Hard Light Productions Forums

General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: Davidge on March 29, 2015, 08:02:52 am

Title: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: Davidge on March 29, 2015, 08:02:52 am
Just a random thought, wouldn't be cool to have an HBO series for Freespace?

How far away do you think we are from that?  Can anyone think of a good cast list?

Title: Re: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: Phantom Hoover on March 29, 2015, 08:07:41 am
It's a pretty fun thing to speculate about but it'd never happen thanks to copyright and Interplay being ****heads.

Idris Elba seems popular these days, he'd probably make a good Steele now that Avery Brooks is too old.
Title: Re: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: Colonol Dekker on March 29, 2015, 10:08:18 am
I vote the guy from robocop as admiral bosch. The dude from independence day would make a great petrarch too.
Title: Re: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: -Norbert- on March 29, 2015, 10:42:20 am
I'm not so sure this is quite HBO's thing.

With so much of the story happening out in space between ships and fighters an animated series or movie seems more fitting to me.

But whatever kind of medium is used, the most essential thing will be to keep Uwe Boll out of it so it'll at least have the chance to be good.
Title: Re: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: X3N0-Life-Form on March 29, 2015, 10:45:40 am
I vote the guy from robocop as admiral bosch. The dude from independence day would make a great petrarch too.
You mean Peter Weller & Will Smith ? Yeah, that sounds nice enough. ;)
Title: Re: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: -Norbert- on March 29, 2015, 10:52:25 am
If they can afford it, I'd love to see Morgan Freeman as Petrarch.
Title: Re: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: SmashMonkey on March 29, 2015, 11:35:57 am
And Edward James Olmos as the voice of Command?
Title: Re: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: procdrone on March 29, 2015, 01:06:36 pm
Lets make a movie ourselves!
Title: Re: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: Phantom Hoover on March 29, 2015, 01:31:44 pm
using the voice cast would be absolutely hilarious for that
Title: Re: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: jr2 on March 29, 2015, 02:54:23 pm
I'm not so sure this is quite HBO's thing.

With so much of the story happening out in space between ships and fighters an animated series or movie seems more fitting to me.

You would probably focus most of the storyline from the capship War Rooms and governing bodies emergency situation meetings planetside.  Plus the advanced experimental tech rooms where they develop all the rip offs of Shivan tech.  Ship-to-ship combat would provide the excitement when needed, but would not be the main focus.

My 2c.
Title: Re: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: Scotty on March 29, 2015, 03:00:33 pm
I'm pretty sure this is the wrong board for this.
Title: Re: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: Gee1337 on March 29, 2015, 03:15:28 pm
I suggested this on the Syfy forums a few years back as I was something I would love to see as well. Unfortunately, the thread I started had not generated much interest, so whereas I believe that it could be something epic I don't think it will ever happen. :(
Title: Re: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: NGTM-1R on March 29, 2015, 03:34:02 pm
You would probably focus most of the storyline from the capship War Rooms and governing bodies emergency situation meetings planetside.  Plus the advanced experimental tech rooms where they develop all the rip offs of Shivan tech.  Ship-to-ship combat would provide the excitement when needed, but would not be the main focus.

My 2c.

This is the first time I've seen someone suggest a way to actually script the series in one of these discussions.

Elaborate?
Title: Re: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: General Battuta on March 29, 2015, 03:37:24 pm
Play it like The Wire, opening with characters on the tactical level and their immediate operational superiors, then opening the scope up into fleet-level and civilian authority into the picture on the UEF and GTVA side. Keep the previous cast levels in play as you escalate so you can show the feedback loop of decisions and consequences on both sides of the war.
Title: Re: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: Gee1337 on March 29, 2015, 04:23:58 pm
If you got time out of your hectic schedule, Battuta, maybe you could write a script and pitch it to a studio! ;)

Although saying that... might have to ask Interplay first.  :banghead:
Title: Re: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: Black Wolf on March 29, 2015, 05:57:27 pm
I remember last time this can't up posting something about how the 14 year war against a desert dwelling alien species that users suicidal tactics had great analogistic  potential for telling stories about the wars in the middle east. You could have a war weary public, lots of desert footage not dissimilar to what people were/are seeing on the nightly news, put the GTI in the rule of untrustworthy government agency etc etc.

You'd design a big long 5 year arc that starts with the last year or so of the Vasudan war, and spend the first two seasons gradually building up the Shivan threat (through the idea that the GTI had foreknowledge of them), and leave some thread for the GTI rebellion. Seasons 3 and 4 would be the Shivan War, season 5 would be Silent Threat.

I think it would still be cool, of course, but I reckon if it had come out just a few years ago, before most of the Western troops were pulled from Afghanistan, it would have had a tad more relevance.

Still, a man can dream... :)
Title: Re: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: jr2 on March 29, 2015, 06:20:32 pm
You would probably focus most of the storyline from the capship War Rooms and governing bodies emergency situation meetings planetside.  Plus the advanced experimental tech rooms where they develop all the rip offs of Shivan tech.  Ship-to-ship combat would provide the excitement when needed, but would not be the main focus.

My 2c.

This is the first time I've seen someone suggest a way to actually script the series in one of these discussions.

Elaborate?

The problem with movies based on video games is they sometimes tend to focus too much on the front lines where all the action is, like the games do -- but with the games, this is so you have something to do, because that's why you (as an actor) are there.  Notice how games include animated shots / cutscenes to explain most everything they want to involve you with plot-wise that doesn't directly involve you acting on the scene.  However, for a movie, you want more depth than mostly adrenaline-fueled shots so it doesn't feel like a cheap action flick with no perspective, and for a series, you want to know even more than that.

Perhaps you could open the series with the GTI experimenting around Ross128, attracting the Shivans' attention, with the GTA-PVE war sprinkled in to give background.  End Season 1 with the Lucy slagging Outpost Riviera.

Start Season 2 with the intel briefs of both the GTI and PVE leadership (chaining from upper level Generals and them forwarding it to their superiors civvy-side). 

I haven't really thought too much past that, but basically with a series, you would want to see the forest, whereas the games focus on the trees (as that's the level where an individual interacts with the universe in an FPS -- unless you go the RTS route, in which case you see some of the tactical level forest).  Feature films would be between those two levels, probably following a few major players and some generals from some capships or whatnot, as that's all they have time to really develop.

Battuta's idea seems good.

Play it like The Wire, opening with characters on the tactical level and their immediate operational superiors, then opening the scope up into fleet-level and civilian authority into the picture on the UEF and GTVA side. Keep the previous cast levels in play as you escalate so you can show the feedback loop of decisions and consequences on both sides of the war.
Title: Re: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: Mongoose on March 29, 2015, 10:45:23 pm
Personally in my magical fantasy world I'd pay Otaking to make an animated series/movie akin to what he just finished for Star Wars.  I mean, you look at that and it's just...goddamn.
Title: Re: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: Vrets on April 06, 2015, 11:47:26 pm
Lets make a movie ourselves!

A silent movie with pipe organs narrating the juggernaut invasion of Capella!

Who is this community's Ed Wood? We need a director with no understanding of our limitations as film-makers.

Title: Re: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: NicolayKhan on May 20, 2015, 06:00:13 am
Sorry about resurrecting this, but seeing the thread title made an old memory resurface.
Back when I was a wee lad, I saw a series called Space: Above and Beyond right after finishing the first playthrough of a vanilla Descent: Freespace. Long story short, I spent the next 10 years persuading everyone who would listen that the series was in fact a loose adaptation of the first Freespace game.
While I now realize it was part childhood imagination and part wishful thinking, I'd still recommend watching the series (It's just one season long) as if it was a Terran-Vasudan War retold by someone who only heard about it third hand.
Anyway, if just one person has fun with it, my mission was accomplished.
Title: Re: Free Space Movie or HBO series?
Post by: wardog300k on May 20, 2015, 07:16:17 am
If this ever happens,i suggest Luke Skywalker or Picard as Alpha 1