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Rendevous with Rama. A blip of news

RAMA

Admiral
Admiral
As everyone knows, the greatest science fiction movie never made has been in development Hell for over 20 years at Revelations Entertainment, Morgan Freeman's production company. I'd pretty much written it off at this point, but I noticed there was recently and update to the IMDB page...a potential new writer?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134933/

RAMA
 
Man, if Morgan Freeman can make this happen, I'll love him even more than I already do.
 
I've always been a bit sceptical at the prospects of a RAMA movie. There's essentially no plot and very little characterisation, which is fine for a speculative science-fiction novel that's only really there to explore a concept. However, it doesn't lend itself terribly well to a three act movie.

What we'd probably end up with is something akin to the likes of 'I Robot', 'World War Z' & 'I Am Legend'. Where they just took the title, perhaps some of the basic premise and/or plot points and craft an entirely different story out of it. Will Smith: optional.
 
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Interesting. In reading the novel recently, I thought it would likely work better as a miniseries with the way the story beats and chapters are structured.
 
^^ I'd much rather see a miniseries.

What we'd probably end up with is something akin to the likes of 'I Robot', 'World War Z' & 'I Am Legend'. Where they just took the title, perhaps some of the basic premise and/or plot points and craft an entirely different story out of it. Will Smith: optional.
That's why I'm glad Morgan Freeman is developing it. I think he's much more likely to remain faithful to the novel.
 
I would really love to see this produced faithfully to the novel. It would be nice to get a science fiction movie that is artfully done for a change and does not rely on action and suspense. Hopefully Freeman's involvement means that this would be a labor of love rather than a studio controlled product.
 
^I'm curious as to why the pair of you are so confident the Freeman's company will stick to the book. Does 'Revelations Entertainment' have a long and notable track record of especially faithful adaptations?
 
Freeman has used the company to produce a number of projects that he is personally interested in rather than big "money movies". The company also produces some science oriented documentaries that are considered to be quality products.

I think Freeman has a pretty good track record in his choice of products and he seems like a man of good taste when it comes to making movies or television series. Not all of what he's made is something I'm personally interested in mind you, but I think he's earned respect over the years.
 
^I'm curious as to why the pair of you are so confident the Freeman's company will stick to the book. Does 'Revelations Entertainment' have a long and notable track record of especially faithful adaptations?
What theenglish said goes for me as well. Freeman strikes me as a man of intelligence, integrity, and good taste, and Rendezvous With Rama is obviously a project he's devoted to. His involvement with projects like Through The Wormhole show that he's a thoughtful man who is likely to appreciate the sense of wonder of a story like Rama, rather than want to turn it into an action flick.
 
I wasn't questioning Morgan Freeman's tastes or integrity, just if his company had done a lot of faithful adaptations in the past.

Having a look at their filmography now, I've only seen two of their movies (Along Came a Spider & Invictus) both of which I liked, but have no clue how faithful they were to the source material. I know the former comes from a series of crime novels (which also includes 'Kiss the Girls') but since I've never read any of them I can't speak to how faithful they are. As for the latter, I have no clue if Invictus is an original screenplay or based on a book. Though either way, again it's not something I've read so I wouldn't know how faithful it is, even if it was. So be fair though the latter is based on true events so faithfulness to a particular point of view isn't always necessary.

Still, it seems most of what they've done film-wise is small dramas, capers, comedies and the like. Nothing of the scale a Rama movie would probably require. Unless they go the low budget, straight to video route, which is doable if they limit the effects shots, but the writing and casting needs to be *very* good for what's essentially very dry material.

I do tend to agree though that it would probably be better suited as a miniseries. albeit a two instead of a three parter. The recent attempt as 'Childhood's End' showed what happens when you try to pad these things out too much. The result was a part 2 that did nothing but chase it's own tail for an hour while part 3 just sort of tailed off.
 
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I wasn't questioning Morgan Freeman's tastes or integrity, just if his company had done a lot of faithful adaptations in the past.
Oh, well. I don't know much about his company. My opinion was just based on my deep and abiding love for Morgan Freeman. :rommie:
 
I never heard of Space Engine before. It seems to be an alternative to Celestia.
 
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