353 replies to this topic

[Nonny]

   No Drom without KHC!      

[Douglas]

Staying out of the casting discussions, some thoughts on the universe:
1) A mood of desperation
Shortages and supply problems should become an issue early on, and stay an issue.  Dylan can only auction off stuff for so long, at some point he's going to have to work put how to get his hands on parts and supplies when he doesn't have the Commonwealth's tax payers to support him, with all the potential for moral compromises that entails.  

2) All politics are local
Rather than being in a different galaxy every few episodes, keep the action relatively local at least early on.  Develop a few local factions in the area of space they're in,  with their own problems and animosities, with unknown threats appearing whenever the Andromeda leaves the set of systems they usually interact with.  After a half season or a season when the crew have finally managed to bash out some kind of order and cooperation in that zone it's time to unveil the larger dangers.

3) No space for frills
The look of the Commonwealth and High guard vessels is excellent, but for the post-fall ships and gear a "used future" aesthetic should be embraced, and extended to other aspects of society.  Whenever you have local militia or some planet's military troops, have them use smaller markers like armbands for identification rather than any standard uniforms, though they should still be trying for things like pockets and camo (for planetary troops)when you're backs to the wall sometimes you just can't afford dress uniforms.  (I'm looking at you Castallians!)

4) Tone down technological decay
While loss of infrastructure does stop large projects, and interfere with the communication of theoretical scientific knowledge, any knowledge that is of practical use is unlikely to deteriorate in a "Dark Age" scenario (there's a reason historians don't use that phrase anymore).  The ships of 300 years after the fall of the Commonwealth should be smaller and not as well maintained, but they should be fully as advanced as the ships of the Andromeda's own time.

[Christopher]

Just a minor nitpick, but given that slipstream travel is independent of normal-space distances, several systems could be "adjacent" to one another in practical terms while still being in separate galaxies.  So "local" would be defined in terms of how many slipstream hops it would take to get between two systems, not how far apart they are physically.

[MuseZack]

My cast for the summer event movie version of Andromeda:

Dylan Hunt-- Dwayne Johnson. Yes, seriously.

Gaheris Rhade-- Idris Elba.

Sif Anasazi (Tyr and Beka folded into one character)-- Rosario Dawson.

Rommie-- Emma Stone (must be beautiful but snarky!)

Seamus Harper-- Michael Cera.  I'd like to see the deadpan version of this character as much as the overcaffeinated one we're familiar with.

Trance Gemini-- Summer Glau.

Rev Bem-- Doug Jones in a motion capture suit. If he can't get the voice, get Anthony Hopkins.

Gerentex-- Alan Rickman.  Cause it's my movie, dammit.

Story:  I'll save it for my next post....

[NeuralClone]

Enver Gjokaj or Fran Kranz as Harper is so full of win I don't even know how to put it into words. Absolutely perfect.

[Robert Hewitt Wolfe]

Things I'd want in a reboot, whether TV or film:

1.  A reasonable budget

2.  First stab at script

3.  If TV, a certain pair of ampersanded writers either on staff or running things themselves

4.  There is no four

PS Lots of story suggestions here, which I didn't read 'cause, you know, the rules and such.  But it's fun to see all this energy.  My God, Zack, what hath thou wrought?

[Robert Hewitt Wolfe]

MuseZack, on 25 August 2010 - 02:57 PM, said:

My cast for the summer event movie version of Andromeda:

Dylan Hunt-- Dwayne Johnson. Yes, seriously.

  Actually I can see that.  Liev Schreiber would work in a more serious vein.  I pick Hugh Jackman though.

Quote

Gaheris Rhade-- Idris Elba.

That could work.  How about Brian Austin Green, since we blew our casting budget on Dylan?

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Sif Anasazi (Tyr and Beka folded into one character)-- Rosario Dawson.

Revert to the original premise where they're the same character?  Sure thing.  But the character's name was Freya Anasazi.  =)  Rosario works.  So would Grace Park.  How big is our budget?  Can we get Angelina Jolie?  =P  Zoe Saldana?

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Rommie-- Emma Stone (must be beautiful but snarky!)

Summer Glau goes here, not there.  Grace Park here if we haven't used her as Beka/Freya.

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  Seamus Harper-- Michael Cera.  I'd like to see the deadpan version of this character as much as the overcaffeinated one we're familiar with.

That works.  But he will  have to get punched.  Repeatedly.  Also Aaron Johnson or Chris Mintz-Plasse.  Who need punching too, but that's okay.

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Trance Gemini-- Summer Glau.

Not playful enough, plus she's already been cast as Rommie.  Ellen Page, Alison Pill, Emmy Wong.  Perfect and they're all Canadian, which is traditional.  If we want to go non-Canadian, Lyndsy Fonseca.

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Rev Bem-- Doug Jones in a motion capture suit. If he can't get the voice, get Anthony Hopkins.

Dude, Andy Serkis in a mo-cap suit.  Done.

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Gerentex-- Alan Rickman.  Cause it's my movie, dammit.

f*ck yes.

[Robert Hewitt Wolfe]

I must admit all of this does remind me of this:

http://www.theonion....u-ask-me,17765/

[Christopher]

Here's a thought: make the movie in Hong Kong.  Chow Yun-Fat as Dylan, Jet Li as Tyr, Michelle Yeoh as Beka, Jackie Chan as Harper, Maggie Q as Rommie, Sammo Hung as Rev, and Zhang Ziyi as Trance.

[Robert Hewitt Wolfe]

How did I not have Allison Scagliotti on my list of Trances?  FIXED!

And I left Scarlett Johanson and Jennifer Garner off my list of Beka's.  So that's wrong.

Edited by Robert Hewitt Wolfe, 25 August 2010 - 05:13 PM.

[T_H_Phoenix]

Christopher, on 25 August 2010 - 05:45 PM, said:

Here's a thought: make the movie in Hong Kong.  Chow Yun-Fat as Dylan, Jet Li as Tyr, Michelle Yeoh as Beka, Jackie Chan as Harper, Maggie Q as Rommie, Sammo Hung as Rev, and Zhang Ziyi as Trance.

Actually.... That would be pretty freakin' cool.

[DarthHunter]

Robert Hewitt Wolfe, on 25 August 2010 - 04:19 PM, said:

4.  There is no four

I don't get it

Robert Hewitt Wolfe, on 25 August 2010 - 04:19 PM, said:

PS Lots of story suggestions here, which I didn't read 'cause, you know, the rules and such.  But it's fun to see all this energy.  My God, Zack, what hath thou wrought?

If you haven't read them, how do you know they're story suggestions?

[Robert Hewitt Wolfe]

DarthHunter, on 25 August 2010 - 05:17 PM, said:

Robert Hewitt Wolfe, on 25 August 2010 - 04:19 PM, said:

PS Lots of story suggestions here, which I didn't read 'cause, you know, the rules and such.  But it's fun to see all this energy.  My God, Zack, what hath thou wrought?

If you haven't read them, how do you know they're story suggestions?

From years of practice, I am able to recognize a story suggestion from the general shape of the paragraph, then voluntarily constrict my pupils, which signals my brain to stop paying attention instantly.  I then slam my head repeatedly into a wall, causing temporary amnesia, which allows my to forget any minor details inadvertantly absorbed.

It's a skill set.

[Christopher]

^You should've just said "My writer-sense was tingling."

[FarscapeOne]

Robert Hewitt Wolfe, on 25 August 2010 - 05:24 PM, said:

From years of practice, I am able to recognize a story suggestion from the general shape of the paragraph, then voluntarily constrict my pupils, which signals my brain to stop paying attention instantly.  I then slam my head repeatedly into a wall, causing temporary amnesia, which allows my to forget any minor details inadvertantly absorbed.

It's a skill set.

That's pretty much how I deal with management at work.

Failing that, I refer to the David Warner method (from the TALES FROM THE CRYPT episode "THE NEW ARRIVAL")... (snaps fingers while saying) ignore it, ignore it, ignore it.

[Lord Martock]

Robert Hewitt Wolfe, on 25 August 2010 - 05:05 PM, said:

How did I not have Allison Scagliotti on my list of Trances?  FIXED!

And I left Scarlett Johanson and Jennifer Garner off my list of Beka's.  So that's wrong.

oh hell ya.  Allison as Trance, Summer as Rommie, and Scarlett as Beka....definately watch-able.

Oh ya....bigger budget too.

[MuseZack]

Don't look now, but thanks to that wicked minx Charlie Jane Anders, this thread has made it to IO9.com!

[D'Monix]

Robert Hewitt Wolfe, on 25 August 2010 - 05:24 PM, said:

From years of practice, I am able to recognize a story suggestion from the general shape of the paragraph, then voluntarily constrict my pupils, which signals my brain to stop paying attention instantly.  I then slam my head repeatedly into a wall, causing temporary amnesia, which allows my to forget any minor details inadvertantly absorbed.

It's a skill set.

Sounds painful...

[D'Monix]

me picks for Trance:

Emma Watson (with her new waify look)

or

Dakota Fanning

or

Ashley Green (Alice from the (ick) Twilight movies.)

[BklnScott]

Bad Wolf, on 23 August 2010 - 09:57 PM, said:

But Christopher isn't part of the terror of the Magog (like the Reavers) that they DO seem almost humanoid.  As if all the ugliness of humanity had been distilled into one package and unleashed on people for the purpose of devouring and terrorizing?  It's just a question.

In the context of a remake on SyFi -- which by definition would make it sci-fi on a budget -- I absolutely love that idea.  The horrifying, sentient-eating other -- and they look just like us... which would obviously change how all the other sentients in the tri-galactic area viewed human beings in general, and a human being attempting to resurrect the Commonwealth in particular.  

I definitely would favor a series.  The story was designed to be told long-form.  As Cardie says, a lot of nuance would be lost if it was a movie, or even three movies.  But if it IS s a movie, then motion capture suits all the way -- for all the aliens, not just the Magog.  A realistic sentient insectoid, in particular.  (Can't remember that character's name.)

For casting (TV casting), I tried to think, "who is the Kevin Sorbo of today?"  A TV star looking for his next series, whose name attached to the project would make it a go.  Nobody jumped out at me.  A Matthew Fox?  Eh.  He's great, a real TV star, but would he topline a SyFy series when he could easily step into the lead in any network pilot?  Nah.  

I did immediately think of Taye DIggs as Tyr... but then I thought of Taye Diggs as Dylan.  He's a great actor.  Charismatic, but easily buyable as a by-the-book, hard-ass C.O.  

Robert Hewitt Wolfe, on 25 August 2010 - 04:19 PM, said:

Things I'd want in a reboot, whether TV or film:

1.  A reasonable budget

2.  First stab at script

3.  If TV, a certain pair of ampersanded writers either on staff or running things themselves

4.  There is no four

Agreed!

MuseZack, on 25 August 2010 - 05:42 PM, said:

Don't look now, but thanks to that wicked minx Charlie Jane Anders, this thread has made it to IO9.com!

Ha.  He lurks?!