[Sushi]

I think it's time for you to show your cards. What are the themes inherent in FS that can be translated into a TV series from your perspective? What can be done in the FS universe in terms of narrative that cannot be explored in other, more TV-friendly settings? Who would this series follow?

This please. I can think of approximately zero reasons why a Freespace tv series (or movie) would be a good idea. If they exist, please present them.

[deathfun]

How many television shows have followed the ventures of a single ship as they go through the galaxy? Quite a few (points to all Star Trek series)
Add some Stargate SG-1 ideas where it follows more specifically a squad rather than the entire ship
Set Universe to FreeSpace
Pick a timeline, or start from the very beginning and work through until Capella

The problem I see here is everyone is thinking about taking a game and putting it into a series
Perspective change. FreeSpace is no longer a game, it's a book

[General Battuta]

How many television shows have followed the ventures of a single ship as they go through the galaxy? Quite a few (points to all Star Trek series)
Add some Stargate SG-1 ideas where it follows more specifically a squad rather than the entire ship
Set Universe to FreeSpace
Pick a timeline, or start from the very beginning and work through until Capella

The problem I see here is everyone is thinking about taking a game and putting it into a series
Perspective change. FreeSpace is no longer a game, it's a book

But my question is, what does FreeSpace have to offer as a series or a movie or a book? FreeSpace 1 tells us nothing as a traditional narrative that we haven't seen a thousand times before; it would sink under the weight of its own cliche. FreeSpace 2's atmosphere and subversion rely on the player being a nameless component buried in the events taking place. Making it something not a game would kill it.

[deathfun]

Riddle me this than Bat
What if Blue Planet wasn't a mod for the game, but a CGI series put on youtube?
Would that have ruined FreeSpace 2?

[headdie]

blue planet is not freespace, it is a fan based entity telling a potential story

[General Battuta]

Riddle me this than Bat
What if Blue Planet wasn't a mod for the game, but a CGI series put on youtube?
Would that have ruined FreeSpace 2?

No, but Blue Planet isn't FreeSpace 2. It adds a whole layer of narrative that by design isn't present in the Volition games. If Blue Planet were a web series, it would focus less on the mission-to-mission action and more on the character hooks, the tension in relationships, the impact of the plot on the individuals involved. Blue Planet has those hooks already, but FreeSpace doesn't. It doesn't have a plot that's particularly designed to relate to individual characters.

[deathfun]

Precisely my point
Blue Planet isn't FreeSpace, and nor is a fan based series

Therefore, by the logic you just stated, it'd work

What the series would essentially be doing is telling a potential story set in the same Universe

[General Battuta]

Precisely my point
Blue Planet isn't FreeSpace, and nor is a fan based series

Therefore, by the logic you just stated, it'd work

What the series would essentially be doing is telling a potential story set in the same Universe

The universe is only interesting or worthy of a series inasmuch as said universe enables or contributes to an interesting story. People are not interested in a side story; they want the main event. What do you have in mind for a meaningful narrative in the FreeSpace universe that doesn't feel like a sideshow?

If the only way to make a FreeSpace series work is for it to not be FreeSpace, what's the point?

[Sushi]

Another way to put this: what would you get from a Freespace series that you couldn't get from something like BSG or Babylon 5?

[swashmebuckle]

Boy, have I got an act for you!  Bosch on Charlie Rose.  Charlie Rose is a Shivan.  The interview starts to lag, and

[SypheDMar]

FreeSpace would work so much better as a novel.

[yuezhi]

FreeSpace would work so much better as a novel.

i remember coming across a thread about some random author who did write some novels for FS a really long time ago. i don't remember where it is though and it's definitely not a classic.

[General Battuta]

FreeSpace would work so much better as a novel.

i remember coming across a thread about some random author who did write some novels for FS a really long time ago. i don't remember where it is though and it's definitely not a classic.

There were never any novels written for FreeSpace, just a few (pretty weird and bad) short stories.

[SypheDMar]

FreeSpace would work so much better as a novel.

i remember coming across a thread about some random author who did write some novels for FS a really long time ago. i don't remember where it is though and it's definitely not a classic.

There were never any novels written for FreeSpace, just a few (pretty weird and bad) short stories.

Yeah. Official (weird and bad?) short stories centered at FS1-era.

EDIT: Found the link!

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=25072.msg501526#msg501526

[deathfun]

Precisely my point
Blue Planet isn't FreeSpace, and nor is a fan based series

Therefore, by the logic you just stated, it'd work

What the series would essentially be doing is telling a potential story set in the same Universe

The universe is only interesting or worthy of a series inasmuch as said universe enables or contributes to an interesting story. People are not interested in a side story; they want the main event. What do you have in mind for a meaningful narrative in the FreeSpace universe that doesn't feel like a sideshow?

If the only way to make a FreeSpace series work is for it to not be FreeSpace, what's the point?

The events between FS1 and FS2
The events leading up to FS1
A different take on the events in FS2
The Vasudan side of FS1
The tales of an already established character, Snipes
Hell, the Colossus or the NTF side of things


Bat, the main event is the war. Alpha 1 is simply a side story in the bigger story that you took part in. Every pilot in the GTVA has their own story to tell, and each of those stories is what the main event is comprised of

Just not all of them interesting. That's where good writing, good ideas, and solid characters come into play

Afterall, take a look at every WWII movie ever made. Do any of those feel like sidestories to you? What's the main event in any of them? The war

[Flipside]

Thing is, you can either create the show for the fans, or for the public, the fans don't need backstory, but will never agree with any 'between' story details, the public will be more tolerant of the storyline given, but would need to know the backstory.

[General Battuta]

The events between FS1 and FS2
The events leading up to FS1
A different take on the events in FS2
The Vasudan side of FS1
The tales of an already established character, Snipes
Hell, the Colossus or the NTF side of things

Bat, the main event is the war. Alpha 1 is simply a side story in the bigger story that you took part in. Every pilot in the GTVA has their own story to tell, and each of those stories is what the main event is comprised of

Just not all of them interesting. That's where good writing, good ideas, and solid characters come into play

Afterall, take a look at every WWII movie ever made. Do any of those feel like sidestories to you? What's the main event in any of them? The war

You're not listing meaningful stories. You're listing things that happen.

World War II actually happened. It had fascinating historical and cultural context, and it informed the lives of a whole generation. Here you're simply listing things that happen in a video game. I don't see a plan to make them interesting or worthy of scripted drama. None of those bullet points are nearly as engrossing as 'a Madison Avenue executive struggles to keep his many lives separate and stable', or 'the royal houses of a troubled kingdom battle and scheme for the throne', or 'cops and drug dealers practice information warfare in Baltimore.'

As Sushi said, another way to put this: what would you get from a Freespace series that you couldn't get from something like BSG or Babylon 5? 'Pilots struggle to endure the attacks of an unstoppable enemy' could be BSG, or SAAB. What does it bring to the table that's new?

[TrashMan]

I think it's time for you to show your cards. What are the themes inherent in FS that can be translated into a TV series from your perspective? What can be done in the FS universe in terms of narrative that cannot be explored in other, more TV-friendly settings? Who would this series follow?

This please. I can think of approximately zero reasons why a Freespace tv series (or movie) would be a good idea. If they exist, please present them.

Give a reason why it wouldn't?

Given how many absolutely crpatastic shows and universe get to have a TV show, I don't really see how FS can possibly do any worse.

[StargateSpankyHam]

Honestly, making a TV show based off of existing Volition canon wouldn't work all that well. Games and television are fundamentally different forms of media and rely on fundamentally different forms of engagement to keep people entertained. Consider game/movie crossovers. 99% of the time, a game based on a movie pretty much fails - and likewise, movies based on games generally don't do so well at the box office.

The best thing that could come from this (granted, anything is possible, but I'm trying to stay in the realm of practicality here), would be a web series perhaps based on Blue Planet, following the Tevs in their fight against the UEF. That would be a spectacular pile of awesome.

[deathfun]

The events between FS1 and FS2
The events leading up to FS1
A different take on the events in FS2
The Vasudan side of FS1
The tales of an already established character, Snipes
Hell, the Colossus or the NTF side of things

Bat, the main event is the war. Alpha 1 is simply a side story in the bigger story that you took part in. Every pilot in the GTVA has their own story to tell, and each of those stories is what the main event is comprised of

Just not all of them interesting. That's where good writing, good ideas, and solid characters come into play

Afterall, take a look at every WWII movie ever made. Do any of those feel like sidestories to you? What's the main event in any of them? The war

You're not listing meaningful stories. You're listing things that happen.

World War II actually happened. It had fascinating historical and cultural context, and it informed the lives of a whole generation. Here you're simply listing things that happen in a video game. I don't see a plan to make them interesting or worthy of scripted drama. None of those bullet points are nearly as engrossing as 'a Madison Avenue executive struggles to keep his many lives separate and stable', or 'the royal houses of a troubled kingdom battle and scheme for the throne', or 'cops and drug dealers practice information warfare in Baltimore.'

As Sushi said, another way to put this: what would you get from a Freespace series that you couldn't get from something like BSG or Babylon 5? 'Pilots struggle to endure the attacks of an unstoppable enemy' could be BSG, or SAAB. What does it bring to the table that's new?

You've clearly missed the entire point

I'm making a correlation to two wars. The war against the Shivans, and something that actually happened. I'm making a correlation that Alpha 1's story is merely a small part of what happened within that war, just like a random Lieutenant's story in WWII would be.

I'm listing events in the FreeSpace timeline of which you could expand upon (as in you, personally, trying to actually make it interesting instead of just "Not going to happen and I'm not going to help any to even make it slightly possible").

As for bringing anything new to the table, how about instead of constantly fighting against the idea, actually help evolve the idea. The only way anyone could succeed in making any good fan movie involving these drama elements is if instead of asking the question to someone else, answer it yourself. How can you do it Bat? Or are you going to insist it's impossibility and fight it every which way

That's just counter productive. You can ask the questions (in fact, we all should ask the same questions), but as a fan yourself, you should help answer those very questions

If you really want me to, I'll come up with a story for each of the bigger events, and ideas which would separate them from other similar shows/movies. However, I expect you to do the same