posted
I know this subject has been covered already, but the old post from 2005 got sidetracked with discussions over star wars, punctuation and CG.
I first read Ender's Game when I was 16 and for years (over a decade now... nearly 2) it has stuck in my head. Recently I picked up... well everything else from the Enderverse. I'm trying to read everything in chronological order with the short stories thrown in here and there when I want a diversion. I'm 3/4 of the way through Xenocide and I cannot help but picture this entire series as animated.
I know there has been talk for a long time about a live action film (which I think is great), but I think a good complement would be a series of serial animated adventures. Cartoon network has somewhat embraced adult focused animation with its "adult swim" block. They may be a good partner for the project. Yes, it is mostly loaded with comedy shows, but there have been a few complex anime shows shown later at night. A good example was Gundam Wing (for those who remember Toonami in the late '90's early '00's).
As for the argument of having to water down violence, cartoon netwrok has shown both edited and un-edited versions of Dragonball Z. Therefore it is entirely possible to run each, one during the afternoon while most kids are up and one late at night.
For those who feel animation cannot effectively convey both complex story lines or show emotion, I challenge you to watch the "monster" anime:
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_(manga)"
I also feel that animation will draw in a younger audience and may guide them to buy the books. It would also enable extended marketing of the series via DVDs and action figures.
Anyway, I know it is not a new thought, but one that should seriously be considered, or re-considered.
Posts: 3 | Registered: May 2009
| IP: Logged |
posted
I like that idea. I just dont think Enders Game can be successfully adapted to movie form. I could be wrong, though.
I do think that an animated EG would be amazing. There's sooo much someone can do with animation that can't be done with a movie
Posts: 1 | Registered: May 2009
| IP: Logged |
posted
As a teacher of animation (ill have to check my earlier posts cause I think Ive changed my mind) Enders game could work as a cartoon be it cg or traditional animation, however I believe it would have to be very stylized to work. Forget about anime, yes I know Ill get haters who think anime is the bees knees. Anime is a legitimate style for telling a particular type of story, one I believe does not belong in the enderverse. (opinion only people).
It would be interesting to see what different people could come up with for an ender cartoon.
Could it work as a series ie The Clone Wars, I don't know.
Posts: 143 | Registered: Feb 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
One thing about Ender's Game is that it's not very episodic, at least not enough for it to be divided into twenty-something parts, times however many seasons you're doing.
My first thoughts: Telling Ender's story in TV = bad idea, simply because the action isn't spread out evenly enough to make a balanced TV show. Though I think what you're getting at is having something like a "Tales from Battle School" show, where it would focus on a variety of characters and give formerly minor characters the occasional lead role. Dink Meeker's episodes could be awesome.
While I think it COULD work, you'd need brilliant writers and competent directors to pull it off. Otherwise, it might fall into the trap of repetition; just one army beating the crap out of the other again and again. Where's the intrigue? Where's the character development that made Ender's Game so beloved?
Though it would be the epitome of coolness to have Graff and Anderson (or Dimak or even Rackham or someone else entirely) have one of those stretches of dialogue that precedes every chapter in the Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow novels.
Between a TV show and a movie, I have no preference. I actually think both could easily go wrong, and each is difficult to make right. The biggest reason I'm not pessimistic about the Ender's Game movie, if it ever gets made, is that Orson Scott Card himself wrote the screenplay, and has exercised a lot of authority in keeping people from messing it up (i.e. the rejection of Peterson).
EDIT: Spelling and added sentence fragment to the last paragraph.
Posts: 1029 | Registered: Apr 2007
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
