Space Hamilton w/ cats

January 10, 2018 7:34 PM

In a recent interview Brian K Vaughn and Fiona Staples bucked the trend and said they weren't interested in an adaptations of their comic Saga, but there's one exception... if Lin-Manuel Miranda wants to make a musical out of it.
posted by Artw (29 comments total)

I feel like everyone is so excited to see him turn anything into a musical that whatever anyone pitches makes it more unlikely for it to get done. But who knows I guess.
posted by bleep at 7:57 PM on January 10, 2018

If you draw a Venn diagram with 'people that love Saga' on the left and 'people that love Hamilton' on the right there's probably a razor-thin crescent on the far left of people that just, y'know, can't really get into the whole Hamilton thing regardless of how much every. single. one. of their friends is, like, so into it, and maybe these people honestly tried, they checked it out from the library and read up on it in advance and gave it a listen and everything and it just isn't for them.

so anyway all I'm saying is you wouldn't want to disappoint those two (or three) diehard pro-Saga anti-Hamilton fans now would you? You might be losing out on ... I don't want to exaggerate but it could be tens of dollars.
posted by komara at 8:20 PM on January 10, 2018 [10 favorites]

Who is Saga? (or is this something one would need a Janeane Garofalo to know the answer?)
posted by ActingTheGoat at 9:08 PM on January 10, 2018

Oh my GOD though. I can't even... it's... seriously, I can't imagine what it would be like but I would absolutely 100% take out a second mortgage on my house to find out.
posted by potrzebie at 9:28 PM on January 10, 2018 [3 favorites]

Who is Saga? (or is this something one would need a Janeane Garofalo to know the answer?)

West Side Story In Space: The Comic Book.

It’s really, really good.
posted by Itaxpica at 9:34 PM on January 10, 2018 [8 favorites]

If there's gonna be a Saga, the Musical, I just DON'T want it from the same people who brought us Cats.
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:15 PM on January 10, 2018

I will accept a version of Hamilton with the addition of Lying Cat to every scene.
posted by Joey Michaels at 10:18 PM on January 10, 2018 [16 favorites]

If you draw a Venn diagram with 'people that love Saga' on the left and 'people that love Hamilton' on the right there's probably a razor-thin crescent on the far left of people that just, y'know, can't really get into the whole Hamilton thing

I'm kinda curious about the people on the other side of the diagram. Maybe they didn't care for Ex Machina and they're reluctant to take another chance.
posted by Iridic at 10:25 PM on January 10, 2018 [1 favorite]

Lin is already doing The King Killer Chronicles, so why not some comic book stuff too?

Although, at this point he's probably booked out on projects for 10+ years.
posted by sideshow at 10:29 PM on January 10, 2018

Lying Cat is only allowed to sing "Lying!" In a powerful opera voice.
posted by benzenedream at 10:43 PM on January 10, 2018 [19 favorites]

"Michelle Yeoh is a popular choice for Klara though, and I’m 100 percent onboard for that."

Yes. Yes. Yes! I have also always somehow read Klara as Michelle Yeoh.
posted by Hicksu at 10:43 PM on January 10, 2018 [4 favorites]

so anyway all I'm saying is you wouldn't want to disappoint those two (or three) diehard pro-Saga anti-Hamilton fans now would you? You might be losing out on ... I don't want to exaggerate but it could be tens of dollars.

Now I know how it feels to be a conservative on Metafilter.
posted by tavegyl at 1:39 AM on January 11, 2018 [5 favorites]

Could someone please explain Saga to me as though I'm someone who reads so quickly that comic books simply flash by too quickly to permeate his memory and no he doesn't slow down to look at the pictures thank you?
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 4:06 AM on January 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

Could someone please explain Saga to me as though I'm someone who reads so quickly that comic books simply flash by too quickly to permeate his memory and no he doesn't slow down to look at the pictures thank you?

Ummm... Romeo and Juliet, in space. But no suicides, lots of murders. And a hitman, and a baby. And the royals are people with TVs for heads that show a bit about their personality.

And drugs. And people who have their lives ripped apart by war, and need reminded they're still people. And revenge, a lot of revenge. And a seal guy, that's cute.

And a cat that can tell when you're lying, and tells everyone in earshot.
posted by DigDoug at 5:05 AM on January 11, 2018 [8 favorites]

Saga is a sci fi series about two lovers from opposing sides of an intergalactic war who have a kid together and have to flee constant attempts by their homeworlds to kill them. It takes place in a galaxy straight out of Fifth Element, but also there's a lot of violence, but also meditations on love and war done with love and humor. It's gorgeous and sad and addictive and hopeful.
posted by emjaybee at 5:23 AM on January 11, 2018 [5 favorites]

My bad eyes first read the title as "Scott Hamilton w/ cats" - but that sounded interesting, too.
posted by lagomorphius at 5:35 AM on January 11, 2018 [3 favorites]

I'm generally grumpy about the musical-ization of everything, but this would actually make a dang good musical. One or two hat tips in the direction of "West Side Story" wouldn't be a bad thing, if they didn't go overboard.

I'm racking my brain trying to think of what The Will would sing, because I've kind of latched onto him as a quiet favorite character. Dude doesn't emote well at all, and so there are opportunities there like in "The World's End" to reveal things about him through his attempts to conceal. Also I'd love to see the world's first musical with a giant naked spider lady who's also a hitwoman.

Oh, god, an entire song where the lyrics are all just the word "lying".
posted by middleclasstool at 5:50 AM on January 11, 2018 [3 favorites]

I could definitely see an epic duet with Lying Cat, with a couple of times where, surprise, she answers with a blank stare or a head tilt instead of a "lying!"
posted by Foosnark at 6:36 AM on January 11, 2018 [6 favorites]

I'd prefer Saga to just be Saga but... I would like a Hamilton style musical of the Fifth Element. I'd give money for a Kickstarter for that.
posted by Ashwagandha at 6:51 AM on January 11, 2018 [2 favorites]

I was just idly wondering what needs to happen to relaunch the Saga FanFare, due to my pathological need to yell about Saga on the internet. It's so good!
posted by torridly at 7:01 AM on January 11, 2018

Lin: hey so i wrote this inspirational play because I read a long history book about it and it just happened to come at a time in my life when I needed it so it fomented up here in this noggin for a very long ti-

the world: ADAPT THIS NEXT, YOU HAVE 2 WEEKS
posted by runt at 7:05 AM on January 11, 2018 [4 favorites]

I was just idly wondering what needs to happen to relaunch the Saga FanFare, due to my pathological need to yell about Saga on the internet. It's so good!

My wife a few months ago: "Someone was talking about this Saga comics thing today. Have you heard of it?"

Me: "Please have a seat."
posted by middleclasstool at 7:52 AM on January 11, 2018 [6 favorites]

I was just lamenting this morning that Saga didn't click for me considering it seems to be exactly my jam. Maybe trying to read it while caring for a baby in my family isn't a great way to enjoy it.

I guess I would be on that far right of the Venn diagram of people who are down with Hamilton but can't really get into Saga no matter how many friends tell me how good it is or how often I've flipped through the trades and wanted to dig it.
posted by Tevin at 7:59 AM on January 11, 2018

I was just idly wondering what needs to happen to relaunch the Saga FanFare, due to my pathological need to yell about Saga on the internet. It's so good!

Oh god sorry it me.

I might just post the most recent volume and go from there, though I still have to catch up with the most recent volume. Doing it volume by volume seemed like a good idea, but there's the weird lag in that people are trying to remember all of the bonkers things that happened that they read about four years ago.
posted by dinty_moore at 8:01 AM on January 11, 2018

No need to apologize, dinty_moore, I was mostly delighted that the FanFare existed in the first place! I read 1-5 in my childhood bedroom over xmas thanks to my little brother's great good taste, then grabbed 6-7 from the library as soon as I got back home. I think posting vol. 8 and maybe working back from there would be a good strategy!
posted by torridly at 8:27 AM on January 11, 2018 [2 favorites]

> I guess I would be on that far right of the Venn diagram of people who are down with Hamilton but can't really get into Saga no matter how many friends tell me how good it is or how often I've flipped through the trades and wanted to dig it.

You and I should totally hang out and have absolutely nothing to talk about.
posted by komara at 8:39 AM on January 11, 2018

Lying Cat is only allowed to sing "Lying!" In a powerful opera voice.

I imagine this is what she does in the comic, too.
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:00 PM on January 11, 2018

Sure Lin could do it but there's a much more obvious choice for a romantic space war musical- but then Rebecca Sugar's very busy for a hopefully long time and I'd rather nobody distract her with complicated new projects.
posted by fomhar at 10:34 PM on January 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

Posted a fanfare thread for Saga volume 8 here.
posted by dinty_moore at 7:30 AM on January 15, 2018 [1 favorite]