The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

More forum fodder for y'all:

I heard a rumour long ago about a petition floating around to try and convince a movie studio to make a movie based on the Star Control universe.  While that is likely never going to happen, it does get me thinking:

• If you had the opportunity to write the screenplay, what would the movie be about?  Is there "too much story" to fit into one movie?
• More to the point, do you think there is any "must-see" plot point from the games that would have to be in the movie at all costs, or similarly any "must-not-see" plot point that should be excised from the hypothetical movie?  Why?
• Would mainstream sci-fi audiences bred on transporters and death stars be able to "accept" a sci-fi story where humans are not only NOT in charge, but are penultimate in the pecking order, superior only to a bunch of suicidal raccoons?
  
• I would hold that the ships as presented in the game would have to go, in lieu of big, diverse fleets of alien ships.  SC3's 3-D combat mode showed that the Dreadnought just isn't very intimidating-looking when you add volume, and it should be.  Thoughts?
  
• CGI or animatronics for the aliens?
  

I think a Star Control based movie would have to be a cartoon, something within the "Titan AE" or "Treasure Planet" style...

Real actors with CGI scenes just wouldn't work, and it would be very dificult to make it true to the Star Control spirit (humor).

Or maybe computer animated? I didn't like the Final Fantasy movie very much, but if you used that kind of style for ships and such (or B5 whatever seems appropriate). Then you could have creautres animated more like the wackos in Shrek. Especially the Traddash would lend themselves to that kind of animation I think :)

The plot part I really consider must see is the one where you *ally* with the Syreen : )

Seriously though, I think regular scifi fans would enjoy watching it as well, it'd be a nice break from the long live the humans stuff....

Wow, the site is still around on geocities....

http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Lair/3656/

What about XR?  Isn't that taking care of it?

With all due respect to the XR project, absolutely not.

Unless you think the ideal "Star Control" film would be a bunch of POVRay movies of ships from the game fighting.  While I like a good space-battle as much as the next guy, I think the quality of the fiction in the "Star Control Universe" is what could make a good movie, including the ships from the game outright would make it cheesy/campy/lame (exception:  the Mycon Podship.  A sky full of those would be about as cool as a forest full of Ents walking down and kicking ass)

Thanks to season #4 of "Babylon 5", when I imagine the concept of a "planetary siege unit" the image that comes to mind is anything but an Ur-Quan Dreadnought.  But thanks to "Star Control", when I think of super-badass space villains, I always think of the Ur-Quan.  I think there's something to that.

And besides, just because someone is supposedly making a "movie" doesn't mean we can't talk about making a movie.  There's room for both.  :)

Wow, I remember that page!  It's sooo old!  Hehe.  That's really cool that it's still up.

I think if there was a movie made, most of it (at least space battles) would be done in CGI...  I think the format would have to differ from the story of Star Control II or any of the games in the series, since a motion picture is obviously a different medium with different strengths...  and I think the only way for any of it to work would be a in a computer-animated, Final Fantasy movie graphics project.  Or else the aliens would just look lame.  The other option would be puppetry, a la SC3.  And while the Star Control series wouldn't make the greatest film, I could see some of the epic parts of the series definately translated into a cool sci fi flick.

I've always supported good sci-fi/fantasy movies!
When I read The Hobbit I always wondered why don't they make any movies with dragons and magicians etc. And in the case of Star-Control it was just the same!

I think that the Hollywood today produces quality movies unlike ever before. I am very pleased with LOTR and it's length (2.5 hours minimum). So my thoughts are - make a real movie with real actors (Hey, they picked the perfect actor for Spiderman) and create the starships using the Star-Trek method (real miniature models) rather than the not-so-realistic (well, it's not) B5 method.

Resident Evil was another good title.
In other words, I'm sure the only problem is no producer has even heard of Star Control II, and it could be a top-rated movie. I only hope that if and when someone makes a film out of it, efforts won't be spared and the movie's length would be at least 2.5+ hours ( ;) ).. It should stand to the standards of LOTR..

(yes so I love that movie! don't most of us?  ::))

Actually, I think the ships from Star Control would look very cool in a movie, maybe with some modifications.  What's wrong with the Ur-Quan dreadnaught?

I actually think rather than a big screen movie it would work better as a mini-series.  A half dozen two hour episodes should give enough time to cover the salient points in the story.  

-Will  

The biggest problem with an SC movie would be copyright issues; not with accolade/infogames, they can be bought-off easily since they're just one company.  All the makers of the movies and television shows that the SC ships are based off of will want their cuts, though, and some may just not want anyone to use their material.

I would love to see an SC movie though.  

Start with a Chenjesu communicating with a Mmrnmhrm about the different Hierarchy races being subjugated (The Communications are all translated into text for our benefit, and to allow other sounds to pervade the scene): An image of Umgah drones getting blasted - through their cones - by fusion bolts, switch scenes to a picture of an ilwrath city getting destroyed.

*The Umgah and the Ilwrath have been subjugated*
*We succeded in turning the Enemy aside from us, but even now, the Spathi are surrendering.*
Here the Spathi Surrendering ceremony could be performed.
10001111000111 WHAT OF EARTH? 000111101
*Although the Ur-Quan seem to attack the weak first, we do not believe they would benefit from attacking Earth right now.  We must first warn the Yehat and their Shofixti.*
Fade out.
Fade in to a little 5 minute history blurb about the Small War, the dismantling of the nukes, the creation and escape of the Androsynth and the creation of Star Control, then fastforward 30 years and Cue the Giant Chenjesu Broodhome:

People from Earth:  We are the Chenjesu.  We mean you no harm.  
We come in peace with an urgent message.  Heed
these words:  there is a horde of conquering warriors
advancing toward your solar system from deep space...

Then let the Stories of the Great Crucible of Sentience be told, complete with battle scenes and Captain Rand's insult.

How about a trilogy? :P

I mean, Dune (3-parts mini series) was great, but LOTR had so much more quality!

And the problem with the Kzer-Za's vessel is that whoever tried making it in 3D didn't make it fierce enough

It looks a bit weird in 3D

The problem with telling the story of the original Alliance of Free Stars is that they get their asses kicked, and people in general do not like paying $9 USD to watch the "good guys" lose.  :)

Although watching huge starships annihilate ancient landmarks and turn the sky red would be quite cool.

Also, aliens storming the ship and engaging in hand-to-hand combat is a staple of most "mainstream" sci-fi.  Would you be for or against such a scene in a Star Control movie?  Why?

What's good about the Star Control story is that it has a reason for this "one person saves the universe"

because all Earthlings are encased inside Earth.. So you're the only one left :P

In regards to aliens storming a ship.. that's the Orz job isn't it? There could eb some serioulsy cool scenes watching the Orz invade. Aldo, maybe they could teach other races their marine skills? the shofixti would probably make good marine fighters

Haha , talking about the Shofixti - did you ever think how is it possible for few Orz marines to get into the scout? too small :P

I guess that when they need to, they can really cramp together :)

Also, how do the Orz attack the Probe? It's completely automated. DO they just bash the insides to hell and back?

I think the Ur-Quan could be quite cool if rendered properly. also, it'd be able to launch wings of fighters, and we really don't know how they look yet do we?

And the Pkunk resurrection would have to be in the movie somewhere... Suddenly everyones radio channels get overloaded by a massive HALLELUJA!

argh!
Where did I put Peter Jackson's phone number?! :P

[size=0](=LOTR director/producer/writer)[/size]




Some talented TimeWarp 3D artist has GOT to do this Pkunky thing! Just for kicks   ;D

And Peter Jackson has other qualifications for this movie as well.

After all he did direct Braindead and Bad Taste, so I imagine violent combat scenes with Traddash and Ilwrath (and possibly lawnmowers) wouldn't be a problem. Firing at the poor Ortogs with Bazookas and so on, packing 500 Umgah into a few crates. He's got it all nailed.

Shofixti are based off feudal Japan, not current Japan. :)

I could just envision the young, human captain on Vela growing up...  who would play him?  Mel Gibson?  Tom Cruise?  Hehe.

Star Control is like an epic movie or novel, and those pictures of the Chenjesu and Mmrnmhrm talking about the different races being subjected to slavery by the Ur-Quan just brings cool pictures to my head.  The problem with making the movie would be having to omit or change some parts...  firstly, it would be important for the audience to understand the importance, or at least qualities of each race, something that would take a while, and probably couldn't be done rushed, or anything like that.  And then people would have to know which ship related to which race, too...  and some races might be omitted, perhaps the Utwig or Slylandro...  Then again, maybe not.  It would just be a matter of taking the "fly around the galaxy and ally with nice aliens to beat the bad ones" and make it more epic, adding plot twists to the already detailed storyline.  Anyways, it shows promise.  I just wonder how they Ur-Quan would look not sitting on their little stoops, hanging there from the coat hangers on their ship, or whatever they're holding onto up there...  hehe, how do they walk?  Anyways, I envision that wouldn't be a problem in the movie...  but some things it might have to focus on are: the enslaving of Earth (touches close to home), the life of the young captain (to some extent), and of course the space exploration/diplomacies of the game and the individual characteristics of each race coming through.  I like the prospect of seeing the meeting between Captain Rand and the VUX, hehe...

Of all the races, I think you can only safely ditch:
- Slylandro
- Thraddash (quite safe)
- Druuge ( pretend the Utwig made the bomb)
(These races give us the Rosy Sphere and the Aqua Helix - Perhaps we can have the Pkunk repair the Ultron on their own?)
- Supox (they add a little flavor and a ship, not too much else that can't come from somewhere else)
- Zoq Fot Pik (though might be nice for fight sequences, or at the end we get to watch someone commentating a frungy game, though we don't get to see the game itself...)
Though it would screw around with a lot more than what we've done so far, we could conceivably ditch:
- Orz (they provide a wicked ship and opportunity for onboard combat, but the androsynth aren't a necessary plot - perhaps instead of the Taalo shield you work out something with the telepathic Syreen crew members?)

If we leave out the entire Shofixti reborn plot then we can drop them, the Yehat, and the VUX.

Still, that leaves
Ilwrath, Spathi, Pkunk, Melnorme, Arilou, Syreen, Mycon, Umgah, Dynarri, Chmmr, Utwig, Kzer-Za, Kohr-Ah.
13 alien races at a minimum (I consider the two sides of the attack (bomb, dynnari) and Talana to be minimal).
That's a LOT of introductions...

As I said, if someone did a mini series, say a half dozen two hour episodes, there would be few plot points that need to changed/ommitted.  I think a mini series format would work the best!  Or a normal television series, with 1 season = 1 year, and game lasts from 2155 to 2159 so you would have 4 seasons (though I know must people here can beat it in less then that  ;)).

-Will  

I can think of one plot point that could most certaiinly be dropped:  the resource gathering.  Watching that onscreen would be like watching paint dry (but without the tension :) )  From the number of RU cheat requests on this forum, I'd gather alot of you wouldn't mind if that plot point were dropped from the game, as well.  ;)

But without that pragmatic, exploring-space-as-a-means-of-funding-your-insurrection aspect from the game, just why would the captain be tooling around hyperspace in his Precursor tug?  Similarly, watching the captain fly around trying to build alliances in order to get a quick cash infusion would be like watching a movie about a guy going to different banks so he can get a home equity loan -- hardly the stuff of high space drama, even if it does make for a fun and engaging video game.  :)

The more I think about it, the core plot of SC2 is fairly straightforward:  Humans discover a super-weapon that can destroy the Ur-Quan's super-weapon, rally the members of the old alliance into open rebellion, and finally win their freedom.  Everything else -- all the really interesting parts -- is effectively backstory.  I'd think if someone were to make a movie out of this fiction, they'd be best off making sure that the backstory is told properly.

But we all know that a Hollywood movie of Star Control would in all likelihood feature a plucky kid and a cute robot who inadvertantly save the day at the end of the third act.  :P

Well, I was thinking of the Orz cramping together to get in :)

As long as the young captain isn't played by Leonardo DiCaprio, I'm happy.

Wouldn't it just the best movie though? the first five hours, you watch the young captain travel from star to star gathering resources. We could make it an all night movie! Go in at 8 in the evening, come out at 8 the next morning!.

Oh and I do SO want to see the mgah in the movie! Their my personal favorites

I don't think there's any need to drop any race! you wouldn't believe how dense they can make a movie.

Besides, a trilogy would do it just fine. Not all races must be introduced in the first part. You could look at LOTR - they have a pretty lot of "introductions" there too, even though it's hard to distinguish them, they're all very well integrated into the plot.

So tell me Censored. Do you like LOTR? I thnik it's mentioned in almost every post you've made in this topic  ;D

And I agree, all races should be kept. No Orz or Traddash. Oh how I'd weep!

>>can think of one plot point that could most certaiinly be dropped:  the resource gathering.  Watching that onscreen would be like watching paint dry (but without the tension  )  From the number of RU cheat requests on this forum, I'd gather alot of you wouldn't mind if that plot point were dropped from the game, as well.<<
>>But without that pragmatic, exploring-space-as-a-means-of-funding-your-insurrection aspect from the game, just why would the captain be tooling around hyperspace in his Precursor tug?  Similarly, watching the captain fly around trying to build alliances in order to get a quick cash infusion would be like watching a movie about a guy going to different banks so he can get a home equity loan -- hardly the stuff of high space drama, even if it does make for a fun and engaging video game.<<  

Well, I could simply see it as part of the "backdrop".  Basically, while the crew and captain talk about gathering resources, the audience isn't forced to sit through it (except for obligatory "lander crashes and crew is trapped with only so many hours left" scene   ;)).  If you did a series though (either mini or full season) then, just like in the game, the resource gathering provides a perfect excuse for them to run into people (while the actual gathering mostly takes place between episodes).  And with adequate time to explore the diplomacy of the game, I could see some really awesome scenes with the captain and other alien races, allowing the race's outlook to be fully shown.  It would actually be more logical in that regard then Star Trek or most other Sci-Fi series.  The more I look at this, the more strongly I feel that a series format would work so much better then a movie (or even a trilogy).  

>>The more I think about it, the core plot of SC2 is fairly straightforward:  Humans discover a super-weapon that can destroy the Ur-Quan's super-weapon, rally the members of the old alliance into open rebellion, and finally win their freedom.  Everything else -- all the really interesting parts -- is effectively backstory.  I'd think if someone were to make a movie out of this fiction, they'd be best off making sure that the backstory is told properly.<<

Yea, without the backstory Star Control would be a Star Wars/Last Starfighter clone.  

>>But we all know that a Hollywood movie of Star Control would in all likelihood feature a plucky kid and a cute robot who inadvertantly save the day at the end of the third act.<<

hehehe  :D.  That's why I would turn it over to network (I would say the Sci-Fi channel, but apparently they are moving away from the aliens and space-ships and are moving towards supernatural stuff), and create a series, less chance of "Hollywood people" shredding the story that way.  Hell, if you explain that the whole story is written, works, and has some proven appeal, it might not even be that hard of a sell.  Maybe if you go into detail about some of the race's biology and such, maybe Discovery would pick it up  ;).  

-Will      

gathering resources can be dropped out, people would "know" it happens (just like you don't see people eating three meals a day in movies, but you know it happens).

To strengthen the lander and exploration we have a few prefect missions for that - meeting Fwiffo on Pluto, facing the ULTIMATE EVIL on the Spath's homeworld, the Mycon eggs, and the VUX beast. Hey, come to think of it - gathering resources is quite necessary in a movie plot - "wow, we went to gather minerals and found ancient Precursor technology!  :o"

;)

In defence of the XR project, it's not going to be just a bunch of ships flying around fighting. That's not a movie thats more like Spacebattles.com style stuff. It just happens that at this point Ive been rendering the ships cause they are quite a bit easier than organic beings and the like. Also keep in mind Im the only artist working on it right now so I can only do one thing at a time. Im a great lover of movies and personally I think longer movies tell a much better story. See Fellowship of the Ring Extended edition... booyah 2+ (don't recall if it's more than 3..) hours. Lastly, povray!!! you insult me! *JK*well still povray, I never liked it, actually im using 3d Studio Max and im looking into Maya (you know the stuff ILM uses, for the likes of oh let's see Starwars)
Anyway enough from me...

AH-HA! You see Lukipela, LOTR rules ;)

And it's 208 minutes =)

Indeed. I have to say, one of the greatest things  I've seen in a film so far is the Ents striding into Isengard. There's just something... unstoppable about them. If we could capture a scene like that (say with the Ur-Quan walking straight through Earths defenses), we'd have the best movie scene ever! Althoug that's paritally been done in that B5 movie so maybe the "slashers" devastating the Androsynth instead?

I saw The Two Towers only once (waiting for the extended edition :P) and this part always puzzled me -
first they storm towards the towers, then they go back and open the water dam which finishes off everything in its way.. Why didn't they go directly to collapse the dam?

Well, I suppose they're not very strategic :) I mean, they're going there becasue their serously pissed off, they look more like a mob sort of wandering through the wall than a military expedition. Maybe it simply didn't occur to them before the Orc's opened fire with firearrows? Possibly they didn't know how bad it was inside until they got through the wall, and then it took them a few minutes to stop their momentum and swing around to the  dam.

That's why I suggested making a movie about the first Alliance of Free Stars;  The story is more bare-bones, and Hollywood can be more creative without being in contradiction to canon SC.

And to reply to the earleir about ppl not wanting to see the good guys lose in a movie about the Alliance. if it is the first in a trilogy or "duology", then it's alright. Good prevails at the end...

*sigh*

Let's face it; no one will ever make a Star Control movie..



so...
LET'S MAKE ONE HERE!

who wants to be Fwiffo?

:P

..Ok ok, I'll take my medicine now..

Can I be Tanaka?

I wanna be a Fot!

*blinks*

See? I'm perfect!

Apologies, I did not intend to put you in a position where you had to defend your project.  :-[

But now that I know that you read this forum, I suppose I can ask:  are there any screenplays written for your movies, or are they still in the planning stages?  None of the links on the XR pages work for me, else I'd probably already know this.  :(

Also, what is your take on the issues presented so far?  i.e., are there any plot points from the game that are being dropped/changed because they wouldn't work very well in a movie?  What challenges have come up in trying to make 4 movies that all tie together yet are all enjoyable individually?  Oh, and how long is each movie supposed to be?

The screenplays are all in the works. Though I think for the time being im going to put the first two on hold and work with the movies that we can pull allot more information for. Ie the 3rd and 4th movies. I may change these to who knows 4 movies from just these 2?.

I have to fix those links and I did intend to get them fixed but last week or two I got rather busy making computer service calls (money good). This week however seems like it will be fairly un-busy (lol). So Ill get some more stuff done.

Because were only just begining to write the script were not sure exactly what ideas will be left in and what will be taken out. My hope is to stick as close to the game story and such (and the backstory from the manual) as possible. Though for example one thing crew size dosen't seem to work, a crusier with only like 18 people on board? im thinking more like 50 perhaps. The ur-quan might have say 125 on theirs?. Really things are still open and nothing is set in stone as it were.

As to multiple movies, well they will all tell a part of the story individually, but be there own story on their own. As to length, like I said I love long movies so i say 2-3 hours =D, who cares if some people complain... "oh it's to long" blaah on them hehe. No sense in rushing a story. Also as of yesterday Ive started work on proper preview which will actually be one whole scene (or at least most of it) from movie 3 or maybe 4 depending on how things go.

If there is any more questions feel free to post them on our forum (it is working lol). http://www.classicgaming.com/starcontrol/xr/

Excellent! I look forward to seeing the preview!

A cruiser has only 18 people so that it can save room for all the Nukes. :)

A good chance of that, but still. But where do they store all the nukes? obvisouly they have a limited number so for movie purposes how many should they carry? (before they need to be resupplied)

Can't they synthesize it on-demand? hehe :P

That is a weak point in the crusier I suppose... Maybe Censored is right though? The time spent reloading your batteries after firing could actually be the time it takes to assemble or synthesise a missile. (Ok this is realistic in no way, but it's really the only explanation. unless the Arilou taught us how to teleport in missiles from the vaults on earth...)... As for the Crew, I think 18 sounds god. A spaceship would need to be largely automated anyway, and the more people you have aboard, the more supplies you need.

I think it's more likely that this represents the time it takes to reload the tubes. There are two tubes, hence the two shots to begin with. They fire sequentially because they would confuse each others' guidance systems if side by side.
We can muff the exact battle dynamics a little, like "why does using the point defense make missile reload slower?" Answer: "It does in the game, not here..."

Maybe the missiles have some sort of new-fangled electro-ion drive that needs to be charged up.  Using the PDL would prevent juice from flowing into the missiles' batteries.

Yes, but if they divert auxilliary power to the Plot Device, they will be able to overcome the external threat presented in the "A" story, while at the same time dealing with the internal character conflict of the "B" story, all in time for the commercial break before the end of third act!

...at least, that's all I ever hear when they revert to technobabble on Star Trek. :P

The beauty of the Star Control "universe", as it were, is that it's got something for everybody.  It's packed to the bursting with epic space battles, sexy alien chicks, super-evil villains and fantasic super-advanced technology, but it also has undertones of humanity's reaction to being forced to "grow up" before we are ready.  We are all wrapped up in our own petty conflicts at the top of our food chain when out of the blue, a Chenjesu starship shows up and turns everything upside down.  We pretend to accept the fact that we are not alone in the universe, but our arrogance quickly costs us allies (the VUX) and our past actions create enemies (the Androsynth), creating a situation that ends in defeat.  In the end, we win, but we are arguably a large part of the reason that we lose to begin with.

In other words, it has brain food as well as eye candy.  I think this is a good thing.

Don't forget the censored inter-alien sex cutscenes  ;D

nah - just copy the video sequence from the game. No need to censor or anything... ;)

and that i think is the whole point. It'd be nice to see a movie where humanity realises that they aren't actually the head honcho, and that there are more important issues than our petty rivalries.

First I figured i should register an account.. instead of just coming on as Scott Irving.

Anyway,
Yes indeed I think it fine time we see us earthlings defeated, people who don't know the SC story will come to the end of which ever movie it turns out to be, and be like what?! we lost?!!!! and then hear about the next one, and they know something is up so they 'have' to go see it.

Hmm as to the crusiers, missles, we'll come up with some clever way probably involving Chenjasu technology or something. As to the crew, more crew meaning more supplies this is a very good point, convinced me.

On a side note i just upgraded this computer with a new CPU (Athlon XP1800+, from duron 1.3ghz) so I should be able to get stuff rendered just a little bit quicker now, lol.

Would there be interspecies love in the movie?  I mean, other than the Captain and Talana...  Or maybe that could be another movie altogether.  A Pkunk and a Yehat, destined never to be together in a thousand drahn, whose families oppose their undying love, and in the end everyone dies tragically.  It could be called "Reep-Reep and Juliakk".

An umgah whose secret adoration for a spathi maid brings him to alter his body irreversibly, only to be rejected....

Heheh, don't forget the Star-Control twist to the story: Reep-Reep thought Juliakk to be dead, and killed himself with the help of a poiso.. ehh, I mean, a Glory Device!
But then Juliakk woke up, only to find her Yehat lover dead, so she killed herself. and then - HAAAAALLELUJA!
"damn! I want to die damnit!"
HAAAAALLELUJA!
"arrgh! Reep-Reep my love! I have to kill myself at least 16 more times so this damn reincarnation would stop! await me!!"

*boom!*
HAAAAALLELUJA!
*boom!*
HAAAAALLELUJA!
*boom!*
.....

:D

Ah, a SC2 movie....I'm seeing Nathan Fillion as the Starbase Commander.....
A CGI for the Spathi, Umgah, and Supox....
Steve Paymer for the Utwig.....
Shannon Elizabeth as everyone's favorite Syreen seductress....
That's all I've gotten so far, but with the exception of Shannon, they're all pretty easy to pay for !  How about it, Miramax ?