Just dying for a Rendezvous with Rama movie!

[Candlelight]

Okay, to clarify;

I transferred the scientist stuff to the astronauts and put Dr Whats-his-name on the ship. I also made a crew member from mercury in order to stir up conflict.

 

[T J]

Ah, interesting. Now I think the parts with the Earth scientist scenes are some of the most interesting but I like speculation theories. I guess in the end they would have to leave out the celebration orgy... oy!

 

[RAMA]

When I think of a model for a Rama movie, I think of 2010, not 2001. While 2001 is a classic, 2010 is closer to what modern audiences might go to see.

 

[RAMA]

the book is boring. Lots of exploration, little characterization or action. I don't see a very good movie coming out of it.

Honestly, characterization isnt as important to me in SF as ideas...I know that's not a popular view. It's not that characters aren't important, but I think the genre allows for some leeway.

As for action, I think a movie like this DOES have to rely on VISUALS. It has to conjur up a sense of wonder without having to rely on government sabotage or alien invasion. Think big and bold.

RAMA

 

[FPAlpha]

the book is boring. Lots of exploration, little characterization or action. I don't see a very good movie coming out of it.

Sounds like a description of Clarke's 2001. Sure worked fine there, even though the novel and film are very much separate entities.

eh, YMMV

I think 2001 is probably the most overrated sci-fi movie of all time. I like quiet, intelligent sci-fi as much as the next person(bladerunner, contact, gattaca, etc.) but 2001 is self-indulgent and tedious, and I think "rendezvous" is tedious as well. I got through it but thought it was a slog.

First of all.. i've never read Rama (only got the broad story strokes through Wikipedia and other sites) so i may be wrong in what follows.

Rama doesn't strike me as good movie material without heavy changes. To put it bluntly.. huge spaceship appears in our solar system, gets noticed, a spaceship with a human crew gets dispatched, enters the ship and explores it a bit and then leaves before the space ship leaves our system. No one discerns where it came from, what its mission is or where it's going.

Now it may be fascinating on a technical level.. the scientific theories behind it, the engineering and astronomy of it but this audience is rather small. It might work as a small, character driven movie with a mystery but i guess it wouldn't break much ground with mainstream audience because there is little action and even less answers and if there's one thing todays audience expects then it's easy and understandable answers.. a neat package with a clear beginning and a clear end.

That's also why 2001 wouldn't work today in the same way it worked in the late 60s when mainstream scientific curiosity was at its highest and people were imagining the things depicted in the movie as being able to become real in a few decades (well... they could have if funding would have stayed the same later on as it was during the height of the space race).

Today SF is usually something that's from Star Wars and Star Trek.. cool special effects, cool aliens and lots of action and explosions and Rama just doesn't fit in that.

So it'll either be a smaller, "artsy" movie praised for its dialogue but nothing that would launch on thousands of movie screen.

 

[sonak]

Sounds like a description of Clarke's 2001. Sure worked fine there, even though the novel and film are very much separate entities.

eh, YMMV

I think 2001 is probably the most overrated sci-fi movie of all time. I like quiet, intelligent sci-fi as much as the next person(bladerunner, contact, gattaca, etc.) but 2001 is self-indulgent and tedious, and I think "rendezvous" is tedious as well. I got through it but thought it was a slog.

First of all.. i've never read Rama (only got the broad story strokes through Wikipedia and other sites) so i may be wrong in what follows.

Rama doesn't strike me as good movie material without heavy changes. To put it bluntly.. huge spaceship appears in our solar system, gets noticed, a spaceship with a human crew gets dispatched, enters the ship and explores it a bit and then leaves before the space ship leaves our system. No one discerns where it came from, what its mission is or where it's going.

Now it may be fascinating on a technical level.. the scientific theories behind it, the engineering and astronomy of it but this audience is rather small. It might work as a small, character driven movie with a mystery but i guess it wouldn't break much ground with mainstream audience because there is little action and even less answers and if there's one thing todays audience expects then it's easy and understandable answers.. a neat package with a clear beginning and a clear end.

That's also why 2001 wouldn't work today in the same way it worked in the late 60s when mainstream scientific curiosity was at its highest and people were imagining the things depicted in the movie as being able to become real in a few decades (well... they could have if funding would have stayed the same later on as it was during the height of the space race).

Today SF is usually something that's from Star Wars and Star Trek.. cool special effects, cool aliens and lots of action and explosions and Rama just doesn't fit in that.

So it'll either be a smaller, "artsy" movie praised for its dialogue but nothing that would launch on thousands of movie screen.

I think 2001 also worked because, whatever its flaws, it was serious sci-fi at a time when for the most part, sci-fi shows and movies were often pretty campy.

Also, because it was 1968, people seeing it when they were high on drugs and just enjoying the trippy visual sequences helped it a lot.

you'll notice that when ST: TMP tried to follow the formula, it wasn't nearly as well-received...

 

[RAMA]

Sounds like a description of Clarke's 2001. Sure worked fine there, even though the novel and film are very much separate entities.

eh, YMMV

I think 2001 is probably the most overrated sci-fi movie of all time. I like quiet, intelligent sci-fi as much as the next person(bladerunner, contact, gattaca, etc.) but 2001 is self-indulgent and tedious, and I think "rendezvous" is tedious as well. I got through it but thought it was a slog.

First of all.. i've never read Rama (only got the broad story strokes through Wikipedia and other sites) so i may be wrong in what follows.

Rama doesn't strike me as good movie material without heavy changes. To put it bluntly.. huge spaceship appears in our solar system, gets noticed, a spaceship with a human crew gets dispatched, enters the ship and explores it a bit and then leaves before the space ship leaves our system. No one discerns where it came from, what its mission is or where it's going.

Now it may be fascinating on a technical level.. the scientific theories behind it, the engineering and astronomy of it but this audience is rather small. It might work as a small, character driven movie with a mystery but i guess it wouldn't break much ground with mainstream audience because there is little action and even less answers and if there's one thing todays audience expects then it's easy and understandable answers.. a neat package with a clear beginning and a clear end.

That's also why 2001 wouldn't work today in the same way it worked in the late 60s when mainstream scientific curiosity was at its highest and people were imagining the things depicted in the movie as being able to become real in a few decades (well... they could have if funding would have stayed the same later on as it was during the height of the space race).

Today SF is usually something that's from Star Wars and Star Trek.. cool special effects, cool aliens and lots of action and explosions and Rama just doesn't fit in that.

So it'll either be a smaller, "artsy" movie praised for its dialogue but nothing that would launch on thousands of movie screen.

With today's tech and/or Kickstarter a $5-10 million movie would actually suit the original story quite well, it doesn't need a $100 million or even $50 million budget. I would be fine with it.

Clarke made a hard SF story where we didn't get all the answers. There aren't always going to be easy answers. When we do get them in RL, it may take years to make sense of them. Even if we get a signal from space, answers to what and whom it might be could take decades. This is the essence of Rama...grounded but mysterious.

RAMA

 

[Candlelight]

Alien was largely absent of answers as to where the alien came from, and even the sequels focused more on the alien than the origins. It's only Prometheus that's tried to answer those questions. And the movie wasn't very good!

Rama would work providing the tension came from the humans bitching about Rama while Rama itself is just stopping by for a pit stop, oblivious to the trouble it's causing. There doesn't need to be guns, or splosions, or Rama posing a direct threat. Hell make the biots more menacing but otherwise the story can easily hold its own.

 

[Gary7]

I've been doodling with a screenplay idea based on "Rendezvous with Rama" for several years now, having crafted an outline and written several chapters. I had no idea anybody was seriously considering making this into a movie again, let alone someone as notable as Morgan Freeman. Not being in the movie production industry, I highly doubt any submission I'd make would be taken seriously, but... maybe it's worth a shot.

My take is not totally "true to form" with RWR, but is still founded on the principle of an object entering our solar system that is first deemed as the "doomsday asteroid" based on its trajectory towards Earth, but then it is discovered that its on a controlled course... an artificial object. But rather than a single team sent to rendezvous with it, board, and explore as quickly as possible before it leaves the solar system, a different scenario unfolds. One that I think would work better for movie material.

In my version, RAMA is sort of a variation to "Contact". Rather than an intelligent species beaming technological data to construct a communications device, they have sent RAMA to seek out intelligent life that is deemed "ready" for first contact (this is something that is revealed later on, after contact is made with RAMA). It is a sophisticated long range probe, capable of folding space, but with no sapient life on board. Anyway, it is supposed to assume an orbit around the sun and be reachable from the Earth using our present day spacecraft technology. But something goes wrong (I won't say what the cause is) and instead RAMA crash lands on the moon. It then becomes a space-race for 3 different space agencies to attempt getting to the moon first and stake claim on RAMA--The Europeans, a Russia-China alliance, and the USA. I've worked out the details as to who has the head start and the stresses/conflicts that happen along the way. One of the teams will get to RAMA and be able to explore it... but there will be a time limit, for other reasons than as previously defined in Clarke's book. It will also have enough material open ended for a sequel or two.

 

[LOKAI of CHERON]

There was an excellent BBC Radio adaptation of Rama a few years ago - I still have it on my hard drive.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Sundance Channel. Direct-To-DVD. Masterpiece Theater. That's what I want for Rama.

i'd be afraid of changes made, like adding boobs

Clarke pointed out how distracting they would be in zero-G. We must remain true to the source material.

 

[TerraNovan]

the book is boring. Lots of exploration, little characterization or action. I don't see a very good movie coming out of it.

Honestly, characterization isnt as important to me in SF as ideas...I know that's not a popular view. It's not that characters aren't important, but I think the genre allows for some leeway.

As for action, I think a movie like this DOES have to rely on VISUALS. It has to conjur up a sense of wonder without having to rely on government sabotage or alien invasion. Think big and bold.

RAMA

The key to the ideas part is your completely dependent on good acting to convey these ideas as an actual experience.