The Dragonriders of Pern Movie - Todd's Official Announcement

[unicorntig]

Hey everyone!! It's been a ridiculously long time since I posted, but I was so excited to read Todd's email this morning.

Todd is officially confirming that Warner Brothers has optioned The Dragonriders of Pern and it's now in active development!!

We've still got a long way to go... but this is exciting news!!

See the link below to his newsletter!!

http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=...b&e=21761487cf

[Priscilla]

For some reason this just makes me chuckle!

[Hans]

Some of us are already patient since 1967

[mawra]

I will believe it when it hits the theater

[Allen]

Originally Posted by mawra

I will believe it when it hits the theater

......and is recognizable as Anne's story or stories.

[Natalya]

Less than half a year since the first rumors about the WB, as waiting for the owner of copyright in a series of some comment.

But now you can "officially" prepare to meet the new wave of fans. Gloss on the encyclopedia and Wikipedia

[Kugai]

We shall see.

[Brenda]

Wow.

[McClance]

Warner Brothers?

Wait. Wasn't the TV series going to be made with them until they demanded a whole bunch of changes?

[Hans]

Yup

[Ryuu]

Originally Posted by McClance

Warner Brothers?

Wait. Wasn't the TV series going to be made with them until they demanded a whole bunch of changes?

Yes it was. We can only hope the twits that caused Abbrams to pull the plug on production are no longer there (it has been 10+yrs).
I have seen a few recent news articles and it would appear things are better than back then.

[mawra]

From what I remember it would have to be better

[Kugai]

Abbrams?

Do you mean JJ 'Lets **** Up Star Trek' Abrams?

[McClance]

I thought it was Ronald D. Moore.

[P'ter]

I think Dragonflight would be best done by the Ardman Studios who do Wallace and Grommit. With plasticene figures and stop-frame photography you're not bound by what human actors can be made to do.

[Nina]

Waiting patiently

[Spock]

I'm having none of that, I'm waiting impatiently!

[Daccio]

I just hope they strive to stay true to Anne's world. It's impossible to translate a book directly into film. It will always have to be an adaptation. Let's just hope it isn't WAY off when completed.

[Ryuu]

Originally Posted by McClance

I thought it was Ronald D. Moore.

Sorry, my bad. You're right. It was Moore who stopped the Xenafying of Pern.

[Ryuu]

Originally Posted by P'ter

I think Dragonflight would be best done by the Ardman Studios who do Wallace and Grommit. With plasticene figures and stop-frame photography you're not bound by what human actors can be made to do.

I liked W&G, so please don't misunderstand what I'm about to say, but I have to disagree wholeheartedly on that idea.

Stop motion is pretty limiting for several issues—the worst of which is the time to make any sort of scene. It takes HOURS just to do a few seconds on film! Plus the amount of reshoots needed for any mistakes in adjusting the figures while shooting.

Then, there's the inherent cartoony-look of anything done in stop motion. It may be okay for a cartoon-type story, but Dragonriders is a subject that just doesn’t lend itself to the toon venue.

Figures in stop motion have very limited range of emotional expression, taking more away from the experience of watching a “serious” story.

Full or even partial-CGI is by far the better choice for something like Pern. No pun intended, but CGI can be “tuned” for cartoon to so-bloody-REAL-you’dshityourselflookingatit or anything in between. (My vote, of course, is for the full-on so-bloody-REAL-you’d….well, you get the idea ). CGI has that advantage that you mention for stop motion, in that people, creatures, and objects are not limited as they are in filming 'live video'--but CGI has many advantages that stop motion could only dream of having. Thing like special effects, wild camera directions (we're talking about the wild & crazy moves that a flying creature would have to have to avoid injuries in mid-air battle--there's going to be LOTS of THAT!!) and other items.

While not nearly as fast as filming action in real-time, CGI rendering is MUCH faster than stop-motion (depending on the type of scene involved, it can sometimes be as fast as the action you’d be watching in the theater—not often, though). Mistakes are far fewer as the action is often worked out long before the final rendering is begun.

CGI is easily able to incorporate and blend in ‘live action’ material or other methods, which allows studios to search for the best and most cost effective way of developing the scene.

We definitely want something that the public will look at this and say "why can't we have MORE movies like THAT?" rather than "Why put all that blood & gore in a 'kiddies' cartoon'?" Otherwise, we'd NEVER see DragonQuest & TWD if DragonFlight looked like W&G.

[Anareth]

CGI is best when used very, very sparingly. This is why JJ Abrams = YES for Star Wars (he managed to do most of Star Trek's effects without resorting to "Oh, f*** it, just green-screen it; you're talking to the tennis ball over there about that ping-pong ball on a stick behind him, now imagine it's a bar...") and George Lucas = NO (for why see the outtake from Attack of the Clones where Natalie Portman, who can't see anything of what her scene will look like as she runs down a green-screen platform, breaks down into a giggle fit over "This is a joke, right?" as she ducks imaginary machines and responds to imaginary flames. Pern could very easily be mostly real sets, real actors, even partial-model dragons, with CGI and green-screen where needed. The flying dragons are effects-heavy. A Weyr or Hold set? Lord of the Rings being a location film is enough to say it can be done convincingly without being in a box or all animated.

I really can't see Pern as animated, stop-motion or otherwise.

[paul]

Personally I already have the books as fully visualized in my own imagination and would rather them not end up as movies or TV series. My 2 cents includes the strong feeling that Anne had to be in creative control in order for anything like a decent movie to be made. Now she is gone there is nobody around to fill her shoes. I remember her saying on more than one occasion that she would only sell the rights on condition that she had that creative control. Seems to me there was a good reason for her saying that. Take a look at The Hobbit trilogy to see what happens when that control is lost.

[Natalya]

From Interview With Anne McCaffrey by Lynne Jamneck (2004) (http://www.writing-world.com/sf/mccaffrey.shtml)

How are things these days with regards to the Pern Series being turned into a film? I think the film industry is currently -- at least technology-wise -- in a supreme position to bring the books to life.

Well, we have had several false starts to a film of the Dragonriders of Pern, which is infuriating when I see lesser ones getting their share of screen time. Technology is fine... getting a producer who won't dumb the material down is impossible. One of the more recent attempts had Kylara, a grown up Jaxom and Lessa all inhabiting Ruatha Hold when the Dragonriders come on search.

I really urped because there was no reason for Kylara (who comes from Telgar Hold) to be at Ruatha, and there was less for Jaxom to be grown up since he hadn't yet been born. Oh, well, they were trying to appeal to the teenage market, at the expense of my finely tuned plot. So it's probably just as well that that particular script was never shot.

Now if Peter Jackson would turn his attention to the Dragonriders of Pern, there would be a rival for the beauty and awesomeness of The Lord of the Rings Cycle, which I thought was truly spectacular.

[Ryuu]

Originally Posted by Anareth

CGI is best when used very, very sparingly. This is why JJ Abrams = YES for Star Wars (he managed to do most of Star Trek's effects without resorting to "Oh, f*** it, just green-screen it; you're talking to the tennis ball over there about that ping-pong ball on a stick behind him, now imagine it's a bar...") and George Lucas = NO (for why see the outtake from Attack of the Clones where Natalie Portman, who can't see anything of what her scene will look like as she runs down a green-screen platform, breaks down into a giggle fit over "This is a joke, right?" as she ducks imaginary machines and responds to imaginary flames. Pern could very easily be mostly real sets, real actors, even partial-model dragons, with CGI and green-screen where needed. The flying dragons are effects-heavy. A Weyr or Hold set? Lord of the Rings being a location film is enough to say it can be done convincingly without being in a box or all animated.

I really can't see Pern as animated, stop-motion or otherwise.

Ummm---not really seeing your point about how Portman's acting ability, or the quality of the director for that matter, relates to the value of the CGI used

True, some CGI shops can be totally attrocious, but then the same can be said of just about any method used if you pick the wrong contractor to pull it off. But let's not forget, Lucas did create ILM, which is no fly-by-night outfit. WETA, too, is no slouch. And they both *know* how to mix & match other methods to help a studio & director bring their films to life.
That said, what other cost-effective method could've been done for that scene? Use a matte painting?--same greenscreen problem. Miniature set?--b***h wouldn't fit in anything but a Godzilla suit! Actually build a full-scale 30th Cent. Versailles so the idiot could perform?--hardly cost effective. Sorry

Besides, lots of actors will get the giggles or flub their lines, or *something* happens that causes a take to be destined for the blooper reel. The measure of the actor is can he/she pull off the scene well enough at least *once* in order for it to be caught on film? As to the quality of a director, does the finished product (the stuff projected on the wall) look like it's supposed to & come in on budget? (I can't use the phrase "& look real" here, because as we all know that sometimes, the film is meant to look like shit)

[Lanen]

Ah, the joys of Development Hell. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that nothing has happened since December last year. Sigh.

[P'ter]

I'd like to see the film done by Pixar!

[GinnyStar]

Originally Posted by P'ter

I'd like to see the film done by Pixar!

I would like to be both closed caption, and audio description

[Greenrider Tresa]

Just as long as it's good... and captioned!