72 replies to this topic

[Zakatak]

Sorry for unoriginality, but August 3049.

From the viewpoint of Phelan Kell, starting with the Kell Hounds 2nd Regiment on The Rock. 8 dropships detach from a Monolith jumpship, and had for the Sisyphus Lament. After finding a bunch of wreckage of the pirates they were sent to destroy, they get ambushed by clanners. As many are shot down on their way to the dropships, Phelan is taken hostage.

8 of the dropships get shot down by the Texas-class battlecruiser Nicholas Kerensky, and only 1 returns and the jumpship executes an emergency jump to Sigurd. The surviving mercs are called to a meeting on Outreach with representitives from all the Houses to meet with Jaime Wolf. You know the rest.

Edited by Zakatak, 16 May 2012 - 07:07 PM.

[Yoko Kurama]

FedCom Civil War or the original MW5/MWO plotline. Either follows a fairly set pattern of the prince's fall and rebellion against tyranny leading up to an epic battle against the tyrant and subsequent victory and time of "peace" follow. It would be an easy concept for the BT uninitiated to get a handle on and a good place to start them on their path into the world of BattleTech.

[GrizzlyViking]

alekzandr sukhanov, on 16 May 2012 - 04:35 PM, said:

So, I keep seeing this damnable trailer for a movie based off of a rather dull game of chance (Battleship) and I wonder, "Why hasn't there been a BattleTech Movie yet?!?"

Regardless of why, if one were to be made, what era do you think it should start with. I'm thinking 3025 is too soon. Maybe 3049, just prior to the invasion and then maybe end it with the start of the invasion for a teaser for the next.

What story do you think could be told well on the silver screen?

I have heard several times that the reason there has not been a MechWarrior movie is because the rights are held by too many different entities. It is not clear how much that may have changed since they were able to get the rights for MWO, but that is one of the reasons MWO took so long to become a reality. It is definitely a good question to ask. It would be interesting to know if what they have accomplished here in terms of obtaining rights for the game could open the door for a MechWarrior movie at some point.

[John Talbert]

I would want hollywood to stay as far as bloody possible from this game.

uwe boll especially!

[Mason Grimm]

Moving Off Topic

[Adridos]

Clan Invasion era with writing such as Pearl Harbor that we experience the normal lives of people (in IS, so nothing boring), while having short scenes where we see the Clans advance. The second part of the movie would be start of the invasion and ending would be the main hero departing from his planet, leaving everything behind, swearing vengence to Clanners and going to Fed Com.

Second movie could be about him helping Fed Com with the invasion and the ending could be Battle of Tukayid. Final scene says about the forming of new Star League (alliance of all IS nations against Clans).

If it was successful enough (I mean really successful), then the next part would be the Operation Bulldog.

[Suskis]

3025. whatever came after, it is worse.

[Victor Morson]

Star League.

Yeah, I know, that's the most limited era in terms of gear, factions and - wait, that's one of the big reasons I'm saying it'd work. The big problem is if you try to run a 3049 plot, there's so much back story it would be hard on new audiences or people who just don't care (the mainstream audience). Likewise it'd probably focus way too much on either back story laden characters, politics, or worst yet - new recruits. Movie makers love to do terrible films about them.

No, the reason the Star League would work well for a first movie is the houses exist, but aren't the major players. It'd allow the viewers to get used to how the Star League is and then, most importantly, the betrayals that collapse it. Kerensky would make a great main character and the ending of entering exile - having avenged, not saved, the Star League in the end - would be extremely easy to setup. As a bonus, you have the most hated figure in Btech lore and the most heroically remembered both existing in this era, giving you instant central characters and villains.

There's another reason, too: You're setting up one of the more interesting movie sequels in history, because you could move the setting up to 3025 or 3049 for a second film, tying directly to what happened in the first long after all the characters had died; you're effectively showing everything that happened in the first movie DID have big repercussions and all of your back story is already laid for you to focus on what's happening now.

So yeah. Height of the Star League -> Fall of the Star League -> SLDF's leaving the IS and Blake's forming of what would become Comstar would be absolutely perfect for a film entry and about the only story I could see being viable for a starting point.

EDIT: It's ironic because I think this would be the least flexible era for a game, limiting the technology and 'mechs pretty severely; fun for some TT scenarios but it'd be disappointing as a MechWarrior, while for the same reasons it's limiting here, it's great to introduce newcomers to the ideas of 'mechs and houses and show the League and it's total fall from arguable grace. It'd leave enough time to show what the universe is about without having to jump on a million plot threads.

To use a recent example, jumping straight to the Clan invasion in a movie format would be like having done the Avengers movie before the character ones. A Clan invasion movie could make a great sequel to a Star League movie, though, as it would pick up both hundreds of years later and be a direct continuation at the same time, in particular with three major plot threads: Kerensky's exile leading to the Clans, Blake's founding of Comstar and the zealots who take his ideas too far with the WoB and the way the houses predictably bombed each other to the stone age as Kerensky believed they would. All three of these things would be major parts of the climax of a Star League film, so I think it'd mesh really, really well.

Edited by Victor Morson, 17 May 2012 - 04:06 AM.

[Goldhawk]

The the Warrior Trilogy if combined, would be a nice 2 part movie that would introduce the concept of the battlemechs and much of the politics in the Inner Sphere.

Maybe a little would be cut out, but the betrayal of Justin Allard is a great plot line, leading with him being on a special assignment and destroying the Capellan Confederation.

Movie 3 would start with introducing said characters established in the previous book, Victor, Kai Allard Liao, Phelan Kell, and BOOM! what's going on? What's this force attacking? There could be the conclusion of the realization that Kerensky's people have returned.

Movie 4 would start with reintroducing Kerensky in a short clip, which leads to the Meeting on Outreach, and the movie would end with the goal of the clans being Terra.

Movie 5 would document Kai's actions of Alyina and Victor saving Hohiro and the battle of Tukkyidd. The death of Primus Waterly and clans getting locked down for a 15 year truce is a great way to end.

And for those that complain, IT'S TOO LONG, Harry Potter and Twilight got hella movies, and geeze! Resident Evil and Underworld? I honestly lost count. I think it is only fair that we get a few.

[Arctic Fox]

The Age of War probably has the most potential for a standalone movie or series. You have the room to make either a small-scale story about, say, a single battle or a larger one about a war or campaign without having that much complicated background material to explain. You can have it include honourable combat under the Ares Conventions, brutal warfare disregarding it or any combination of the two. You can even set in the very early days of 'Mech warfare, which could be interesting. Other standalone stories could easily be set in the Succession Wars, FedCom Civil War and the various conflicts between the Successor States in the Jihad era without too much trouble though.

Besides that, the Star League era has two obvious storylines, the first being the formation of the Star League and the Reunification War and the second being the Amaris Civil War, fall of the Star League and the beginning of the First Succession War. I think the latter would work better on its own, with the formation of the Star League being better material for a prequel. In either case, it goes without saying that either of these would have to have at least several movies to tell the whole story.

When it comes to the 'present' in the BattleTech timeline, the Warrior trilogy would work pretty well a movie series. It doesn't need more than the basic background information to know what's going on, and it stands on its own pretty well. The central story of the FedCom Civil War is similar, but based on much more background information, so it probably wouldn't work on its own as well.

For either the Clan Invasion era and the Word of Blake Jihad I'd make a full length series (or several) rather than a movie, though. Both of these take years from the start to resolution and follow a lot of different plot threads (Though the Clan Invasion itself could be handled in a movie trilogy). The Clan Invasion would work on its own in this format, since a series lets you include more background material, but the Jihad would have to be preceeded by everything else to make any sort of sense.

Edited by Arctic Fox, 17 May 2012 - 04:55 AM.

[Aelos03]

I dont know much about battle tech history but it would be cool to start something like this http://www.student.n...jbo/history.htm
or even start from beginning and then i can watch many sequels.

[RogueSpear]

I wouldn't want to see just a string of BT films. In 2 hours, there's no way you can give any major event justice. Pearl Harbour was mentioned, but remember that told the story, primarily, of a couple of hours of reality.
Let that sink in for a minute.
The first half of the film sets up the characters. Sets up this feeling of Pearl Harbour being filled with real people, young, carefree, everything to live for. This is interspersed with minute long scenes of the Japanese preparing. Then, they attack.
20 minutes of carnage ensues.
Then in about 30m they loosely record the Doolittle raid.
Very small events.
But the Clan invasion? The clan invasion took years. The Battle of Tukayyid was in May 3052. Three years after the clans invade. The first year is nothing but losses for the Inner Sphere. The second year the 'Sphere begins to get it's **** together, and begins to win occasional victories, but it's still getting pummeled. In the third year, the 'Sphere resorts to the battle of Tukayyid as a desperate last stand against an enemy they have begun to hold their own against but know they cannot hope to defeat without a reprieve.
That story cannot be told in 2 hours. The Fedcom civil war, the war of 3039, all of these are great tales - but you can't tell them in 2 hours.

Instead I'd love to see a TV series. Now bear with me on this, the logic train is a bit convoluted.
Most TV series simply don't have the same animation budgets as films do. They don't make as much money in the short term, usually not even the long run, and producing 2-3h of footage is a lot cheaper than producing 22 hour long episodes. So the theory is this:
In the same way that Avengers was the film that the character films built towards, let a Battletech, highly funded, fully fueled, TV series be the premise for a Battletech film. Run a full season of the series and release the season finale as the set up to a film. As an example, using the Clan invasion as an example, start the season focusing on a small mercenary unit out near the Periphery. Unaffiliated, just waiting for their next contract. As the season progresses, the characters begin hearing more and more about pirate raiders in the Periphery advancing into the 'Sphere, eventually being revealed as the clans, the mercs having no idea who they are, and generally letting the drama play out around them. Scenes of the 'mercs, not exactly the best kitted out, most elite troops of the Sphere, watching the holovids of Clan Mechs advancing, discussing the look of the strange machines and guessing at their abilities, unflustered thinking it's just a strange faction they've never heard of from the Periphery, turning slowly over the season to fear as they realize the Houses can'm. deal with or contain the clans. Worry as the group begins to fracture, fearful of being thrown into battle against the clans, that they might not get out in time. End the season with the 'mercs getting hired by House X to defend Planet Y (At a place where the veterans know the 'Sphere win, only one I can think of offhand in the early phases of the invasion is Wolcott, but that was elite DCMS Genyosha regiments with no merc support I believe). The film then focuses on the events of that great battle, a minor turning point where the 'Sphere gets a victory, more about the clans is explained, characters for the next season are introduced, our Merc friends move up a little higher in the world.
The intro from Mechwarrior 4 would work brilliantly for the opening title speel of the first season:

Brief backstory, tells everyone just what they need to know and no more and lets the rest attend to itself as the season progresses. Since we're watching the underdogs of the Sphere, there's all the in character justification for everyone getting something explained to them.

'We've been hired by House Steiner/Kurita/Marik/Whoever to do X/Y/Z. The first thing you need to know about our new employers is..."
Over the course of the next couple of seasons we see our Mercs getting higher and higher in the Sphere, bigger and better as they get more publicity and fame from the increasingly bigger and more dangerous jobs, interacting with higher levels of the Houses. More backstory is revealed, the clans are eventually turned back in the third film, the Battle of Tukayyid. The next seasons then tell the tales of different eras, depending on what the (hopefully now widespread and dedicated fanbase) want to see. The Star League in it's prime? The Amaris Civil War? The Fedcom Civil War? Who knows?

I wish I had money. I'd love to go and make that rant a reality...

[rolling thunder]

I would "like" to see the first ofhe Novels done in book form. While it only concentrates on the DC it has hints of everything in it. Then of course they could go on to make the other two books before starting on the rest. For an actor the whole series would be a life work as characters age & die{not sure an actor would tie themselves for that long?}.
The up shot of this would be the reuse of sets through out the filming as well as mechs & dropships which would minimise costs over time?

[Aelos03]

RogueSpear, on 17 May 2012 - 05:04 AM, said:

I wouldn't want to see just a string of BT films. In 2 hours, there's no way you can give any major event justice. Pearl Harbour was mentioned, but remember that told the story, primarily, of a couple of hours of reality.
Let that sink in for a minute.
The first half of the film sets up the characters. Sets up this feeling of Pearl Harbour being filled with real people, young, carefree, everything to live for. This is interspersed with minute long scenes of the Japanese preparing. Then, they attack.
20 minutes of carnage ensues.
Then in about 30m they loosely record the Doolittle raid.
Very small events.
But the Clan invasion? The clan invasion took years. The Battle of Tukayyid was in May 3052. Three years after the clans invade. The first year is nothing but losses for the Inner Sphere. The second year the 'Sphere begins to get it's **** together, and begins to win occasional victories, but it's still getting pummeled. In the third year, the 'Sphere resorts to the battle of Tukayyid as a desperate last stand against an enemy they have begun to hold their own against but know they cannot hope to defeat without a reprieve.
That story cannot be told in 2 hours. The Fedcom civil war, the war of 3039, all of these are great tales - but you can't tell them in 2 hours.

Instead I'd love to see a TV series. Now bear with me on this, the logic train is a bit convoluted.
Most TV series simply don't have the same animation budgets as films do. They don't make as much money in the short term, usually not even the long run, and producing 2-3h of footage is a lot cheaper than producing 22 hour long episodes. So the theory is this:
In the same way that Avengers was the film that the character films built towards, let a Battletech, highly funded, fully fueled, TV series be the premise for a Battletech film. Run a full season of the series and release the season finale as the set up to a film. As an example, using the Clan invasion as an example, start the season focusing on a small mercenary unit out near the Periphery. Unaffiliated, just waiting for their next contract. As the season progresses, the characters begin hearing more and more about pirate raiders in the Periphery advancing into the 'Sphere, eventually being revealed as the clans, the mercs having no idea who they are, and generally letting the drama play out around them. Scenes of the 'mercs, not exactly the best kitted out, most elite troops of the Sphere, watching the holovids of Clan Mechs advancing, discussing the look of the strange machines and guessing at their abilities, unflustered thinking it's just a strange faction they've never heard of from the Periphery, turning slowly over the season to fear as they realize the Houses can'm. deal with or contain the clans. Worry as the group begins to fracture, fearful of being thrown into battle against the clans, that they might not get out in time. End the season with the 'mercs getting hired by House X to defend Planet Y (At a place where the veterans know the 'Sphere win, only one I can think of offhand in the early phases of the invasion is Wolcott, but that was elite DCMS Genyosha regiments with no merc support I believe). The film then focuses on the events of that great battle, a minor turning point where the 'Sphere gets a victory, more about the clans is explained, characters for the next season are introduced, our Merc friends move up a little higher in the world.
The intro from Mechwarrior 4 would work brilliantly for the opening title speel of the first season:

Brief backstory, tells everyone just what they need to know and no more and lets the rest attend to itself as the season progresses. Since we're watching the underdogs of the Sphere, there's all the in character justification for everyone getting something explained to them.

'We've been hired by House Steiner/Kurita/Marik/Whoever to do X/Y/Z. The first thing you need to know about our new employers is..."
Over the course of the next couple of seasons we see our Mercs getting higher and higher in the Sphere, bigger and better as they get more publicity and fame from the increasingly bigger and more dangerous jobs, interacting with higher levels of the Houses. More backstory is revealed, the clans are eventually turned back in the third film, the Battle of Tukayyid. The next seasons then tell the tales of different eras, depending on what the (hopefully now widespread and dedicated fanbase) want to see. The Star League in it's prime? The Amaris Civil War? The Fedcom Civil War? Who knows?

I wish I had money. I'd love to go and make that rant a reality...

It was pleasure reading this wall of text, i got idea while i was reading it would be cool for Tv series to start as film (you know like StarGate) and series continue where movie stop.

Edited by Aelos03, 17 May 2012 - 05:18 AM.

[Voridan Atreides]

Well I think a movie about the clan invasion would be pretty epic.

[Starne]

Amaris Civil war and the fall of the Star League. The time period has just about everything. Epic, bugdet-breaking battles, drama, political intrigue, a villain any sane human would love to hate, and I'm sure you could throw a random romance sub-plot in there somewhere.

Start off by setting everything up. The year, what the Star League is, who the Great Houses are, Who the First Lord is, and how his new bestest friend Stefan Amaris is ruffling a lot of feathers. Explain that the bulk of the Star League's armies are fighting in the Perihpery. Close with a battle between two battlemechs in the periphery.

Move on to Amaris' murder of the First Lord, the Royal Guard's ill-fated attempt to bring him to justice(Gotta work the Mechs into this scene somehow. Maybe a lone Royal Mech making a heroic last stand against throngs of Rim Worlds Mechs and Infantry), and the slaughter of the extended Cameron family(Good for general shock value, and to establish that this is indeed a very bad man. Also, insurance against a PG-13 rating).

Amaris takes over the Hegemony(Goons killing or arresting unsuspecting officials, Rim Worlds Mechs firing on stuff), we meet Kerensky when Amaris makes his offer. After being refused, Amaris contacts the Great Houses(We get to meet the house lords here, though they were seen in the prologue), he gets refused again. Kerensky contacts the Great Houses to secure their support against Amaris, gets slightly less hostile repsonse, still gets told he's pretty much on his own.

Cue SLDF returning to the Hegemony, epic space battles, epic battles between Mechs, throw in a couple of battles between SLDF Infantry and Rim Worlds infantry to add "Human perspective". Amaris' insane ramblings, Amaris nuking cities out of spite.

SLDF returns to Terra, takes heavy losses, but presses on(More epic battle scenes), Amaris is found and killed(Bonus points if he's hiding in a hole, A la Hitler or Saddam). Kerensky personally announces to the assemble House Lords, congratulations and relief quickly give way to squabbling over who becomes the new First Lord, a troubled Kerensky leaves the meeting.

While the Great Houses mobilize for war, some telecomms tech named Jerome Blake tries to get the phones working again. Kerensky makes one last attempt to salvage things. People in the Hegemony trying to rebuild.

Kerensky formally announces that he's leaving and taking the bulk of the SLDF with him. Cut back and forth between the Exodus and the opening shots of the First Succession war(Have this bit narrated, being sure to point out that the year is 2786 it's only the FIRST Succession war). Roll the clock forward to 3030, showing that the Great Houses are still at each other's throats, and the Succession Wars are still raging.

Cue CREDITS. Foreshadowing of the Clans will be in the second movie, set in the 4th Succession War.

Edited by Starne, 17 May 2012 - 07:50 AM.

[Phoenixfire]

Test the waters with a stand alone story(Maybe one of the Mechwarrior books that stand alone as a story with not much need of a complete back story) and then move to a trilogy book set(Archer Christifori is my fave and it even has a slight love interest to keep others interested.)

[Omega59er]

CoffiNail, on 16 May 2012 - 04:36 PM, said:

Clan Invasion. More or less a retelling of Blood of Kerensky. I think that, if done right, could be amazing.

Question is, would you want to have a movie where you had to cover the whole reason why the clans left and are coming back, or would you want to first set up the universe by using a movie about one of the wars before the Clans? Sure, everyone wants to jump to clan warfare, but would it be prudent to jump straight into the Clans without setting up the universe first?

I too keep wondering why there isn't a Battletech movie. I went to see the first Transformers movie with my father, and we both walked out asking each other, "WHY ISN'T THERE A BATTLETECH MOVIE?!"
But then again, after watching the Warhammer 40k Ultramarines movie, I KNOW why there hasn't been a movie yet. It would utterly suck without a large budget. That or you wouldn't be getting the large sized mech battles we would expect.

Edited by omega5-9er, 18 May 2012 - 07:31 PM.

[Aelos03]

omega5-9er, on 18 May 2012 - 07:30 PM, said:

Question is, would you want to have a movie where you had to cover the whole reason why the clans left and are coming back, or would you want to first set up the universe by using a movie about one of the wars before the Clans? Sure, everyone wants to jump to clan warfare, but would it be prudent to jump straight into the Clans without setting up the universe first?

I too keep wondering why there isn't a Battletech movie. I went to see the first Transformers movie with my father, and we both walked out asking each other, "WHY ISN'T THERE A BATTLETECH MOVIE?!"
But then again, after watching the Warhammer 40k Ultramarines movie, I KNOW why there hasn't been a movie yet. It would utterly suck without a large budget. That or you wouldn't be getting the large sized mech battles we would expect.

i would like it to start why they left. i think reason why we didn't see move is battletech rights issue also i heard there was movie in making but they hit some problem or something.

[Lord Perversor]

This video it's been around since 2008 i guess

old Battletech movie trailer

this thread just bring it back to memory.