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 was filmed using motion capture.

The series features the battle between two powerful wizards. Avatar, the kind and good 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 Netflix 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. 1 million years later Earth has regenerated, with only a handful of humans having survived the nuclear holocaust. The rest of humanity has either being killed off or hideously mutated by the nuclear fallout, leaving very few unaffected. Eventually creatures of legend, Elves, Dwarves, Faeries, 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. They are Avatar, the kind and good wizard and Blackwolf, the cruel and evil wizard. Years following Delia's death, Blackwolf tries to usurp Montagar, however he is fought by and banished by Avatar for his evil actions.

Years later Blackwolf, having equipped his armies with guns and ancient military technology, sends his robot assassin Necron 99 to hunt down and kill the practitioners of magic, before sending his vast armies on a campaign to conquer the world. In Montagar Avatar learns of his brothers evil plans and sets out to stop them. He also assembles a fellowship, consisting of himself, his human apprentice and adoptive son James, Elf princess and James' love interest Freya, her brother and James' best friend Prince Freyr, Dwarf brothers Dulac and Rackham, Fairy princess Elinore, Elf Warrior Weehawk and Necron 99, now renamed Peace to stop Blackwolf's evil plans and to restore peace to the world.

Opening Narration
''My name is Freya, I' am the Princess of the Kingdom of Montagar and I want to tell you a story. A story of peace and hope, of war and love. Of myself, my beloved James, my brother Freyr and our friends. The great Elf Weehawk, the Dwarf brothers Dulac and Rackham, the treacherous Fairy Elinore and the robot Peace. But mostly I want to tell you of the great Wizards, Avatar and Blackwolf, of the everlasting struggle for world supremacy, fought between the powers of technology and magic. But first we need to go back, way, back to the time when mankind still ruled the Earth from their cities of concrete, steel, glass and chrome. It was the final night of the year 1999 A.D. when 5 terrorists launched the first bomb, the world was then consumed by the fires of the Great Atomic War, which turned the Earth into a garden of death. It was 1 million years later when the Earth healed itself, by then only a handful of humans had survived, most of the surviving humans had been changed into a hideous race of mutants underneath the radiated skies. These mutants beings dwelt in the most terrible wastes of the old world, where they gained an eternal hatred for all things beautiful and with each new generation bringing only new horrors, further separating them from the once great race they had been apart of. The surviving humans who remained unaffected by the radiation faced a bleak future, they were forced to fight for survival against the mutants and other other, they were even somethings forced to eat their own kind when food was desperately scarce. But just when things were at their worst for them, life would soon take a turn for the better. In the preserved forests and secret growths that survived the great war, we came back to the world. A rising from our hidden slumber, Elves, Dwarves, Faeries, Orcs, Goblins, Trolls, Dragons, Unicorns and Phoenixes, creatures from the mists of legend and the true ancestors of man. When the Elves, Dwarves and Faeries saw how difficult the humans lives were, they took pity on them and invited them to live among them in the good lands. The Orcs, Goblins and Trolls however refused to live with humans, eons ago when the magical races were forced into hiding, they had received the worst of mankind's abuse and so they left Monatagar and headed for parts unknown. It all began that day whilst Delia, Queen of Montagar before my father was presiding over the Feast of Plenty, celebrating 100'000 years of peace between us and our human friends. In middle of the celebration a mysterious storm began to brew, thunder and lighting began to crash over the entire country. During the storm Delia fell into a trance and left the party, heading for her home on the high hill overlooking the celebration as if being pulled by some unknown force. At first the Elves, Dwarves, Faeries and humans were puzzled by this. But they then too felt the same unknown force, drawing them towards Delia's house. They peaked through the windows and saw that Delia was doing something on her bed, the storm continued to grow until it was a raging cyclone hovering over the dwelling. But as soon as it had begun, the storm was over, one of the human druids among them decided to venture inside and see what was happening. He found Delia laying on her bed and in her arms, a pair of newborn twin sons. When the druid saw them, he knew that these weren't just ordinary twins, but magical wizards. The baby wizards were both polarized like magnets, one drawing with a strong magnetic force, the other however repelled and was impossible to get near. Avatar, the kind and good wizard would spend much of his childhood entertaining his mother with the most beautiful visions. Blackwolf, the mutant wizard however would never visit his mother. Instead he spent his childhood torturing small animals and learning the dark arts, much to his mothers and Avatars deep concern. When Avatar and Blackwolf both grew to manhood, a terrible tragedy befell Montagar, Delia had been struck by a fatal illness. Avatar desperately tried to use his magic to save, but tragically there were somethings which magic couldn't cure, finally Delia slipped away and all Avatar could do was cradle her in his arms and weep bitterly. When Blackwolf learned of his mothers death he was excited, for her was certain that he would take er throne and rule all of Montagar. However when he learned that Avatar was to take the throne he was enraged, he then gathered a band of followers and tried to take Montagar by force. When Avatar learned of Blackwolf's plans, he to was enraged. He then gathered together the armies of Montagar and marched against Blackwolf's hordes, the bitter war that followed last 10 long years. But in its final days, Avatar confronted his evil brother and they began a furious battle, each using his own magic against each other. They continued until they had nearly destroyed each other, but ultimately it was Avatar who emerged victorious, for he had the emotional loss of his mother which drove him onward. Blackwolf and his followers were defeated and banished from Montagar, but before he left he warned Avatar. "Enjoy your victory whilst you can my brother, but I promise that someday I will return and make this a planet where mutants are the master race". Blackwolf then headed off with his surviving followers, leaving a very disturbed Avatar behind. Shortly afterwards, Avatar handed over the throne to my father, saying that he was better suited to being Montagar's protector rather then king. However he became my fathers adviser, whilst waiting for the day that Blackwolf would indeed return to conquer Montagar and take his revenge.''

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 100'000 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. 1'000 years later he found a young orphaned human named James whose family had been killed by Blackwolf's Orcs, he adopted James and took him in as his apprentice.
 * Charlie Heaton as James - A 20 year old 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.
 * Natalia Dyer as Princess Freya - A beautiful Elf with flaming red hair who is the princess of Montagar and the childhood love 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.
 * Joe Keery as Prince Freyr - The Elf warrior prince of Montagar who is Freya's brother and James' best friend. He is at first portrayed as a party loving individual who behaves irresponsibly, however when he learns of Blackwolf's evil intentions
 * Bailey Noble as Elinore - A Fairy who is the daughter of President Solomon and a student of Avatar. She is later revealed to be a secret agent of Blackwolf and the lover of his Goblin, Ratso.
 * Gianpaolo Venuta as Weehawk - An Elf berserker member of the Elf royal guard.
 * Robert Craighead & Adam John Harrington as Dulac & Rackham - Two Dwarf brothers and warriors from the Dwarf Kingdom of Asgard. Dulac is more foul mouthed, sports a mohawk and wields a large battle-axe. Rackham is more polite
 * Anthony Daniels as Necron 99/Peace - A robot who was built by Blackwolf to assassin the practitioners of magic and leaders of the Free States. 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. He then became the Fellowship's guide towards Scortch.

Blackwolf's Fourth Reich

 * 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 - Two of Blackwolf's minions:
 * General Grimskull - A ruthless Orc who is Blackwolf's most favorite general and his right hand man. He was among Blackwolf's earliest followers, having being involved in Blackwolf's first attempt at taking over Montagar 1'000 years earlier. Twenty years before the events of the series he was sent by Blackwolf to destroy a village of humans after learning that one of their children possessed powerful magic, however he was stopped by Avatar and sent back to Scortch.
 * Larry Lizard - A cowardly lizard mutant and Blackwolf's obedient servant.
 * David Tennant as General Trogler - A ruthless Troll who is one of Blackwolf's generals and wears a black SS officers uniform. He is also the commander of Blackwolf's main tank division, The Iron Dragons.
 * Nolan North, David Herman & Greg Cipes 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. He wears a vintage Wehrmacht helmet,
 * Robin - The youngest triplet who is the least violent and wicked as his siblings. He is mostly a nice and friendly Goblin who listens to music on a vintage Walkman.
 * 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, he rarely shown speaking and mostly communicates in grunts.
 * Tony Todd as Admiral Scurvy - A Goblin who is an admiral in Blackwolf's navy. He was given command of a Type 1936A Destroyer that Blackwolf salvaged and restored as his flagship in the Scortch Navy, he would then procced to attack and sink the ships of the Free States.
 * TBA as Lilith - A Dark Elf and Blackwolf's wife.

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. When she awoke the world had regenerated from the Great Atomic War
 * Diedrich Bader & TBA as King Oberon & Queen Titania - The parents of Freya and Freyr and the High 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. 1'000 years before the events of the series, she was presiding the Feast of Plenty, which celebrated 100'000 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. Tragically years later, she succumbed to a fatal illness and died, despite Avatar's attempts to save her.
 * Golden Mane - A Unicorn stallion who is Freya's beloved steed.
 * Sun Wing - Avatar's pet Phoenix who resides in his house.

The Free States

 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Abdul - A Desert Elf chieftain and an old friend to Avatar. He had gathered his tribe and many of the surviving armies of the Free World and was preparing to launch an attack on Scortch
 * TBA as The Mountain Fairy King - The monarch of the Mountain Faeries. He was present when Freya and Elinore were taken captive by the Mountain Faeries shortly after the death of Sean,



Magical Races and Creatures

 * Humans - The former dominant race on planet Earth. 1 million years before the events of the series in the year 1999 a brutal nuclear war known as the Great Atomic War broke out, which completely destroyed human civilization. For the next 1 million years, the surviving un-mutated humans faced a very bleak and uncertain future. However just when they were about to give up, the magical beings returned and invited them to live among them in Montagar, where they offered them some much needed aid and friendship. James, Avatar's apprentice and adoptive son is the only major human in the series.
 * Elves - A race of magical humanoids who resemble humans except with pointed ears, pale skin, perpetual youth and are long lived. Elves are capable of marrying humans and producing Half-Elves, whom have the physical traits of both their parents. Princess Freya, Prince Freyr, King Oberon, Queen Titania and Weehawk are all major Elves who appear in the series.
 * Dwarves - A race of short and stocky magical humanoids who are famed for their skills in metallurgy. They are the most industrious of all the magical races, they are known to forge swords and axes which never lose their sharpness. They also craft beautiful jewels from gold, diamond, emerald, ruby and sapphire. Two Dwarf warriors, brothers Dulac and Rackham are members of Avatar's Fellowship.
 * Faeries - Magical humanoids with wings who range in several sizes, from small to human sized and have the ability to fly. Two such Faeries include the Elinore and Sean.
 * 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 in their armies as loyal foot soldiers, this has lead them to have a bad reputation with the other magical races. Despite their bad reputation Orcs have a strong sense of honor and care very deeply for their fellow Orcs and will retaliate if they are hurt or killed in anyway. An Orc named Balor serves Blackwolf as his top general and loyal right hand man.
 * Goblins - Lanky humanoids with pointed ears, noses, either green or red skin and sharp teeth who are known for being skilled assassin's and thieves. Due to their sly nature, Goblins can slip in and out of places before anyone notices they are there. Goblins mostly serve Blackwolf as his assassins, three of whom include Ratso, Skullface and Robin.
 * Trolls - A race of large, hulking and very strong humanoids who come in two variants, Cave Trolls and Forest Trolls. Cave Trolls are hulking creatures who have either green or tan skin with two toes on each foot and six spikes, two on the side of their heads, one on their heads and three running down their backs. Forest Trolls have two large tusks on the side of their faces and more human like feet. A Cave Troll named Lorgin serves Blackwolf as his bodyguard, whilst a Forest Troll named Trogler serves as one of his generals.
 * Dragons - Giant scaly reptilian beasts with wings, horns and the ability to breath fire who are the most powerful of all magical creatures. Some Dragons are good and wise creatures, whilst some are evil and arrogant who are known to horde treasure from the people whom they destroy. The Great Dragon is the oldest and wisest dragon on Earth, having being born during the Age of Legend, a time when man and magical creatures lived side by side.
 * Unicorns - Magical white horses with a golden horn in the center of their heads and with a goat like beard on the stallions. Unicorns have long been regarded as scared beasts to both the magical beings and certain ancient human cultures, they are shown to make better steeds then horses due to Unicorns being much faster and stronger. A Unicorn Stallion named Golden Mane is the beloved steed of the Elf Princess Freya.
 * Phoenixes - A majestic magical bird that sets itself on fire when it dies and is reborn from the ashes. Phoenixes are associated with the sun and were regard as the symbol of rebirth. The series features a Phoenix named Sun Wing who is Avatar's pet, who also accompanies the Fellowship on their journey to Montagar.
 * Tuanorses - A species of bipedal animal which is described as being a cross between a horse and a camel. They are used by many people in the future, both as mounts and pack animals.
 * Mutants - The descendants of humans and animals who were left hideously mutated and maimed from the fallout of the Great Atomic War.
 * Mutant Humans - The descendants of humans who were mutated by the fallout from the Great Atomic War and the most common race of mutants. Due to their mutations they lived in the wastelands, where they gained a deep hatred of anything healthy and beautiful. Many mutants serve in Blackwolf's army as soldiers.
 * Mutant Octopus -
 * Mutant Snakes - Extremely dangerous mutant creatures that are descended from snakes mutated by the fallout. They dwell in the badlands where they are camouflaged by the sand, they are described as being deadly predators.

Locations

 * Montagar - A idyllic land located in what was once Germany. It is the home of Avatar, James, Princess Freya, Prince Freyr and where humans coexist with magical creatures. It was one of the few places that was left unscathed by the Great Atomic War, it was also where the magical races first returned after returning to the world.
 * Avatar's Home - A large mansion that as its name implies, is the home of Avatar and his apprentice and adoptive son James.
 * The Royal Palace - The home of the Royal Elf Family and the seat of government in Montagar.
 * East Elfland -
 * Dark Forest -
 * Fairy Mountains -
 * Scortch - A vast barren and radiated wasteland located beyond the mountains of Montagar, located in what used to be France. It is inhabited by Orcs, Goblins, Trolls, a variety of mutants and is ruled by Blackwolf.
 * Scortch One - A large foreboding castle located in the heart of Scortch and the home of Blackwolf and his minions.

Differences from the original film
Whilst mostly having the same plot as the original film, the story line has being expanded, the characters changed and having new characters 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, Freya's Unicorn steed Golden Mane, Avatar's pet Phoenix Sun Wing, The Great Dragon, Blackwolf's Orc General Grimskull, his Troll General Trogler, his Goblin assassins Ratso, Skullface and Robin, his Goblin Admiral Scurvy 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 and the lover of his Goblin assassin Ratso. 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 by Freya.
 * Avatar, Blackwolf, Elinore, Weehawk and Peace have being redesigned for the series. For example:
 * Avatar is portrayed as being human sized, wears shoes and wears a wizards robe.
 * Blackwolf now has a shorter beard and wears a suit similar to that of Adolf Hitler.
 * Elinore's outfit is less revealing and she is given shoes.
 * Weehawk has much smaller ears and wears a belt.
 * Peace now has a red Stahlhelm helmet, gas mask and wields a sword.
 * In the original film Avatar was portrayed as been cynical and somewhat perverted. He is portrayed in the series as been less cynical, more willing and kind.
 * Blackwolf's army is portrayed as being more organized and competent then they were in the original film.
 * 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.
 * Due to Avatar's death, it is James who kills Blackwolf.
 * Blackwolf's wife is named Lilith. In the original film she was unnamed.
 * The series is set 1 million years in the future, rather then 10 million years as in the film.

Trivia

 * The series was released on Netflix on February 9th, 2017, coinciding with the fortieth anniversary of the original films release.
 * This series is the second time that Charlie Heaton, Natalia Dyer and Joe Keery have worked together. The first time was for the Netflix series, Stranger Things, which aired the year before.
 * Ewan McGregor, Mark Hamill, 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, he is also the only actor to appear in both the original film and the series.
 * This was Carrie Fisher's final acting role before her death.
 * This would be the first time that Robert Craighead and Adam John Harrington both voiced a pair of Dwarf brothers. The second time would be a year later for 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 submachine 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.
 * The shows theme song is For a Million by Alphaville.
 * The "religious" artifacts in the temple include a pinball machine, a Coca-Cola sign, an Oscar statuette, a juke box and a McDonald's sign.