Sauce

I know that Orson Scott Card isn't necessarily loved around here, and for good reason, but I fucking loved this series as it was coming out. I always heard that there was a movie in the works, but never could really picture how exactly it would work. Well, apparently now it's going to happen.

Honestly, the thing that worries me the most is that the film is being produced by the same company that produced Twilight...

Edit: I said I hope this could be good. However, I fully expect it to suck ass.

 

Ender's six.

Ender's six.

.....

 

Ugh.

I only enjoyed the first 2 of the series (Game and Xenophile) and that was when I read them at fifteen (recently tried to reread them and couldn't stomach it) but it's just painful to see them butcher it this bad.

 

I tried to read Ender's Game last year, couldn't finish it :/

 

How do they get lightsabers and quidditch out of zero gravity laser tag?

It was required reading during a high school English class and as a teen I enjoyed it. Not sure how well it might follow now.

 

Yeah... but would they really be able to get a six year old to play him? Making the cast older seems like a necessary change.

I'm hoping they update the technology used a bit. And as an xkcd strip addressed once, taking the world over through blogs isn't, well, feasible. So I'd be fine with a change in that area too.

EDIT: By update the technology, I mean throwing in things like holograms and the like. Gotta at least make it look flashy. No lens-flare spamming though.

 

That xkcd strip just made me laugh out loud, literally.

But on topic, movies generally take a great deal of 'artistic liberty' in interpreting books into film. They're not above changing major things just to make things more exciting - I mean, just one example is "I am Legend," in which they completely change the ending that was laid out in the book.

I'm sure they'll update a few concepts from the book to better fit the audience of today, and they'll also somehow find a way to add romance, cheesy-lines, and a sex scene somewhere, I imagine.

 

They'd better not remove Ender the six year old murdering a bully in cold blood. And they'd better not have Ender fuck Petra, because that's Bean's teritory.
I think that Ender's Shadow would make a much better movie anyway.

 

This will not end well.

 

How young were you when you read it? I've read it a few years ago and thought it was medicore youth SF which badly aged like a lot older SF.

P.S. The book feels like watching "Wargames" again. It must have hit the vibre of the time but then people also liked to run around with mullets in the 80ies

 

What are you talking about? Card is epic.

 

I wasn't going to read his books, but that shit right there changed my mind. Epic indeed.

 

I've always nursed a hope that Card would get pancreatic cancer.

 

Actually, he's kind of a dick. He's a solid author, but a bit of a crackpot. Read his essay on homosexuality, read the rest of his blogs... It sort of comes through.

 

I once read a book he wrote on how to write science fiction (I bought it before I knew who he was). I'm not sure how, but at the end I put it down, and had got the impression he was rather full of himself, like he honestly thought that what he was telling us was the only way to write... even though none of his books have ever appealled to me.

 

Don't be hating on the mullet. For the times, it was the hairdo of least badness: rat tails, retro flattops, 80s big hair, side pony tails, man perms... Need I go on?

Ender's Game was a semi-readable, if simplistic short story before it was expanded. It didn't have the legs for a novel and so much of the extra crap added to lengthen it is just stupid garbage that should have been edited away.

Regarding Card, aside from his coming off as an asshat in real life, his article on JK Rowling and her lawsuit is hypocritical. A couple years ago, when fanfiction turned into a big deal in various pro writing circles following Gabaldon's famous rant on same, Card came out with his own strongly worded statement against fanfiction and not-for-profit derivative works that might appropriate (with attribution) from his intellectual property. He believed that allowing such would devalue his intellectual property and hamper his ability to make a profit on the work, the very thing he accuses JKR of doing in his essay. Moreover, unlike writers like Rowling, Butcher, and Stross, who have a "let it be" policy regarding fanfiction, he aggressively goes after fanfic writers for intellectual property theft. (Full disclosure: I used to have a Ender's Game satire--a protected class of derivative works--posted here and on ff.net, but took it down to avoid exposure to a nuisance lawsuit).

 

Ender's Game: Speculation

...Yes, it's true. They've finally confirmed a release date for the Ender's Game movie for the March 13, 2013, while releasing some extra, new info.

Like others, I'm worried about the choice of director, Gavin Hood. The guy did direct X-Men Origin: Wolverine, that trainwreck. He apparently also edited Orson Scott Card's script. However, the cast list makes me happy:

I am incredibly glad that Asa Butterfield grabbed the titular role; he is truly one of the few actors who'd have the potential to encapsulate even half of Ender's personality, considering Butterfield's solid and diverse track-record ranging from Boy With The Stripped Pyjamas, Merlin (TV Show), and Son of Rambow. His breakout performance in Scorsese's Hugo probably got him the gig, though. After seeing True Grit, I also have faith that Hailee Steinfeld would be a fierce Petra. Harrison Ford's presence doesn't hurt.

Abigail Breslin has been hit-or-miss lately, but if she channels a bit more her Little Miss Sunshine talent, she might be a decent Valentine.

As 2013 grows closer, we will probably get more information about the other members of the cast and even the trailers. What are your thoughts on the cast and stuff?

 

Ford doesn't quite fit my image of Graff, but hell, Butterfield is spot-on for Ender.

I do have my misgivings about turning the book into a screenplay, but I had misgivings about a lot of other book-to-film franchises.

We'll see.

 

I kinda think Ford will be great. He isn't what I pictured, but his personality really fits the role.

 

I actually never had much of a visual image for the characters when reading Ender's Game, so these casting choices don't bother me very much. Shit, I'll watch it now just for Harrison Ford. Love that guy.