Is ED movie or TV series worthy?

[ZombieHunter]

It is a known constant in the film universe that 90% of video games adapted to movies suck. But there have been some recent successes so maybe Hollywood is figuring out how to do it.

So do you think Elite is worthy of a movie or perhaps an ongoing TV series? There is plenty of lore surrounding it and Frontier stands to make a fortune if it is done right.

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

Originally posted by ZombieHunter:

So do you think Elite is worthy of a movie or perhaps an ongoing TV series?

Definitely! Especially when you fly to Hutton Orbital - you can finish watching an episode of two.

There is plenty of lore surrounding it and Frontier stands to make a fortune if it is done right.

Ah, in that way... Well, the Dark Wheel was an entertaining reading, why not a serie?

[ZombieHunter]

Personally I think a TV series would be more fitting b/c you could explore the lore and the various story arcs and obviously you would have to come up with more stories around the lore. But GOT went off script long before it stopped so it is possible to build stories out of existing material and expand from there.

A movie would be a nice intro into the lore of ED but not sure what it would offer over Star Trek or something like Guardians of the Galaxy.

But I think there are enough characters with the lore of the past, the current government figures we know about (powerplay figures and the like) and the ongoing story that has transpired within the game thus far. ED is perfect for a series.

But think about a game of Star Wars before Star Wars was a film. That would be so shallow and linear that no one would want to play. Get to the end, blow the Death Star up, save the universe, game over. This is also prob why the films are far better than many of the games that have been released (KOTOR and KOTOR 2 are very good though) using that universe.

[Agony_Aunt]

On the one hand you have good films based on computer games like.... erm... nope, can't think of any.

On the other hand there is the Wing Commander movie. If you have never seen it, i advise you keep things that way. It makes Battlefield Earth look like a masterpeice.

[ZombieHunter]

Originally posted by Agony_Aunt:

On the one hand you have good films based on computer games like.... erm... nope, can't think of any.

On the other hand there is the Wing Commander movie. If you have never seen it, i advise you keep things that way. It makes Battlefield Earth look like a masterpeice.

It is b/c films and games are two different beasts. One is a 1.5 to 2 hour story arc and the other is trying to squeeze as many hours as possible of interactive game play out.

But there have been some good movie adaptations of books. Harry Potter was actually a very good series of movies from the books. I think if there is enough story there or at least enough pieces one might be able to pull it off.

But there are also films that have been made into games and that doesn't usually fare well either. Very hard to combine the two mediums.

[Crimson Echo]

It is not canon and unofficial, but there is a audio drama "Escape Velocity" on the Lave Radio site.

[shiny_dirk]

i certainly would love to see the thargoid story arc play out in a tv or movie adaptation, for their ship looks alone already, so im leaning towards movie -> budget

[ZombieHunter]

Originally posted by shiny_dirk:

i certainly would love to see the thargoid story arc play out in a tv or movie adaptation, for their ship looks alone already, so im leaning towards movie -> budget

But is there enough there? You have to introduce a completely new world to the audience along with new characters, introduce a threat that has plagued them in the past, use that threat to create some dilemma, make the dilemma seem insurmountable and then resolve the dilemma in about an hour and a half.

Maybe it could be ok but based on track records of past movie adaptations of games probably not. But the superhero genre of movie came right out of comic books and so far it has done extremely well. So it is possible to do anything you would just need a very good script and a good supporting cast and director to bring it all together.

[Toastie Buns]

Originally posted by ZombieHunter:

But is there enough there?

This was what I was thinking after reading this thread before going for a poo. I had quite a while to think about it, it was one of those kinds of poos.

Anyways, I came to the conclusion that one of the most efficient ways to write Elite stories/scripts is to either cover the tale of multiple crews in multiple ships and eventually have them converge and start influencing one another as the plotline progresses, or just switch ships weekly and cover a specific ship, specific crew, specific tale, wrap it up and start again.

Either way, I'd love a show with ship to ship combat. Maybe a Battlestar rip off where Anacondas and Orcas try to get back to Sol from Colonia? lol

[Steve]

Originally posted by Agony_Aunt:

On the one hand you have good films based on computer games like.... erm... nope, can't think of any.

On the other hand there is the Wing Commander movie. If you have never seen it, i advise you keep things that way. It makes Battlefield Earth look like a masterpeice.

^This

btw if you want to watch a superb Space TV series then you simply cannot go wrong with either Babylon 5 or UFO ..both were way ahead of their time..

[Sir Gigachad of Thundercock]

And what would it be about?
The war between the Empire and the Federation?

I think we've seen that already :P

[Josey Wales]

In some ways I saw 'The Expanse' as a TV version of this ED.

[Urm the Mad]

Going to be a devils advocate and say no, not at all. The theme of Elite can be best described in any screenshot of an AspX floating alone towards an interesting star in the void. Its a very personal and cathartic experience compared to a game like X3:AP which SHOULD have a tv series or movie. In those games as a player you are immediately caught up in a faction, working with other wings, gathering a wing of your own and rolling through lots of very populated and active systems. Compared to Elite, that sort of setting is a better place for a movie whereas Elite is a more interesting place to read about peoples discoveries and personal experiences in the game.

[One Eye Jack]

It could be awesome or it could suck. Just depends on the writing and directing.

I have been surprised so many times by shows that should have been bad but turned out awesome thanks to great directing and writing.

And of course the opposite is sadly true as well. But I am always up for a new sci-fi series or movie. So yeah.