veritech

So it has been going around for a while that Tobey Maguire is trying to get a Robotech movie off the ground.  And I am actually of the mind that this could be decent venture.  Definitely far from a sure-fire thing.  And boy howdy could it be bad.  

Supposedly they even brought in Lawrence Kasdan to do the writing.  They're probably thinking, didn't he write a decent sci-fi action movie back in the day.  I seem to remember it making some money...

The Macross Saga has plenty of goods to mine for a movie.  However the big question will be: do they try to encapsulate the Macross Saga in one movie?  My preference would be two or three movies to do the story justice, but it would be hard to get a studio behind that.  Though after Lord of the Rings people are willing to take risks on multi-movie projects.  But this subject matter isn't a world renowned novel that created a genre.  It is certainly influential but most Americans would be lucky to recognize the name as an 80's cartoon.

They could also go the Star Wars route and make a movie that doesn't end everything but is conclusive to a degree.  This makes the most sense, because if it makes money they can jump right into the sequel but are safe for it to live on its own.  Unfortunately there isn't a perfect breaking point for this kind of pseudo-ending in the Macross Saga.  I suppose they could end it with some sort of big victory after the spacefold with an inserted arc that gets fulfilled.  Oh and they better have the spacefold.  That would really disappoint me if they didn't.  Though it may be the biggest obstacle in trying to make it all fit in one movie if they are going that route.  

As for casting I think only one role will be especially difficult to cast.  It is the same role that wasn't actually done well in the cartoon.  Linn Minmei.  She's the most painful part of watching the cartoon.  However she appeals to a strong enough archetype that you realize her role even if she can't pull it off. 

If Tobey Maguire ends up playing Rick Hunter... I'm alright with that.  He's not my favorite of actors but he's not the worst pick for Rick.  I would hope they would go elsewhere, but he's the one producing it so it is probably up to him.

Another obstacle would probably be Breetai and the rest of the Zentraedi.  They are hard to make believable (in that suspended disbelief sorta way).

The perfect teaser trailer would be a Valkyrie preparing and then launching out of the SDF-1.  With the right lighting and camera angles... would be a thing of beauty.  Though now people may think they are copying Battlestar if they do the tube launch thingie.  

Which it should be noted the present Battlestar TV series seems to receive some strong influences from the Macross Saga.  They are very different beasts but ...  Oh hey, just thought of the Max and Miriam parallel.  Interesting...

Anyways, of my more geek fandom tendencies as they relate to movies being made from stories I am ... well, a fan of, I think Robotech and Tintin (just keep Peter Jackson away from the slow motion button) are the ones I am most interested to see.  And if Robotech gets pulled off well it would likely be the top of the two.

I may put further thought into how I would go about fitting the Macross Saga into one movie.