Anonymous
10/21/2025, 4:41:31 AM
No.24817117
>>24816090
In fact, the television episode is the direct latter-day equivalent of the classic pulp narrative: fast-moving, visceral, meant to be consumed swiftly, and far from always written to endure although the best work has lasting power. It is precisely the heightened viscerality of visual media that has allowed them to take over from the pulps, and the transition was especially appealing to men, who are the more visual sex.
With that in mind, it might seem odd at first blush that there are no pulp fantasy TV shows, but in fact something very close was the biggest show on television for years and years: A Game of Thrones proved that the public had an appetite for tits, bare-chested, oiled-up musclebound barbarians, sex and gory violence, and several other shows such as Rome (made by John Milius of Conan fame) and Spartacus fed the same appetites. It's worth remembering that many of the pulps back in the day were historical tales, not just fantasy (or indeed, historical fantasy, as for example the Khlit the Cossack stories often verge on), so this is nothing out of order. It remains only to hope that some capable network invests in a big-budget, well-made Conan or Lankhmar TV show soon.
(It may seem ghastly to anyone in this thread to acknowledge a debt to Gurm of all people, but I really believe the above. It's well known that the success of GoT drove the production of Spartacus and other epigons – albeit it killed off Rome, alas.)
In fact, the television episode is the direct latter-day equivalent of the classic pulp narrative: fast-moving, visceral, meant to be consumed swiftly, and far from always written to endure although the best work has lasting power. It is precisely the heightened viscerality of visual media that has allowed them to take over from the pulps, and the transition was especially appealing to men, who are the more visual sex.
With that in mind, it might seem odd at first blush that there are no pulp fantasy TV shows, but in fact something very close was the biggest show on television for years and years: A Game of Thrones proved that the public had an appetite for tits, bare-chested, oiled-up musclebound barbarians, sex and gory violence, and several other shows such as Rome (made by John Milius of Conan fame) and Spartacus fed the same appetites. It's worth remembering that many of the pulps back in the day were historical tales, not just fantasy (or indeed, historical fantasy, as for example the Khlit the Cossack stories often verge on), so this is nothing out of order. It remains only to hope that some capable network invests in a big-budget, well-made Conan or Lankhmar TV show soon.
(It may seem ghastly to anyone in this thread to acknowledge a debt to Gurm of all people, but I really believe the above. It's well known that the success of GoT drove the production of Spartacus and other epigons – albeit it killed off Rome, alas.)