Slashdot Mirror
Scifi Channel to Make Ringworld Miniseries
Snaller writes "The Sci Fi Channel has listed its programming for the upcomming year, it includes the Farscape miniseries already mentioned by Slashdot, it also includes a miniseries based the legendary scifi story by Larry Niven: Ringworld. In the far future 4 travelers crash on a ring around a sun in a distant system. Shall be interesting to see how they depict the Puppeteers."
let it be better that RiverWorld! I loved the book but SciFi's miniseries sucked, big time.
The dogcow says "Moof!"
It's about time some one makes this. Too bad it really needs to be on an IMAX though.
As long as they keep the whole sex bit out of the series, it should be very cool miniseries
True. Goodness knows that we shouldn't think of sex as part of normal human behavior, so it should never be depicted, nor even talked about in polite company, especially around the children (We MUST Protect the Children!). And then once we perfect in vitro fetilization and artificial gestation, there's no reason to have that disgusting sex whatsoever.
Hopelessly pedantic since 1963.
Agreed. I'm no prude by any stretch, but the whole "rishathra" thing was an annoying subtext that added nothing to the stories. I recall being embarrased for Larry Niven everytime he threw in "rishing" - which seemed to be every ten pages.
I bet it's fun being his wife - having to put on a puppeteer costume before getting busy.
Nothing at all. I just happen to be one of the few who feel that they did a pretty good job translating Dune to the screen. I know I'm in the minority on that one. Still, you have to appreciate that it's Scifi doing the translation rather then Lynch/De Laurentiis. Think Puppeteers with wierding modules.
DeviantArt Page
NSFWHow in hell's name was Jar-Jar offensive!?
Well if I was Jamaican I'd probably want to kill George Lucas for sticking that accent on him.
Why the Hell did I go and see that film? Does anyone remember 'Acting?'
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
Not to rehash a years-old argument (how did you miss it?), but Jar-Jar reminded some viewers of how Jamaicans and African Americans have been caricatured in popular entertainment (e.g. loping, dim-witted, exaggerated mouths, speaking pidgin English). Some of the other aliens in SW:TPM were bore some resemblance to racial stereotypes as well (e.g. the trade federation reps =~ Chinese, Anakin's master Watto =~ Jewish), leading to some spirited debates about the subject.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
I think you meant:
:(
Ender's game is already being made into a movie by the same people as XMen2!
There's no possible way I see that book being faithfully translated into film. Far too much of it is... 'unamerican'. At least unamerican film.
(*spoilers*)
Almost the entire book has the tone of a child/teen who's teased, taunted and manipulated how how that child/teen strikes back. I doubt God Fearing soccer moms will be interested in seeing or allowing others to see Columbine-like tragedy on planetary scale for amusement.
I'd love to see it, and I'd love if the movie *was* portrayed in a "hey, teasing a manipulating people leads to them snapping you morons" type message, but there's no way Hollywood would create that movie.
Strange new technologies and strange new species are OK in SF, but strange new social norms are not?
For you we have this
You're absolutely right. Better stick to movies about torturing people and nailing them to pieces of wood.
Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me
So cliche, character-wise. Let me count the ways...
- We have a brave genius human (male, naturally) who solves the problems. Check.
- We have an attractive but ditzy girl for him. Check.
- We have some sex. Check.
- We have some fierce aliens. Cat people'll do. Check.
- We have some cowardly aliens. Check.
But wait! the twist!
- We have *another* attractive girl for him, and the first attractive girl goes off with someone else, hence giving brave genius male some more sex!
I'm not even going to *start* on Engineers and Throne - too many targets, too little time. If erotic furries is your thing, knock yourself out. Otherwise read something better.
Like Asimov and Clarke, Niven has a major failing as an author - he can come up with astounding technical details, and then wrap them with a story that's for shit. Niven's obviously done *amazing* research into stuff, and invented whole civilisations and past histories like Tolkein would be proud of, but the story (which basically means things happening to people and how people react) could be any trash novel from anywhere.
Grab.
Surely the reason why Teela-Protector wanted to lose to Louis Wu is explained sufficiently in the book ?
If she didn't lose, the whole Ringworld was doomed, and everyone on it would die, since she couldn't bring herself to fire the meteor defense weapon on populated Ringworld areas to restablise the world. Her genes wouldn't allow her to kill 24 trillion people.
If she lost though, Louis *would* be able to do it, since his pitiful human mind couldn't conceive the numbers of deaths properly, and he'd still be saving countless trillions more by fixing the Ring's wobble.
Seemed pretty clear to me.
And as it turned out she was utterly wrong since the Puppeteer was much better able to control the weapon with his ships computers, and didn't kill anything like as many people as she thought we going to die.
Gentlemen, start your penguins
That was a good reason, but a protector only cares for it's own children or species. Teela the human protector could give a shit about the other 24 trillion pseudo-humans, instead was only interested in saving her children in the long run, by saving the Ringworld, and also keeping her children hidden from knowledge, lest they be wiped out by paranoid humans.
Ringworld was essentially the "Wizard of Oz" in disguise. In terms of climax, you have Dorothy (Louis) suddenly realizing at the end that she had the means to get home all along by clicking her heels (going through the mountain).
In the sequel, Teela gets a brain and ends up ruling the place. just like the Scarecrow in the Oz sequels.
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
As long as they release a DVD set, I'll be all about it.
/.) that there was supposed to be a Children of Dune. Ah. Bought it on amazon while typing this. I see it as a failure of marketing if I have to go looking for something...
The problem with the Sci-Fi channel is, my local cable company refuses to carry it. I think I can get it if I go with the expensive digital cable. Or maybe if I get a dish thing. Not going to happen. But I will buy the DVD set the minute it's available. I really like they way they did Dune. I heard rumors (here on
Anyway, I won't be seeing this on SciFi channel, but I'll sure buy the DVD.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
We know why Teela wanted to lose the fight. It was explained oerfectly well in Engineers. You know, when it actually happened.
Why do successful series always feel the need to go insert unneeded stories in the "gaps" between the same stories that made them successful? We don't need a day-to-day diary.
Following the events of Teela's children would be interesting, though.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
I really liked the concepts presented in Ringworld, but the character interactions just seemed ... juvenille ... to me. Sorry if that runs counter to your own (well-reasoned, I'm sure) opinion.
If the sex scene contributes something to the story, by all means, include it. But if it's <pun>inserted</pun> only for shock value, then replace with with something clever that does further the plot.
Anonymous Kev
Proudly posting as AC since 1997
(Finally got a dang account in 2004)
The press release implies at least a little bit that it's going to mix together multiple books into one movie, which seems to be me a big mistake. Ringworld is a self-contained story and should be kept that way; including elements of the sequels is a pattern that the Scifi channel likes to do but doesn't bode well for making a quality miniseries.