The Willow Series Is Missing One Unique Element That Made The Film So Memorable

Now we're not ones to jump the fandom-fuelled gun when it comes to shows or films linked to popular franchises. There's nothing worse than either getting overly excited for a project that ends up not delivering on what we'd hoped or, even worse, wiping eggs from our faces when something we never expected to work turns out to be an absolute banger. With only two episodes of "Willow" — Disney+'s new legacyquel show following the 1988 film — available, the jury is still out on whether Warwick Davis' reprisal of his cult-favorite character was worth the venture. So far, we've been welcomed by a misfit band of heroes, a prophesied savior who knows her way around the kitchen, and a mystery surrounding Val Kilmer's legendary hero, Madmartigan (who is still key to the new series).

Of course, it's a dangerous land full of brownies, bloodthirsty trolls, and otherworldly dangers. The only hope is that when encountering these threats, "Willow" the show bravely taps into one of the most vital elements that set "Willow" the film apart from some of the family-friendly fantasy adventures of the '80s. The kind of core components to classic movies of that era that make you say, "wow, we really thought showing this to kids wasn't going to scar them for life." You know? The good old days.

After the initial two episodes debuting on Disney+, we've been given a mild dose of darkness in relation to the threat waiting to take down Willow (Warwick Davis) and his fellowship. Prince Airk (Dempsey Byrk) gets kidnapped and taken by force by a band of nasty-looking invaders. While some of them do look a tad intimidating (the raging caged one looks straight out of Zack Snyder's "300"), they aren't a patch on one of the "Willow" movie's most memorably disturbing moments that had kids squealing in fear.

Near the film's final act, Madmartigan (Val Kilmer) and his allies rock up to the evil Bavmorda's (Jean Marsh) castle only to be hit with a magic spell from the sorceress, turning them into pigs. What follows is a brief bit of body horror that most likely still gives fans the chills as Val Kilmer starts sprouting tusks and looking a little porkier than before. For additional unease, soldiers are seen squealing on the ground with their hands turning to trotters and wondering what is going on. It's as if someone looked at the "Pinocchio" Pleasure Island scene and thought, "pfft, yeah, but what's worse than donkeys and in live-action?" The answer is absolute nightmare fuel. This is the bar the "Willow" show must dare reach in the coming episodes. The only question is what chance it has to do so.

Besides pork-based and harpy-like horrors that we've seen so far in the world of "Willow," there's one native threat that our sorcerer supreme might have to deal with, which he'd probably prefer not to. In the original film, Willow could handle anything except trolls, and we can't blame him. In the 1988 fantasy, they were a far cry from those we'd seen in Middle Earth or shuffling around Hogwarts bathrooms. These things were somewhere between the monkeys from "2001: A Space Odyssey" and primitive Klingons. Just overall not lovely to be around and nearly as freaky as Kilmer's piggish alteration. In this case, adding them to this series would be a great idea.

It'd be cool to see if Willow has overcome his fear of these wall-crawling menaces after all these years. Let's face it; there will be far more dangerous threats out there wanting to take him down, so what's a couple of trolls thrown in for good measure? That, added in with a small collection of Cronenbergian chills, and the Disney+ show could help "Willow" get back to his former glory. Just don't say we didn't warn you, okay?