Posted by
Hemos
on from the tv-worth-watching dept.
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."
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?
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.
--
--
Cheers!
Re:Game/Film conversions
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 5, Informative
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.
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
by
igrek
·
· Score: 3, Funny
How about "Pac-Man: The Thriller" ?
Re:Game/Film conversions
by
Kyzia
·
· Score: 3, Funny
..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
by
Xenographic
·
· Score: 3, Funny
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
by
Kalabajoui
·
· Score: 1
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.
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.
--
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
Re:Game/Film conversions
by
Damalloch
·
· Score: 1
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...
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.
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.
-- "A coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one."
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.
-- pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
Re:Game/Film conversions
by
Beowulf_Boy
·
· Score: 2
NO!!! Jeff Goldblum will play Gorden Freeman, and thats it!
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?
--
Freedom is the freedom to say 2+2=4, everything else follows...
Myst as miniseries?
by
Blikkie
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
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?
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 1, Informative
Yes, the novels were excellent.
Re:Myst as miniseries?
by
squaretorus
·
· Score: 2
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.
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...
by
carm$y$
·
· Score: 3, Funny
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...:)
-- -- No sig today
Re:I'm still waiting...
by
Acideous
·
· Score: 2, Funny
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!
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.
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.
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....
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!
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.
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.
-- "I Know You Are But What Am I?"
Re:Movies out of games
by
Phil+Wilkins
·
· Score: 1
IIRC The delay was due to the Orion Pictures going down the tubes.
Re:Myst books
by
mclearn
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
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.
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?
-- "It was penguin lust...at its worst." --someone
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.
-- "It was penguin lust...at its worst." --someone
... 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...
by
esper_child
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
>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.
Ha!
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 1, Informative
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:That's great!
by
squaretorus
·
· Score: 1, Redundant
But it would be such a pretty way to go... oooh! look at the SKYYYYY!!!
Can't compare to Dune
by
The+LowTech+Swede
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
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.
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.
-- There's no place I can be, since I found Serenity.
Re:Can't compare to Dune
by
maxpublic
·
· Score: 1
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
-- My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
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.
That implies you'll have to push-push-drag-spin the TV buttons to see the next scene?
-- Singularity: a belief in the "God" idea with the "demiurge" relation inverted.
Re:Lovely
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 1, Insightful
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.
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
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.
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.
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
by
mshurpik
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
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.
>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
-- We really need your help
http://www.gofundme.com/help-sherry
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
-- My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
Myst should translate well
by
chazzf
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
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?)
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
by
redink1
·
· Score: 1
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
by
wilhelm
·
· Score: 1
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
by
Phil+Wilkins
·
· Score: 1
The trick I used was to count the notches in the control.
Re:Myst should translate well
by
Happy+Monkey
·
· Score: 2
Re:Myst should translate well
by
KagakuNinja
·
· Score: 1
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
by
PMAvers
·
· Score: 1
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'.
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.
And to really make it like the game..
by
kvn299
·
· Score: 1
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?
by
Elvis+Maximus
·
· Score: 2
"...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?
--
- Give me liberty or give me something of equal or lesser value from your glossy 32-page catalog.
Myst had a good backstory
by
Saint+Fnordius
·
· Score: 1
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.
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.
-- "Well kids, you tried your best, and you failed. The lesson is, never try."
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
-- Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
AHA! I have another brilliant idea!
by
xeeno
·
· Score: 1
SciFi has a bad trackrecord with this
by
oakbox
·
· Score: 1
> 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
-- Not just answers, the correct questions.
SciFi's Dune Sucked! (Was:Can't compare to Dune)
by
DBman
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
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.
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.
I Hope To See Lots About D'ni History...
by
Lethyos
·
· Score: 2
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.:)
-- Why bother.
Re:I Hope To See Lots About D'ni History...
by
MystFanMatt
·
· Score: 1
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:)
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.
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
by
ediron2
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
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
by
delus10n0
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
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.
-- Not All Who Wander Are Lost
I'm waiting for 'All your base'
by
ediron2
·
· Score: 1
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.
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.
-- "A coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one."
Re:SciFi's Dune Sucked! (Was:Can't compare to Dune
by
Prior+Restraint
·
· Score: 1
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)
by
NickFusion
·
· Score: 1
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.
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.
--
"Brown University? We have one of those in Providence!"
-- Outside Providence
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.
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.
*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.....:)
Don't forget the Forever War miniseries!
by
Pacifix
·
· Score: 1
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
by
jasonbw
·
· Score: 1
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.
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...
by
dlamac
·
· Score: 4, Informative
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...
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 1, Informative
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.
Computer Games = Interactive Movies/TV
by
LeBain
·
· Score: 1
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.
They can only aspire to the high quality of the thesbians in the original game.
-- personal attacks hurt, especially when deserved
That's going to be one difficult adaptation
by
lil_billy
·
· Score: 1
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
by
MystFanMatt
·
· Score: 1
I've heard a couple of people bad-mouth BoD! There's nothing wrong with it! What's the deal? >:(
Good news for us color-blind folk
by
rubinson
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
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!
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...
by
alahmnat
·
· Score: 1
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).
-- Shorah,
Alahmnat
Re:You're missing the point...
by
MystFanMatt
·
· Score: 1
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 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...
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.
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.
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.
-- Savepotatoes "Because potatoes have rights too."
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....:)
Slashdot Mirror
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?
how does one change his
resident evil was pretty good..
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!
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
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...
-- No sig today
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.
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.
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?
"It was penguin lust...at its worst." --someone
... 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.
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
[ 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.
Want Linux games? HERE.
But it would be such a pretty way to go... oooh! look at the SKYYYYY!!!
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.
That implies you'll have to push-push-drag-spin the TV buttons to see the next scene?
Singularity: a belief in the "God" idea with the "demiurge" relation inverted.
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.
Combine that with the Dune TV series and you've got a deadly combination!
.. you could see the paint strokes!! I've seen better quality on most 60's Sci-Fi shows.
The most memorable moment from it was the cardboard backgrounds
Or maybe they where *trying* to get that look... but that wouldn't explain netter digital's nice renderings
SF is axing Farscape
Except Farscape hasn't been cancelled. Season 4 begins in June.
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.
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.
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.
</joke>
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
Will it have the same quality of acting as the Dune series?
Best Slashdot Co
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
No statement is true, not even this one.
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.
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!
There are 01 types of people in this world. Those that understand binary, and me.
hope they can do better this time.
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 read that three times and I don't get it. I thought April Fools' Day was over, yes?
-
Give me liberty or give me something of equal or lesser value from your glossy 32-page catalog.
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.
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
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
Lemmings: The tv series.
So what cable network should air the movie version of "The Sims"? HGTV?
Forgot the tags again...
Best Slashdot Co
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
Not just answers, the correct questions.
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
"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...."tone" puzzles and "maze" puzzles just to unlock the 1st and 2nd chapters for viewing...
Now that game would make a great movie.
Technoli
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.
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.
Why bother.
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.
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.
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.
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.
"A coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one."
Lynch's version RaWkEd,...
That's an interesting view, considering even Lynch hated the way it turned out. To each their own, I suppose.
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.
What were you expecting?
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.
"Brown University? We have one of those in Providence!" -- Outside Providence
they spend more money on costume and set design than they did on Dune. Those stilsuits were aweful!
IANAL... But I play one on
Maybe it will star Will Wheaton. I hated that game
...which, in most scenes, appeared to be about 15 feet ending in a disarmingly fake painted desert backdrop.
-d
=== "Some people see the glass as half-empty. Others see it as half-full. I see the glass as too big." -G. Carlin.
Is Wil Weaton in this show too?
-- No Comment
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.
Son, are you on drugs?
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
This day is no exception
--- What?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Give serendipity a chance.
They can only aspire to the high quality of the thesbians in the original game.
personal attacks hurt, especially when deserved
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.
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!
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.
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).
Shorah, Alahmnat
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.
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.
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.
Savepotatoes "Because potatoes have rights too."
In order to better adhere to the gameplay, they should switch to a new format of 10 frames per minute.
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.
http://pcblues.com - Digits and Wood
[insert witty comment here]