TV Series instead of Films

I'm not sure which medium would be better for bringing the books to the screen.

The only thing I would like to avoid if it becomes a TV series is the weekly 'take-over-bid' scenario, or to put it another way, 'who are this weeks bad guys'.

Too many TV series follow this pattern and I think it would detract from the telling of the on-going story of the Honorverse.

What do other posters think?

George J. Smith wrote:I'm not sure which medium would be better for bringing the books to the screen.

The only thing I would like to avoid if it becomes a TV series is the weekly 'take-over-bid' scenario, or to put it another way, 'who are this weeks bad guys'.

Too many TV series follow this pattern and I think it would detract from the telling of the on-going story of the Honorverse.

What do other posters think?


T&R
GJS

I think that if it worked for A Song of Ice and Fire -- and by all accounts it has worked, and very well at that -- it can work for the Honorverse, too.

My main concerns would be a) the possibility of cancellation mid-series, or worse, mid-arc; b) getting an actress (all of the core cast, really) to commit to a project of that scale (see some of the issues had by Babylon 5); and c) what to title the thing. Honor Harrington is a bit of a misnomer given that, even early on in the series, point-of-view characters existed who weren't her. Honor of the Queen might be viable, given its applicability to the series as a whole, similar to the way Game of Thrones was taken from the first title to be adapted, but you do tend to want a fairly snappy title. I'd honestly prefer something as simple as Manticore, though it doesn't do a great job of telling non-fans exactly what the series is about.

I also have major concerns over ratings. TV shows are cancelled if they don't perform, full stop, and the age of Space Opera on television seems to have ended with the death of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2005. I would worry about its ability to attract new viewers, particularly given the scope of the story.

roseandheather wrote:
I also have major concerns over ratings. TV shows are cancelled if they don't perform, full stop, and the age of Space Opera on television seems to have ended with the death of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2005. I would worry about its ability to attract new viewers, particularly given the scope of the story.

I believe that roseandheather is correct. I suspect that before you get a TV series. you are going to have to have one or two block buster movies to get the interest of one of the networks.

roseandheather wrote:
Snip...

I'd honestly prefer something as simple as Manticore, though it doesn't do a great job of telling non-fans exactly what the series is about.
Snip..

There was a film called Manticore, it was set in Afghanistan or thereabouts as I recall, and it was about the unleashing of a pair of Manticores(Sp)from an ancient tomb.

A very plain yet descriptive title, but not one locked into a particular story in fans minds, might be best.

Something like:
Star Kingdom
Star Kingdom of Manticore
Honor in the Stars
Star Nations
Tales of Honor
Tales of Stars and Honor


(Star War(s) might be good, but I think its been taken by some other little studio. )

dreamrider

fallsfromtrees wrote:

roseandheather wrote:
I also have major concerns over ratings. TV shows are cancelled if they don't perform, full stop, and the age of Space Opera on television seems to have ended with the death of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2005. I would worry about its ability to attract new viewers, particularly given the scope of the story.

I believe that roseandheather is correct. I suspect that before you get a TV series. you are going to have to have one or two block buster movies to get the interest of one of the networks.

Limited series that have a full-run commitment from a focused audience network (SyFy, HBO, Showtime, FX, etc) are virtually never canceled mid-run. It was my distinct impression at the Honorcon presentation that, if this decision were taken, that is the kind of deal that Mike Devlin & co would be seeking.

dreamrider

roseandheather wrote:(snip)

I also have major concerns over ratings. TV shows are cancelled if they don't perform, full stop, and the age of Space Opera on television seems to have ended with the death of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2005. I would worry about its ability to attract new viewers, particularly given the scope of the story.

I love you dearly, rnh, dear girl,

...but I am shocked, shocked and saddened, that you have never heard of:
Stargate: SG1
Stargate: Atlantis
Stargate: Universe
Firefly, or
(the best parallel) Battlestar Galctica (redux)


(Perhaps the current suits of Hollywood and sponsor America, who incidentally are of my generation and were raised on a diet of Tom Corbett, Rocky Ranger, Man in Space, Star Trek, Star Wars, BSG (1st), ST:NG, DS9, and Voyager, not to mention Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo, are not quite the lost cause you fear. There has to be a bottom line, but there will be some industry fans in our corner.)

dreamrider

dreamrider wrote:Snip

...but I am shocked, shocked and saddened, that you have never heard of:
Stargate: SG1
Stargate: Atlantis
Stargate: Universe
Firefly, or
(the best parallel) Battlestar Galctica (redux)

Mmmm...

SG1 10 Seasons
Atlantis 5 Seasons
Universe 2 Seasons
Firefly 1 Season

is there a pattern developing here?

George J. Smith wrote:

dreamrider wrote:Snip

...but I am shocked, shocked and saddened, that you have never heard of:
Stargate: SG1
Stargate: Atlantis
Stargate: Universe
Firefly, or
(the best parallel) Battlestar Galctica (redux)

Mmmm...

SG1 10 Seasons
Atlantis 5 Seasons
Universe 2 Seasons
Firefly 1 Season

is there a pattern developing here?

T&R
GJS

A very sad pattern. More so with Firefly, but with Atlantis too.

I think a tv serial is best, one season per book.
As for the cast I know we had a hard time picking people for honor and for the other roles but... Given the time frame between each book, mixed with the hopfully single off season between the seasons, I think it may be best to do a full cast reboot for each season.
It would hard to find a cast willing to work almost 20 seasons, and do those 20 seasons sho they dont age to the point of being unrealisticly the same person. I think a cast reboot for each book would make an obvious statement, "Given the nature of the things in the book, like prolomg, an time constrainst on filming, we decided not to have the same cast to mix it up so that they can continue to appear the way they should age wise in the books."
Let my lynching begin.

Also:

dreamrider wrote:Honor in the Stars

Perfect in my opinion

Commodore Oakius wrote:

George J. Smith wrote:[snip]
SG1 10 Seasons
Atlantis 5 Seasons
Universe 2 Seasons
Firefly 1 Season

is there a pattern developing here?

T&R
GJS

A very sad pattern. More so with Firefly, but with Atlantis too.

I think a tv serial is best, one season per book.
[snip]
Also:

dreamrider wrote:Honor in the Stars

Perfect in my opinion

I would go with Honor of the Queen, since the movie is going to toss that title, and the title is available, i.e. Google gives hits for the Honorverse book if you search "Honor of the Queen" + movie or + series, with or without "the" in front.

Salamander is semi-available also.
"Semi-" as there is a Belgian police procedural that uses the name, and a 1981 English-language movie ... and also "The salamander Key" from 2011.

I think the best way would be to operate from the approach of a Limited Series for each book, taking them in sequence (OBS, then tSVW, and so on) to make the projects separate and thus insulated from the cancellation problem as much as possible.

Then, if the nth Limited Series does ok, the (n+1)th can be optioned, financed & planned with as much carryover of cast as can be arranged from the previous installment (with options in contracts as these can be arranged beforehand, else renegotiation where needed).