, the evil mutant wizard who represents the powers of technology. The series was released on February 9, 2017 coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the original films release date.

Premise
Earth has being ravaged by a nuclear war instigated by five terrorists. 800 thousand years later Earth has regenerated, with only a handful of humans having survived the nuclear holocaust with the rest either being killed off or hideously mutated by the nuclear fallout leaving very few unaffected. Eventually creatures of legend, Elves, Dwarves, Faeries, Gnomes, Orcs, Goblins, Trolls, Dragons and Unicorns resurface and live alongside the unaffected humans in the idyllic land of Montagar. Eventually the queen of the Faeries, Delia gives birth to a pair of twin wizards, the good and kind Avatar and the evil and cruel Blackwolf. Years later Blackwolf, having equipped his armies with guns and ancient military technology sends his robot assassin Necron 99 to hunt down and kill Avatar

Opening Narration
''There will come a day on Planet Earth. When science and technology will be long forgotten, when humanity will rise from the ashes of Nuclear Holocaust. When Elves, Trolls, Goblins, Faeries and Dragons will return from the mists of legend, when Wizards will rule the world.''

Avatar's Fellowship

 * Ewan McGregor as Avatar - The main protagonist, he is a wise and powerful wizard who is the protector of Montegar and the wizard representing magic. He was born to the Fairy queen Delia along with Blackwolf during the Feast of Plenty
 * Tommy Knight as James - A human who is Avatar's apprentice and adoptive son whom he has raised ever since he was 5 years old. He was orphaned after his family were killed and his village destroyed by Blackwolf's Orcs, he was found by Avatar who took him in and trained him as his apprentice.
 * Yasmin Paige as Princess Freya - A beautiful Elf with flaming red hair who is the princess of Montagar and the beloved of James. She and James first met when they were both 5 years old and James was taken in by Avatar after his village was destroyed by Blackwolf's Orcs.
 * Callum Turner as Prince Freyr - The Elf warrior prince of Montagar who is Freya's brother and James' best friend.
 * Bailey Noble as Elinore -
 * Gianpaolo Venuta as Weehawk -An Elf berserker member of the Elf royal guard.
 * David Tennant as Knobby - A Gnome alchemist.
 * Robert Craighead & Adam John Harrington as Durin & Dain - Two Dwarf brothers and warriors
 * Anthony Daniels as Necron 99/Peace - A robot who was built by Blackwolf to assassin the practitioners of magic. After he assassinated President Solomon, he was incapacitated by Avatar and kept in his house where he was transformed into an avenging instrument of justice and was renamed Peace.

Scortch

 * Mark Hamill as Blackwolf - Avatar's evil twin brother who is the main antagonist and the wizard representing industrial technology. When he was a child he would never visit his ailing mother Delia, instead he would spend his time torturing small animals and learning black magic. Years following the death of his mother and banishment by Avatar for attempting to take over Montagar, Blackwolf went to live in the dark radiated lands of Scortch where he gathered a vast army of Orcs, Goblins, Trolls and Mutants and began salvaging and restoring ancient technology like guns, tanks, armored vehicles and planes. His
 * Andy Serkis as General Grimskull & Larry Lizard -
 * An Orc who is Blackwolf's most favorite general and his right hand man. Years ago he was sent by to destroy a village of humans after learning that one of their children would become Avatar's apprentice and would kill him.
 * A cowardly lizard mutant and Blackwolf's obedient servant.
 * TBA as Ratso, Skullface & Robin - A trio of Goblin triplets who serve Blackwolf as his assassin's.
 * Ratso - The oldest brother who is the leader of the triplets and the most intelligent.
 * Skullface - The middle triplet and the most sadistic of the three.
 * Robin - The youngest triplet who is the least violent and wicked as his siblings. He is mostly nice for a Goblin
 * Christopher Knights as Lorgrin - A large and powerful Troll who is Blackwolf's bodyguard and is always seen by his side.
 * TBA as Jenny -

Montagar

 * Carrie Fisher as The Great Dragon - A ancient, wise and very powerful Dragon who was born during the Age of Legend, a time eons ago when when Earth was filled with magic and humans coexisted with mythical beings. When the Age of Legend ended and humans became the dominant lifeforms on Earth, she went into an enchanted sleep and slept for eons.
 * TBA as King Oberon -
 * TBA as Queen Titania -
 * TBA as President Solomon - Elinore's father and the President of Montagar.
 * TBA as Delia - The former queen of the Faeries and the mother of Avatar and Blackwolf.
 * Golden Mane - A Unicorn stallion who is Freya's beloved steed.

The Free States

 * TBA as Abdul - A Desert Elf chieftain and an old friend to Avatar.



Magical Races and Creatures

 * Humans - The former dominant race on planet Earth.
 * Elves - A race of magical humanoids who resemble humans except with pointed ears and perpetual youth.
 * Dwarves - A race of short and stout magical humanoids with beards who are famed for their skills in metallurgy.
 * Faeries -
 * Gnomes -
 * Orcs -
 * Goblins -
 * Trolls -
 * Dragons - Large scaly reptilian beasts with wings and the ability to breath fire.
 * Unicorns -
 * Mutants -
 * Mutant Humans -
 * Mutant Octopus -

Locations

 * Montagar - A land that was left unscathed by the Great Atomic War.
 * Avatar's Home -
 * The Royal Palace - The home of the Royal Elf Family of Montagar
 * Scortch - A vast barren and radiated wasteland located beyond the mountains of Montagar.
 * Scortch One -

Differences from the original film
Whilst mostly having the same plot as the original film, the story line has being expanded and the characters changed for example:


 * The series features several new characters who did not appear in the original film, these include Avatar's human apprentice and adopted son James, Elf Princess Freya, Elf Prince Freyr, Elf King Oberon and Queen Titania, the Dwarf warrior brothers Durin and Dain, Gnome Alchemist Knobby, Leren's Unicorn steed Golden Mane The Great Dragon, Blackwolf's Orc General Grimskull, his Goblin assassins Ratso, Skullface and Robin and his Troll bodyguard, Lorgrin.
 * Humans are shown living alongside the magical beings. In the original they were all either wiped out or mutated.
 * Elinore is portrayed as being more villainous in series, she is also revealed to be a secret agent of Blackwolf. She later betrays the fellowship and kills Avatar before fleeing to Scortch One in one of Blackwolf's tanks, she is later confronted and killed in Scortch One by Freya.
 * Avatar is portrayed as being human sized and is shown wearing shoes. In the original film he was Dwarf sized and was barefoot.
 * In the original film Avatar was portrayed as been cynical and somewhat perverted. He is portrayed in the seires as been less cynical, more willing and kind.
 * In the original film Peace was killed by Elinore when they, Avatar and Weehawk were attacked by a tank, whilst in the series Peace survives and it is Avatar who is killed by Elinore.
 * Blackwolf's wife is named Jenny, after Jenny Greenteeth. In the original film she was unnamed.

Trivia

 * The series was released on Netflix on February 9th, 2017, which was the fortieth anniversary of the original films release.
 * This is the third series in which actors Tommy Knight and Yasmin Paige have starred together. The first time was in the Doctor Who spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures and the second was the E4 drama series Glue.
 * Callum Turner had previously starred with Tommy Knight and Yasmin Paige on the E4 drama series Glue.
 * Ewan McGregor, Mark Hamil, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels and Andy Serkis have all starred together in the Star Wars Saga.
 * Mark Hamill previously voiced the character of Sean in the original film.
 * This was Carrie Fisher's final acting role shortly before her death.
 * This would be the first time that Robert Craighead and Adam John Harrington would both voice a pair of Dwarf brothers. The second time would be a year later in the 2018 video game God of War where they both voiced Dwarf brothers Brok and Sindri.
 * Montagar is located in Germany, whilst Scortch is located in France.
 * The weapons and vehicles used by Blackwolf's army include Luger P08 pistols, Karabiner 98k rifles, MP 34 and MP 40 submachhine guns, MG 08 machine guns, Panzer IV tanks, Sd. Kfz. 251 half-tracks, Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter planes and a Type 1936A Destroyer all of which were used by Nazi Germany during the Second World War.