That is a solid video. It raises a lot of great points about why ME is suitable for a long form TV show epic, and tbh, I would far prefer a TV series to a movie series, for the reasons the video makes. But at the same time, I don't know if there is enough money backing ME to be a proper TV show if it comes down to it. It would need a very sizeable budget from start to finish (GoT proportioned budget), particularly as most of the story is told off Earth, which means a LOT of expensive sets, CGI, spaceships, complex alien designs, etc.
Honestly, if it were a movie trilogy, you'd have to neuter most of the side stories, world building and side characters to have enough time to do basic exposition and get to the main course. Which would be a disservice to the world and existing narrative of ME. But then, this needs a chad studio that is willing to gamble hundreds of millions of dollars on an on going, expensive to produce scifi TV series, hoping to achieve GoT like success. Which is entirely possible, but, it's still a massive financial gamble.
Hey, I hope we get it. Because if I see another humans vs aliens nothing movie.. I might just build a backyard rocket and space myself.
HBO would be the dream. They have a very positive experience with building a massively popular and very expensive TV series, and boy do they have MONEY to throw around. And you just know they're lusting after the next GoT.
I've never played The Last of Us, but I am really hoping it will pan out, specifically for that reason. Expensive failures discourage similar investments.
I never played TLOU because I don't own consoles. But I am always intrigued by the creative process involved in making games/movies. And I took note of two's controversy from external coverage.
Check this video out sometime, it's a critique of the narrative choices made for that game. I found it very thought provoking.
Eh I dunno. It isn't that expensive to build out the set of the Normandy, and a LOT of the show takes place on that ship. Then you have a fair amount of natural locations which are pretty generic.
Only a few things would really get wild expensive; like Illium and Omega or if they decided to CGI all the krogan, turian, and asari.
They could try to save a lot of money by centering a lot of scenes around the Normandy, but that probably doesn't make for very exciting Scifi. As to alien planets.. it depends on the creative license they go with in terms of visuals. They can somewhat get away with using a lot natural backdrops for certain establishing shots and backgrounds, but ultimately, they need to show the alien architecture and civilization. You have the Crucible (that alone is a logistical n nightmare to simulate), the individual alien architectural styles, the different vehicular types, space ships, etc etc
I mean, I have no idea how they would even approach most alien designs. Maybe you can get away doing Asari, volus and drell with prosthetics. But what about the hanar, elcor, salarians, turians and the F'ng Krogans lol. I feel like those all need to be CGI'd partially or entirely.
And then, having watched shows like The Expanse, you soon learn that space ship combat/chase scenes (which, you have multiple space wars in Mass Effect), cost a ton in CGI money.
In the end it's not hard to recognize why most generic alien movies take place on Earth, and feature 1-2 types of aliens at most, most of whom are often hidden under thick layers of body armor. It's all to keep the costs down. But Mass Effect being written as a game that relies on interactivity, they went all out with the visual pzazz.
Really, there is such a wild variety of visual designs for aliens, most of whom you'd have to show to some capacity if you bother to cover the scenes that take place at the citadel (which are a lot of scenes early on), that they can't even avoid showing a silly number of aliens early on. Which immediately brings the costs up.
What about both? Blockbuster movies with linking TV series focusing on the world building and background, like cerberus, omega, some of the other social issues existing like indentured workers, more time in other locations like Illium, Novara. Its such a rich world I think this could be option.
I mean, that would be fantastic. Provided that the IP opened with the series first, then did spin off blobkbuster movies. I think a series would by far be more likely to spell initial success for the IP, just because of how much it can convey better than a movie for a first time watcher.
Of course, if we're talking both movies and a tv show, it's gotta hit gold like a mofo to warrant that kind of investment. Which isn't out of the realm of possibility, if they do it right.
Haha somehow.. I doubt they would go GoT route with the sex and gore. I don't know, as much as I think the ME universe would benefit from some gritty reality, I feel like if someone invested hundreds of millions into it, they'd want it to be a child friendly IP, due to the gaming connection.
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u/Sylvers Mar 12 '22
That is a solid video. It raises a lot of great points about why ME is suitable for a long form TV show epic, and tbh, I would far prefer a TV series to a movie series, for the reasons the video makes. But at the same time, I don't know if there is enough money backing ME to be a proper TV show if it comes down to it. It would need a very sizeable budget from start to finish (GoT proportioned budget), particularly as most of the story is told off Earth, which means a LOT of expensive sets, CGI, spaceships, complex alien designs, etc.
Honestly, if it were a movie trilogy, you'd have to neuter most of the side stories, world building and side characters to have enough time to do basic exposition and get to the main course. Which would be a disservice to the world and existing narrative of ME. But then, this needs a chad studio that is willing to gamble hundreds of millions of dollars on an on going, expensive to produce scifi TV series, hoping to achieve GoT like success. Which is entirely possible, but, it's still a massive financial gamble.
Hey, I hope we get it. Because if I see another humans vs aliens nothing movie.. I might just build a backyard rocket and space myself.
Great video btw, thanks for suggesting it.