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'Rendezvous With Rama' - The Movie 147

Posted by Hemos from the interesting-idea dept.
DesignMerc writes: "2003 is the posted release date for the movie version of Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama. It's being produced by Revelations Entertainment with David Fincher directing (Fight Club, Seven, Alien 3) and Morgan Freeman as part of the cast. There are production sketches at their Web site." Nothing too meaty here yet - mostly concept art.
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Rendezvous With Rama - The Movie More

Rendezvous With Rama - The Movie

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  • Re:gravity-o-matic (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Unless I'm mistaken, the actual reason the pilot had to be careful not to fly off axis would be due to the Coriolis effect of the air in Rama. If he flew off axis, the air would start pushing him sideways, making him move about the axis, and causing acceleration towards the 'ground' of Rama. This 'downward' acceleration will be felt at any point in Rama that isn't on the axis IF you are rotating about the axis.

  • This should be good because... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Anyone who has read the book knows about the space chimps (simps). And a movie with monkies in it can't go wrong.
  • That site got slashdotted fast!
    --
    Joe Hamelin
  • I've read all four, and I much prefered the original. I'm probably being far too generousto Clarke when I say this, but much of the weak characterizations in the second seemed to show all the signs of an ineffective collaboration. I never did like the gratuitous "Eleonor of Aquitaine" stuff. The plot was interesting, though.
  • Hahahaha
    great post :)
    great post :)
    great post :)
  • Still confusing thorn with eth, I see (or was that intentional? I forget)
    --
  • In my opinion, Asmimov's Foundation series would translate to the screen more easily. I'd love to see this on the big screen. Has anyone heard any rumors about this? At the very least, it would make a great mini-series.


    They already did the Mule saga. It was called "The Usual Suspects."

  • Heh. I live in northeast New Brunswick. That's all we speak here. "Flippez le switch", etcetera. Causes lots of heart attacks to linguistic scholars of both languages. It gets even weirder hearing a native Newfoundlander speak Franglais...
  • I don't know about making Foundation. Didn't Bicentennial Man make dear old Isaac Asimov spin enough?

    And about the money, that's the dilemma. The only way a studio is going to spend a lot of money to make a movie is if they expect to make a lot more money back, and most people would rather watch Ah-nold make explosions than some no-name actors quietly recite the intricate conversations of something like the Foundation trilogy. You either get really good but small-screen sci-fi like Lexx and Babylon 5 or you get overhyped crap like Mission to Mars, Red Planet and Starship Troopers.

    I can't wait for the days to come when home computers are powerful enough and cheap enough to do the work of a Hollywood crew. Maybe we'll see some good sci-fi on the big screen then, when anyone who knows a fairly decent theatre troop can create a big-screen quality movie. Or maybe I'm just dreaming for an impossibility.

    To the folks at Revelation: Please, if you really *must* do this project, don't fuck it up too much, huh? And stick to the original book. ACC hasn't done too great as of late as an author...
  • Because they chose only to produce the first book, we will now have great CG shots, but not enough plot to keep most interested.

    Said with a different inflection, one might imagine that very sentence being used to pitch the film.

    (I wonder if our alien overlords will ever tell us exactly how much tapioca was required to replace all those brains in Hollywood.. the electronic subsystems required to maintain the limbic responses and keep up a moderately-responsive Eliza script must be wonderfully advanced!)

    Your Working Boy,
  • The thorn/eth confusion is in the sig of the post he was replying to - what makes you think he didn't get the joke?
    --
  • You small-minded idiot. Posted by a xenophilic white guy whose first friend was black (so I had no concept of racism until encountering the white culture once I started school. And knew immediately it was bullshit) and has friends of all races.
  • But when it comes to geek films, what I am most looking forward to is Lord of the Rings!

    ************************************************ ** *

  • It's supposed to be entirely CGI. And it sounds like Freeman will be a principal contributor to the project - not necessarily just a (voice/cyberscan) actor.
  • because the ramans(sp?) always do things in threes.

    ---
  • any company that puts a mission statement on their web page absolutely sucks without exception.
  • actually, he had a previous bit of dental work removed. much like jim carrey in dumb and dumber, he already had a chipped tooth. its not like he sat down with a file or something....
  • I think Starship Troopers was an excellent adaptation of the novel for the big screen. It is no small feat to adapt such a novel to an action film while managing to retain the same atmosphere as the original. It is no point complaining about the lack of depth in which Heinlein's political depiction of a possible future society is treated, that kind of subject simply isn't very suited for a Hollywood production.

  • ... considering the French (Norman) invasion and subjugation of Britain. Didn't quite turn out the way intended; the natives simply appropriated elements they desired from the upper class (French) language and culture, building upon their own resources rather than displacing them. The end result was that the English language got bigger (through words like "rendezvous" and the like). But don't feel bad: the English language has a long and storied history of appropriating other languages. For example, most of the initial "th" words (like "this," "that," "them," and "their") are descendents from a Norse (Viking!) invasion along the northeast coast.

    The phenomenon that is the English language is like an insatiable virus, absorbing everything it comes in contact with. Left to its own devices, English probably would have eliminated several major languages by now simply through the act of making them obsolete.

  • The theater version of The Abyss was abyssmal. I urge you to check out the director's cut, however. It's much better. Totally different ending.
    I'll second that! The original version had a completely confusing ending. I think they cut too much out in an attempt to limit running time.

    The Director's cut cleared up all of the confusion (and probably added at least 45 minutes to the running time).

  • It's probably been 15 years since I read the book, but didnt the 'spider' [rendezvouswithrama.com] have 3 legs? One would hope the artist had actually read the book and understands why it's terribly important they not make a concession like that for the sake of cinema or practicality or whatever. Maybe it's a Python production - "Ramans do everything in 6's" "Uh, threes, sir!".
  • Ringworld would be cool... However, I think that Varley's Gaia series (Titan, Wizard, and Demon) would be even more interesting, while being set in an equally visually impressive environment. If you haven't read those three books, by the way, they're highly recommended...

  • Go, ./ (Score:1)

    by Ecyrd ( 51952 )
    It is rare that a Slashdot summary of a website is more informative than the actual website. Let us savour this moment, and hope that this has begun the era of the new, better Slashdot.

    =)
  • as fot the presentation:

    Look at all those $100 Millions. Wow. This must be a great movie.

    ... I dunno. Why are they throwing these megabucks at us? Or is this site aimed at movie money-men?
  • 3 legs, but from what (little) I know, 3 legs is very hard to do realistically, because no-one has ever tried to solve the problem of walking on three appendages.

  • D'oh! I thought the thorn/eth comment was based on the posters, to me, apparent lack of understanding on the joke made about threes. I didn't know it had to do with the Dragons comment. Thank you for the correction, and my profuse apologizes for my misunderstanding.

  • Here all along i thought i was going to get to watch a Ranma movie on the big screen here in Canada... Then i read the headline again. Damn you /. for getting my hopes up!
    ------------------------------------
  • Or Brunner, or Gibson, or Bear.
    Please, Clarke is old school, a sociologist. Let it rest.

    I wanted to explode, but I was too tired. ... Wrap my head in duct tape, run around on fire. Thingy
  • I just hope we don't end up with another "Eyes Wide Shut". (A movie that had huge potential, but just came up short.)
    The biggest compliment I had for "Fight Club", and this is no minor feat, is that the director didn't get in the way of the story. There weren't too many distracting gadgets between the characters and the audience.
    If this film can be pulled off with the same impressive subtlety, it will be worth seeing.

    I've never brought a tear to any mother's face, and that's a desperate way to look at a man who is still a child. Big Country
  • If your criterion for "good" science fiction is boredom, then I'd agree with your choices.
    Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke, and the like all have numerous movies make from their work. If you seek their work, there is plenty of old film to be had.
    I prefer to see the works of living authors made into films.
    But to each his own.
  • Fight Club, FIncher's last film, had a large amont of CGI...

    Not THAT much. And almost all of it was instantly recognizable as compter animation. CGI just isn't as advanced as some movie makers (*cough* George Lucas *cough*) seem to think it is.

  • movies based on these sf novels don't really seem to pan out. You always lose a lot of the details which make the novels so thought provoking and always spend crap loads on FX so you can drag the average punter in.

    Fans of the novel go away thinking what a waste (the book was way better), Joe Average Citizen leaves thinking that was boring, and those who go to see it becuase they heard the book was so good go away thinking that it was no big deal (that clarke guy mustn't be such a great writer).


    -------------------------
  • Its been a little while since I read it but doesn't the book end without any revelations about Rama at all? Apart from the everything in 3's thing.

    So how will they end the movie to satisfy Joe A Citizen

    -------------------------
  • Have you not read Rama Revealed yet? I thought it tied things up fairly well while leaving the aliens still something of an enigma

    I just hope they don't try to cram all of the books into one movie like they tried to do with Dune (it still irks me to see the miraculous rainstorm at the end, pretty much ignores what the whole series was about, but that's another rant).
  • I agree, Rama seems far too grand to really translate to the big screen without being cut up so much that aside from the character names and a general plot line, it would no longer tell the actual story. Basically, I could see this turning into another Dune, a good enough movie in it's own right but in the end, it wasn't Dune.

    Now the Foundation could work, but it would have to be a mini-series. To do it proper justice it would have to be several parts which would cost a lot.

    Truth is, a lot of the classic science fiction is just too intelligent for the big screen.
  • I think a Ringworld movie would be great if they could pull it off without looking cheesy.

    I'm shuddering at the thought of the hacks who did Mission to Mars working on Ringworld; picture Nessus shedding a big CG tear. Ugh.

    -Legion

  • Yes yes. A fan of Known Space myself, I recall dicussing this with a fellow Ringworld fan a while back. Ringworld has sooo much potential for good visuals. Even if only the puppeteers were done right, it would be good. The idea of a world in which the horizon disapperas up in the distance, in which night becomes day like that, a world hundreds of million sof times larger than Earth.... Done right, it would be pretty impressive.

    One thing I remember seeing was a website which was a collection of detailed renderings this guy had done of the Ringworld's surface, from various heights, orbits, etc.

    Anyway. You're right; Ringworld would be a cool movie the same way Rendezvous would.
    Heh, you ever play the computer game? I found it recently and installed it on my 486... aieee, wretched thing. I can't get past the rishathra bit...

    -J
  • Does anybody else remember the computer game? I never played it, but I heard it was good?

    Aieee... a friend of mine had it on his Mac. Being a stickler for accuracy in such thigns, I hated it, but I can't speak to its merits as a game.

    Basically, they went through the whole series and took every aspect which lent itself most to a computer game and put it in one game.

    Memorable experiences include getting eaten by biots, shocked by electric fences, eaten by other biots, being puzzled by this weird bird creature that should've been one of the flyers from the books but looked like a biot, getting eaten by more biots, and, um, I think I got eaten by biots at one point.

    -J
  • It's really a poorly phrased sentence that they use. The impression I got was either real actors in a CG world or else entirely CG with "real" voice actors. Though I don't think a computer voice actor would work... I'm sure we've all used simpletext, yes? ;-)

    -J
  • Hehe, excellently put.

    -J
  • Exactly as I said [slashdot.org].

    There was so much potential for a good explanation... but instead, whoever was writing at the time decided to just blame it all on god. Well. Talk about deus ex machina...

    -J
  • Agree totally - human colony is the neat thing. It would be possible to compress a bit, not necessarily making one movie from each book ..
  • I found Rendezvous to be a really engrossing read: it had the awesome sense of scale (both time and physical size), and a deep mystery.

    Well put. And more importantly that pretty much sums up what the sequels lack, badly. Stay away. Because they don't have any of the drama or sense of wonder. Just ACC out of his depth.

    -

  • Moebius has also done production design work on some science fiction films, including Alien, Tron, and The Abyss. The latter was a rotten movie, but ...

    The theater version of The Abyss was abyssmal. I urge you to check out the director's cut, however. It's much better. Totally different ending.
  • "boiling gas" is a contradiction in terms...
  • Hmm. Wit? Charm? Gee, sounds like Stephenson must be one of those old/dead/boring authors. :-)

    Seriously, I will admit that there's a great deal of brilliant SF that doesn't (and won't) translate well to the screen, ESPECIALLY in Sillywood.

    A Boy and his Dog. Now that was SF.

  • Umm, I think that's the point that nomadic was making.
  • That explains so much! That sequence precisely parallels the decline in my appreciation of the Rama series. (I quite enjoyed Rama II, but by Rama Revealed I wished I'd just stopped with Rendezvous.)

  • I've always described Clarke's books to the uninitiated as not much happens, but there's a lot going on. Sadly Hollywood is guarenteed to choose action over sublety. I think we can look forward to the same treatment Starship Troopers received. I hope we don't get 90 minutes of buff astrostuds battling the very marketable maintenance spiders. OK I admit it, I'd buy one!

    I usually try to fool myself into thinking I should avoid screen adaptations of favorite books so as to avoid any lingering taint; of course I see them anyway. However, of all Clarke's books this is perhaps the most easily transferred to screenplay.

  • The first book was for art's sake, the rest were for money's sake. Blame the damned publishing houses.
  • wouldn't a "xenophile" be someone
    who "loves foreigners"?
    maybe xenophobia.
  • oops, I see what you meant.
    sorry.
  • I've seen the movie, but never played the game. I'm curious what you are seeing, sounds interesting, I did not notice it, but wasn't trying to find similarities either...

    And why has the message I'm replying to been mod'ed as -1?? Seems relatively on-topic to me.

  • I saw the site, it's pretty cool, but not even close to detailed enough to make it seem real. The landmasses seem too random, and the graphics really pixellated, but probably pretty good for when it was made. I'd like to see it rendered again with modern software/hardware!

    I'd do it, but have no idea where to start, being a telecommunication programmer rather than a graphics programmer.

  • It would be cool to have it be a high-quality series, done as well as Dark Angel or X-Files.

    I never thought of it being done that way - cool! :)

  • This was an excellent book (the rest were, OK). Its a VERY visual experience. Everything is large, no, HUGE. With current CGI they can do it justice. I just hope they dont bugger it up.
  • To fulfil this vision, we have assembled
    Revelations entertainment
    Arthur C. Clarke
    David Fincher
    Morgan Freeman
    Moebius


    Moebius! FANTASTIC! The movie will look GREAT!!!

    Too bad Stanley Kubrik is dead, though... :(

    (When are they gonna do the INCAL [comicsplanet.com] series in film???)

    --

  • On the one hand I have the same dread most people do when one of their favorite books is going to be turned into a movie. Especially since Clarke's books in general, and Rendezvouz With Rama in particular, are more thoughtful than action-packed. Hopefully they don't try to throw in anything that wasn't in the book.

    On the other hand, 2001: A Space Odyssey was in my opinion the greatest movie of all time. So who knows, this one might turn out halfway decent.

    2001 wasn't exactly action-packed either...

    --

  • I first heard about this movie at the end of 97. It was originally intended to come out December 31st, 1999! So this movie has been on hold for 2-3 years now. I don't expect it anytime soon. Which is a shame, as this would probably be my most anticipated movie of all time, and hopefully my most favorite movie of all time. The rama series, all 4 books, has been my favorite since I read the first one 15 years ago when I was like 7 or 8. I've have both the commodore game and the myst-like one. Both sucked at conveying the books, but they both weren't bad. My biggest worry is that the movie will try to target the mainstream audience. Most people (99%) would not get the concepts in the book. They would wonder why the aliens don't start shooting at the humans and attacking earth. I would like it to be as true to the book as you can make a movie, and sell like sh*t in the box office. that would be the best =)

    Nicodemus
  • From an interview with Gentry Lee in the January 1997 issue of SFX magazine:

    "RAMA II should be by Arthur C.Clarke and Gentry Lee, the Garden of RAMA should be by Gentry Lee and Arthur C. Clarke, and RAMA Revealed should be by Gentry Lee."
  • What a great blockbuster Cryptonomicon would make...!

    The movie could go into all the details of how wipe deletes data irrecoverably from hard drives, the Perl implementation of the Solitaire crypto, the way the window manager and keyboard were hacked to prevent shoulder surfing while the protagonist was in prison...

    Hell, If that's not a mass-appeal blockbuster, I don't know what is!

    (Okay, I'm done being sarcastic for the moment.)

  • Sorry if I am hammering away on what may turn out to be a very nice film but we have to wait *2* freaking years before we *may* see this! I really don't care right now. Tell me when it is 2 *months* from the screen and then I will get excited.

    Personally I am sick of hype for 2 years and then a final product that rarely stands a chance of standing on its own legs because of the "press machine".
    P/.
    --
    ************************
  • Nope.

    Fincher did do The Game, however he had nothing to do with Alien. He worked on Alien 3, as noted above. It would have been difficult for him to contribute to the original film, considering he was 17 when it was released (1979).

    Still not convinced? Check here: http://www.davidfincher.net [davidfincher.net]
    ------------------------------
  • Someone else may have mentioned this, but the design of the website and the language suggests that its not really being made as much as they're desperate for investors, too bad considering this is definitely one of Clarke's better books, would make a damn fine movie

    Monty Plourd
  • IIRC, the spider biots looked like big basketballs with three eyes sitting on top of 3 legs, with three whiplike arms (I kind of visualized them like the way that the two extra squid tentacles are).
  • It wasn't an ornithopter, it was a flycycle.
  • Warning: Teaser

    In the case of Rama, I would definately recommend people read the book before watching the movie. If we're lucky, then state-of-the-art graphics should prove to be an expidition. The complaint that the movie might ruin one's imagination is halfway offset by the several pictures within the books. I'm curious to see what was so awe inspiring about "New York City". But I can't wait to see the cynlindrical sea; Just imagine sitting on a boat with an entire ocean above and all around you, including waves...

    -Michael
  • *gleeful cackles*

    Rendezvous may be one of my favorite SF books ever. The imagery (which might turn out really well in a movie), the mystery, the adventure... damn, the man can write.
    The sequels, however, are most disappointing. While there are interesting concepts - like the octospiders - the rest of the saga as a whole is an unpleasant read. The mystery is essentially shattered, and not, in my opinion, very well. I think it has something to do with Gentry Lee's involvement. My theory is that Arthur C Clarke writes a good SF novel and gives the manuscript to Gentry Lee, who takes out all the best parts and puts in weird sex. String, mysterious powder, and a man "screaming like a jungle animal" have no place in a series with such a spectacular beginning. (also see Cradle for this phenomenon)

    I think Rendezvous will translate well into cinema. It was very much, to me, a book about this one concept, about the author's vision. That is a thing which can do well as a movie. Some authors have most of their strength in the writing itself (Terry Pratchett comes to mind), and those authors' books would make inferior movies. But Rendezvous With Rama is all about the alien spaceship... and that chilling final line.

    I just hope they don't try to make any book-based sequels...


    PS: Clarke's Imperial Earth is also a fascinating read. You'll be playing with those little puzzle pieces for days...

    -J
  • "Opening 2003, it will usher in the New Millenium of filmmaking."

    Maybe it'll also usher in a new "millenium" of spelling errors and powerpoint presentations!

  • While the original book was very good, they got worse as time went by. The last two were just plain horrible. I'd see a movie based on the first book, but I hope someone has the sense to spare us all the horror of any sequels.
  • While I wish them luck with this project, the book did not seem to lend itself to the big sreen in my mind.

    In my opinion, Asmimov's Foundation series would translate to the screen more easily. I'd love to see this on the big screen. Has anyone heard any rumors about this? At the very least, it would make a great mini-series.
  • Hmpf. I stick my head out here and say that RAMA has gone the same way as the 2001-series. Ever downhill. I mean, 3001 was pretty much a distaster, and Garden of RAMA pretty much so as well. True is that they three newer books do take a more "human" and "grander vision" angle. But ACC just isn't up to those tasks, his visions aren't grand enough to be told. Instead we end up with some shallow, predictable, and poorly written "serious" litterature. ACC is in his ante when he "hints" at grandeur as he does in 2001 and Rendevouz with RAMA. When he actually tries to show it all and has to describe the alien technologies previously hinted at they are never grand enough and his language never sharp enough to instill that sense of awe. It just feels so mundane. It's a bit like Star Wars. The Force was more interesting when abstract and hinted at than it was when they started to measure the concentration of some substance in people's blood. It just loses the drama.

    -

  • *pat pat pat*

    That's nice. You run along to your "real" science fiction authors, and leave the "mere sociologists" to those of us who appreciate it.

    Here's a gentle history lesson for you. Sociology mixed with possible future advancements is what science fiction (now quite often--and in my mind more correctly--refered to as speculative fiction)
    has ALWAYS been about. Good SF, anyways. Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke, Varley (hey, he's not that old!), le Guinn, and yes, Bear too. I haven't read anything by Neal Stephenson (yet!) so I can't comment, but I quit reading W. Gibson after his third novel proved to be just as second rate as the first two.

    If you're looking for whiz-bang Sci-Fi, go back and watch the Matrix again. Don't pay attention to the story, though--you might find that there (surprisingly) actually is one.


  • <p>Critics <i>panned</i> the movie? Apparently critics are idiots.

    <p>It's a very good adaptation of the book. In the few places where it's not 100% faithful, it's been changed to work well on the screen. Definitely worth seeing! In fact, that movie was the second date with the woman who eventually became my wife. (yes, she's a bit weird too :-) Ironically, A.C. Clarke himself called it 'the only science fiction movie ever made.' That was within the last decade or so.

    <p>Back to Harlan Ellison for a moment, he also wrote a brilliant screenplay for Asimov's "I, Robot" which sadly will probably never get made. THAT movie would change the mind of our original poster about the 'old sociologists.'

  • If they'll change the ending. The ending was very anti-climatic. Clarke made the anticlimax work well, but there's danger of it not carrying over well in movie form. Will they change it?
  • On the one hand I have the same dread most people do when one of their favorite books is going to be turned into a movie. Especially since Clarke's books in general, and Rendezvouz With Rama in particular, are more thoughtful than action-packed. Hopefully they don't try to throw in anything that wasn't in the book.

    On the other hand, 2001: A Space Odyssey was in my opinion the greatest movie of all time. So who knows, this one might turn out halfway decent.
    --
  • I rendezvous with Ramen every day at lunch.

    Does anybody else remember the computer game? I never played it, but I heard it was good?

    Tell me what makes you so afraid
    Of all those people you say you hate

  • if I'm a bit skeptical. I wasn't too impressed with Lucas's use of CGI. And if this thing's supposed to be almost entirely CGI based as the slide presentation states.. well we'll see.

    Morgan Freeman is a nice addition. It's been so long since I read the Rama series that I'm not sure who he'll be playing but you can't really go wrong with him in a movie. It's like casting Kevin Spacey. You know you'll get a good performance.

    It does tend to make you wonder what Stanley Kubrick would have done with it though.

  • Didn't the spider-type robots have 3 legs in the book? The artist drew one with 6. I hope this isn't an indication of how faithful the rest of the production is going to be. This was one of my favorite sci-fi books of all time and I'd hate to see it mulched into unrecognizability by Hollywood. ("Mr. Fincher, we marketing droids think that it's important to have a six-year-old boy and a dog in the cast. And can this take place in Altoona instead of outer space?")
  • Ok, I went to the Reveleations Ent. site (the producers of Rama (yay!) and I was glancing throuh their other upcoming projects (including "The Day no Pigs Would Die", and EXCELLENT book I might add) and Morgan fricken Freeman is in EVERY ONE! does he own this production house? seems odd to me... Anyway, just wondering if any one knows just how involved Freeman is in the project (i.e. getting it off the ground) As for a sequel, I hope they do them all, the Rama series is a powerful commentary on (wo)man's ego.
  • Oops :) read the rest of the site... Freeman is a founder of Revelations... there goes my Karma :|\
  • i really liked the first book... then again i was around 12 years old and liked pretty much anything containing words like "alien", "autodoc" or "artificial sun".

    but, sin duda Garden of Rama is the real winner of the series, partly because of its greater relevance to This Modern World of Ours. Rendez-vous is infused with all the tensions and militaristic reactions of the US-USSR Cold War era, which doesn't necessarily make it irrelevant; but it does make Garden of Rama a more important portrait of "spaceship earth 2000", especially as pertains to racial, religious, and economic conflict. it tells us something about ourselves, and i find this type of fiction much more interesting than, say, Ringworld, whose popularity puzzles me. yeah, it's a great big world with lots of mystery and potential, but the first book never did enough with that potential to make me care -- the "Luck of Teela Brown" twist was quite clever, but on the whole Louis was a little to swashbuckling for me.
    i mean, any five-year-old can come up with fantastic landscapes and jarring, surreal plot twists. if all i was after was mere stimulation of my imagination, i can put down the book, stare out the window, unfocus my eyes, and do it myself.

    anyway, it doesn't matter that much, because i think the other Rama books would be impossible to film. although come to think of it, they could make a great B5/DS9-type series. [i always liked DS9 more than TNG for the same reasons discussed above -- plus there wasn't enough conflict on TNG. aside from Dr. Pulaski, who got axed quickly, everybody pretty much sat around waiting for Geordi to tachyon-ize the Main Deflector for the zillionth time, while they spent the hour sucking Picard's Ethical Cock].

    that's why whenever these admittedly excellent sf books get made into movies i just don't go. the subtextual nuances that make characters interesting or enlightening don't translate to the screen, and the parts that do are boring.

    same thing with the upcoming LOTR. oh sure, Bakshi's rotoscope version may not do much for the modern audience, but his commitment to the spirit and literary merit of Tolkien's work cannot be denied. Check out this recent Interview from the Onion [theonion.com] to see what i mean:
    I heard that Boorman was taking the three books and collapsing them into one screenplay, and I thought that was madness, certainly a lack of character on Boorman's part. Why would you want to tamper with anything Tolkien did? So I approached United Artists and told them the film should be made in animation, and it should be made in three parts, because there's no way you can take the three books and condense them into one film. It's a physical impossibility. And here comes the horror story, right? They said fine, because Boorman handed in this 700-page script, and do I want to read it? I said, "Well, is it all three books in one?" They said, "Yes, but he's changed a lot of the characters, and he's added characters. He's got some sneakers he's merchandising in the middle." I said, "No, I'd rather not read it. I'd rather do the books as close as we can, using Tolkien's exact dialogue and scenes." They said, "Fine," which knocked me down, "because we don't understand a word Boorman wrote. We never read the books." They owned the rights, but they never read the original books.
    but i generally don't even understand the need to make a movie out of everything. it's the same thing as liking both Mocha Almond Fudge ice cream [bluebell.com] and Meat Lovers pizza -- and then thinking it would necessarily be tasty to pick the almonds out and throw them onto the cheese along with spicy sausage, pepperoni, romano cheese, tomato sauce, and hunks of carmelized fudge, then sticking it in the oven to bake. [there are certain to be a few who claim to like chunky, coffee-flavored pizza, but i think you get the idea].

    although our instincts may tell us otherwise, two goods do not always make a "gooder".

    ---
  • You will see one other before Rendezvous With Rama, tough. As previously posted on Slashdot here [slashdot.org], the movie based on Final Fantasy [finalfantasy.com] will be there soon (release in 2001). They seemed to have focused a lot on the characters' faces (see the amazing wrinkles animation on the web site). So maybe Rendezvous won't be so bad in 2003.

  • First Dune [slashdot.org], then Ender's Game [slashdot.org], now this -- I'm silently elated. Hard sci-fi movies are like evangelism for geeks. I mean, it would be better if everyone thought like Stanley Kubrick did and realized that rockets don't make any sound in outer space (2001), but I know we can't have everything.

    Anyone else know of other plans to start bringing "real" science fiction to the silver screen? I'd love to compile the definitive list.

  • I just re-read all of the Known Space novels, and I think that a movie would waste it.

    But one thing that might work would be a television series - one season involving everything from early exploration and failed Mars missions, The Belt, the Slaver, Protector, Gift from Earth, a Kzin war (not too heavy on this) and the purchase of Hyperdrive. Beowulf Schaefer stories, the introduction to Louis Wu, and then follow up with two movies - Ringworld, Ringworld Engineers, and leave it at that!

    A nice thing about the series is that it could build up the known space stories for everybody who hasn't read the series.

    I agree that Rama will turn out to be a cool film, but The Known Space stories would make an even better television series.

  • I'm lucky, I only read the original, and never bothered reading the rest. I found Rendezvous to be a really engrossing read: it had the awesome sense of scale (both time and physical size), and a deep mystery. I enjoyed playing the text game Planetfall for the same reason. Plus it had the ironic twist that I love in SF. It was like a long short story.

    I think this story would make a good movie: it's filled with potential for cool visuals, and it only needs a handful of actors. Perfect.

    The only problem is that putting big name actors in it will ruin it fer sure.

  • "Nothing too meaty here yet - mostly concept art."

    Taco intended this as a comment about the site, but it works even better as a comment about the book. Rama (especially the sequels, but even the first book) is the main reason I've stopped reading Clarke. Think about it, what's the plot: Some people explore a big can in space. No conflict. There's mystery, but the solution isn't given so no drama there. No characterization. Nothing except pure "Ooohh" factor.

    On the other hand, if the purpose is to attract crowds with special effects, I have to admit there's nothing in Rama that will get in the way of that...
    --
    MailOne [openone.com]
  • I feel certain this is just flamebait, but I can't help myself.

    Kid, the fact that your attention span is too short for Clarke - and probably Heinlein, Asimov, Dick, Lem, and the century's other great writers of science/speculative fiction - is no reason to assume that Snow Crash (or whichever of Stephenson's urban dystopia stroke books is your favorite) is automatically better.

    And what the hell is wrong with being a sociologist? At least such authors actually examine the human condition and comment on it, rather than the three-bong-hit gadget inventors who seem as though they must spend all day saying, "DUDE! Wouldn't it be so cool if, like, you could be on the Internet, like with swords and shit?"

    <rant>
    What is it with people who can't get their heads around fiction that moves at a more contemplative pace, or doesn't involve swords, guns, virtual reality, martial arts gurus, and oh-so-boringly-stereotyped, lone-wolf-with-a-cheesy-Jungian-dark-side male protagonists? I thought reading was supposed to encourage deep critical thinking, but more and more it just seems to be encouraging the TV generation in their degenerate mental habits.
    </rant>

    Anyway, if it's what you enjoy, get out the Vaseline and cue up Johnny Mnemonic and New Rose Hotel in your DVD player, kiddo - because that's the kind of crap cinema that comes from the flash-heavy sci-fi you think is so much better than the "old school" you like to dis.

    Call me back when they produce something as interesting as 2001

    OK,
    - B
    --


  • I have never once seen satisfactory blending between digital and real environments and the integration of actors.. only in Titan A.E. [afterearth.com] have I seen realistic environments created this way, and that was a cartoon!

    Even the slightest falsehood in lighting, texture or movement destroys the experience and makes me long evern more for the day when a fantastic, alien environment can truly be created digitally.

  • Doesn't the promo say CGI actors? If one is good enough, why not all? I suspect this project may be overreaching itself. Or may not even be well-formed yet, much less baked, as it seems to consist of some softfocus airbrush work at the moment.

  • Am I the only one that apreciated the last three books more than the first one?
    The first book was independent of the last three. Clarke wrote Rendevous first not even planning on writing sequels, but still leaving the door open by adding at the last minute 'The Ramans do everything in threes.' as the closing line. While being technical, the first book was empty, it was the final three that brought real human character to the series.
    Because they chose only to produce the first book, we will now have great CG shots, but not enough plot to keep most interested.
    I would love to see the insect creatures and their mana melons or the octo creatures that communicate with color more than the vast empty landscapes. The story of the self-destruction of the human colony is the real story here, finding a giant spacecraft and studying it is rather mundane for sci-fi. Scientist studying an immense metallic tube isn't as exciting as sex, violence, aliens and of course, the big tube.

    Read the books. (except for the first one, i didn't like it :))

  • What about Ringworld (Score:3)

    by KlomDark ( 6370 ) on Tuesday January 16, 2001 @05:41PM (#503453) Homepage Journal
    Rama was incredibly cool and mind-opening when I first read it. It could be a cool movie, but I think a lot of it was trying to imagine what it would look like. Moving to the screen means instead of my view I will see someone else's view. I hope it is good.

    On the other hand why has no one yet made a movie of Ringworld? Rama was the most complicated thing I could imaging until my concepts and mind were blown by Ringworld (Actual I read book #2 first - Ringworld Engineers).

    I heard once that there was a plan to make it into a movie back in the early 80's but it would require so much CGI (Like 2/3's of the movie) but at the time, the technology was not there, and the cost was too high.

    But now, the CGI part could probably be done in someone's home. The main cost would now be the normal filming parts.

  • Re:Moebius is perfect for this (Score:3)

    by Mr. Khan ( 20014 ) on Tuesday January 16, 2001 @10:30PM (#503454) Homepage
    Other interesting tidbits concerning Jean Giraud: Has worked on Fifth Element, Willow and (gah!) The Masters of the Universe movie. He is also an uncredited contributor to Blade Runner. ( see His Bio [imdb.com] )

    Close collaborator with Alejandro Jodorowsky, they were the original team that were hired to produce the Dune movie instead of David Lynch. Jodorowsky is one of France's more "exotic" author, known for his work in disturbing movies and phenomenal comic book writing. Jean Giraud has also done work with Marvel Comics on some Silver Surfer albums/issues.

    If any of you is interested in comic books as art, you will be fascinated with Giraud's portofolio. Go visit this site [lambiek.net]

  • Re:Wow... (Score:3)

    by Thornae ( 53316 ) on Tuesday January 16, 2001 @05:11PM (#503455)
    Well, if they'd thought about it, they would have put up three mirrors.


    ÐÆ

  • You believe in doing things the hard way, eh? (Score:3)

    by localroger ( 258128 ) on Tuesday January 16, 2001 @05:34PM (#503456) Homepage
    If you would like to experience what rendevous with rama is like and dont feel like going out and buying a book. I suggest you do a search for a commodore 64 emulator and try to find the game on the net.

    That would be oooooh so much easier than, say, finding the book at half.com or even gasp your local meatspace used book store or even shudder library.

    Actually, like all of Clarke's books (the ones really written by him, I mean, as opposed to the ones ghostwritten for him like all the Rama sequels) Rendezvous is very fast paced, almost clipped, with minimal characterization and each short chapter punctuated with a Clarkeian "twist." If a gamer would enjoy any book of such a length at all, this would be the one.

  • They got whom? (Score:3)

    by Dancin_Santa ( 265275 ) <DancinSanta@gmail.com> on Tuesday January 16, 2001 @04:49PM (#503457) Journal
    Moebius? I'd hate to see how long this movie is going to be...

    Hey, I think I just saw that part... Only in mirror image!

    Dancin Santa

  • This is obviously a made up rumor (Score:4)

    by roystgnr ( 4015 ) <roy&stogners,org> on Tuesday January 16, 2001 @06:42PM (#503458) Homepage
    I mean, c'mon, you expect me to believe that the same guy directed both Fight Club and Alien 3?

  • Moebius is perfect for this (Score:5)

    by PCM2 ( 4486 ) on Tuesday January 16, 2001 @05:01PM (#503459) Homepage
    Moebius is an artist who pioneered French comics in the 1970s and early 1980s, with his involvement with the magazine Metal Hurlant. If that sounds vaguely familiar, it's because an American version of the magazine concept was launched later, called Heavy Metal, and it reprinted a lot of translations of Moebius's comics.

    Born Jean Giraud, he is most famous in Europe for his Western character, Blueberry, whose exploits Giraud signs with his given name. Blueberry still appears in various ongoing series of graphic novels.

    In the US, however, Giraud is most widely-known by the pseudonym Moebius. He is the author of many popular comics stories in the science fiction genre, including the Arzach series, as well as The Airtight Garage, which was used as the inspiration for the video arcade in San Francisco's Sony Metreon entertainment center.

    Moebius has also done production design work on some science fiction films, including Alien, Tron, and The Abyss. The latter was a rotten movie, but it had a visually interesting version of what alien spacecraft and technology might look like. Should work well for Rama.

    See? You can learn something new every day.

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