Topic Actions

Topic Search

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests

New option.

Discussion concerning the TV, film, and comic adaptations.
New option.
Post by fallsfromtrees   » Thu Jul 25, 2019 2:22 am

fallsfromtrees
Vice Admiral

Posts: 1958
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2014 10:51 am
Location: Mesa, Arizona

According to David (speaking at Manticon 2019) a company (whose name escapes me at the moment) has optioned the Honorverse to be turned into a TV series ala Game of Thrones. The current plan is to spend about 50K to develop a pilot script and shop it around to the various production houses. If they get a taker, things are then a go. Not clear what the pilot would cover, although RFC mentioned two possibilities. Tgphe first is to use the short story "Let's Dance" or possibility just the final battle in OBS as a way of introducing the characters, and do one book per year after that. My impression was that RFC prefers the first approach, but that is just my impression.
========================

The only problem with quotes on the internet is that you can't authenticate them -- Abraham Lincoln
Top
Re: New option.
Post by Phalanx   » Fri Sep 20, 2019 11:24 pm

Phalanx
Commander

Posts: 216
Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2010 6:26 pm

I think the Company in question meant a Treatment, which is NOT a script, but rather a quasi-script which helps Production Companies(which have the $$$$) understand what it is about. Then that Company has a to find some platforms.

But it is cool that someone has expressed interest. Hopefully they will do a more focused approach then Evergreen did(a game, a comic, AND a TV series...yikes!).

I know our Mad Wizard favors "Let's Dance", but OBS would be the better bet to start Season 1. The "one book a season" idea does not seem that attractive. That's 3 years to get to Short Victorious War...IF the show is renewed and not simply rejected by audiences as a Star Wars/Trek ripoff.
_



____________________________________________________
There are no Mesan Agents under your bed
Top
Re: New option.
Post by Phalanx   » Sat Sep 21, 2019 2:27 am

Phalanx
Commander

Posts: 216
Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2010 6:26 pm

A while back, I discussed a Multimedia pitch here: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=8675

Now, in light of this new information, I would like to present an updated version

Format: Live Action
Season Length: 10-13 Episodes
Episode Length: ~ 1hr(depending on Platform)

Pilot
Time: 1900 -1901 PD
Synopsis: In the distant future, humanity has colonized many worlds and developed many new Star Nations. Among them is the Star Kingdom of Manticore. Commander Honor Harrington of the Star Kingdom's Royal Manticoran Navy, has been assigned to the backwater posting of Basilisk Station, where she will face Challenges that involve both her past and the Star Kingdom's future.
Notes: Instead of doing either OBS or LD, you do BOTH. The present setting is OBS, but you flashback to LD for thematic context and to help fill out the setting in the areas that OBS cannot. By nixing the opening scene from the book, you make the Republic of Haven the faceless enemy. You show the strategic location and importance of Basilisk, but not WHY Haven has been going on a conquest spree for the past five decades. You explain how Haven "used to be cool"(making thematic connections with the Travis Long books), but that something has changed.

For example, when Honor meets Commodore Teschendorff of the Silesian Navy in the restaurant, he can lament about the Confederacy not doing anything about Slavery and Piracy(as he does in the anthology), but he can go further with his concerns. He can mention King Roger's naval buildup, and when Honor comments that it is in response to Haven going into conquest mode, Teschendorff can complain that Haven and Manticore USED to be the biggest enforcers of the Cherwell Convention. He can then complain that most either don;t enforce outside their own borders, like the Andermani or not at all, like the Solarian League. He can complain that if Manticore pulls out, then the Confederacy may devolve into petty kingdoms or be conquered by the Andermani Empire.

Just like in the book, Tankersly conspires to delay Warlock's repairs, but there is no White Haven and Caperelli scene(there roles here are too small, but they can be mentioned as backing what Tankersly is doing).

Season 1
Time:1902-1905 PD
Synopsis: After the setback at Basilisk, the People's Republic of Haven continues to scheme against the Star Kingdom of Manticore.
Notes: Start with Honor of the Queen. Houseman can reference the situation from 'With One Stone' that Manticore's militaristic stance is hurting the Star Kingdom's economy by interfering with its ability to protect Manticoran shipping. While Courvosier can counter while that the Royal Manticoran Navy managed to protect its shipping on that ocasion,he changes the subject to the fact that if the Star Kingdom only focuses on seeking allies for military benefit without taking into concern their local culture and the potential for economic cooperation, they risk a repeat of the incident in Masada("Promised Land").

Throughout the season, you can show the tit-for-tat between Manticore and Haven as they gear up for war. The debates within their societies, as well what the wider galaxy thinks about it(showing that some Solarians are selling weapons to the the Havenites under the table).

You start the season with Captain Alfredo Yu. Without a legislaturist bloodline or patrons, he has been given crap assignments and but has managed to get assigned to this Operation. The implication is that if he fails, he will be dishonorably discharged from the Navy, making him ineligible for BLS payments. Meaning that all awaits him if he comes back is a life of poverty, and that's IF he survives the Court Martial.

Captain Yu has leapfrogged the Chain of Command to make only one request from Admiral Parnell: He will take the mission if he can have Commander Thomas Theisman as his second in command. Surprised that Yu would want another non-legislaturitist,and one with no family or friends has made InSec squeemish, which has only renewed their proposals to put InSec officers at military posts with the ability to override them, which Parnell has convinced Harris and the House of Legislators to oppose(obviously a hint at the coming People's Commissioners).

Throughout the season, you can show or hint at people, places, and things that will become important later. What do the Soalrians and the Andermani think about this? What exactly is the relationship of the Midgard Federation to everybody else? How did Alizon and Zanzibar join the Manticoran Alliance?


Season 2
Time: 1905 PD - 1911 PD
Synopsis: War between Manticore and Haven has begun, but Honor Harrington has to face it from the sidelines as her friends fight and die for the Star Kingdom's survival until she can convince her superiors to bring her back into the battle.
Notes: So for Honor her arc will be able building a new life on Grayson while working to get back into RMN service. Her enemies then campaign to get killed in the Silesian Confederacy trying to prevent a war with the Andermani. Finally she manages to get posted to the frontlines, where she will truly earn her nickname "The Salamander".

You end the season with news of her capture.

Season 3
Time: 1912 -1915 PD
Synopsis: Reports of Honor Harrington's death has been exaggerated. As she works to return home, the People's Republic of Haven continues its war against Manticore and its further descent into Tyranny.
Notes: Season can begin with a news report on the update of the war.

Then it can end the season with a news report of the Haven Constitutional Convention, but then you shift to a room on Mesa. There the Manpower Board of Directors is meeting where a woman enters the room unauthorized. The Chairman recognizes her but says a cadet member of the Jessyk Combine, has no authority to be here. The woman is unfazed and says she is here representing The Alignment. The room stiffens and the Chairman nervously squeeze "What does he want us to do?"(or something to that effect).


Season 4
Time: 1916 - 1921 PD
Synopsis: Haven may be a Republic once again, but a centuries-old conspiracy prepares to take Haven back to war with Manticore.

Notes: Obviously the No Brainer, regardless of how you begin the season, it to end with Oyster Bay and the reveal of Albrecht Detwieler.

Season 5
Time: 1922 PD
Synopsis: The Mesan Alignment. The power behind Manpower. The hidden hand behind the Wars between Manticore and Haven, and now Honor must work with former enemies to face this new threat that has had centuries to plan.

Notes: You begin the Season with the revelation that the primae target of the Alignment is not Manticore or Haven, but the Solarian League(since Season 1, you would have been planting the seeds that the Solarian League is corrupt and it has to go, so the idea that this attitude was the Alignment's plan the whole time would be as shocking for the new audience as it was when we read it in the books).

You can end the Season as Uncompromising Honor did, or you can touch on the fact that the Alignment is still out there and remains a threat(How that is done is up to the writers, but I have some ideas).
_



____________________________________________________
There are no Mesan Agents under your bed
Top

Return to Multimedia