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
''My name is Princess Freya of Montagar and I want to tell you a story, of myself, my beloved James, my brother Freyr, our companions, but mostly of Avatar the Great. But to start this story I must take you back, way back to where it began, back to the year 1999 itself. The world blew up in the flames of the Great Atomic War, the first blast was set off by five terrorists. It took 800'000 years for the Earth to heal itself, but by then only a handful of humans had survived the carnage. Humanity's descendants had become hideous mutants from the fallout, these mutant species floundered in the forbidden zones, radioactive lands that never allowed them to return to being human and made each new birth worse then the one before. For the humans who avoided the radiation, life was hard, they were scattered to the four winds and with where to call home, they seemed ready to lay down and die. But all hope wasn't lost, in the good lands of Montagar we came back. Arising from our long sleep, Elves, Dwarves, Faeries, Gnomes, Orcs, Goblins, Trolls, the true ancestors of man and even the mighty Dragons and graceful Unicorns had come back to the world. Taking pity on humanity, we've invited them to live with us in the good lands, the Orcs, Goblins and Trolls refused to live alongside humans due to bad blood from eons ago. They left Montagar, although we hoped that they would someday return to us but how it happened would begin 5'000 years later. Delia queen of the Faeries was presiding over the Feast of Plenty, which celebrated 5'000 years of peace between us and our human friends and with new kingdoms being built. During the party Delia felt a pull from the sky, she looked up and saw dark clouds forming on the horizon. She then fell into a trance and left for the party and headed for her home on a high hill, at first everyone was puzzled but like her they soon felt a force pulling them towards the house. They gathered outside of Delia's house and saw that she was inside, the storm grew and grew until it was a raging cyclone hovering over the dwelling. Then as soon as it had appeared it was gone, one of the human elders decided to venture inside and see if Delia was okay. She lay on her bed and in her arms was a pair of newborn twins. When he was them the human knew that these weren't just ordinary twins but magical wizards. They were both polarized like magnets, one drawing with a strong pull, whilst the other repelled and was impossible to get near. Avatar, the kind and good wizard spent much of his boyhood entertaining his mother with the most beautiful visions. Blackwolf, the evil mutant wizard would never visit his mother and instead spent his boyfriend torturing small animals and learning black magic. When Avatar and Blackwolf grew to manhood, Delia grew fatally ill and one day all life drained out of her, Avatar held her hand, trying desperately to use her magic to restore her to life, but he knew that even for a powerful wizard like it was impossible and all he could do was cradle her in his arms and weep. When Blackwolf learned that his mother had died he was excited, he gathered a band of Orcs, Goblins, Trolls and Mutants and tried to invade Montagar and take the throne for himself. When Avatar found out he was enraged, he confronted Blackwolf and they began a furious battle. They fought, each using his own magic until they had both nearly destroyed each other. Ultimately it was Avatar's magic that was stronger for it was the emotional loss of his mother that drove him on, Blackwolf was soon defeated. He and his followers were banished to the forbidden zone, but before he left he sword "The day will come my brother, when I will return and make this a planet were mutants are the master race and show that technology is more powerful than magic". Blackwolf and his followers then headed off, leaving Avatar very disturbed.''

Avatar's Fellowship

 * Ewan McGregor as Avatar - The main protagonist, he is a wise and powerful wizard who is the protector of Montagar and the wizard representing magic. He was born to the Fairy queen Delia along with Blackwolf during the Feast of Plenty celebrating 5'000 years of peace between Faeries and humans, years later following Delia's death he fought and banished Blackwolf after he had attempted to take her throne by force.
 * 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, shortly after James was taken in by Avatar following the destruction of his village and death of his family 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 - A Fairy and the daughter of President Solomon.
 * 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 from the Dwarf Kingdom of
 * 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 warfare and 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. He is shown to be capable of tearing an Elf prisoners skull apart,
 * TBA as Admiral Scurvy - A Dark Elf who is an admiral in Blackwolf's navy. He was given command of a Type 1936A Destroyer that Blackwolf salvaged and restored
 * TBA as Jenny -

Montagar

 * Carrie Fisher as The Great Dragon - A very powerful, ancient and wise 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 & Queen Titania - The parents of Freya and Freyr and the king and queen of Monatagar.
 * 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. 3'000 years before the events of the series, she was presiding the Feast of Plenty, which celebrated 5'000 years of peace with the surviving humans. During the celebration a mysterious brewed which caused Delia to go into a trance and head for her home, when one of the Elves went inside to check on her and discovered that she had given birth to 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.
 * Dark Elves -
 * Dwarves - A race of short and stout magical humanoids with beards who are famed for their skills in metallurgy.
 * Faeries - Magical humans with wings who ranged in several sizes, from small to human sized.
 * Gnomes -
 * Orcs - Brutish humanoids with pointed ears, sharp teeth and greenish-gray molted skin. They are a warlike race who have long been known to serve evil kings and sorcerers, they also make loyal soldiers to whomever they serve.
 * Goblins - Lanky green humanoids with pointed ears, noses and sharp teeth. They are known for being sly and skilled
 * Trolls - Large and very strong humanoids either green or tan skin and skins, two spikes protruding for the sides of their head, one on the top of their head and seven running down their backs. Trolls are known for being mostly unintelligent save for a few,
 * Dragons - Large scaly reptilian beasts with wings and the ability to breath fire.
 * Unicorns - White horses with a golden horn in the center of their heads.
 * Mutants -
 * Mutant Humans - The descendants of humans who were mutated by the fallout from the Great Atomic War.
 * 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
 * East Elfland -
 * 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, 88 mm Flak 37 Anti-Aircraft 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.