Is Mass Effect the next Star Wars?

[RAMA]

Sure video game movies have a bad track record, but I only recently heard about the popularity and critical acclaim of Mass Effect ( I don't play many video games) and it seems to have a fresh take on the space opera genre. Does anyone who has played it think it will make a good movie in the vein of Star Wars, with the rich adventure and world building that made SW popular to begin with? Would it beat Halo as the next big live action franchise?

RAMA

 

[Worfmonger]

I've played ME and ME2 pretty extensively, and as long as Michael Bay or someone of that ilk doesn't sink their talons in to it, I think it would translate incredibly well to the big screen. The story and writing are better than many big-budget flicks I've seen... it's essentially a really long interactive film.

I look forward to it, frankly!

Peace

Worfmonger

 

[Chaos Descending]

Mass Effect would make a GREAT film if done properly, but nothing will ever be the "next Star Wars", in my opinion.

 

[Evil Twin]

If done right, I like to think it'll essentially be the Babylon 5 movie we never got. Lots of similarities between the two universes (Babylon 5/The Citadel, Shadows/Reapers, jumpgates/mass relays, etc.)

 

[jefferiestubes8]

movie in the vein of Star Wars, with the rich adventure and world building that made SW popular to begin with?

RAMA check out the thread started over 2 weeks ago about the feature film in development:

'Mass Effect' scifi videogame In Film development deal

 

[-Brett-]

They're not going to introduce Mass Effect to it's new audience with a story that has any kind of previous continuity, so of course the movie, if it happens, is going to be an adaptation of the first game.

Problem is, Mass Effect is already basically a 20+ hour long interactive movie. Retelling the same story condensed into two hours can't be an improvement.

Plus most people ignore video game based movies just on principle anyway.

So no, the Mass Effect movie(s) will never surpass Star Wars. The video games already have.

 

[RAMA]

movie in the vein of Star Wars, with the rich adventure and world building that made SW popular to begin with?

RAMA check out the thread started over 2 weeks ago about the feature film in development:

'Mass Effect' scifi videogame In Film development deal

Probably started the week I wasn't here...thanks I missed that.

RAMA

 

[RAMA]

Mass Effect would make a GREAT film if done properly, but nothing will ever be the "next Star Wars", in my opinion.

I think I am asking because if you really think about it, there have only been maybe less than 10 movie/series in all of history that are really big space operas..most "space" based movies tend to be intimate horror type movies, like Event Horizon, Supernova, Pandorum, or near future extrapolations like Solaris, Mission to Mars, Red Planet or 2010. Even Avatar is not a space movie as such though it involves another planet that's certainly exotic and one of the best examples of "world building" in visual fiction history. Star Trek has its own milieu and often seems to be its own animal..so what's left? Halo seemed to be the next candidate, but that seems to be languishing. Where are the Ringworlds..the Foundation trilogies? Mass Effect does not have to repeat the phenomenon of SW, but maybe I'd like it to extend the popularity of the soace opera. It almost seems Hollywood, and by the reaction of many SF fans including the ones HERE seem to think ok...SW and ST have the market cornered..why bother? But there are rich universes out there...Uplift, Galactic Center and so on, and maybe something like the adventure of Mass Effect is what we need to get back to that epic style of SF.

RAMA

 

[Cmndr J Crichton]

No.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

In terms of cultural impact, most certainly no. However, in terms of being the next great space opera, with a fully realized world, then yes. There is so much potential here for greatness. I think the real measure of the quality of the universe is whether or not you would read/watch stories set in this universe that did not relate at all to main characters. In Mass Effect's case I can say most certainly yes.

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

What exactly does the 'next Star Wars' mean? If you mean, genre popcorn phenomena that immersed audiences of all kinds into it's sci-fi/fantasy universe and made scads of money.... then the Lord of the Rings movies and Avatar have both been the "next Star Wars".

 

[RAMA]

In terms of cultural impact, most certainly no. However, in terms of being the next great space opera, with a fully realized world, then yes. There is so much potential here for greatness. I think the real measure of the quality of the universe is whether or not you would read/watch stories set in this universe that did not relate at all to main characters. In Mass Effect's case I can say most certainly yes.

I agree...SW was unique to time and place, and nothing had been seen like it before...Mass Effect would only be similar in impact in that it would be a rare SF opera that might do well.

RAMA

 

[jefferiestubes8]

If you mean, genre popcorn phenomena that immersed audiences of all kinds into it's sci-fi/fantasy universe and made scads of money.... then the Lord of the Rings movies and Avatar have both been the "next Star Wars".

I must say I agree with Stone_Cold_Sisko.

 

[RAMA]

So what are the big budget movie space operas out there..

1. Star Wars
2. Star Trek
3. Dune
4. Starship Troopers
5. Wing Commander (yuck)
6. Serenity
7. Lost in Space
8. The Last Starfighter
9. Enemy Mine
10. Black Hole?
11. Stargate?? ehhh kind of
12.??

A pitiful few really...

I'm not counting battle Beyond the Stars or B movies. There's plenty of room for more!

 

[Hermiod]

^You missed Independence Day off that list. It did make a few quid at the box office after all.

 

[Annoiu]

^You missed Independence Day off that list. It did make a few quid at the box office after all.

Independence Day is an alien invasion flick, not a space opera.

Also, regarding Stone Cold Sisko's comment, Lord of the Rings clearly is not space opera, either. I'm not sure why Avatar wouldn't be included though. Too much time planetside? Seems like that would disqualify Dune too. Or maybe because Avatar is really just an alien invasion flick flipped around. I wouldn't know, haven't seen it.

As for the Mass Effect film, can't wait to see what they do with it. I really hope they just use the universe though and not the story from the games. Using the the story and characters from the games would force BioWare to nail down some things that are best left up to the player. Things like Shepard's gender, the fate of the council, etc.... But money talks and if a retelling of the game's story is what the studios want then that is what they will get. Plenty of other stories to be told in the universe though.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Honestly, I don't think so. I've been playing through Mass Effect for the first time and I thought it felt fairly generic in terms of Sci-Fi. As far as a movie goes, I think they'll have to do something to give it a special look and feel. The best thing it has going for it is the story and the world they created and not necessarily the visuals or the weapons. Well, it would need more cutscene style scenes because a lot of the action is done in 3rd person. They'd need to spend more time with scenes on the ship depicting activity such as during travel. As an aside, "Citadel" also seems rather overused in games these days. It's used in Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Mass Effect, and probably more games too.

 

[clint g]

Star Wars wishes it could be as awesome as Mass Effect

Honestly, if they took Mass Effect and made it into a movie, it wouldn't rate near Star Wars. Why should it? Mass Effects native story telling medium is as a video game. It ranks near the top in that arena just like how Star Wars does in its own medium.

 

[Leroy]

Something like Mass Effect might make a better big budget tv show rather than a 90 minute movie directed by Uwe Boll *shudder*.

 

[TheGodBen]

Mass Effect has a very engrossing sci-fi universe because it borrows so heavily from other sci-fi universes such as Wars, Trek, B5, BSG and others. The Geth are Cylons/Borg, the Krogans are Klingons, the Citadel is Babylon 5, Biotics are Jedi, the Terminous Systems are the Outer Rim territories... and so on. They did a great job stitching it all together into its own universe, but there's very little fresh or original to it.

Except in terms of gameplay, that is where Mass Effect excels. The action is fairly standard for a shooter, but the dialogue mechanic is fantastic, and your ability to stamp a personality onto Commander Sheppard is beyond any other game I know. It's the finest RPG I've played, this is the only game I've ever played where each replay has felt different due to playing as different characters. And unlike a lot of games, you get connected to the other characters on your team, and you know that it's your choices that determine whether they live or die.

Remove the gameplay and what you have isn't anything all that special. A Mass Effect movie could be as big as Star Wars but only if it is well written, has great characters and has superb production, but if its rests on the laurels of its universe then it's just going to be a very average science fiction movie.