The frogurt is also cursed...
October 4, 2005 11:37 AM   Subscribe

So, there will be a movie made from the video game Halo , which is bad. But it's being Exec. Produced by Peter Jackson, which is good.
posted by jonson (71 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Didn't they already do a movie?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401747/
posted by Smedleyman at 11:41 AM on October 4, 2005


If I were Iain Banks I'd be pretty pissed right now.
posted by LukeyBoy at 11:48 AM on October 4, 2005


I'm confident this will be worthy of the erection I so proudly sport.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 11:48 AM on October 4, 2005


Iain Banks lives the life of Gods. If he really wanted to make a blockbuster, I'm sure he would have done it.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 11:49 AM on October 4, 2005


Exec Produced just means money and deals. So Jackson floats the project, fine, and in all actuality I can see a B-grade SciFi action flic based on it.

But unless he uses a more liberal usage of the term Exec Producer -- he doesn't really have any hand in the movie outside of picking a show runner?

Ah well. That Red vs Blue stuff is some damn funny teenage boy stuff. And by that I mean destruction and sexuality jokes aplenty.
posted by cavalier at 11:49 AM on October 4, 2005


I understand Executive Producer to mean The Only Guy On Set Who Can Tell The Director What To Do.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 11:50 AM on October 4, 2005


I remember when they used to make a movie and then make a game based on the movie. Oh how the times, they are 'a changing.

By the way, anyone have any idea how good or bad the Doom movie is?

LukeyBoy, why would Iain Banks be pissed about this?
posted by fenriq at 11:50 AM on October 4, 2005


fenriq, as an example the first Culture novel "Consider Phlebas" has a giant ring-world in it. Called "Halo".
posted by Pretty_Generic at 11:51 AM on October 4, 2005


jonson: "The frogurt is also cursed.."

Homer: [worried] That's bad.
Owner: But you get your choice of topping!
Homer: [relieved] That's good.
Owner: The toppings contains Potassium Benzoate.
Homer: [stares]
Owner: That's bad.
Homer: Can I go, now?
posted by Plutor at 11:55 AM on October 4, 2005


But when are they going to make a film of the Wasp Factory?
posted by Admiral Haddock at 11:56 AM on October 4, 2005


Plutor, God Bless you. Sometimes you just have to throw these things out there and hope someone catches.
posted by jonson at 11:57 AM on October 4, 2005


If I was Larry Niven I'd be pretty pissed right now.
posted by GuyZero at 11:58 AM on October 4, 2005


Man, all these FPS movies... When they make a Half Life movie it better have a mute Gordon Freeman.
posted by TwelveTwo at 11:59 AM on October 4, 2005


While I didn't like Halo, I liked Marathon (its precursor on the Mac), and unlike other video games, these have an extensive mythology and backstory associated with them. Check out ... there are like 300 pages of text from the terminals, riddled with... well, riddles, and references and such.

This is, however, no consolation to me - I am sure this movie is going to be terrible.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 12:02 PM on October 4, 2005


Pretty_Generic writes "I understand Executive Producer to mean The Only Guy On Set Who Can Tell The Director What To Do."

I think it's pretty unusual for an Executive Producer to set foot on the set. It's usually just a catch-all title given to someone who has some role in getting money to the production. Those who are in charge of getting funding and managing production are usually just called "producers".

It's impossible to gauge Jackson's level of involvement on the basis of an Executive Producer credit. It could mean just about anything.
posted by mr_roboto at 12:02 PM on October 4, 2005


It's great that Peter Jackson is involved so he can throw his weight around.

Uh... on second thought and, yes, I know this is OT... Just do this: click first thumbnail of the bearded - but non-bespectacled - one.
posted by hal9k at 12:04 PM on October 4, 2005


Holy shit. The man's a legend.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 12:06 PM on October 4, 2005


Here's the trailer. I suspect gamers will like that "in the game" camera angle but non-gamers will grow tired of it pretty quick.
posted by Ber at 12:10 PM on October 4, 2005


hal9k: "Uh... on second thought and, yes, I know this is OT... Just do this: click first thumbnail of the bearded - but non-bespectacled - one."

HURF DURF SALADEATER (Holy crap he's lost a lot of weight. That's astounding)
posted by Plutor at 12:12 PM on October 4, 2005


I plan to buy a copy of The King Kong Diet as soon as it's published.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:26 PM on October 4, 2005


fenriq, as an example the first Culture novel "Consider Phlebas" has a giant ring-world in it. Called "Halo".

Did not. It had a more-or-less normal-sized Orbital called Vavatch.

Lord knows I should get it right; Eschatologist is always going on and on about it. "How's things, Big E?" "Oh, fine, but not nearly so exciting as when I fragged that Orbital. Did I ever tell you about that?" "Where you headed, Eschy?" "Over to the sector ZZ9 plural Z alpha, right past where Vavatch used to be... did I ever mention that it was me that demolished Vavatch?" Fucker's chattier than a damn GCU.

I don't think IMB would be pissed. If a Halo movie does well, that might be a useful push for a project to make Consider Phlebas (or The Player of Games which is IMHO more film-friendly). And at least he'll get to see an Orbital on the big screen.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:27 PM on October 4, 2005


The whole videogame-to-movie phenomenon is absurd. Games aim to be interactive movies; so, now movies are hoping to become noninteractive games?

BlackLeotardFront is correct. Halo was more interesting when it was Marathon.
posted by ToasT at 12:34 PM on October 4, 2005


I hope they learned their lesson from James Cameron's experience, in which he failed to credit the immense influence of Harlan Ellison on the Terminator film* and give pre-emptive credit to Iain Banks. But I beleive, unlike Cameron, the game designers freely admit Banks' influence.

*Terminator basically consists of "Soldier" from the Outer Limits, and "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream", both by Ellison.

ROU_Xenophobe, I blame your mother.
posted by George_Spiggott at 12:39 PM on October 4, 2005


So... lets see, Doom is made and distributed easily but complex, and potentially great movies such as Tideland has to fight to get distributors.

Guess that final 10% of the human genome makes us ugly and stupid?
posted by edgeways at 12:40 PM on October 4, 2005


GuyZero, Ringworld is going to be produced as a mini-series on SciFi.
posted by alumshubby at 12:41 PM on October 4, 2005


Hopefully Ringworld won't be as lame as their Earthsea series.
posted by octothorpe at 12:52 PM on October 4, 2005


Or their Riverworld series, etc.
posted by ToasT at 12:54 PM on October 4, 2005


No complaints from me regarding anyone's involvement in making the Halo movie so long as the names Uwe Boll, Michael Bay, and Jerry Bruckheimer keep away from it.
posted by riffraff at 1:04 PM on October 4, 2005


Such low standards.
posted by dydecker at 1:16 PM on October 4, 2005


RED VS BLUE: THE MOTION PICTURE
in the future, things are very shiny
posted by ZachsMind at 1:18 PM on October 4, 2005


He's lost over 70 pounds, which is a great thing. He's back to looking like he did in the Bad Taste days. No more OT for me.
posted by so1omon at 1:40 PM on October 4, 2005


ROU_Xenophobe, I blame your mother.

Aw, she had nothing to do with it. I'm Just Another Victim of the Ambient Morality
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:42 PM on October 4, 2005


RED VS BLUE: THE MOTION PICTURE
mental note: don't ever get shot.
posted by ZachsMind at 1:52 PM on October 4, 2005


war can be a harsh mistress.
posted by ZachsMind at 1:55 PM on October 4, 2005


Bow-chicka-bow-wow
posted by ZachsMind at 1:55 PM on October 4, 2005


On my first play through Halo, I honestly couldn't believe how much it lifts straight from Consider Phlebas - everyone points to the Halo itself blatantly being a tiny Orbital, but everything else in the game is a sort of neutered, down-teched Culture reference. The Covenant are mini-Idirans (complete with gibbering mini-Medjels!), Cortana's a (very) mini-Mind, Guilty Spark is the unholy offspring of a Culture drone (possibly Flere-Imsaho) and C3P0...

I'd say I was amazed you could turn such an obviously derivative property into a film without, y'know, some sort of trouble, but then The Island was basically Michael Marshall Smith's Spares and nothing seems to have come of that...

ROU_Xenophobe (Xeny?), just the thought of The Player of Games as a film makes me really really irrationally happy. That or Use of Weapons.

And frankly, I'm Ravished By The Sheer Implausibility Of That Last Statement.
posted by terpsichoria at 1:59 PM on October 4, 2005


If the film's secondary characters don't scream at the protagonist that he's a noob and should go back to playing the Sims, it will all be a lie.
posted by Spacelegoman at 2:00 PM on October 4, 2005


how many want to place bets they'll cast David Cross as one of the marines? talk about commitment to the source material!
posted by NationalKato at 2:12 PM on October 4, 2005


Hopefully Ringworld won't be as lame as their Earthsea series.

I don't know. The Sci Fi Channel seems to be much more comfortable with hero in space dramas than Taoist parables wrapped in fantasy novels.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 2:12 PM on October 4, 2005


I keep reading that as Ringworm.

Now that's a subject ripe for filming.
posted by ciderwoman at 2:35 PM on October 4, 2005


As BlackLeotard mentioned above, Bungie's earlier story work was really fantastic. If you want to get a taste of their style, all the story content (presented to the player in the form of terminals spread through the levels) has been recreated online, and has been picked through with extremely extensive analysis and commentary.

It's all available (and still being updated!) here.
posted by heresiarch at 2:48 PM on October 4, 2005


Ultimate Ship The Second. That's my favorite Culture ship name.
posted by geekhorde at 3:04 PM on October 4, 2005


I second the desire for a movie based on Banks' Wasp Factory. Still one of my favorite dark novels.
posted by fenriq at 3:37 PM on October 4, 2005


Ah well, Hollywood suffers from an ethics gradient anyway.
posted by Divine_Wino at 3:38 PM on October 4, 2005


It'll be another fine product from the nonsense factory.
posted by terpsichoria at 3:47 PM on October 4, 2005


terpsichoria, thanks for the Frank Exchange of Views. I may be Helpless in the Face of Your Beauty.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 4:21 PM on October 4, 2005


So I say to the guy, How're you going to get the tank down to the planet? And he goes, I'll just put it on the ship. And I go, if you've got a ship that can carry a tank, why not just put guns on the ship and use it instead?
posted by ZachsMind at 4:27 PM on October 4, 2005


Aww, and you're Charming But Irrational.
posted by terpsichoria at 4:33 PM on October 4, 2005


It's like we're real MeFites
posted by ZachsMind at 5:01 PM on October 4, 2005


As far as I can tell, the BBC adaptation of The Crow Road is only available in PAL format. The feature version of Complicity is available in region 1 NTSC though for some goddamn pathetic reason it's been renamed to "Retribution". Shades of Stephen Fry's book "The Stars' Tennis Balls" getting renamed to "Revenge" for the U.S., or the mystifying decision by the American publishers of Harry Potter to the effect that "Sorcerer" was a safer word for American kids to hear than "Philosopher". Though I daresay it they're more likely to have heard it.

I'm Just Another Victim of the Ambient Morality

Or could it be the fault of your Prosthetic Conscience?
posted by George_Spiggott at 5:26 PM on October 4, 2005


Wow, I've played Halo and I've read Consider Phlebas, but I never put the two together. I guess I forget the book somewhat, I'll have to read it again.

But I don't think IMB--while brilliant--was the originator of the concept. Larry Niven created the "Ringworld" series (of which I've only read a couple, so I don't know if it's similar to Halo). And there's John Varley's absolutely insane Titan, Wizard, and Demon trilogy. Not quite a ringworld, but a massive spoked wheel. Great SF.
posted by zardoz at 5:55 PM on October 4, 2005


Orbitals are unique in that they also solve the day/night cycle without needing shadow squares or eternally-dark areas or windows or any of that jazz. Orbitals are not-quite-edge-on to the sun and are the right size so that a rotational period of 1 Culture day gets you an apparent force of 1 Culture gravity.

Elemagant.

As far as I can tell, the BBC adaptation of The Crow Road is only available in PAL format.

Remote-hacked Philips 642 does it just fine in the US.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:09 PM on October 4, 2005


The list of Culture ship names.

I always liked: GCU Just Read The Instructions
posted by blahblahblah at 8:09 PM on October 4, 2005


I think the nice thing of all this, being that WETA is on board for the special effects. After the LotR Trilogy and King Kong I'm confident they can do well enough with the effects to make more than a B movie. The dedication that we've seen so far from them alone, would make Halo: The Movie worth a look.

All geekdom and fan favorites aside, they really are pulling out the stops on this project it seems. I'm going to keep an eye on this one.
posted by JakeEXTREME at 8:43 PM on October 4, 2005


Do I sense cameos from the RvB guys?
posted by The Cardinal at 10:30 PM on October 4, 2005


Do I sense cameos from the RvB guys?

I hope so. I watched all of those in one sitting, for the first time, a few months back, and was greatly amused.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:21 PM on October 4, 2005



Aww, and you're
Charming But Irrational.
posted by terpsichoria at 4:33 PM PST on October 4 [!]


You May Not Be The Coolest Person Here.
has to be my fave. There's a whole conversation using ship names in Look to Windward.
posted by juv3nal at 12:50 AM on October 5, 2005


ROU_Xenophobe: I'm certain that a ring named Halo is mentioned in passing in an Iain Banks novel, and I'm pretty sure it's in that book. I'll hunt it down and get back to you.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 4:46 AM on October 5, 2005


Hey, if they do a RINGWORLD movie, will they include in the frequent practice of inter-species diplomacy through penetrative sexual intercourse, rishathra? Snigger.

Love Larry Niven, but his depiction of human relationships is sometimes a bit odd. Best SF ever, though, and it's not like I've ever written any books...

Does the Halo have the sun at the centre and spin round it (RINGWORLD), or just revolve some way off (Culture Orbital)?
posted by alasdair at 5:42 AM on October 5, 2005


It's like an Orbital.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:01 AM on October 5, 2005


What're they talking about?
posted by ZachsMind at 7:40 AM on October 5, 2005


Larry Niven wrote a very famous science fiction book called RINGWORLD. It featured a loop around a star, spun to keep it taught. You live on the inside of the loop, which has big sides to stop the air falling off. This is hard science fiction: it's soft-of possible, if you can imagine coming up with the raw material to handle the stress.

Ian M. Banks wrote a series of novels called the Culture novels. They featured loops on which people lived, but they didn't go all the way round stars and the air was held in with forcefields. This is space opera: the forcefields are "magic", you just accept they're there.

I think the Ringworld is cooler. Given that ROU Xenophobe is a sentient spaceship in the Culture books I suspect s/he'll disagree. On the other hand, just writing "s/he" highlights the interesting stuff in the Culture books, which is the social and political commentary. They revolve around a kind of uber-Liberal galaxy-wide communist civilisation and its interactions with other, less enlightened cultures and the necessary compromises and losses that come out of that. Niven books are more fun (in my humble opinion) because of the insanely cool but just vaguely plausible hard science-fiction aspect, but his human characters are often a little suspect.
posted by alasdair at 10:43 AM on October 5, 2005


You can't pick up chicks in a website.
posted by ZachsMind at 12:05 PM on October 5, 2005


You can if the website lets you control a robot arm. Then you can pick up chicks and fling them against the wall until they agree to be your girlfriend. Or until they go *PEEP*, if they're that kind of chick.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:12 PM on October 5, 2005


the end is near. the great destroyer has arrived. the end is near. the great destroyer has arrived. the end is near. the great destroyer has arrived.
posted by ZachsMind at 12:21 PM on October 5, 2005


Larry Niven's hardly above "magic" tech, even in his so-called hard SF: the puppeteers have ships with indestructible hulls, the slavers had stasis fields, the ringworld could shoot ultramegagiga death lasers out of the sun, etc etc. He's pretty old-skool, a late version of the chemical-rocket fueled space opera era in which they were still trying to write SF extrapolating only minimally from known tech and science. Banks wanted to write about galactic civilization so he created a sufficient level of technological development to make that possible and reasonable, and doesn't make the mistake of trying to explain it.

Oh, and the ringworld needs a very elaborate and fragile kludge to keep it from eventually scraping against the sun sooner or later, as it would have no particular tendency not to. The Orbitals, being, well, orbital, don't. And with high enough ringwalls and Niven's own "unreasonably strong material", they wouldn't need force fields either. /geekout yes, I actually do have a sex life thank you
posted by George_Spiggott at 1:07 PM on October 5, 2005


I forgot to add that you could also use the robot arm to pick up Jack Chick and smush him into paste as you crow to yourself, "HAW HAW!"
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:50 PM on October 5, 2005


But what if the robot arm is smelly? Where are we going to get enough Right Guard?
posted by ZachsMind at 2:34 PM on October 5, 2005


Resistance Is Character Forming
posted by noizyboy at 5:03 PM on October 5, 2005


Fair point on the magic tech: after all, Niven has faster-than-light drives. My argument would be that Niven uses the FTL drive to get the characters to somewhere where the plot - usually a process of discovery - revolves around a vaguely plausible scientific concept. In Banks's fiction it's about the society and people, and the science/technology is a backdrop.

The ringworld instability problem could be regarded as a kludge: on the other hand, his solution - stabilising ramjets on the rim using the solar flux to keep the ring stable - seems plausible. Less so the enormous solar death ray...

I'm married.
posted by alasdair at 8:19 AM on October 8, 2005


Bussard Ramjets suck. There. I said it. Goodbye all that wonderful Knownspace Sci-Fi written by Pournelle/Niven for an entire era...

although my favourite Niven/Pournelle book was "Oath of Fealty" - Evolution In Action would make a swell name for A Very Fast Picket aka ROU (demilitarised)...
posted by longbaugh at 10:20 AM on October 8, 2005


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