1

I'm not sure this isn't a good thing for scifi films, visually, I'm sure this could be quite stunning, just think Mega-Halo, but apart from a bunch of people wandering around an empty tube, not a great deal happens in Rama. It works very well as a book, but as a film, well… some things just don't translate…. but then …. Sunshine worked well…

Dr.Duvel on Oct 13, 2008

2

I disagree. I grew up reading Rama and all directors I want to adapt it, Fincher is easily at the top. No person can give the darkness and claustrophobia that I had always thought was there in the book. The story is very dark and unsettling and I think Fincher could do it. It made my day when I read the news how ever many months ago but this saddens me.

Jordan on Oct 13, 2008

3

I think Doc Duvel is right. This probably would be like Fincher's excellent "Zodiac", a fantastic film with a conclusion that feels somewhat empty. That film deserved all the accolades it got, but it didn't exactly light the box office on fire. And it doesn't help that weak films like "Independence Day" have ripped off so much from Rama and stolen a lot of its thunder. "Rama" would be a fantastic event for "film fans", but not such a big deal for "movie fans". It would probably be the "Ang Lee's Hulk" of today's sci-fi films.

kevjohn on Oct 13, 2008

4

How exactly did "Independence Day" rip off Rama?

ID4 was just "War of the Worlds" with a computer virus instead of a biological virus as the key plot point. If anything, they ripped off Wells since I don't recall ever seeing H.G. cited for inspiration during the movie's opening credit.

Tom on Oct 13, 2008

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#1 Yes

The first book left more questions than answers, and it would be extremely difficult to faithfully translate it to the screen without boring viewers. Perhaps pulling ideas from all three novels would flesh out the storyline, but the final destination and purpose of the 3 Rama's was so grand that it would also pose problems.

Remember Contact anyone?

nef deppard on Oct 14, 2008

6

James Cameron. If there's anyone who can pull this off, it's him.

ClarkeFan on Oct 21, 2008

7

Well…

Dr.Duvel might be right regarding the difficulty of taking such book to a movie… there's not much action involved… but if you think about it… there are actually 4 Rama books (by Clarke & Gently Lee). Maybe he could start with the first one and then delve into the others.

Marcel Lettier on Oct 31, 2008

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I must agree with several of the comments already posted here that adapting Rama to the tastes and preferences of today's FX focued, action oriented audiences would be daunting. The challenge is made more so by the sentiments of the books many fans that it remain true to Mr. Clarke's original text. It's also a great disappointment that Mr. Freeman's recent health problems and the economy have contributed to the financial challenges.

I still hope this project is undertaken since the book remains one of the best examples of Clarke's persistent theme of mankind's awakening to the nature of the universe. In the forty years I have been a fan of Clarke's work, I continue to discover even more of its potential and its depth.

The main problem in getting this project completed is to create a foundation for the script. I say "foundation" to mean a distilled set of theme's that the professional script writer and the director can then make a workable storyline from. Since RWR has obvious thematic problems in rendering the movie storyline from just the first RWR book then we have to try to draw from Clarke's other works.

The the others RWR books that followed were more commercial ventures instead of addition work by Clarke to 'finish' the first RWR story. They add dimensions to the characters in the first RWR book, but they failed to make Clarke's overriding theme of how mankind's perception of the Universe (big "u") matures and is shaken by our 'First Contact' encounter. Clarke tried in 2001: and "A Childhood's End" to suggest that our First Contact experience could revel to us a very different destiny for the human race than the one we expect.

In the end, the themetic roadblocks this project now faces will remain unless a better development strategy is used. I'm not suggesting I could design such a strategy alone, but the book does have a large fan base and most of these fans are hard sci-fi geeks like myself who have solved much greater probems I'm sure.

What I am suggesting here is we follow an 'open source' strategy for building the foundation of ideas I mentioned earlier. I am a firm believer in the idea that "no problem is opaque if enough eyes are looking at it (all bugs are shallow …). Clearly the RWR has enough fans to meet this criteria.

I'll posts my initial thoughts here and later continue them in a blog which I am hoping others will contribute to. This idea of open source development of the script/storyline foundation has to have a structure and I'll be responsible for setting up a starting point.

My first contribution is we don't expect that the official script writer and director will 'faithfully' follow the material we create. I accept that as a possibility. We all must recognize that if a bunch of amatuer Sci-Fi geeks help to write a commercially successful FC movie storyline it will generate a great deal of buzz, perhaps even more buzz than the picture itself.

Another OSS (Open Source Software) idea: 'Good programmer's borrow, great programmer's steal and rewrite (the 'lazy programmer principle). I'd suggest the foundation of material draw from Clark's other works on the same First Contact theme like his novel "A Childhood's End'. Even though this work takes the opposite approach to FC and man is prohibited from leaving the Earth, (" the stars are not for man") it shares with RWR similar FC themes: the mystery of not knowing what the alien race we first meet looks like or what their intentions really are.

ACE and other Clark stories hold several themes like this which can help bring the mystery and suspense of RWR to a level where the professionals can see the project it is both commercially viable and has a foundation for motion picture production.



follows the same one as the books: a three part movie series that bridges across this book and Clarke's other work

Prince Riley on Nov 11, 2008

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I've just read the second book in the series and can't wait to read 3 & 4. I think Rama could work as a film but probably taking books 1 & 2 together to make the first and then if it was a success make a sequal from 3 & 4. Krubrick would have been the best man for this job but surely Ridley Scott would do a great job too? It wouldn't need a lot of script, like Alien it's all about visuals and tension. The trip to New York in the second book would be amazing through Scott's "Blade Runner" eyes.

Malcolm on Nov 11, 2008

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Response to Malcolm

I envy you Malcom. I first read RWR over 30 years ago and I still recall the experience with vivid detail. I picked it up at a trade book store in Chicago, started reading it on the train ride home, skipped my workout, skipped dinner, skipped going to bed, and even took it to the bathroom with me.

When I finished it about 4am the next morning, I put it down and just sat there trying to take it all in. The early morning quiet added more impact to the book's ending … "they always do things in threes."

What makes RWR so different from every other First Contact book I have read since remains the challenge Clark makes, subtly at first and then a deafening roar at the end, to the stock ending of other FC novels: What if the grand destiny man thinks we will find out among the stars turns out to be that as a species we really don't matter? What if we discover that the grand design of the cosmos is built around another race? What if we are simply an interesting, but ultimately unimportant margin note in Creation's vast history book?

Yes, I agree that a successful motion picture project of RWR would have to take themes from more than Clark's first book. However, neither Krubrick or Ridely Scott (whose work in the genre I do admire and respect) are suitable to direct RWR.

Also while I agree that RWR gives any FX production house a wide canvas to work on, it's bot enough. You need a script and characterizations to give voice to the story's many theme about FC. Otherwise, the book's many fans, the motion picture's audiences, especially critics, will very likely pan it as just another eye candy movie with very little human drama or interest.

Yes Malcolm, Alien and Blade Runner worked as films because they used the visuals and tension as a base for their appeal. Implicit in RWR this tension is invoked immediately when the 'object' is first detected and thought to be a meteor. The 'discovery' that Rama is this immense object; that it's not a natural phenomenon, and is transiting our solar system with a definite purpose; one that lies far beyond us is another source that has to be used to draw the audience into the film's plot. Also, remember the tension created by Rama transit time table, the investigation crew has to leave Rama well before they can make any extensive survey of the ship.

As I've said before, Clark's second RWR book was not written by him as a sequel to 'answer' the questions raised by RWR 1. If my research is correct, the book's original publisher (Ballentine I believe), and Clark's literary agent pushed him into the deal after the first book's success became obvious. Clark resisted owing to his desire to write his autobiography, but he eventually caved in to the pressure. However, he wisely insisted that he only co-author the second RWR book.

That said, the RWR 2 book is 'tainted' and you should carefully consider how the much of Clark's original theme about Rama and it's significance as a FC artifact remains undiluted in RWR 2. My own reading of RWR 2 is there is more focus on human civilization's "reaction" to the Rama engineers technical prowess. Yes the NYC trip could be a way of refocusing the audience on the human elements in the story, but it isn't much more than a pit stop.







realizing

Prince Riley on Nov 11, 2008

11

http:// RendezvouswithRama.blogspot.com

I've started a blog at this web address to start the OSS script writing project for this book

Prince Riley on Nov 12, 2008