how about The Mote in God's Eye?
Chris Harvey
Having just seen Contact (and coming away thinking it was good, but
still feeling a little disappointed), I was suddenly struck by a
thought:
The Mote in God's Eye -- now *that* would make a killer film.
Contact may explore the philosophy of first contact, and how we as
people react to it, but Mote in God's Eye creates an extremely
interesting (and properly non-human) alien culture.
I'm not trying to start a flame war here by suggesting one is better
than the other -- but who else would like to see MIGE? Any other good
sf novels that would make great films? The Hyperion Series, perhaps?
--
Chris Harvey | Web Design
gn...@hevanet.com | Freelance Animation
Travis C. Porco
In article <33C71322...@hevanet.com>,
Chris Harvey <gn...@hevanet.com> wrote:
>Having just seen Contact (and coming away thinking it was good, but
>still feeling a little disappointed), I was suddenly struck by a
>thought:
>The Mote in God's Eye -- now *that* would make a killer film.
>Contact may explore the philosophy of first contact, and how we as
>people react to it, but Mote in God's Eye creates an extremely
>interesting (and properly non-human) alien culture.
>I'm not trying to start a flame war here by suggesting one is better
>than the other -- but who else would like to see MIGE? Any other good
>sf novels that would make great films? The Hyperion Series, perhaps?
MIGE would be an absolutely amazing film. _The_Gripping_Hand_, on the
gripping hand, I could do without. The only downside of MIGE is it's
really too big for a single movie to explore.
--Travis
Max F. Exter
On 11 Jul 1997 22:16:18 Chris Harvey wrote about "how about The Mote in God's Eye?":
> I'm not trying to start a flame war here by suggesting one is better
> than the other -- but who else would like to see MIGE? Any other good
> sf novels that would make great films? The Hyperion Series, perhaps?
I think it would be a good film to make *IF* it were done well. But
honestly, I don't think they could explain everything in a two hour movie.
--
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"The Intrepid was our last, best, hope... for peace"
Roberto Kubilius Almanzan
Chris Harvey (gn...@hevanet.com) wrote:
> The Mote in God's Eye -- now *that* would make a killer film.
> Contact may explore the philosophy of first contact, and how we as
> people react to it, but Mote in God's Eye creates an extremely
> interesting (and properly non-human) alien culture.
> I'm not trying to start a flame war here by suggesting one is better
> than the other -- but who else would like to see MIGE? Any other good
> sf novels that would make great films? The Hyperion Series, perhaps?
No way. I simply can't believe that they could do the novel justice
in a movie, especially considering the time constraints. More important
given the very ominous rumors about Starship Troopers I'm rather
dubious about the whole notion of Hollywood making movies from SF
novels.
Roberto
James Battista
Roberto Kubilius Almanzan (rkal...@crust.engr.ucdavis.edu) wrote:
: Chris Harvey (gn...@hevanet.com) wrote:
What if it wasn't made by 'Hollywood'?
Let's see how _Ender's Game_, with gobs of control by Card, turns out.
If it turns out like we all hope it will, then maybe there's a real
possibility that we could actually see some of our favorite scenes
with our regular eyes instead of our mind's eye. -- The first shot
of the Ringworld, an Imperial ship coming jumping into the Mote system,
the battle in the Thistledown, the destruction of Phobos and Deimos,
there are so many things I'd like to see...
And thanks to movies like _Aliens_ and _Dances with Wolves_ (ugh),
the time constraint is a lot looser than it used to be.
Hollywood discovered that even an American audience will sit through
a three hour movie, if it's entertaining enough.
Jim Battista
PhD candidate, Dept of Political Science, Duke Univ.
james.b...@duke.edu
king of the impossible
Brian John Wright
Chris Harvey (gn...@hevanet.com) wrote:
: Having just seen Contact (and coming away thinking it was good, but
: still feeling a little disappointed), I was suddenly struck by a
: thought:
: The Mote in God's Eye -- now *that* would make a killer film.
: Contact may explore the philosophy of first contact, and how we as
: people react to it, but Mote in God's Eye creates an extremely
: interesting (and properly non-human) alien culture.
: I'm not trying to start a flame war here by suggesting one is better
: than the other -- but who else would like to see MIGE? Any other good
: sf novels that would make great films? The Hyperion Series, perhaps?
I'd pay to see a MiGE movie. You betcha - and they wouldn't
have to worry about it being all "too much" for audiences (make of that
what you will) because the thrills are there.
A Hyperion film would be great if done right - then again, a
LOT of films would be great if done right, and that won't happen.
(the first Hyperion book, for example, could only be properly done
with a 4-part miniseries...that's SIX HOURS of screen time, and I
know better than to think that'll ever happen)
-Brian
Chmee Riit
I agree with most of the opinions in this thread. Mostly.
I can't see Hyperion as any kind of single movie; then again, I don't
think I would go to see movies based in any of the storys that Hyperion
was created to house. Unless I was too happy, and wanted to be depressed,
that is.
I swore off Dan Simmons last year, and I don't want to read anything like
his stuff again. Life is too short to spend it paying money for books
which only depress you.
William Baird
In article <5q7950$7...@agate.berkeley.edu>,
*COULD*BE* an absolutely amazing film. If they do to it what they did to
_Starship Troopers_....*shudders*
>_The_Gripping_Hand_, on the gripping hand, I could do without.
Don't even get me started...the flippin thing wasn't consistant with
itself, let alone tMiGE. baah....
>The only downside of MIGE is it's really too big for a single movie to
>explore.
Depends. If you don't mind a 5+ hour movie....:) With the special
effects available today, you could prolly keep the crowd ooo'ing and
ahhh'ing enough with just the sense'o'wundah, factor and then pick up the
pace with the whole watchmaker fest and then film the decision of
what-to-do-about-the-Moties section with a LOT of tension...it'd make for
a good film. Primary problem being that there's not really a simple
conflict/climax/resolution that could be filmed easily. There are
several...and IDK how well an arranged marriage would go over as well...:)
Will
>--Travis
--
Will Baird email: wba...@acca.nmsu.edu http://essex.nmsu.edu/~scomputi/
Phantoms! Whenever I think I fully understand mankind's purpose on earth...
suddenly I see phantoms dancing in the shadows...[saying] pointly as words,
"What you know is nothing little man; what you have to learn, immense." - CD
Michael Lacy
In article <5q91n0$bga$1...@noc.van.hookup.net>,
Max F. Exter <mex...@nospam.island.net> wrote:
>On 11 Jul 1997 22:16:18 Chris Harvey wrote about "how about The Mote in God's
>Eye?":
>
>> I'm not trying to start a flame war here by suggesting one is better
>> than the other -- but who else would like to see MIGE? Any other good
>> sf novels that would make great films? The Hyperion Series, perhaps?
>
>I think it would be a good film to make *IF* it were done well. But
>honestly, I don't think they could explain everything in a two hour movie.
True, but if special effects get cheaper (as they will do) a longer and
lower-budget version may be in the cards that would ring truer to the
story.
There is plenty of good material in the Larry Niven back catalogue, but how
about some of the newer authors, like Ian M. Banks. Personally, I think
"Consider Phlebas" or "Use of Weapons" could be made into visually stunning
films.
Mike L.
Chmee Riit
I have this vision of beam weapons being used against Langston Fields,
part of the New Chicago battle, just to show how they're supposed to work.
Lots of new, wierd things on Mote Prime, and eventually the destruction
of Blaine's ship, with its expanding Langston-Watchmaker Field. How about
the hunt for the Alderson Point inside Murcheson's Eye?
TALK ABOUT GREAT VISUALS JUST WAITING TO BE FILMED!!!
ALX
po...@stat.Berkeley.EDU (Travis C. Porco) wrote:
>In article <33C71322...@hevanet.com>,
>Chris Harvey <gn...@hevanet.com> wrote:
>>Having just seen Contact (and coming away thinking it was good, but
>>still feeling a little disappointed), I was suddenly struck by a
>>thought:
>
>>The Mote in God's Eye -- now *that* would make a killer film.
>>Contact may explore the philosophy of first contact, and how we as
>>people react to it, but Mote in God's Eye creates an extremely
>>interesting (and properly non-human) alien culture.
>
>>I'm not trying to start a flame war here by suggesting one is better
>>than the other -- but who else would like to see MIGE? Any other good
>>sf novels that would make great films? The Hyperion Series, perhaps?
>
>MIGE would be an absolutely amazing film. _The_Gripping_Hand_, on the
>gripping hand, I could do without. The only downside of MIGE is it's
>really too big for a single movie to explore.
>
>--Travis
Mote would make a great movie! We could hire the Gremlins to play the
Moties.
---
Alx
Beth and Richard Treitel
To my surprise and delight, wba...@whocares.nmsu.edu (William Baird)
wrote:
>In article <5q7950$7...@agate.berkeley.edu>,
>Travis C. Porco <po...@stat.Berkeley.EDU> wrote:
>>MIGE would be an absolutely amazing film.
>
>*COULD*BE* an absolutely amazing film. If they do to it what they did to
>_Starship Troopers_....*shudders*
Difficult to see how they could utterly destroy it: it doesn't have very
much in the way of "moral philosophy", nor IMHO much that's beyond the
abilities of even a modest special-effects dept. It does have a few
places where someone actually explains something about physics or ship
design, and those would have to be chopped.
My greatest fear is that they would turn it into a clone of _Star Trek_,
in terms of both characters and overall "message" or "attitude".
Pournelle is *not* Roddenberry; Rod Blaine is *not* Jim Kirk; the Empire
is *not* the Federation; the Moties are *not* Tribbles *nor* Klingons.
Oops ... I just realised that the ending would almost certainly be
changed out of all recognition -- not dramatic or conclusive enough for
Hollywood. Unless they also buy the contract for _tGH_, which I doubt.
- Richard
------
A sufficiently incompetent ScF author is indistinguishable from magic.
see also:
What is (and isn't) ScF? ==> http://www.wco.com/~treitel/sf.html
Nyrath the nearly wise
Thus spoke Chris Harvey (gn...@hevanet.com):
> Having just seen Contact (and coming away thinking it was good, but
> still feeling a little disappointed), I was suddenly struck by a
> thought:
>
> The Mote in God's Eye -- now *that* would make a killer film.
>
> than the other -- but who else would like to see MIGE? Any other good
> sf novels that would make great films? The Hyperion Series, perhaps?
I'd *love* to see Mote done as a movie.
However, I'd rather see FOOTFALL. As a matter of fact, the
ending of FOOTFALL seems very cinematic to me. After reading
the final sentence of the novel, I can almost see the
movie credit start scrolling.
I believe that the entire space battle sequence, from the
Orion drive ship's launch to the final battle would make a
most impressive spectacle. Not just because of the scope for
special effect, but also for the "patriotic" feelings
evoked. You bloody elephants thought that you could just
stomp us into submission, didn't you?!? Well, *TAKE THIS* !!!
And the assault with the Space Shuttles would be
awe-inspiring.
The only other SF novel I'd love to see as a movie is, of course,
Arthur C. Clarke's CHILDHOOD'S END.
* A B S I T * I N V I D I A * V E R B O ** I D E M * S O N A N S *
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