'Rendezvous With Rama' - The Movie 147
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.
Re:gravity-o-matic (Score:1)
This should be good because... (Score:1)
Boy, that was fast. (Score:1)
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Joe Hamelin
Re:No sequel to this... (Score:1)
Re:Part one of a trilogy.. (Score:1)
great post
great post
great post
Re:Wow... (Score:1)
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Re:What about Foundation??? (Score:1)
They already did the Mule saga. It was called "The Usual Suspects."
Re:Rendez-vous! (Score:1)
Re:What about Foundation??? (Score:1)
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...
Re:Rendevous? (Score:1)
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,
Re:Wow... (Score:1)
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Re:Niggers and Sci-Fi Don't Mix (Score:1)
Rama is fine... (Score:1)
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You didn't read it carefully (Score:1)
Part one of a trilogy.. (Score:1)
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Mission statements (Score:1)
Re:You'll pardon me... (Score:1)
Re:Indeed (Score:1)
Seems only fair... (Score:1)
... 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.
Re:Moebius is perfect for this (Score:1)
The Director's cut cleared up all of the confusion (and probably added at least 45 minutes to the running time).
Artists concept of the spider (slight spoiler) (Score:1)
Re:What about Ringworld (Score:1)
Go, ./ (Score:1)
=)
Re:You'll pardon me... (Score:1)
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?
Re:Artists concept of the spider (slight spoiler) (Score:1)
Re:Wow... (Score:1)
Had My Hopes Up (Score:1)
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Ditch Clarke, lets see Stephenson instead. (Score:1)
Please, Clarke is old school, a sociologist. Let it rest.
I wanted to explode, but I was too tired.
Re:hmmm (Score:1)
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
Re:Ditch Clarke, lets see Stephenson instead. (Score:1)
Re:Ditch Clarke, lets see Stephenson instead. (Score:1)
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.
Re:You'll pardon me... (Score:1)
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.
really don't know (Score:1)
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).
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how will they end the film (Score:1)
So how will they end the movie to satisfy Joe A Citizen
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Re:Niggers and Sci-Fi Don't Mix (Score:1)
Re:how will they end the film (Score:1)
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).
Re:What about Foundation??? (Score:1)
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.
Re:What about Ringworld (Score:1)
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
Re:What about Ringworld (Score:1)
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
Re:Rama? (Score:1)
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
Re:Why Morgan Freeman? (Score:1)
-J
Yah... (Score:1)
-J
I concur most heartily (Score:1)
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
Re:Rendevous? (Score:1)
Re:No sequel to this... (Score:1)
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.
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Re:Moebius is perfect for this (Score:1)
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.
Re:Excellent! (Score:1)
Re:Ditch Clarke, lets see Stephenson instead. (Score:1)
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.
Re:hmmm (Score:1)
Re:You believe in doing things the hard way, eh? (Score:1)
Indeed (Score:1)
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.
Re:No sequel to this... (Score:1)
Re:Niggers and Sci-Fi Don't Mix (Score:1)
who "loves foreigners"?
maybe xenophobia.
Re:Niggers and Sci-Fi Don't Mix (Score:1)
sorry.
Known Space ripoff (Score:2)
And why has the message I'm replying to been mod'ed as -1?? Seems relatively on-topic to me.
Re:What about Ringworld (Score:2)
I'd do it, but have no idea where to start, being a telecommunication programmer rather than a graphics programmer.
Re:What about Ringworld (Score:2)
I never thought of it being done that way - cool! :)
Excellent! (Score:2)
The team (Score:2)
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???)
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Re:hmmm (Score:2)
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6 years in the making! (Score:2)
Nicodemus
Re:You believe in doing things the hard way, eh? (Score:2)
Are you KIDDING? (Score:2)
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.)
2 years? (Score:2)
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/.
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Re:credits -- that's not quite right (Score:2)
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]
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Too Bad Its Only A "Coming Soon" (Score:2)
Monty Plourd
Re:Artists concept of the spider (slight spoiler) (Score:2)
Re:Will they show zero-gravity breasts? (Score:2)
Re:Visual depiction of mind opening (Score:2)
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
Yaaaaaay (Score:2)
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
I hope it will.. (Score:2)
Maybe it'll also usher in a new "millenium" of spelling errors and powerpoint presentations!
No sequel to this... (Score:2)
What about Foundation??? (Score:2)
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.
Re:Rendevous? (Score:2)
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Re:Ditch Clarke, lets see Stephenson instead. (Score:2)
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.
Re:A Boy and His Dog go to the movies (Score:2)
<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
<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.'
you've got to wonder... (Score:2)
hmmm (Score:2)
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.
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Re:Rama? (Score:2)
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
You'll pardon me... (Score:2)
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.
Did the artist read the book? (Score:2)
WTF? (Score:2)
Re:WTF? (Score:2)
without 2-4, Rendezvous is just a meatless sketch (Score:2)
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: 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".
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Re:Complete digital environments (Score:2)
Yes! More hard Hollywood sci-fi! (Score:2)
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.
Re:What about Ringworld (Score:2)
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.
Re:No sequel to this... (Score:2)
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.
You've got to be kidding! (Score:2)
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...
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MailOne [openone.com]
"Old school"? I'll school ya, boy... (Score:2)
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
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Complete digital environments (Score:2)
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.
Why Morgan Freeman? (Score:2)
Rendevous? (Score:2)
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)
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)
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)
ÐÆ
You believe in doing things the hard way, eh? (Score:3)
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)
Hey, I think I just saw that part... Only in mirror image!
Dancin Santa
This is obviously a made up rumor (Score:4)
Moebius is perfect for this (Score:5)
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.