The Legend of Zelda - Unhooked from the Brothers Edition

[Mark Moore]

Okay, this isn't a fan edit. I guess it would be considered a special project. But it is in the works.

"The Legend of Zelda" is a 1989 cartoon series that ran on Fridays as part of "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show" (in place of a Mario cartoon). It lasted thirteen episodes. It's not "Game of Thrones" or anything like that, but, until Netflix creates its Zelda series, it's all that we have, and I personally have a nostalgic fondness for it.

The series was released in late 2005 by The Shout! Factory in a three-disc set. Complaints included the poor video quality, use of three discs (none of which even reach a DVD5 in terms of content), only a few live-action Mario segments included, and inclusion of the Mario theme even when selecting the option of playing the Zelda episode by itself.

I will address two of these issues in this project.

It started out with me simply ripping the discs to my hard drive to 1) back them up and 2) watch the episodes again (I have two left).

Then I thought, since this is taking up hard drive space anyway, why not make a project out of it.

I've already cut out the opening theme and closing credits from every episode. For a lot of these episodes, the music from the last scene carries over into the "Do the Mario" closing credits, so I'll have to add these bits back in (over black space).

Other than that, the only thing that I have to do is create closing credits to play at the end of each episode. I'm considering two possible versions:

*basic white text in the style of the original (playing over a clip from the opening theme) with a fun, whimsical piece of music playing; this is similar to what was done in the 1993 weekday syndication package, "Captain N & The Video Game Masters"

*golden credits in a Zelda font, (playing over a black screen), set to a piece of music from the first game

Anyone have any preference for credits style and/or suggestions for a piece of music to use?

This will be a two-disc set. I imagine having Zelda on the art for disc 1 and Link on disc 2, but I've also thought of calling the discs "Wisdom" and "Power", and Ganon would be more appropriate for the latter.

Anyone interested in doing cover and disc art for this?

 

[Mark Moore]

I've created a test closing credits sequence, using the longest piece of music from the series that plays on the DVD menus, but it feels a little too dark (it's the Underworld/Ganon music) to end an episode on. Password: fanedit.org

Anyone have any other suggestions?

 

[addiesin]

Have you checked out other sources of music? There's a site called OCRemix where users submit and download remixed videogame music, including tons from the Zelda games. Sometimes it's orchestral, sometimes it's techno, sometime's it's metal, it's a really wide variety for most games that have big followings. You could definitely find something relevant that fits the mood you're looking for there.

 

[TV's Frink]

There's a site called OCRemix where users submit and download remixed videogame music, including tons from the Zelda games. Sometimes it's orchestral, sometimes it's techno, sometime's it's metal, it's a really wide variety for most games that have big followings. You could definitely find something relevant that fits the mood you're looking for there.

Also, I recommend The Shizz Forums, where a lot of video game music is produced and discussed. It's where I found out about these:

 

[That One Guy]

I'm a big fan of a few bands who cover videogame music - my favourites are probably The Plasmas VGM, Daniel Tidwell and Metroid Metal but there are a bunch of other folks out there with some great songs too.

Having said that, I can't think of any versions of Zelda themes that would particularly suit a closing credit sequence.

How about the Zelda theme as taken from Super Smash Bros: Melee instead?

 

[Mark Moore]

Melee sounds like a good choice, I guess. I have that game. I'll just have to hook up my Gamecube and record the theme onto a DVD-R.

Ideally, a clean version of the show's opening theme would be the best fit, but that's not available.

Any other suggestions? It doesn't necessarily have to be Zelda. I believe the 1993-1994 syndication package used a piece from the Super Mario World episode, "The Night Before Cave Christmas", when constructing a closing credits sequence for the Zelda cartoon.

 

[Mark Moore]

Here's a new closing credits sequence with a Zelda-esque font and the Temple music from SSB Melee. For some reason, only the left audio was recorded, so I duplicated it in Womble.

Thoughts?

 

[thecuddlyninja]

I like it quite a bit. I'm not a huge Zelda guy but that music is awesome and seems to fit what you're going for.

 

[That One Guy]

I think it works well, though the Temple music doesn't scream out Zelda as strongly as the Great Bay theme for me. That's just personal preference though

 

[Mark Moore]

I think it works well, though the Temple music doesn't scream out Zelda as strongly as the Great Bay theme for me. That's just personal preference though

Yeah, I totally didn't realize at the time that I recorded it that Great Bay held the Zelda theme. ^.^'' I found out later through GameFAQs, and I made time this morning to record it to another DVD-R. I should have it ready for viewing by tomorrow (gotta head to work soon for a short shift).

 

[Mark Moore]

Okay, here are the credits with the Zelda theme (password: fanedit.org):

 

[Zarius]

This works really well, which there was more of a climax to the theme as it just sorta fades, but yeah, good stuff.

 

[Mark Moore]

This works really well, which there was more of a climax to the theme as it just sorta fades, but yeah, good stuff.

Thanks. Yeah, I kinda had to make a selection of around 30 seconds' worth of music (the usual length for closing credits), and then I faded it out instead of letting it end abruptly. There's no actual conclusion to the music; it just keeps going. I also had to play with the lengths of each credit to get it to fit.

For the most part, I kept the Zelda portion of the credits exactly as it appears in the "Do the Mario" closing credits, except I combined Andy Heyward's Executive Producer and Concept credits onto one screen. Also, I changed "Cyndy Preston" to "Cynthia Preston" and "Paulina Gillis" to "Tabitha St. Germain".

I used a font called Charlamagne Std, which I found on another site after learning at Zelda Universe that a font called Charlamagne is used for the "The Legend of" portion of the game title (but their link to it was broken).

Any opinions on the color, font, and positioning of the text?

 

[Kal-El]

With that much text I'd suggest scrolling text rather than cutaways.
About the music, how about finding a piece that almost fits the length, and stick the original ending of the song on the end of it?
I did the same with the scene in Superman Returns where Lois faints after Superman rescued the plane. I used Audacity and took out the last chunk at an appropriate cue, lined it up nicely in with the final notes and it played as smooth as ever

 

[Mark Moore]

With that much text I'd suggest scrolling text rather than cutaways.

Yeah, but that doesn't seem very TV-ish. I don't think I've ever seen any series other than "Hey Dude" use scrolling text.

Besides, the SMBSS credits are around 30 seconds long. This is 33 seconds, and I removed the Mario-specific credits, so everything is staying on the screen for longer than it did originally.

About the music, how about finding a piece that almost fits the length, and stick the original ending of the song on the end of it?
I did the same with the scene in Superman Returns where Lois faints after Superman rescued the plane. I used Audacity and took out the last chunk at an appropriate cue, lined it up nicely in with the final notes and it played as smooth as ever

The thing is the Zelda music doesn't end; it just loops. Any piece that I use is going to sound cut-off unless I fade out.

 

[TV's Frink]

Yeah, but that doesn't seem very TV-ish. I don't think I've ever seen any series other than "Hey Dude" use scrolling text.

And don't think I've ever seen "Hey Dude" brought up on a forum, but I know for sure I've never seen it brought up in two different threads on a forum.

 

[spence]

And don't think I've ever seen "Hey Dude" brought up on a forum, but I know for sure I've never seen it brought up in two different threads on a forum.

Would you say that it's "a little wild and a little strange?"

 

[addiesin]

I think it works but also think that you should even out the amount of time each set of credits is on screen. Some stay on screen for longer than others and the amount of credits on screen seem to have no bearing on this decision. Maybe time the transitions to the music if you can.

 

[Mark Moore]

I think it works but also think that you should even out the amount of time each set of credits is on screen. Some stay on screen for longer than others and the amount of credits on screen seem to have no bearing on this decision. Maybe time the transitions to the music if you can.

Interesting idea.

I had extended the Executive Producer / Concept, Cast, and Copyright credits, because they seemed to be of more importance (at least to me).

 

[Mark Moore]

I attached the closing credits to the end of the project files for each of the episodes, and I'll export to MPGs tomorrow after making sure that the credits are all right.

How do you feel about me re-ordering the episodes to not end the series on a sour note (with Link freeing Ganon and being happy)?