'RED FACTION: ORIGINS' TV movie on SyFy - June

[Reverend]

I get that it's for budgetary reasons, but it looks like the surface has been sufficiently terraformed to breathe without aid in this? I miss the kickass hazardous environment armor and helmet.

They should shoot the show in Utah. I can't see how in heck they can make Bulgaria look anything remotely like Mars, even a "terraformed" Mars. I guess it's just another annoying aspect of skiffy's cheap-ass approach. Is Utah really so much more expensive than Bulgaria? Sheesh.

I know, i just wanted to know if its out by now or not.

Nope, it airs June 4 - next Sat night. My DVR is all set.

To be fair, the surface had been terraformed to the point that it was breathable sometime prior to the third game and I think this is supposed to take place after that.

Entertainment Weekly gave it a mixed review, but thought it was a cut above the usual Syfy tv-movie.

Well that's a ringing enforcement if ever I heard one. Only slightly better than "not as bad as a Uwe Boll movie."

Seriously though, just looking at the trailer I'm really not sold on this. It could be a case of trailer butchery giving me a distorted impression, but it looks really cheep and cheesy (the bad kind.)

Can't say that casting that bloke from SGU in the lead role is much of a selling point. That poor guy had the misfortune to play the blandest, most boring and uninteresting character on that show...of which there were a few.

I'm thinking more in terms of desert with red soil.

Actually that's a bit of a misconception. Not *every* terrain on the planet is dominated by red sand. I'm pretty sure some regions around Tharsis for example are largely black volcanic rock. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say that colony sign may supposedly be on the permafrost, somewhere around the polar caps. Not exactly a balmy climate but then where is it ever warm on Mars? Plus of course ready access to water may be more important than warmer temperatures.

On top of all that, there's no telling what a couple centuries of habitation might do to the topsoil, especially if they've been introducing engineered strains of bacteria to lock in nitrates (or is it unlock? it's been a while since I read up on the theories.) Either way, i think there's enough room to suspend disbelief. For my money, Mars looking cold is more important than Mars looking dry and red. I mean you can hardly expect them to film it in a real desert wearing parkas and other cold weather gear now could you?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

It can be terraformed and still look like Mars. Utah is allegedly able to support life, or so I've heard.

I just don't see the point of setting a story on "Mars" and just having it look like any old place on Earth. Why not just set it on Earth, then?

Can't say that casting that bloke from SGU in the lead role is much of a selling point. That poor guy had the misfortune to play the blandest, most boring and uninteresting character on that show...of which there were a few.

The writing on that show was so terrible, I'm not going to judge any of the actors on that basis. Only extremely talented actors are able to take bad writing and still come through well. I'm pretty sure some of the actors were also bad, but that particular guy wasn't one who struck me as such.

Not *every* terrain on the planet is dominated by red sand. I'm pretty sure some regions around Tharsis for example are largely black volcanic rock.

Black volcanic rock would work for me. (How about Craters of the Moon in Idaho?) Just put some effort into making it look like an authentic alien world.

I mean you can hardly expect them to film it in a real desert wearing parkas and other cold weather gear now could you?

You must not be familiar with deserts if you think they never get cold. Places like Utah and New Mexico can be very cold and snowy. Filming there in the winter or even the fall or spring would create a plausible impression of an alien world as long as the actors don't mind freezing their butts off.

This topic inspired me to go find out what Craters of the Moon looks like in winter - that would be awesome, black craggy craters covered with snow! Sadly, they get covered with too damn much snow - you can't tell anything is there! You'd have to time it right - October or so.

Winter.

Summer.

 

[watermelony2k]

For the most part, the Martian sky is also clearly blue like Earth's sky, except during and after dust storms. NASA sometimes colors the sky "red" to fit the public's perception of what the Martian sky should look like.

 

[O'Dib]

No wai

 

[watermelony2k]

No wai

Actually negate what I said earlier as it seems to be mostly wrong. The Martian sky would be blue if it weren't for all that dust and even if it were blue it wouldn't be nearly as blue as our own sky because the atmosphere is so much thinner (therefore less light scattering).

 

[Owain Taggart]

So, who watched this on Saturday? Was I the only one? Well, I guess there wasn't much to miss. Personally, I thought it wasn't very good. Didn't feel very much like Red Faction. Felt more like an excuse to create a story in the universe. There were a lot of flaws, namely the fact that the viewer doesn't get any background on what's happening other than a short news broadcast at the start. Other than that, you're just thrown into the story which is a family drama of sorts, and the problem with that is that none of the characters are interesting and I ended up not caring about them or what was happening to them.

What's Red Faction, what's EDF, and why are they at war are some of the background questions that would have served to help explain the setting. None of it was ever explained or elaborated on, and as a result, the setting felt weak. Considering the title of this movie, they would have done a lot better recreating the uprising of the first game and use it for the setting of this movie, which would have made for a much more interesting movie and set the tone and introduce the different factions. As a result, I feel like they didn't use the franchise to their full potential and squandered an opportunity for something great.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I watched it. They did a good job of disguising where they were filming by simply not showing so much as a a blade of grass or a tree. It was surprisingly plausible. However, the visual effects were often atrocious. The plotline was kinda meh, nothing I really wanted to see a whole series on. Annoying Girl was incredibly bad. Is she Kristin Kruek's long-lost sister?

In fact, the only good element in the whole thing was Brian J. Smith. I liked him (much more than I ever did in SGU - maybe the writers gave him more material to work with here?). He can definitely carry a series - a different series, please.

What's Red Faction, what's EDF, and why are they at war are some of the background questions that would have served to help explain the setting.

I know zip about the video game, but that part didn't bother me. I like it when a story doesn't feel the need to spoon-feed you info. The Martian colonists don't like Earth's heavy hand and rebelled. They created Red Faction as their army/political party/or something. Earth isn't about to let a whole planet get out of their control and put up a fight. They're still putting up a fight, by different means. The Maurauders have no use for either side, for whatever reason. I can see why they'd be on the outs with both the EDF (which they did explain, or at least I saw the logo and got it - "Earth Defense Force") and Red Faction, since they both have their, uh, personality quirks.

Here are the questions that popped into my mind instead:

1. Why would Earth colonists bother with all the Soviet-era aesthetics? Or any aesthetics, for that matter? Don't they have their hands full just trying to survive?

2. Aren't people embarrassed using a communication system stolen from Star Wars?

3. If Annoying Girl is "the smartest person in the room," then everyone else must be so dumb, how to they remember to breathe?

4. Why do people who are so judgmental about their neighbors that they call them "drunken heathens" turn around and call themselves "Maurauders"? Rather odd value system there.

5. Why do the Maurauders refer to Red Faction as "colonists"? Where do they think they came from?

6. Why do all the bad guys have British accents? (I guess the same place they got their communication system from.)

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, he definitely was the strongest point of it all. And I agree, that actress was incredibly annoying. Something about her voice. And I just laughed out of misery when he ejected her, because right about then I started realizing how annoying she was, and boom, there she went! That scene in particular gave me Phantom Menace vibes for some reason.

 

[timothy]

was this sopposed to baised after the game or kevin j anderson's mars novel?
plan to watch tomarrow.

 

[Owain Taggart]

It's based on the game series, though in my opinion it feels and looks nothing like it at all.

 

[sojourner]

was this sopposed to baised after the game or kevin j anderson's mars novel?
plan to watch tomarrow.

Hmmm, the title of the movie would seem to be a big clue to your answer.


As for the marauders and the colonist, I too am confused as to what the difference was.

Was anyone else getting an irish/scotts/celtic typecasting vibe from the marauders?

 

[Aeolusdallas]

I liked this movie. It was better than I thought it would be going in and I had fun watching it.

 

[Yevetha]

6.5 out of 10 for me.

 

[Distorted Humor]

I watched it. They did a good job of disguising where they were filming by simply not showing so much as a a blade of grass or a tree. It was surprisingly plausible. However, the visual effects were often atrocious. The plotline was kinda meh, nothing I really wanted to see a whole series on. Annoying Girl was incredibly bad. Is she Kristin Kruek's long-lost sister?

How bad where the special effects? I guess my rule of thumb for modern stuff is Babylon 5, as if a show can't get effects up to good quality Video Toaster levels made over 10 years ago, I am walking away...

 

[Yevetha]

The special effects were not bad by todays standards.

 

[sojourner]

The special effects were limited to only a few scenes.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I thought they were bad and I don't usually even notice or care about such things, so that's baaaaad.

I guess my rule of thumb for modern stuff is Babylon 5,

Modern standards have gone way beyond that.

 

[sojourner]

For a saturday night made for tv sci-fi movie, the effects did the job. Not good, but not horrible.

 

[Aeolusdallas]

I watched it. They did a good job of disguising where they were filming by simply not showing so much as a a blade of grass or a tree. It was surprisingly plausible. However, the visual effects were often atrocious. The plotline was kinda meh, nothing I really wanted to see a whole series on. Annoying Girl was incredibly bad. Is she Kristin Kruek's long-lost sister?

How bad where the special effects? I guess my rule of thumb for modern stuff is Babylon 5, as if a show can't get effects up to good quality Video Toaster levels made over 10 years ago, I am walking away...

The effects were not bad. They got around their minuscule budget by using them sparingly.

It was quite good for a sci-fi Saturday movie of the week.

EDIT an interview with Brian Smith
http://www.mediablvd.com/magazine/the_news/celebrity/brian_j._smith_is_the_lead_in_red_faction%3A_origins_201106032524.html

 

[RAMA]

This was the best thing I've seen on Scifi Ch other than a series episode since I can remember. Its not a classic by any means but it wasn't bad. The FX were several levels above the usual Scifi Ch movie. A solid 7 out of 10.

RAMA