Iron Fist The Mystical City of K'un-Lun

[CyclopsWasRight]

I would've much preferred a movie to a TV show. However someone said that with a TV show they could really expand and dive deep into Iron Fist origins and that opened me up to the idea.

First and foremost I want a solid Iron Fist origin story, that to me spending time developing his youth in K'un-Lun.

I really hope that's a feature of the show, at least for the first half of the season

So how about you guys, do you want to see the mystical city?

 

[seahammer]

You know, even if they spent just one whole episode in K'un-L'un, it would be more than we would likely get in a movie.

I really hope they don't gloss over the mystical aspect of Iron Fist's background, including Shou-Lao the dragon.

Spoiler

EDIT: To answer your original question, yes I definitely want to see K'un-L'un.

The real question is, how will they realize it on screen? Will it be similar to this real-work location (Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet)?:

Or will it be more mystical in nature? Or, on the other hand, less grand than this?

 

[DrCosmic]

I do think they'll need to tone down the mystical parts to some degree. Fistfighting dragons ain't gonna happen, but that was unlikely to happen in a film anyway.

Having him in K'un L'un is not really a big feat though, it will be on a soudstage as opposed to on-location in Thailand or whatever, but having him in an ancient-looking east asian locale is so doable, especially if its the only exotic locale in the series.

I don't think it should spend much time there. I think there should be frequent flashbacks to his training there as a child, but the story should pick up when Iron Fist returns to the modern world and must integerate himself with it, and find/deal with Meachum.

 

[seahammer]

Flashbacks are a good way to do K'un-L'un in the show.

And I agree, it would be unlikely for them to actually go on location to some place like that. I would love for them to capture the architectural elements of a remote Tibetan temple, though.

 

[CyclopsWasRight]

I'd like to see it done like Batman Begins. He starts out as a child raised there and they follow his training over the course of a few episodes then take him to civilization.

That way we see how and why he has such abilities and powers as well as developing his history. Then they could have flashback to specific memories that could relate to situations napping in his adult life.

Edit: The League of Shadows building in Begins was a miniature, they could do that and have the interior on a sound stage

 

[Gr0oT]

Iron Fist is the only one of the four shows that I was upset to see revealed for the very fact that much would be better achieved cinematically.
Greenscreen and soundstages are nice but it can't compare to shooting on location, plus I do think that if they'd bothered to do it in a movie we would get Shou-Lao or why bother?

I was spoiled by Brubaker's run, it's my only real experience of the character and I'll most likely be underwhelmed by it.

Bob Iger clearly stated that if these shows are popular enough they could be picked up for a movie adventure so my thought is simply have him refer to his origin, have it alluded too and leave the possibility of a proper adaptation open.

 

[TheVileOne]

If you think about it, they could start this in a very similar way to the Arrow TV series.

Well as in you have the rich heir Danny Rand, the prodigal son, returning home after being away and spending his youth in K'un L'un.

 

[seahammer]

^True, i could see the parallel there.

 

[3dman27]

agreed danny's flashback could involve his training and hi friends in k'un l;un

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I would love to see stories of K'un-Lun for a while, maybe even give Danny a few lessons on K'un-Lun history, featuring previous Iron Fists

 

[metaphysician]

Actually, I'd say fist fighting dragons is almost assured. Without that, you'd have to change his whole origin to unrecognizability. I suspect the actual fight with Shao-Lao the Undying will be a climax point in the show, shown as a flashback later on in the series.

 

[Silvermoth]

What I love about threads like these is when people post pictures of places I would really love to visit!

 

[gildedmuse]

If a studio were to approach me to write the series and I set about outlining the over all story arc, there are really only two ways I see being reasonable. Either have the first episode set almost entirely in K'un Lun but with heavy flashbacks to his pre-K'un Lun life (a lot like the mountain scenes in Fraction's run where Danny remembers his father'sand mother's death before being taken in, but also probably even more before that. You'd want to really highlight the outsider aspect by bringing in a lot of Earth/western/modern culture.At the end of the episode, of course, he'd choose to leave K'un Lun and you'd have the final shot/scene being him first setting foot in New York, totally out of place and clashing in every way.

Either that or you'd want to use that shot as your introduction. Start immediately (or almost immediately, you could have an "opener" that is Danny's last moments in K'un Lun) in New York and slowly reveal his past through flashbacks and the narrative. It's like a mystery but only for the audience.

Otherwise that shot of Danny first entering New York would naturally fall at the end of the season, placing the whole series in K'un-Lun which is not going to happen.Of course you do that for a couple of reasons: to maintain a similar tone throughout the series (you're trying to build a base and it rarely helps to draw in a crowd that, say, is attracted to the fantastical only to ditch it all two episodes in, especially since by then you've lost the fans of the Kung Fu In The Cities fans) and due to the natural pacing of stories. But now that I'm thinking of it, this is a Netflix series. They aren't like TV where you have to build audience members week to week. You just dump all the episodes at once. That could actually free you up as a writer (something that can be quite fun and quite dangerous as most artistically inclined people would agree, I believe). It could intentionally be a lot of fun for the writers figuring out how to divide the episodes down the middle, for instance.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

You know, even if they spent just one whole episode in K'un-L'un, it would be more than we would likely get in a movie.

I really hope they don't gloss over the mystical aspect of Iron Fist's background, including Shou-Lao the dragon.

I want the whole story, the expedition thru the Himalayas, Meachum killing Danny's dad and his mom getting taken out saving him from wolves, etc.

I'd start the show with Danny returning to America and reveal all that stuff through flashback.

Also I hope they don't go to the Immortal IF well too early, that stuff is awesome but there is plenty of compelling material they could draw from before needing it.

 

[Silvermoth]

I wonder if they'll have the budget for all that? Shou Lao would be fairly easy I think because you can use puppets and it's a great incentive to watch the series but filming in the Himalayas or travelling to china for an authentic k'un lun would be expensive for a tv series but unbelievably satisfying if they could pull it off

 

[seahammer]

I wonder if they'll have the budget for all that? Shou Lao would be fairly easy I think because you can use puppets and it's a great incentive to watch the series but filming in the Himalayas or travelling to china for an authentic k'un lun would be expensive for a tv series but unbelievably satisfying if they could pull it off

I don't think it's too far fetched. AOS shot on location in Paris, Stockholm, and Seville. All they would really need are some establishing shots, everything else can be done on sets with backdrops added in (this has done in AOS, too, instead of going to Peru or Italy).

 

[Silvermoth]

Yeah, that's a good point

 

[Silvermoth]

Wouldn't it be great if we could get some shots like this?

I wonder if China has any tv channels that can sort of coproduce shows like this similar to the way sbs does in korea so they get a lot of local knowledge?

 

[BarryAllen]

I wonder how they'll explain the mystic feel of K'un L'un. Thor had magic = science, and Dr Strange seems to be doing the same thing.

 

[SlamAdams]

If you think about it, they could start this in a very similar way to the Arrow TV series.

Well as in you have the rich heir Danny Rand, the prodigal son, returning home after being away and spending his youth in K'un L'un.

Yea I like that idea. The Iron Fist origin is basically a prophecy done over and over, it would be nice to see the gaps filled in narratively over time instead of played out in full. Or like the movie, The Phantom, where it is told as a myth right in the beginning.

 

[Silvermoth]

I wonder how they'll explain the mystic feel of K'un L'un. Thor had magic = science, and Dr Strange seems to be doing the same thing.

Yeah that's a good point. I kind of like the idea of k'un lun having some secrets so hopefully they don't explain too much but yeah, the appearing once every 100 years thing might be a bit tricky.

Hopefully they don't just take the easy route and say it's inhuman technology again

 

[Silvermoth]

It would be great if they could film in places like huangzhou for the k'un lun scenes. That's where they did some of the filming for 'hero'

 

[BarryAllen]

Yeah that's a good point. I kind of like the idea of k'un lun having some secrets so hopefully they don't explain too much but yeah, the appearing once every 100 years thing might be a bit tricky.

Hopefully they don't just take the easy route and say it's inhuman technology again

Not only that, but are they going to keep it as a pocket dimension or make it a hidden city? The latter sounds easier to digest for the general audience.

 

[ernesth100]

Do you think they could actually pay to fly out to China and shoot scenes in such expensive areas? I think so. But I think they could also just make a set for K'un Lun inside a studio.

 

[Silvermoth]

I don't see why not? Marco Polo was shot in kazakhastan and a couple of places in Asia.

They can even partner up with some chinese media company and use some of their old sets to save money. Plus it would look so beautiful, exotic and authentic.

I would love to travel around China someday