47 replies to this topic

[Bill Bullet]

Which would be better: BattleTech movie(s) or a BattleTech TV series?
Corollary 1: If a movie or movies which character would you like to see in what role?
Corollary 2: If a TV series, animated or live action?

We all know that the Hollywood types ran out of ideas ages ago and with the success of Marvel's big old universe in the box office and Games of Thrones' multiple story-lines getting all the ratings, I'd say the viewing public is ready for the lore monster that is BattleTech. The question is how best to approach this?

TBH honest my answer is it should be a live action TV series. There's already been one attempt at bringing this franchise to the small screen as an animated feature and it was sadly held back by the constraints of children's programming. Something more like this with today's CGI capabilities? Oooooooh yeah. Season 1 could be the 4th Succession War, Season 2 The Clan Invasion with Turkayyid the season finale, Season 3 Operation Snake/Bulldog, Season 4 the Word of Blake Jihad and Season 5 the founding of the Republic of the Sphere.

Political intrigue on a universal scale, memorable characters (all I want for Christmas is Bryan Cranston as Hanse Davion), and the Mech combat we love, hell there's also the opportunity for so many spin-offs! That's good TV right there! But what do you think?

[Catra Lanis]

I'd like a movie about the first Greay Death Legion book. Why? Because the story is simple and straightforward and it's a good way to introduce the non battletech geeks to the universe.

[Bongo TauKat]

Hold your tongue knave! I loved Pacific Rim. It was giant robo with cool mecha vs Godzilla monster action. I still want a Btech movie though.

[990Dreams]

Two movies then bring it to the homescreens (TV).

The first movie should cover a mercenary unit during the last succession war (you can make the plot follow almost anything during that time period), then cover that mercenary group on Tukayyid in the next movie (since it is a key period in BattleTech).

If those two events were well made into a movie and it still doesn't hook people on BT, nothing will.

[capt hungry]

Who doesn't love kaiju?

I like the idea of a TV series. I have always felt that the Warrior Trilogy would make a good movie (or series of movies). But even with a TV series, it would work, with the requisite intrigue, love interests and mech action. Plus it establishes characters that continue to appear in subsequent books. We see more of the Allard family, the Kell Hounds and other major characters in that series than many others in quite a few of the novels that came after that series. It would then set the stage for Kai Allard-Liao's birth and subsequent rise as well as the other offspring of major characters.

The Grey Death Legion story is an awesome one, but they don't really play that much of a part in the other novels that came after. As a stand alone series, yes, I think it'd work too.

Edited by capt hungry, 13 May 2015 - 07:37 AM.

[KuroNyra]

A movie, live action. Just like Pacific Rim was.

And pleaaaase, no Michael Bay at it.
You have probably saw the horrible things that happened to Transformer.

[Telmasa]

TV series, animated, but in the fashion of Knight of Sidonia.




This way, you could address all periods of the Battletech universe, it'd be easier & cheaper while still looking pretty freaking cool, and you wouldn't be limited by a one-shot time slot - you can just keep creating more episodes (assuming it's all continually fiscally feasible of course).

Edited by Telmasa, 14 May 2015 - 12:27 AM.

[Faith McCarron]

Anything but an anime-style series. The last thing Btech needs is more cheese and misogyny.

[ShinobiHunter]

I love anime, but there really needs to be a big budget movie series for Mechwarrior. Someone made a short animated trailer for a Btech movie that was fantastic. I would love to see that built on.

[AdamBaines]

This thread dissapointed me. I thought you were going to bring some news you saw on the internets about a possible movie.....

[ShinobiHunter]

[Cupid and Psyche _]

Haha I totally forgot about that intro! Thanks for posting it. Watching it brings back so many memories from my childhood.

Back on topic, I really think a movie would do the series more justice. I'm sure a TV show would work as well, but with the way the books are written, it wouldn't work as well.

I really wish that there was a movie, but we BattleTech fans are few and far between...

[TheArisen]

Telmasa, on 14 May 2015 - 12:26 AM, said:

TV series, animated, but in the fashion of Knight of Sidonia.




This way, you could address all periods of the Battletech universe, it'd be easier & cheaper while still looking pretty freaking cool, and you wouldn't be limited by a one-shot time slot - you can just keep creating more episodes (assuming it's all continually fiscally feasible of course).

I think this is the most realistic way for us to get a movie/TVseries. Sadly, there aren't enough fans to make a big budget movie work. Also, it should follow Wolf's Dragoons. Easy introduction to the whole IS & Clans plus good story.

[Anjian]

Knights of Sidonia is really bad ass.

The second season, which is currently being shown in Japan, will start to be shown in Netflix at the beginning of July.

There is an inherent problem of televising a series made for a game, and one that is exclusively made for cinema or toys (Transformers, Robotech, Gundam, and practically much of anime mecha).

Making a series for cinema you need to be over the top.

You can't be OTP for a game series, because OTP = OP, and no one would want to play that. The outcome is that you never seen a successful game series made out of cinema, especially out of mecha (ever heard of a good Gundam or Macross game?). Well they made games out of Star Wars and Star Trek, but although with moderate success, none of them reached the truly successful phenomenon stage like you can HALO or Star Craft. Likewise, the opposite is also true. We have yet to see a really successful movie made out of a game. There is a long list of games that are better known, more iconic than Battletech up that ladder, and still many of these will yet see the light of being a movie. Hollywood is still trying though, we are going to see a Hitman this year, but overall making a movie out of a game franchise is a toxic creative nightmare trying to satisfy the hard core gaming fans and trying to make it attractive to people who never knew the franchise before.

Look at HALO. People have been trying to make a movie out of that for years, but somehow, Microsoft with its bureaucracies and lawyers, meeting Hollywood with its bureaucracies and lawyers, resulted in a fatally poisonous atmosphere and everything collapsed. If there was a game that deserved a movie HALO was it. Even if someone tried to revive the project, HALO as a franchise appears to have long peaked. The failed project is also a shining monument to the antagonism between Hollywood and the tech and video gaming industry, which are often seen as the "enemy" by Hollywood. You know, Hollywood actually resents the fact that video games makes more money than movies.

There is still a World of Warcraft movie that is coming out. What are the chances you think it would be as good as a Marvel superhero summer blockbuster?

So why have we not seen movies for other game franchises --- CoD, Battlefield, GTA, Mass Effect, Diablo, Final Fantasy, Rainbow Six, etc,. Independently, they are not seen as a military, or car chase movie, or fantasy or scifi movie, but a games movie first, then genre second. Being a "game" already puts a stigma.

Then there is that Need for Speed movie. Honestly it did alright, not as big as Fast and the Furious, but big enough its getting a sequel. But I did feel it was rather a mediocre movie. It still underscores that the brand weight --- Need for Speed is a really really big game franchise that has sold over 140 million copies of its various series --- can only still get you that far.

That's probably why there was a Transformers movie and a Robotech movie. They are not "video game" movies.

Battletech also has inherent problems with its copyright. Who has the rights to make a movie out of it? Topps who has the tabletop and figure rights? Or Microsoft, with its digital rights? Right there, that is a legal nightmare showstopper. And Microsoft has already did just awful with its attempted HALO movie.

[Tyrnea Smurf]

I doubt we ever see a Battletech movie or TV series.

Mostly because the rights are in a kind of limbo (several interests could throw monkey wrenches at it in costly rights litigation - even if most of the lawsuits over any BTech movie profits/rights had no merits whatsoever, the threat of possible litigation would keep most production companies away)

Partly because the Universe itself is seen by most production companies as latently racist (that the 2 preclan invasion bad guy factions were Asian in there depiction - House Kurita=Japanese, House Liao=China). You can try and skim around this issue with choosing a non Succession War era to depict, but there are story complexity issues when you try that.

Before going further, its important to know the eras in which Btech movies could derive.

Battle Tech lore has several distinct eras.

1#: Age of War/Pre Star League ... 2398 - 2550

This Era covers most of the foundation of the 5 Houses outside the control of the Terran Homogeny and the beginnings of House v House warfare.

To my knowledge none of the novels or short stories are set within this period, The only direct reference I know of is a Era Digest:Age of War which was published in 2011. Mostly notable for most fans because its during this period the the first BattleMechs were developed and used, and the Ares Conventions which governed rules of engagement and weapons allowed in military campaigns (the in universe reason why battlemechs and not planet cracking capital warships are the primary military tool in use)

For a movie studio, this era is an open book to write movie plots in, however its burdened by being such an open book, not even fanboys care what happened in this timeframe, so no real built in audience.<br />

2#: Star League ... 2570 2766

This Era covers the political treaties and allances that resulted in the Formation of the Star League, the golden age of advancement from the general peace which resulted from League membership, to the eventual decline of the Cameron Family Dynasty which lead to the end of the Star League.

Again almost none of the novels or short stories cover anything within this era. There are a few reference books, and a lot of later stylized thoughts about humanities golden age, but very little hard canon lore.

For a movie studio, an open book again, but the genre is big stompy robots fighting not political intrigue thriller plots, so likely a not usable as a setting.

3#: Star League Civil War/SLDF Exile 2766 to 2784


Also known as the Amaris Civil War. its the period from the assassination of First Lord Richard Cameron and every last living member of the Cameron family, to the War between the Star League Defense Force and the Rim Worlds Republic military, to General Kerensky's victory over Stefan Amaris, his censure, and eventual exile taking 80% of the surviving SLDF with him.

None of the novels really cover this period, only one I know of is a chapter or 2 at the beginning of the book Star Lord. (Personally I have always thought this Era was ripe for a book series detailing the drift, fall, fight over the Star League, and ending with the gathering to exile of the SLDF) lots of hard lore in this Era, but plenty of room for film plots, what could be interesting film plots at that.


4#: Succession War 2784 - 3028

4 distinct wars are fitted within this Era. The first 2 Succession Wars are described as massive kill offs, every tool and type of weapon was employed. By the time of the 3rd Succession war everyone backed away from the no holds barred style of war, because they no longer could afford to destroy everything in sight, because they had forgotten how to rebuild it. It saw a return to a form of the old Ares Conventions of warfare. The end period of the 3rd Succession War is the original introductory Era of the Battle Tech universe.

About a third of the published novels and sourcebooks are set with this era. lot and lots of lore contained in the era as a result.

The major draw back to using this setting in a film is alienating your primary foreign markets for a big stompy robots action mecha film - China and Japan. Your stuck either with Marik v Steiner action, or whitewashing, or multiculturializing the factions. The first one is isn't a bad choice per si, but there is no Marik fighting later on in the next era, so world/lore building with them is of limited value in a film series. The second 2 options are highly dubious. Whitewashing is frankly stupid with global franchises at this point, and even multiculturalizing any of the 5 would be problematic, rife with drawbacks.

I think this is the era a beginner film would work in, but it would have some major systemic issues, which is why I think movie studios stay away.

4# - A:The Clan Cluster ... 2786 - 3030

Same timeframe of the Succession War in the Inner Sphere, it covers the Journey to Strana Mechty, the breakup of the old SLDF, Nickolas Kerensky's founding of the Clans, his conquest of the 5 settled Pentagon worlds and the Clans spread to a small cluster of worlds near the Pentagon. The Clans Golden Century is contained within this era.

This Era has a fair amount of written lore, and has some novels in it. Plenty of room for story telling. The issue is given the rather alien nature of the clan culture and society, it would be very niche to build a film around this setting first time out.

5#: Clan Invasion ... 3049 - 3060

This Era covers everything from the first appearance of the Clans in the Inner Sphere on the Rock, to the Inner Sphere powers forming the Second Star League and winning a Trial of Refusal on Strana Mechty to end the Invasion.

MWO is set in this Era. About half of all novels and sourcebooks cover the events of this Era.Lot and Lots of Lore in this era.

In some ways a film could work in this time period, however the major issue would be faction overload. The only way I see a film working here is to abandon the idea of following the Blood of Kerensky novels narrative of the invasion, way to much happening to follow in the confines of a film plot. This setting is a nightmare for a single films plot. Far to many factions and threads to follow. its a nice place to play on a TV series, where you would have the space to run with so many plot threads, but for a film? unless a studio thinks this is the next Lord of the Rings sized billion dollar profit per film, there is just no way it gets done.

6#: Jihad, Dark Age, ect...

Everything after the end of the end of the Fed Com Civil War is niche-y within Btech fandom. Unless and until BTech is an established film/TV property no real reason to worry about them in the context of this discussion. Any place a Btech media property would start with, is in the earlier eras.

Assuming you clear up those rights and license the property to a studio, the next hurdle is film genre, and budget.

And at that point the elephant in the room is your not going to risk 150+ million on a film which either has to chop the living heck out of its own source lore to make a coherent plot (the issue with the clan invasion as the setting) or risk alienating your primary foreign markets (the issue in the Succession War era as a setting).

Edited by Tyrnea Smurf, 07 June 2015 - 04:38 PM.

[Bill Bullet]

Aw comon Smurf I can dream can't I?

[Tyrnea Smurf]

Battle Tech is the stuff dreams are made from....

Its just not the stuff movies or TV shows will get made from any time soon...




Mores the pity.

[TheArisen]

Perhaps there needs to be a kickstarter... Or pass around a petition. If enough people show interest a studio might take it up. I still say a movie/TV series with Wolfs Dragoons would be perfect. You can introduce all the factions and the Clans. It'd be a great way to setup a for the Invasion, IMO.

[TheArisen]

A petition with Duncan Fisher asking for signatures, make it so. In all honesty, BT has tons of lore that could make some great movies, it's just a legal minefield.if we could somehow show it's worth...

[TheArisen]

TheArisen, on 17 May 2015 - 02:15 AM, said:

I think this is the most realistic way for us to get a movie/TVseries. Sadly, there aren't enough fans to make a big budget movie work. Also, it should follow Wolf's Dragoons. Easy introduction to the whole IS &amp; Clans plus good story.

Perhaps not KoS style animation. I'd suggest Ghost in the Shell:SAC or Aldnoah.