Sci-Fiction Channel To Do Myst Miniseries

E1ven writes "The Sci-Fi channel and Cyan have just announced that they are collaborating on a miniseries based on the MYST series of computer games and novels. If they can combine the story of the books with the depth of their Dune series, this could be a great watch."

Comments

Game/Film conversions

[sdflkgfljdqshgjkqsfg]

is it just me or do some others feel that game/movie conversions (whichever way) are most of the time pretty lame. Get a good game (Street Fighter II was an arcade hit, that's one of tons of examples), make a crap movie out of it. Movie to game conversions are a lot more common yet suffer from the same problem IMHO. Rarely have I seen a good Movie/Game combo. Thoughts?

Re:Game/Film conversions

[tsa]

I agree. If they want to do this right they have to put in a lot of efford and money. I hope this comes to Holland so I can see it though.

Re:Game/Film conversions

[Anonymous Coward]

Except the Myst world actually had an excellent plot. There were three Myst books published, and they were all a surprisingly good read. The makers of Myst created the Myst world first, then decided mediums to express it through (games, books) afterwards, so it's not like they are trying to stretch the Myst game into a movie (I don't think there was enough story in the Myst game to do so). This is more akin to a book being made into a movie. I would recommend checking out the books, they are very well done. I am looking forward to their results.

Re:Game/Film conversions

[Acideous]

Goonies 2 was a great video game (a classic even) for the NES that was loosely based on a sequel that was never filmed.

This concept should be attempted more often.

Re:Game/Film conversions

[igrek]

How about "Pac-Man: The Thriller" ?

Re:Game/Film conversions

[Kyzia]

..but PacMan is so much more than a mere thriller - it's a soaring roller-coaster of a tale, encompassing addcition, persecution, vengeance, struggle against almost overwhelming odds and even romance (in the form of Mrs. PacMan) With the right director, writer and cast, this could be next years' 'Beautiful Mind'

Re:Game/Film conversions

[Xenographic]

Yeah, isn't that the one they blame with starting the idea of 'raves'?

How else would people have come up with the idea of munching pills in the dark while listening to techno music? ;)

Re:Game/Film conversions

[Kalabajoui]

I don't know if I'm the only one, but AVP (Aliens vs Predators) was an ecellent game. While it wasn't based directly on either of the movies, it was solidly grounded in the fictional AVP universe. The use of sound, lighting, weapons, and attention to detail gives AVP an authentic and exciting feel. Played on directer's cut, the missions can at times get keyboard-smashing hard.
(at least for my keyboard smashing friends) The ability to play as a Predator, Colonial Marine, or Alien gives you three games in one, while the inability to save in the middle of a mission adds an uncommon and challenging flavor to the gameplay. (Though their is a patch that enables saving now; I won't use it.) I'd highly recommend AVP to any FPS enthusiast.

Re:Game/Film conversions

[The Purple Wizard]

is it just me or do some others feel that game/movie conversions (whichever way) are most of the time pretty lame.

Try this.
First you had SimCity 2000 with the following disasters:-
1) Alien attack.
2) Volcano.
3) Tornado.

Then you had the following movies:-
1) Independence Day.
2) Volcano; 2.1) Dante's Peak.
3) Twister.

Notice a pattern? Personally, I didn't mind Independence Day although Twister did suck. Crichton's first Razzie, wasn't it?

Re:Game/Film conversions

[Masem]

If I had my druthers, there would be two games that I would love to see as movie conversions: Marathon and Half-Life. Half-Life is one of those that, sure, would probably end up as popcorn-flick, big-budget summer blockbusters, but there's enough interesting turns in the plot that it wouldn't simply be the same-old-same-old for 2hrs. (However, there's only one person that could play Gorden and that's Charlie Sheen, and I'm too thrilled on his acting for such a film...:-). Marathon has way more than enough plot for a few hours, and would even have to be condensed to fit into a good sci-fi/thriller catagory.

Re:Game/Film conversions

[Damalloch]

You wouldn't happen to know if David Wingrove is involved in this at all? He co-wrote the novels (with the Myst creator?) and he also wrote the rather excellent Chung Kuo series. At some point I'll get around to reading those Myst books and if all the recommendations flying around here are anything to go by, they'll be pretty good. On a similar note, at some point Mr Wingrove will get around to writing another book...

Re:Game/Film conversions

[Anonymous Coward]

To be honest, I'm not sure, really... It would be neat if he was.

Re:Game/Film conversions

[ProfKyne]

Except the Myst world actually had an excellent plot.

In fact, I remember reading a Wired article a few years ago where one of the brothers (Robin Miller) who created Myst expressed an interest in moving away from video games specifically because narrative was so difficult to achieve in a game.

It was Miller's fascination with storytelling that nudged him in the direction of film. Halfway through the making of Riven, he began to envy an asset every kung-fu flick and airport potboiler has over interactive games: the ability to reveal the turns of a narrative in set sequence, with no multiple-choice fates or clickable cul-de-sacs.

(http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.10/miller.ht ml?pg=2&topic=&topic_set=)

So the decision to make a mini-series probably stems from this.

Re:Game/Film conversions

[nooboob]

I don't know, I really enjoyed Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within *ducks rotten tomato* I know most people thought it sucked, but it was about what I expected, great looking, thin Square plot..... And it seems comic book to movie conversions are pretty decent, why can't video games make the leap? I think Dues Ex would be a great,fun movie. I think one problem is films based on video games change the story abd characters too much to try to appeal to a wider audience, and lose the fans who really give a damn.

Re:Game/Film conversions

[Giggles Of Doom]

Granted, there are a lot of movies made based off games that are crap. But then, look at all the ones that WEREN'T based on that are crap! Would Tomb Raider have been better if it was called "Dig Deep" or something and the main character was named Maria? Granted, TR was not a "good" movie, but it was a fun movie. The problem, I think, with game movies is everyone already has an impression of what they think it should be like. Its the same as reading the Tom Clancy novel first, and then seeing Clear and Presant Danger. Its not going to be as good because you already know the story. Same with playing the games. I never played Tomb Raider, but I had fun watching the movie.

Re:Game/Film conversions

[flacco]

is it just me or do some others feel that game/movie conversions (whichever way) are most of the time pretty lame.

It seems the movies are always targeted toward little kids.

When you play a computer game, there's more "mental interpolation" going on by the player to fill in the conceptual blanks. When someone makes a movie, they have to adopt *someone's* point of view - and most often, for game conversions, that's a kid's point of view.

Case in point: I think an adult sci-fi movie (or even series) based on MechWarrior or Heavy Gear would be great - could be a futuristic, post-apocalyptic "code of the warrior" kind of film that tries to imagine what such a world would actually be like. Instead, it would almost surely be a "i like when robots fight!" kid's movie.

Re:Game/Film conversions

[mobets]

I'd like to see something from the Mechwarrior series. There are quite a few good books, and FASA has a very well developed world to work with.

Re:Game/Film conversions

[Beowulf_Boy]

NO!!! Jeff Goldblum will play Gorden Freeman, and thats it!

mini series?

[Anonymous Coward]

mini series? wtf? who creates mini series these days? a movie or a long repetitive boring series, but a mini series? what has this world come to?

Myst

[Anonymous Coward]

What the fuck is Myst anyway?

"Corporate image may require the implementation of filters for abusive language at some point in the future..." -CmdrTaco on IRC

a brilliant post

[snoozebutton]

resident evil was pretty good..

That's great!

[10Ghz]

"If they can combine the story of the books with the depth of their Dune series, this could be a great watch."

Yeah, and if the series is as exciting as the games are, it will serve as a great tool to kill yourself with boredom.

Re:That's great!

[squaretorus]

But it would be such a pretty way to go... oooh! look at the SKYYYYY!!!

Re:That's great!

[FrostedWheat]

Combine that with the Dune TV series and you've got a deadly combination!

The most memorable moment from it was the cardboard backgrounds .. you could see the paint strokes!! I've seen better quality on most 60's Sci-Fi shows.

Or maybe they where *trying* to get that look... but that wouldn't explain netter digital's nice renderings

Star Control 2

[phunhippy]

I think what most people would love to see would be a series done on the great game Star Control II..

Seriously.. who else would love to see shofixti(sp?) running around on our TV screens getting whipped to death by Ur-Quan.

ahhhhh memories..... and the guy wrote babylon 5 should write the series... that would be perfect!

Re:Star Control 2

[Anonymous Coward]

"most people" would like to see this would they? That would mean more than 50% of the population.

You're a fucktard. Go die somewhere.

Re:Star Control 2

[phunhippy]

I take it your in the half that would'nt then :)

Re:Star Control 2

[angelo]

I just want them to pronounce mrmnhrm for me.

Re:Star Control 2

[Genom]

...that way we could finally find out if the "fish guys" (sorry - can't remember what they were actually called) actually DID eat the Androsynth... =)

Re:Star Control 2

[Jonathan_S]

...that way we could finally find out if the "fish guys" (sorry - can't remember what they were actually called) actually DID eat the Androsynth... =)

The ORZ.
want to *dancing* in *slippery space*?

Re:Star Control 2

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you thinking of J. Michael Strycynski? (I'm positive I mangled the spelling of his last name.) He's working on his series Jeremiah, on Showtime.

Re:Star Control 2

[Winged Cat]

Didn't they actually pronounce it in the voice-overs of Star Control 3? I think it was, "mmurn-mmurn",
or something like that.

Re:Star Control 2

[Bodrius]

Star Control II? bah! I want a mini-series based on STARFLIGHT!

Endurium dealers, Spemin politics... I want to know how did the Ulteck ally with the Gazertoids, did the Elowans know about what happened to them, and how did the Ancient Ones manage to make ruins if they're just sitting rocks in the first place?

Re:Star Control 2

[OgdEnigmaX]

Sure. Pick on the race that annihilated itself to save itself from the Ur-Quan. Sicko.

Myst Ministries?

[Anonymous Coward]

At first, I read the post as Myst Ministries... as in religion. I was glad to see I was mistaken! (c:

Myst as miniseries?

[Blikkie]

Hmmm, I have to admit that game- to movie usually doesn't make a high-quality movie (take Tomb Raider, interesting view but no storyline worth mentioning), but Myst won't just be a computergame worked out, since there were Myst novels already (never read them, are they any good?) so in that case it will be more like Dune. Anyway, to get back to what I expect and hope: I expect Myst the miniseries will continue to show the stunning graphics we already knew from the game. At the same time I hope they will try to create an interesting storyline that will bring something new, even for seasoned Myst-players. I am curious though how they will treat the most important feature of Myst: puzzles. I think they should honor the legacy of Myst by keeping a puzzling kind of element in it while I hope at the same time that the won't spoil it all by replacing storyline with puzzles.

Sincerely,

Remco

Re:Myst as miniseries?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, the novels were excellent.

Re:Myst as miniseries?

[squaretorus]

The fact is that most TV is essentially crap - so this will probably be crap aswell. However. The basic puzzly elements present in Myst are there in a series like "24" which is on episode 5 or 6 in the UK justnow. From episode to episode you get a bit further through the wider plot with little mini puzzles "whats the senator not telling his wife? who kidnapped tha daughter". Its reasonably compelling stuff.

Puzzles are where its at. This COMES FROM puzzles. This SHOULD be good.

Re:Myst as miniseries?

[The trees]

This follows (if I may be permitted to name this after myself) Simon's Law:

1. Video games made from movies suck.
2. Movies made from video games suck.

The exception to the rule is of course Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Re:Myst as miniseries?

[joekool]

to know the answers to your questions, you will want to go to my site, but the cable modem is not working just now, so you'll have to try tomorrow.

Re:Myst as miniseries?

[amuro98]

Eh? TMNT came from a (far superior) comic book series, which then spawned an very-toned down cartoon, which then spawned the successful arcade game and its SNES(?) port.

Another counterpoint to your "law" is that the first Mortal Kombat movie wasn't bad. It wasn't a great work of cinema, but it was a good fun movie. Unfortunatly the subsequent MK movies were awful.

I'm still waiting...

[carm$y$]

MYST (4-hour miniseries) - Inspired by the best-selling CD-ROM adventure game of all time [...]

I'm still waiting for the miniseries inspired by my 2 all-time favorites, tetris and lemmings... :)

Re:I'm still waiting...

[Acideous]

I'm still waiting for the miniseries inspired by my 2 all-time favorites, tetris and lemmings... :)

Well, the problem with this is if the director accidently forgot to save that digger lemming towards the end, and his whole cast would end up stuck walking back and forth infinitely in a dirt pit. Thus, the miniseries would NEVER END!

P.S. Speaking of lemmings, geekiness, and TV, does anyone rememember a 1985 Superbowl TV ad by Apple showing a bunch of IBM/clone execs walking off a cliff blindfolded? No? Death to you all under the age of 17!

Re:I'm still waiting...

[k_187]

it was 1984 and it was the first macintosh commercial. It was only shown twice, once for the superbowl, and once somewhere in idaho so that it could be eligible for a cleo.

Re:I'm still waiting...

[ipxodi]

Actually, the first comment was correct.

The 1984 SuperBowl commercial by Apple featured "Big Brother" on a giant screen lecturing the grey, anonymous IBM "clones". An athlete wearing white and red runs in, chased by "police" figures and throws a huge hammer through the screen.

The "IBM Lemmings" commercial was a different one.
See these links for details:
Big Brother
Lots of Apple Ads

Re:I'm still waiting...

[ipxodi]

Sorry, mis-typed.
Just to clarify:
The 1984 commercial was "Big Brother". 1985 was "Lemmings".

Re:I'm still waiting...

[JimPooley]

Well, the problem with this is if the director accidently forgot to save that digger lemming towards the end, and his whole cast would end up stuck walking back and forth infinitely in a dirt pit. Thus, the miniseries would NEVER END!

Oh yes it would. The miniseries would go out with a bang as all the cast shout "Oh no!" and die in a nuclear holocaust....

Re:I'm still waiting...

[OptimizedPrime]

Umm... you want people to recall a 1985 commerical... and you claim death to everyone under 17. Thus, they would have to have been born, and able to remember things, like Bean in Ender's Shadow, or Shadow of the Hegemon. And this wouldn't seem odd to you, unless you could do it like the cast of Ender's Game... Oh good lord no, this must mean the Buggers are coming!

Movies out of games

[blacktar]

The first movie made out of a game (that I know of), was Robocop 3, and it certainly set a trend. (It sucked, badly). Anyway, I'm not certain that a mini series (or movie) could caputre the spooky, still image, all-alone-in-a-strange-world feeling that is Myst.

Re:Movies out of games

[iainl]

Robocop 3 was a film script before it was a game, its just that the film sucked so hard it got delayed, re-edited, re-shot and generally left down the back of the fridge until they snuck it out well over a year later than originally planned.

Re:Movies out of games

[Phil Wilkins]

IIRC The delay was due to the Orion Pictures going down the tubes.

Looks like being an exciting series.

[ringbarer]

Four hours worth of rendered still images, the only entertainment being wondering where the hand's going to point next.

Re:Myst books

[mclearn]

I read the books. They're not too bad. It's interesting that there are three of them (that I have -- they may be more, but I haven't seen them) and that they all work backward in time. The final passage of the first book is the opening monologue of the first game.

Lovely

[Vidmaster_Steve]

Oh, just fucking WONDERFUL. A show based on the most boring game ever made! Hurrah! SIGN MY ASS UP TO WATCH THAT, BABY! So, let me see, SF is axing Farscape, producing another series of the abysmal Lexx and a Myst series... Fuck, I thought my girlfriend leaving me was the worst news of the week.

Anybody want to bet that this is Cyan's attempt to wrest the "Most sold game ever" crown from the pointy heads of those irksome, lamer-than-Everquest Sims? Actually, it makes some kind of perverse sense. Cyan shits out a crappy, licensed show to push more copies of their horrible-horrible interactive slideshow (allegedly, some people called Myst a "game" I have no idea how anybody could confuse the two) into Wal-Mart electronics department aisles.

Re:Lovely

[Anonymous Coward]

abysmal Lexx

Hey, don't dis Lexx!

Some of us like such weird scifi that doesn't even pretend to take itself seriously, is dripping sex (both hetero-, homo- and just plain out weird sex) and just makes the conservatives and puritans in general mad.

Re:Lovely

[balthan]

SF is axing Farscape

Except Farscape hasn't been cancelled. Season 4 begins in June.

Re:Lovely

[Anonymous Coward]

Silly troll, maybe you should READ THE BOOKS FIRST. The game didn't convey much plot, but the three Myst books were excellent. The Myst world was created first, then they decided on ways to express it (books, movies), so it's not like the books are trying to capitolize on the games popularity. Anyway, there is TONS of plot in the Myst world, and it will make an excellent miniseries.

Why myst?

[MarcoJROM]

Myst is such a dialogue-free game, all it was about was exploring. At most, the series would just have a cinematography value.

How about instead do a Monkey Island miniseries?
Ghost ships, talking skulls, and monkeys! Plus it had PLENTY of witty dialogue. What more could you want on scifi?

...but then who would they cast as threepwood and who would play elaine?

Re:Why myst?

[Anonymous Coward]

..but then who would they cast as threepwood and who would play elaine?

mulder and scully!

Re:Why myst?

[Anonymous Coward]

Myst is such a dialogue-free game, all it was about was exploring. At most, the series would just have a cinematography value

Myst has plenty of dialogue:

"Bring me the red pages!"

"Don't listen to him! Bring me the blue pages!"

Re:Why myst?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, Myst-the-game had very little dialog, but Myst -the-books were packed with excellent storytelling.

Re:Why myst?

[Gehenna_Gehenna]

That's the 2nd best post I've ever seen.

NOTE: only moderate me down if you've played the Monkey Island games. Bit of an inside joke/running gag.

Re:Why myst?

[Anonymous Coward]

Myst is such a dialogue-free game, all it was about was exploring. At most, the series would just have a cinematography value.

Yes, why doesn't somebody make a movie out of the SICP Adventure Game? You already have one memorable quote:-

Dulce et decorum est pro computatore mori!

Re:Why myst?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because strangely enough it's the best all time seller of video games. Until the Sims came along that is... Why Not Myst? Here's another article from gamespot that discusses the Myst miniseries on SciFi.

Re:Why myst?

[MarcoJROM]

even if myst was a "best all time seller" video game, that doesn't mean it will make a good movie.Look at movies like "mario bros." , "street fighter" "mortal" kombat", etc. which many critics declare as "flops", and I'm no critic, but I just don't think the silver screen was their best arena. The only thing that gives myst a possible chance in the video arena is the fact that there is more "content" outside the game, not how well gamers enjoy it.

so unless they throw in a pair of controllers so that the viewer can interact, it would be premature to predict how ANY video game-> movie will do.

Who cares...

[Acideous]

... when you can watch other people play video games, or watch TV about video games, or maybe even pop open that closet of yours, reinstall Myst, and click through a bunch of stills again.

I'd rather play Zork again.

Re:Who cares...

[esper_child]

>I'd rather play Zork again.

that isn't saying a whole lot. Zork was probly one of the best games ever made. The only games that were more fun to play were also in the IF catigory. However if this is about the Myst books it could be good, as those were pretty good (unlike the rotten DooM books . The video games were pretty bad, infact I think they started the standard that games don't have to be good to sell a crap load of copies.

Now I would love to see a movie/series made out of the Zork series (Beyond would be great to see a movie of) or maybe Lurking Horror. Honestly i don't see why they don't pick games like that.

Re:Who cares...

[mobets]

Stills? Go to your local Computer store and pick up realMyst. Think of running around in a real time rendered environment. And you can go pretty much any where you want on the islands, insted of being limmited to the paths. Just make sure you have a decent video card...

Re:Who cares...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah it would be cool to see Lord Dimwit Flathead!

Ha!

[Anonymous Coward]

If they can combine the story of the books with the depth of their Dune series, this could be a great watch."
Correct me if I'm wrong but we are talking that crap Dune series where they got a good bit of the story wrong the casting was ludicrous and they managed to make a really great book mind numbingly boring. Oh I can't wait

Re:Ha!

[CodeMonkey555]

I believe I was able to watch a grand total of thirty minutes of that crap series before popping in the David Lynch calssic and returning to a happy stupor.

Re:Ha!

[Macrobat]

No, that was the David Lynch version you're thinking of.

Wow, sounds like fun!

[Colin Bayer]

[ The movie opens with a long shot of a gear set into a grainy wall. ]

Guy #1: What the f**k am I supposed to do with *that* thing?

Guy #2: No f**king clue.

Guy #1: Screw this, I'm leaving to play Quake3.

Guy #2: Me, too.

Can't compare to Dune

[The LowTech Swede]

I shudder at the thought of a TV series based on Dune, the computer games. Think about episode after episode with hordes of nondescript soldiers and vehicles flogging it out in a repetitive desert environment. Budget would be really low since lots of episodes would take place in the exact same locations as well. I would think Myst sucks even more as a basis for a TV series than the Dune games. Discaimer: I LIKE the Dune games, and I like Herbert's books and I also like Lynch's Dune movie. My primary dislike of the TV series was that it didn't have as clourful characters and actors as Lynch's epic work.

Re:Can't compare to Dune

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, Lynch's work was fantastic.

TV series was dire

Re:Can't compare to Dune

[Anonymous Coward]

Indeed. Lynch may have taken his share of liberties.. But there was actual passion behind the acting.

For me, Patrick Stewart will always be Gurney Halleck.

Atomics! Long live Duke Leto!

Re:Can't compare to Dune

[kasparov]

I couldn't agree more. When I first heard about the Sci-Fi Dune mini-series I thought, "Wow, just imagine how much charater devolpment they can do in six hours!" I was extremely excited. Hell, you never even figure out what a Mentat is in the Sci-Fi version. You barely have any idea who Paeter or Thufir are. And don't get me started on how whiny and weakly they portrayed Jessica. I mean come on! A Bene Gesserit who bawls uncontrollably and gets morning sickness? Morning sickness!? My god, these are the women who have complete control of their body and can determine the sex of their offspring? You don't think that they can keep from puking up their breakfast because of a pregnancy?

No matter what you think of Lynch's version, it had more character development in 2 hours and 17 minutes than Sci-Fi could pull together in 4 hour and 25 minutes. I agree, it was the biggest movie disappointment for me--ever.

Re:Can't compare to Dune

[maxpublic]

The movie version of Dune blew. Just plain sucked to high heaven. Reeked like 3-day-old roadkill, with second-rate actors and third-rate special effects.

By comparison, the SciFi version was a work of genius.

Max

Re:Can't compare to Dune

[captaincucumber]

Yeah, the SciFi mini-series made me realize how good Lynch's was. Lynch absolutely nailed the characters, but in the sci-fi version, i kept thinking things like, "that's not what Paul Atreides was like in the book!"

Anyway, Lynch's version was however, very inaccessible to people who didn't read the book. Everyone I know who isn't into scifi (but had seen Lynch's Dune) absolutely hated it. The sci-fi channel Dune, though, was much easier to follow, if you didn't read the book, you could still enjoy it.

Puzzles in miniseries

[TuringTest]

That implies you'll have to push-push-drag-spin the TV buttons to see the next scene?

Book of Atrus

[PimpNinjaWannaBee]

I've just started reading the Book of Atrus (the first book (cronological) in the Myst series) and the first 50 or so pages were a bit boring but after that its starting to get my attention. Havent played the games though. As for the Dune-miniseries; if its the one that's approx. 4.5h long I think it rocked!

great idea!

[mmusn]

We can watch a lonely guy run around punching codes into combination locks for four hours. Wait, on the other channel, they are showing grass grow. I think I'll rather watch that.

Re:great idea!

[SDrifter]

Huh? You mean running around as in motion? No way they'd try that.

Re:great idea!

[jmcwork]

But just wait till they release the book of cheat codes. You go into 'god mode', skip through all the boring scenes and commercials then change the ending of the movie to something that makes sense.

Re:great idea!

[snStarter]

>Wait, on the other channel, they are showing grass grow. I think I'll rather watch that.

That's a pot farmer's security camera you're watching, dolt! Put down the pipe and engage man, engage!!!

Of course you're also right...

Don't you dare slander God!

[Anonymous Coward]

haha, stoopid troll, made you look!

Their Dune series?!?

[dlc3007]

Maybe a Myst movie could have a chance -- provided that the production has NOTHING to do with their Dune movie. Considering the astoundingly poor acting, total abandonment of the concept of water management (key on a desert planet), and poor green-screen technique, I barely made it through the movie once and have yet to watch the video tape I recorded during the broadcast. I'll probably watch the Myst movie if/when it comes out, but my expectations aren't very high. They should stick with the traditional series concept.

dune series sucked

[mshurpik]

If they can combine the story of the books with the depth of their Dune series, this could be a great watch.

Just because it was six hours long doesn't mean it was deep. They threw in a generous amount of plot to satisfy the soap opera audience, and they cheesed pretty much everything else.

The casting of Paul Atreides was particuarly galling. It was like, "OK, we need to cast a military hero of mythic stature. Let's cast around Hollywood for the most gay and ineffectual actor we can find."

Sci-Fi channel is crap that my granny of a mom watches. Cleopatra was the only thing they had going in recent memory.

Re:dune series sucked

[teaserX]

>The casting of Paul Atreides was particuarly galling. It was like, "OK, we need to cast a military hero of mythic stature. Let's cast around Hollywood for the most gay and ineffectual actor we can find."

No shit. Talk about 'Dude, where's my Weirding module'. LOL

Re:dune series sucked

[maxpublic]

I often find that people who use the word 'gay' as an insult are ineffectual, impotent little boys whose attempts at masculinity are generally met with derisive laughter by the fairer sex.

Max

Re:dune series sucked

[Anonymous Coward]

that's not what your mom said

"Sci Fi Presents..."

[Masem]

"...the first TV show run at 1/24 FPS!"
</joke>

But...

[wiredog]

Will it have the same quality of acting as the Dune series?

Re:But...

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry to say this, but SciFi Dune miniseries were really, really crappy. I recorded them planning to watch over and over ... and over, you know - Dune, but never did this.

Myst should translate well

[chazzf]

Myst was an impressive achievement for its day (1993), in terms of graphics and gameplay. It was fun, it was nice to look at, and it was, at times, quite challenging. Anyone else slave away trying to match tones on the rocket ship?

I notice lots of people are saying "games don't turn into movies, this will suck," and I would have to disagree. Myst isn't a game in the traditional sense. It bears as much resemblence to Tomb Raider or Resident Evil as a water pistol to Kalashnikov. Myst is a story, an interactive story, and thus ought to move better to the big/small screen. There were Myst novels, after all.

As I see, the difficulty will be in creating true character interaction when the game had practically none. Unless, of course, you just want to have interplay between Artus and the main character, but then it would feel like some sorry fantasy Charlie's Angels rehash (so what did the voice in the book say this week?)

~Chazzf

Re:Myst should translate well

[Neon Spiral Injector]

Anyone else slave away trying to match tones on the rocket ship?

I had a Gravis Ultrasound at the time, since it was a wavetable synth I could hear the sample looping. I just matched looping speeds rather than tones (to which I'm deaf).

Re:Myst should translate well

[redink1]

Myst is a story, an interactive story, and thus ought to move better to the big/small screen. There were Myst novels, after all.

There were Doom novels too. 'Nuff said.

Re:Myst should translate well

[Anonymous Coward]

Also, what needs to be realized, is that there is a chronology involved here. Loosely, it's as follows:

Book of Ti'ana (2nd book, 1996)
Book of Atrus (1st book, 1995)
MYST (Game, 1993)
Riven (Game, 1997)
Book of D'ni (3rd book, 1997)
Exile (Game, 2001)
Myst Miniseries (SciFi, 20xx?)

The miniseries is supposedly the discovery of D'ni years later, which is what the above revolves around. By then, the characters would be long dead, so we wouldn't run into any of them. And this miniseries (IMO) is a great springboard to Cyan's next "secret" project, which should hopefully arive in a year or two, following the broadcast of the series.

That a whole lot different than a remake of a slideshow game :)

NightShift6

Re:Myst should translate well

[wilhelm]

The first puzzle I ever solved in Myst was the rocket ship. A friend had been playing for weeks, and couldn't get the ship to work. I sat down, and 3 minutes later, the ship was off! Perfect pitch really is a curse, but it helped in that one instance. :)

Re:Myst should translate well

[Anonymous Coward]

Myst was an impressive achievement for its day (1993), in terms of graphics and gameplay.

Impressive for graphics perhaps, but gameplay?

Myst was one of the most painful "story-oriented" games I tried to struggle through.

Ron Gilbert had already reached near-perfection in the artform with LucasArts' Monkey Island, released three years before (1990), with puzzles that actually integrated into the story and the game world. It had good character interaction, parallel threads, a proper three-act structure, and so many other good things it's beyond compare (well, until Monkey Island 2, Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango and so on).

Myst had good timing - everybody just wanted something to show off their "multimedia PC" with its CD-ROM.

Certainly, Myst continued the trend of interesting experimentation that the Miller brothers were already showing with their Manhole game for the Mac, but it totally disregarded the existing innovations and maturity in the adventure game genre. Since for so many consumers it was the only "adventure" (well, story-oriented) game they played, a lot of people believe it killed the genre (for now).

Credit where credit's due, but let's not forget the true masterpieces that didn't get all the publicity!

Re:Myst should translate well

[Phil Wilkins]

The trick I used was to count the notches in the control.

Re:Myst should translate well

[Happy Monkey]

Hush your mouth. No, there weren't.

Re:Myst should translate well

[KagakuNinja]

Due to sound card incompatabilities, it was impossible for me to even understand what the rocket ship puzzle was supposed to be about. I forget how I worked around it, but I remember being quite pissed off at the time...

Re:Myst should translate well

[PMAvers]

Not necessarilly (on the "dead" comment). Remember, the D'ni live a *lot* longer than normal humans. We're talking about 200-300+ years, if memory from the books have survived. It's still a good possibility that they're alive & kickin'.

Dune

[benh57]

Agreed, scifi's dune series rocked. In my opinion it is much better and more watchable than the original Dune movie. It's also longer, so that you can actually understand more about what is going on. And of course the effects are far better.

great...

[Drunken_Jackass]

I get to waste 400 more hours trying to figure out the sequence of buttons on my remote that'll let me change the channel and watch something else!

dune sucked

[oogoody]

hope they can do better this time.

And to really make it like the game..

[kvn299]

If you want to change the channel while watching, you'll need to coordinate the button pushing on your remote control with special musical tones...

I thought that was over?

[Elvis Maximus]

"...the depth of their Dune series..."

I read that three times and I don't get it. I thought April Fools' Day was over, yes?

Myst had a good backstory

[Saint Fnordius]

The charm in Myst was the entire backstory (hey, I even read that mediocre "Book of Atrus" novel!), where the whole Myst concept was actually more like "Stargate", but it was left open as to whether writing the book created the world, or found a world that matched what it described.

The conflict between Atrus and his father, his sons turning into power-mad tyrants, and his wife's crusade to free her people--all of that is good seeds for stories. It also has a detailed culture, the D'Ni, and would give the protagonist more of a chance to carry on a dialogue with Atrus, and develop a personality of his/her own. Atrus could also become more active, other D'Ni could appear, and so on...

However, a TV-Myst could also become a "mileu of the week" show, and that could get bland quickly.

I guess we'll have to wait for more details.

Re:Myst had a good backstory

[nmx]

Obviously you didn't read either of the next two Myst novels, The Book of Ti'ana and The Book of D'ni. The D'ni did not create the worlds they wrote; they merely linked to a worlds that matched the ones they described. And other D'ni DID appear in the Book of D'ni, where they started to rebuild the society.

Was it just me...

[Muad'Dave]

or did most if not all of the pronunciations of words in the Sci-Fi channel's version change? It was as if they decided to move the syllabic emphasis around for fun. Perhaps it was because the producer/director was a non-native English speaker and we were used to the original version. Just a thought...

Chani (chAHnee) -> chAInee
feydakin (faidAHkeen) -> fuh DYKE en

AHA! I have another brilliant idea!

[xeeno]

Lemmings: The tv series.

The Sims

[DdJ]

So what cable network should air the movie version of "The Sims"? HGTV?

already been done

[Anonymous Coward]

They already did one on the Zork series.

Doesn't anyone remember?

You can't change the channel.
You can't change the channel.
There is no remote control here.

But the point we are overlooking is....

[Anonymous Coward]

MYST sucked ass...it is the worst computer game I have ever played (and yes I played them the first one all the way through). You want preaty pictures and no game plot...then play Encarta.

Damn

[wiredog]

Forgot the tags again...

SciFi has a bad trackrecord with this

[oakbox]

> If they can combine the story of the books with the depth of their Dune series, this could be a great watch

This is some kind of joke, right? SciFi's handling of Dune was attrocious. I wouldn't let them near another sacred cow with a 30 meter miter.
They should just stick to playing Star Trek spinoffs. -oakbox

dune series??

[NightEyez]

What Dune series? All I saw was the fist Dune book, which I thought was very good. Seems like the SciFi channel has been promising a lot but not delivering. They also said they were gonna finish the Dune books and make the Ursala LeGuin books into movies. Whenever I swich on scifi channel all I see are second rate horror movies that didn't even make it at the box office.

SciFi's Dune Sucked! (Was:Can't compare to Dune)

[DBman]

SciFi's Dune was the biggest dissapointment of the whole millenium for me. It just plain reeked.

Technically, it follows the first book more closely than Lynch's, but that's not necessarily a good thing. Lynch took liberties with the film because he had to in order to make a good film. He knew what he was doing. The jokers who made SciFi's version are the media's equivilent of paper MCSE's. They got hired because they went to film school or whatever, but couldn't film their way out of a wet paper bag.

Lynch's version RaWkEd, even if it is a different story, it just stands by itself as a fantastic film.

that's my $0.02 anyway

I could not resist...

[bomek]

"the depth of their Dune series, this could be a great watch."

I really hope you are joking, their dune serie totally destroyed my imagination...

Imagine when it comes out on DVD

[ShaggusMacHaggis]

Imagine when it comes out on DVD...."tone" puzzles and "maze" puzzles just to unlock the 1st and 2nd chapters for viewing...

The Longest Jouney

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

Now that game would make a great movie.

A great watch?

[Anonymous Coward]

"this could be a great watch."

Uh... No, A rollex is a great watch.
This series might be a great series TO watch.

Sci-Fi's Dune

[ptrourke]

If they can combine the story of the books with the depth of their Dune series . . .

You must mean the shallowness of their Dune series, which was the only film version of a book that could possibly make me appreciate David Lynch's Dune. Sci Fi's take on Dune was a disaster; after 40 minutes I was hoping someone at the network would regain his sanity and interrupt it with a Farscape rerun. Better to spend the 4 hours rereading (as much as you could in 4 hours) the book.

Hopeless

[Anonymous Coward]

The Dune miniseries sucked ass (especially compared to the original Lynch film), despite having Frank Herbert's brilliant books as a resource. All Myst has is a half-baked story from a bunch of hacks. The chance of it suceeding is quite slim, especially if anyone remotely related to the Dune miniseries works on it.

---

Anonymity is freedom!

I Hope To See Lots About D'ni History...

[Lethyos]

Cyan, when writing the novels, went into a ton of detail of the history of the D'ni and their great, vast civilization. I *really* like to "see" this. The books gave a strong impression of the richness of this culture and that really helped give a good idea of exactly who and what Ghen was. Really boosted the story!

I remember from the interview on the original Myst CD with our friends at Cyan. One of the artists (a really geeky, engineering type) mentioned "we had to fully realize this 3D world". Luckily, Cyan went far beyind just visuals in developing this world. I'd love to see it on the screen with that level of detail and devotion. :)

(Incidently, the best order is read "Book of Atrus", play Myst, read "Book of Ti'ana", play Riven, read "Book of D'ni". You'll really have a strong feel for the characters and their causes in this case. It's particularly chilling to read Atrus' journal entry about losing his Myst book into the star fissure and then hear him recite it at the beginning of the game. It suddenly makes so much sense after that. :)

Re:I Hope To See Lots About D'ni History...

[Anonymous Coward]

Agreed. You got the sequence right. Admittedly I found the third Myst book to be a little on the derivative side. I'd like to see a "prequel", a story that takes place before the fall of D'ni.

Re:I Hope To See Lots About D'ni History...

[MystFanMatt]

I disagree about your idea of the order to read/play. I think it should be in the order the books/games were released: Myst, Riven, BoA, BoT, BoD, Exile. In Myst, you play *you*. When you first start out on your journey, you don't know anything about Atrus or the D'ni. You find it out as you go along. I guess it all depends on everyone's personal preference, so I'm not trying to say "I'm right and you're wrong", but I just think that Cyan released the games and books in the order they did for a reason. Just my 2 cents :)

Um. The depth of dune?

[Gaijin42]

You will never get the depth of dune. Dune is an epic multi-book novel, with huge backstory, and a huge amout of people who have put time and effort into figuring out cosutmes and sets. Additionally there was a previous movie to draw material and ideas from.

There is no way you are going to get something that good based on a computer game.

Re:Um. The depth of dune?

[overunderunderdone]

Dune is an epic multi-book novel, with huge backstory, and a huge amout of people who have put time and effort into figuring out cosutmes and sets

Umm.... while I woudn't put the Myst novels on the same literary level as Dune the books weren't that bad and described an interesting alternate reality with a lot of potential.The backstory is pretty complex. As for costume and set design Myst is well ahead of the game since one of it's primary creators is a visual artist and it was originally concieved in a visual medium; which like the original Dune movie will be a rich resource to draw material and ideas from.

In some ways this project may have MORE potential to be a good miniseries than Dune. Dune, even more than most books, was too complex to be reduced to a movie, or even a miniseries. The result when you DO turn such a novel into a movie is that even if it is a decent movie on it's own merits it will always suffer in comparison to the book which will always have more depth. On the other hand most video games have the opposite problem - no depth or plot at all. On the gripping hand Myst has the depth, plot, and complex backstory that video games lack. And the story isn't tied to one particular canonical narrative like you have with a novel. They will be able to adapt the story to the medium of film rather than be forced into the kind of compromises you usually see going from a novel to a film.

No Way this works

[ediron2]

Two strong prospects:

Myst suffers the usual game-to-movie lack of plot and dies an ugly hard-to-watch death. Sort of like that nasty jack-n-the-beanstalk miniseries from last year. The good money's on this prospect.

Myst hires good writers. They convert a few dozen hours of gameplay and several novels into something that vaguely resembles watching a movie on fast-forward, trying to cram in a jillion details. Even if this runs a dozen hours in miniseries mode, there's so much material that something has to give.

I conceed, there were stories that accompanied Myst. Granted. But anyone that thinks for one moment that they were *exceptional* must like the suspense in reading a good cheerios box. Ugh! What's more, the mere existence of all this background is a serious strait-jacket to anyone developing a movie script. They must tell a compelling story while not clashing with all that stuff!!!

Heck, it can be done. But expectations are high, and there are jillions more ways to fail than to succeed. I haven't touched on lots of other risks: 'artistic' conflicts with Myst's original creators on what *must* happen, attempts to avoid revealing info that spoils the game, attempts to cling too tenaciously to the gameline, attempts to stray too far from the gameline, production weaknesses, poor acting, or any of the six million other ways a movie can suck without this added baggage.

How bad is it? Remember the rants about LoTR, and remember that it at least had a great novel as a basis. These guys start without a proven storyline but *with* all sorts of baggage.

Re:No Way this works

[delus10n0]

Myst is just one simple part of the storyline. There were three novels written based on the D'ni and their history, and there is a lot of depth to be covered there. I suggest you at least go pick up a copy of "The Book of Atrus". So no, this isn't a "game to movie" situation.

What's more, the mere existence of all this background is a serious strait-jacket to anyone developing a movie script. They must tell a compelling story while not clashing with all that stuff!!!

How is any of the novels a "strait-jacket" for future stories? It isn't like the last novel assumes that's it. It leaves everything open and up in the air. I'm not understanding your point. Do you have some examples?

attempts to avoid revealing info that spoils the game

The novels do not do this, so I wouldn't assume that the movie would do so either. Even so, hasn't everyone played Myst/Riven?

Basically I don't understand a lot of your points, they just don't seem valid to me. If things are planned out, this could be an awesome mini-series/tv-movie.

I'm waiting for 'All your base'

[ediron2]

If Scifi wants to throw money at a made-for-SciFi project, why don't they make 'All your Base are belong to us'. Steal the campy style of 'Mars Attacks', throw in some 'Killer Tomatoes' and 'Body Snatchers', and add cameo scenes by Klaatu and the boys for nostalgia's sake...

I mean, at least this way you start from scratch. There's *NOTHING* distracting a scriptwriter here, and no expectation of greatness. Besides, I'm dying to know the real story-behind-the-story here.

Re:Myst books

[Giggles Of Doom]

Well, if you read the second one (Book of Ti'ana)first, then the first one (Book of Atrus) second, and the read the Book of D'Ni it all makes cronological sense. Personally I liked the first two better then the last one. But thats just me.

Re:SciFi's Dune Sucked! (Was:Can't compare to Dune

[Prior Restraint]

Lynch's version RaWkEd,...

That's an interesting view, considering even Lynch hated the way it turned out. To each their own, I suppose.

Farscape: New Episodes Friday (US)

[NickFusion]

From scifi.com:

Farscape returns to SCI FI April 5 with the final four episodes of Season Three. These include (in airing order) 319: "I Yehsch, You Yehsch," 320: "Into the Lion's Den, Pt. 1," 321: "Into the Lion's Den, Pt. 2," and 322: "Dog with Two Bones."
Season Four begins June 7th.

Wrong Choice

[Splunge]

Myst as a miniseries? Why would they pick that now that the top selling game of all time is The Sims?

Just think about a miniseries for that! You could have daily episodes where it'd be similar to life except that the characters cheat and double-cross each other continually.

They could take my medical track character and call the whole series "General Hospital" or something.

I sure hope...

[natet]

they spend more money on costume and set design than they did on Dune. Those stilsuits were aweful!

Enlightenment: Series (officetopic)

[Anonymous Coward]

Plot: Find out what happens when geeks start living life

Yes its the real life adventure of Raster; Mandrake and those crazy E crew filmed this week.

This week: Enlightenment DR17
raster: I had a wet dream last night
mandrake: really?
Gilbert: I had a wet dream once it was ...
raster: Can I finish
Gilbert: It was the weirld experience I ever had//
mandrake: Dark age of camelot is cool man
Kainx: lets listen to that new jars of clay cd again
Gilbert: play that again Kainx and its no more mister man....hello to woman hood

Just to double the annoyance...

[chubbymidget]

Maybe it will star Will Wheaton. I hated that game

The depth of their Dune series...

[dmauer]

...which, in most scenes, appeared to be about 15 feet ending in a disarmingly fake painted desert backdrop.

-d

Wait . .

[The_Mighty_Squid]

Is Wil Weaton in this show too?

Re:Myst books

[EvlG]

Yeah the series was pretty good until the 3rd book. I don't know what happened there, but all that underworld class society stuff was not very good IMO.

However, the first 2 books had lots of fascinating details, and I think there is serious potential for great storytelling in the Myst universe. I'm looking forward to this.

You're Joiking, Right?

[Greyfox]

"...If they can combine the story of the books with the depth of their Dune series, this could be a great watch."

Son, are you on drugs?

Almost every day I'm reminded why I use an antenna

[sjonke]

This day is no exception

Big Finish

[Mumble01]

Myst could indeed translate well on the small screen but screenwriters will have to come up with a better ending. The final scene in Myst I was the worst one I have ever seen in a video game.

Re:Big Finish

[Anonymous Coward]

True, but the ending in the Book of Atrus (which is also how the game begins) is one of the besting "endings" I've ever encountered in a book. Sure beats a lot of the lame ending you see in movies these days. Also calling Myst a "game" is pushing it. It's more of an interactive experience. The people at Cyan are masters of the back story. The best things about Myst are what they left up to your imagination. Cyan started off doing educational software for children and their more recent releases still carry on that tradition. I bet this mini-series is going to coinside with their next game...currently code named "mudpie" and it be like nothing else out there. From what I have heard it will be real time but with the graphics quality of Riven and will be multiplayer. More info can be found at;

http://www.dniguild.com

and

http://www.cyanworlds.com

Re:Big Finish

[bartle]

Cosmic Osmo rocked. Even the voices.

Re:Big Finish

[MystFanMatt]

*sighs* The ending of Myst wasn't an ending; it was a cliffhanger. The story wasn't complete until the stranger (i.e., the player) went to Riven. Haven't ya played "Riven: The Sequel to Myst"? The story is resolved at the end of the 2nd game. Assuming you win..... :)

DOCTOR WHO

[Anonymous Coward]

Will someone start a petition to get Doctor Who wither back on BBC or the SCIFI CHANNEL

Don't forget the Forever War miniseries!

[Pacifix]

The SciFi channel will also be creating a 4 hr miniseries of Joe Haldeman's classic "The Forever War," an great SciFi novel that chronicles an interstellar war fought over generations by one soldier thanks to relativity. This is as exciting, if not moreso than Myst or the next Dune series.

Re:SciFi's Dune Sucked! (Was:Can't compare to Dune

[jasonbw]

Every 'accuracy' they made was usually backed up with a equal and opposite mistake. Lynch had better casting (SciFi's Hurt was a mistake) and better costumes, even if they were inaccurate (in the case of the open-faced stillsuits). I think the biggest problem was they tried to distance themselves so far from the Lynch version that they ignored everything he did right.

That's what i fear most about Myst. Everything that was good about the game will be glossed over.

looking forward to it

[Anonymous Coward]

I doubt those of you that are "knocking" the thought of a Myst mini-series ever finished the game and understand the underlying storyline.

Granted, I've never seen the other things sci-fi has botched up, but I personally AM loooking forward to this.

What's the release date?

-Rich

Time frame

[Fwongo]

This Myst fansite says the series will cover the 30-year span between the beginning of the Book of Atrus novel (the first in the series, chronologically the second) and the end of the Myst game. Maybe a little less, maybe a little more, but events of both Myst and BoA will be featured.

Amber and Forever War, too...

[dlamac]

This came across dark horizons today. Sci-fi will also be making versions of Zelazny's Amber books, Haldeman's Forever War, and Battlestar Galactica!

Battlestar Galactica & Many More (TV): The Sci-Fi Channel has issued a press release about all sorts of new projects it'll be doing shortly and there's quite a few in there that caught people by suprise. Along with the 20-hour epic miniseries "Taken", there'll numerous 4-hour mini-series in the works based on various things ranging the famous atmospheric computer game "Myst" to award winning sci-fi novels like "The Forever War" and "The Chronicles of Amber". One that caught many off guard though is a 4-hour mini-series based on the 70's TV series classic "Battlestar Galactica". Its been well known that "X-Men" producer Tom DeSanto has been developing Galactica for over a year now with Bryan Singer first attached (he pulled out of directing duties later on). The announcement today mentioned neither of them, rather people like Star Trek writer Ronald D. Moore penning, David Eick ("American Gothic", "Spy Game") exec producing and Breck Eisner directing. The worrying thing is that rumours are indicating this will forget pretty much all the old show's characters and rather be a teen 90210 style adventure in space, however the decision won't be finalised for a few weeks. In other TV news it seems David Caruso and Rory Cochrane will star in the planned "CSI" spin-off for next year, Marcia Gay Harden has joined CBS' "In the Echo" and Kyle McLahlan & Andie MacDowell will star in the veterinarian-subject show "Jo". Thanks to Futon Critic & CinEmpire

Re:Amber and Forever War, too...

[Anonymous Coward]

One that caught many off guard though is a 4-hour mini-series based on the 70's TV series classic "Battlestar Galactica". Its been well known that "X-Men" producer Tom DeSanto has been developing Galactica for over a year now with Bryan Singer first attached (he pulled out of directing duties later on). The announcement today mentioned neither of them, rather people like Star Trek writer Ronald D. Moore penning, David Eick ("American Gothic", "Spy Game") exec producing and Breck Eisner directing. The worrying thing is that rumours are indicating this will forget pretty much all the old show's characters and rather be a teen 90210 style adventure in space, however the decision won't be finalised for a few weeks.

A petition exists in support of the orirginal cast and themes. It was created while Bryan Singer and FOX network were still in the picture but the purpose of the petition is still valid.

The same as Dune?!? No thanks!

[Anonymous Coward]

> If they can combine the story of the books with the depth of their Dune series, this could be a great watch."

Yeah. Like their adaptation of Dune wasn't a complete hack on the characters. If they do the same to/for Myst, I'll pass.

Dune Depth?

[goreking]

That Dune miniseries was crap. Jeebas! Okay, it was long but that does not signify depth. Dune, the novel, was deep. Dune, the miniseries, was an excuse to wear silly costumes!

Computer Games = Interactive Movies/TV

[LeBain]

The promise of interactive movies and TV is already here; they're called "computer games". The adventures in Myst are a perfect example of that. Any "movie" made based on Myst will simply be a record of one individual player's interactive movie.

Re:Computer Games = Interactive Movies/TV

[Anonymous Coward]

That's not what's the movie is going to be about! Trust me it will rock and I'm sure it will be better than Dune, Heck I fell asleep everytime I saw or was subjected to see the Original Dune movie. Also Rand Miller the creator of Myst and also played the main character (other than the player) in the "games" is giving his oversight to the project. I'm sure if it looks like it's not going to work he will abandon the project. Cyan did the same thing with Dark Horse comics a while back. Dark Horse did two issues of the comic books and they really messed up the look of the characters, names, etc. After two issues Cyan asked whoever was doing the Myst Comics for Dark horse to stop. Cyan is truly concerned about the quality of their products. Rand Miller, one of the creators of Myst did play the part of Atrus as well as one of the evil brothers but he has stated many times that he did not like doing that. The only reason he did when they made the game was because of their limited budget however many of the Myst fan base has grown so accustomed to seeing him in the role that to see anyone else play the part would not be right.

hoo boy

[Tattva]

They can only aspire to the high quality of the thesbians in the original game.

That's going to be one difficult adaptation

[lil_billy]

The stories were poorly-written drivel IMO.

They lacked detailed character development and depth. They make Harry Potter look like literary genius.

I'm interested in seeing the movies just to get an idea of how they've infused something interesting into the otherwise dull story.

Re:That's going to be one difficult adaptation

[Anonymous Coward]

It is not drivel! It will be a great mini-series! I only wish it could be on the big screen. Better than a lot of the "drivel" I've seen lately! Ok, the Book of D'ni is a little weak but The Book of Atrus and Book of Ti'anna are fantastic!

Re:That's going to be one difficult adaptation

[MystFanMatt]

I've heard a couple of people bad-mouth BoD! There's nothing wrong with it! What's the deal? >:(

Re:That's going to be one difficult adaptation

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, you're allowed to not like the writing. The writing was acceptable as far as I'm concerned, but nothing great. The stories, though, were what I loved.

Good news for us color-blind folk

[rubinson]

I'm looking forward to it. I could never make any progress in Myst because I'm color-blind. Switching indicators from red to green? I don't think so. (Took me days to figure out what I was supposed to be trying to do.) Now I'll finally be able to figure out what the hell was going on!

and for everyone else to not bother...

[Anonymous Coward]

HOlly shit just imagine...

___ is out to get me

Funky Mojo and the death goons is my favourit blah blah blah blah make it a move next

50billionth post

MS is a sucky company

Linux is a sucky OS

Mac OS sucks

sucks.com sucks sucky suckness

Just imagine a ____ of these!

now for something way off topic:
My spleen is talking to me and so is the giant q, I like the q but it has bad jokes and smells of rotting chiz.

DCMA?

[Anonymous Coward]

I can see it now.

"Unlocking the puzzle in this television show bypasses our encryption mechanism, constituting a violation of the DCMA. Rabid lawyers with laser beams have been dispatched to your location."

The Forever War...

[takshaka]

was one of the most disappointing books I've ever read. Was it the only one elegible for the Hugo and Nebula in 1975? But on the bright side, it's much better than Forever Peace.

You're missing the point...

[alahmnat]

The *game* isn't what is being made into a movie. I agree, that would be dumb and relatively pointless. The story *surrounding* the game, with Atrus, his two evil maniacal backstabbing sons, his grandmother, and his wife is what is being transformed into a movie, and most of what's in the movie hasn't even been told yet as part of a novel or game. There's a good 30 years on the timeline that has no information, and I think a movie would be a great way to fill in this hole, as it's a airly high-action part of the story (and could get kinda gorey, for those who like that kind of thing).

Re:You're missing the point...

[MystFanMatt]

I agree totally. NONE of the games have enough plot by themselves. It's the backstory, like in the novels, that the Miniseries will be about. I hope it will be the Book of Atrus. It would also be cool to make movies of the other 2 books. As far as the time between BoA and Myst, when Sirrus and Achenar turn evil, I, personally, kinda hope they *won't* make a miniseries about that part of the story. You learn about all of that in Myst and Exile, but you don't learn a whole lot. Yes, a miniseries *could* expand on that, but I think it would kinda ruin it. *Something* needs to be left a *little* to our imaginations. Maybe you don't understand what I'm trying to say, but that's the best way I can put it. Besides, since we haven't been given much information about that time period in the story, the writers of the miniseries would have to make it up; that could prove for a very weak plot. Yes, Cyan would probably oversee it, but I don't think Cyan has already written any details about Sirrus and Achenar's betrayal (beyond what was learned in Myst and Exile). I think they *want* to leave that part of the story to our imaginations. Anyway, I think it will be the Book of Atrus. The novels have full, rich plots, and all of them would make *great* movies/miniseries, assuming Cyan oversees their development. *gasps* Well, that's my 200 cents :D

Puzzles wouldn't work

[Free Bird]

Puzzles wouldn't work out for a game. I still haven't found the following text in any of the Books:

And Atrus wandered around K'veer, where he had been trapped again by his sons. He wanted to go to the Food Age to have a nice meal, but he sadly forgot the code. If only he could use the Tower Rotation now...

The Book of Atrus

[Natdog]

I, for one, will be looking forward to this series. I heard awhile back that a script was created based off The Book of Atrus to be made into a movie, but it never got the green light. There could be a very good chance that this miniseries will be using that script. The Book of Atrus was an excelent read and a great canadate for a miniseries.

Oh I wish...

[TheMCP]

The casting of Paul Atreides was particuarly galling. It was like, "OK, we need to cast a military hero of mythic stature. Let's cast around Hollywood for the most gay and ineffectual actor we can find."

Oh, I wish he was gay, he was adorable.

But seriously, first I assume you must be talking about Hollywood Ireland... I think it was generally not an American production, and he is distinctly Irish.

Also, I thought he did a really good job: he has to come off believably as a teenage boy at the beginning and age a lot during the story. I think he pulled that off unusually well.

Gripping (huh huh.. He said Gripping)

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok, but a six hours miniseries of a guy sitting in front of his Mac is going to be pretty boring. If they split it over two nights, they should end with a cliffhanger at the end of the first three hours; a knock on the door. (I can tell you now it's the pizza delivery.)

Yeah, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

... will the physical sets be as realistic-looking as the computer-generated sets in Myst? ;-)

Re:Yeah, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

har! Probably less!

wunnerful

[Anonymous Coward]

...to be released simultaneously with Myst 3: Even more Gigabytes of Myst, 27 Starlog articles and interviews about Myst, centerfolds of the shapely Myst heroine and not-as-babelicious-but-still-perky sidekick, Myst comic books, Myst novelettes, Myst toilet paper, feelers for a feature film, and lots more reshowings of sci fi classics like "Friday the 13th"....

Re:wunnerful

[Anonymous Coward]

not-so-babelicious-but-still-perky (adj): see "attainable"

Myst Books

[Savepotatoes]

I thought the MYST books were excellent. I just wish they made more then three and continued to make more. If they based the series on the books it would turn out very well i think.

Re:Myst Books

[MystFanMatt]

Just so you'll know, "The Book of Marrim" is officially in the works :) I hope they write "The Book of Garternay", telling the story of why the D'ni and the Tehranee separated.... :)

This could bring some stupid acrostics.

[Qender]

"Oh no! I missed myst!"

New television format

[Recca]

In order to better adhere to the gameplay, they should switch to a new format of 10 frames per minute.

Re:New television format

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know what you're talking about. Last time I played realMyst, it was running at 15-20fps.

age234

What About PYST?

[marko123]

I saw it in the drawer of a software reviewer
I used to work with.

And yes, it is a pystake of the original MYST
game. It involved taking scenes from the first
game and painting over the top of them.

I don't know what you're talking about...

[Anonymous Coward]

realMYST runs at 20 fps on my machine...I don't know where you get "10 frames per minute" from...

age234

It's All About The Idiots

[Snover]

Honestly i don't see why they don't pick games like that.

Because Doom looked cooler. Duh.