Battletech Movie?

Maj.Striker

Swabbie
Banned
Just a quick question to gather the communities' thoughts. Would you be excited about a battletech movie? I think it would be incredibly awesome and very feasible to do. Especially if they got the right director and a decent budget behind it. Specifically I would like to see them make a movie out of the "Blood of Kerensky" series, a trilogy on the scale of Lord of the Rings. I think it would be very easy for a movie like this to draw in the mass public...just imagine the trailer for a four story mech wading through buildings and rubble bashing out a battle. I know I for one would be like, "Whoa!" Anyway, I was just wondering what you all thought about it and if anyone had heard of any such plans in existence.

My thoughts for some of the actors to play the characters:

Precentor Martial (OH yeah!) - Kiefer Sutherland with his haird dyed white and of course an eyepatch.
Victor - Freddy Prinze Jr (Haha right! Just kidding! He already ruined one good franchise, let's not trainwreck another).

Really everyone else could be just about anyone...as long as they can do a decent job of acting, the story would sell itself.
 
While I've never understood Battletech or any number of wild space mech robot stories, I'm definitely partial to the idea of a movie involving mechs.
 
About a year, or so, ago, it was announced over on www.mwrealms.com that a BattleTech movie was in the works.
However, after they announced that it would be one of those "Start from the Beginning" type movies, fans complained vehomently about it.
And when it was announced that instead of using BattleMechs, they planned on using IndustrialMechs, as was, at the time, being pushed by Wizkid's "MechWarrior: Dark Age" miniature collectible game, the fans went through the roof!
Until such time as they can make a movie that simply jumps into the story, as Star Wars did, AND uses the REAL BattleMechs that have helped the game last over 20 years, the fans will definately have something to say about it!

P.S.
Many BattleTech fans are also Wing Commander fans, and no one wants them to do to BattleTech what they did to Wing Commander, in the movies.
 
Star Wars could 'jump in' because there wasn't any existing continuity...

From a storytelling perspective it didn't do anything of the sort, anyway -- it introduces unrelated characters and throws them together.
 
I'm not familiar with the BattleTech universe at all -- I'll google it later -- is it similar to Transformers? I vaguely recall watching a related live-action film when I was just a lad (must of been late 1980's or early 1990's) where rival competitors controlled massive robots and duked it out in an arena, but I can't remember the name of the film. Does anyone know and is this film in any way related to the BattleTech universe?

Cheers,


BrynS
 
Robot Jox is a classic. I'm still waiting for a state side DVD release.

Yeah, I'd really like a BT movie and the Blood of Kerensky trilogy would be perfect for a movie. But they'd probably go with what's current or just change the story somewhat to appeal to a younger audience (like what they did with WC).
 
warzog said:
About a year, or so, ago, it was announced over on www.mwrealms.com that a BattleTech movie was in the works.
However, after they announced that it would be one of those "Start from the Beginning" type movies, fans complained vehomently about it.
And when it was announced that instead of using BattleMechs, they planned on using IndustrialMechs, as was, at the time, being pushed by Wizkid's "MechWarrior: Dark Age" miniature collectible game, the fans went through the roof!
Until such time as they can make a movie that simply jumps into the story, as Star Wars did, AND uses the REAL BattleMechs that have helped the game last over 20 years, the fans will definately have something to say about it!

P.S.
Many BattleTech fans are also Wing Commander fans, and no one wants them to do to BattleTech what they did to Wing Commander, in the movies.

This post is all sorts of crazy. I played MechWarrior for 3 years and no one said shit or shake to me about a movie. I think you're the only one who's caring.
 
Actually, I've heard all of that stuff too. I've actually heard the bitching, not just people talking about others bitching.
 
I would realy like to see a Battletech Movie.
But PLEEEEEEEEASE make it a Classic Battletech Movie!
Not this b***s*** from Dark Age! This could be only worse than the WC-Movie.

Annyway, last words I get, was they plan a pure CGI-Movie for video only.
Well thats fine with me as long as it's the right era.
Maybe they even manage to get the rights for the unseen back.
(okokok, I know this will never happen, but "dreaming is allways allowed" )
 
Yeah I remember Robot Jox. Even Robot Jox 2. Those movies would never work today. And yes, they did work back then. They worked very well for me.
 
warzog said:
AND uses the REAL BattleMechs that have helped the game last over 20 years, the fans will definately have something to say about it!


Of course, the problem with this idea is that the "REAL Battlemechs that have helped the game over 20 years" are ones that are off limits because FASA decided it wasn't worth the trouble and cost to fight Harmony Gold over licensing issues in court.

Those would be battlemechs like the Locust, Stinger, Battlemaster, Warhammer, etc...

And the "reimaginings" that were done to officially reintroduce those battlemechs into Classic Battletech were pretty awful, imo.
 
Well, the series' legal copyright disputes I know nothing of, however I think a Blood of Kerensky Trilogy would be the perfect movie introduction to a wide spread audience. Although I do believe those rights are owned by FASA. (I could be wrong, I know very little on the legal disputes other than that I know there were some).
 
FASA licensed some stuff from Japan for use in their game - basically a number of mecha designs that appeared in Macross and a few other anime shows (at least one from Crusher Joe, a few from Dougram, and some other shows as well). A few years back, Harmony Gold finally got around to realizing how all encompassing their licensing agreement for Macross might be (they claim that they were busy with other stuff and didn't notice Macross Plus until it was too late, but the more popular opinion is that they just hadn't realized how much their license might let them get away with).

FASA successfully sued one toy company for using what was apparently a battlemech design as the basis for one of the latter company's toys. For whatever reason, this then led to Harmony Gold stepping in with its own law suit claiming that FASA had exceeded the legal boundaries set for use of the Macross mecha that appeared in Battletech (I think HG's argument was that FASA was only allowed to use the original images, not create new artwork using those mecha - though I could be mistaken). FASA's official line was that the use of the mecha had all been legal, but defending against a lawsuit is a very expensive proposition - even if you win. So FASA decided that defending the lawsuit wasn't worth the effort and removed all images of the licensed mecha (not just the Macross ones) from new products.

The fourth edition of Battletech was released shortly afterwards. It was the first edition that didn't have a Warhammer (Tomahawk from Macross) on the front cover, and that didn't have any of the battlemechs that had been in the first edition of the game. Further, the original technical readout book (which has stats for various military units) was also reissued with those same battlemechs missing, and with new battlemechs included so that the number of units still came out the same. The old units were still included in the packages of pre-filled out battlemech sheets that FASA sold (where no images were found), but were otherwise completely removed from the game.

After FASA finally collapsed, and Battletech was split between WhizKid's new click game and the Classic Battletech game (the latter following the old storyline and still using the original rules while the former jumped the storyline ahead a ways and changed to the click figure rules), the company putting out Classic products decided to go ahead and create new artwork for the missing Battlemechs. So the names are back in new products, even if they don't look the same.


As far as Blood of Kerensky goes, one problem would be Natasha "Black Widow" Kerensky's signature battlemech - a Warhammer.
 
junior said:
Of course, the problem with this idea is that the "REAL Battlemechs that have helped the game over 20 years" are ones that are off limits because FASA decided it wasn't worth the trouble and cost to fight Harmony Gold over licensing issues in court.

Those would be battlemechs like the Locust, Stinger, Battlemaster, Warhammer, etc...

And the "reimaginings" that were done to officially reintroduce those battlemechs into Classic Battletech were pretty awful, imo.

I agree that many of their reworks of the classics leave much to be desired, but I simply meant BattleMechs that were seen in the Many MechWarrior games, in general, and not the abominations, and plethora of vehicles and infantry found in "Dark Age."

junior said:
FASA licensed some stuff from Japan for use in their game - basically a number of mecha designs that appeared in Macross and a few other anime shows (at least one from Crusher Joe, a few from Dougram, and some other shows as well). A few years back, Harmony Gold finally got around to realizing how all encompassing their licensing agreement for Macross might be (they claim that they were busy with other stuff and didn't notice Macross Plus until it was too late, but the more popular opinion is that they just hadn't realized how much their license might let them get away with).

Harmony Gold acquired the American rights to several Mecha series from the Tadaka studios, when Tadaka was having financial problems.
In an attempt to raise money for what later became Robotech, they sold the rights to several designs to Fasa, which became BattleDroids, which after LucasArts complained about the "Droids" part, became BattleTech.
They also sold several designs to the makers of "The Transformers."
Tadaka studio's parent company, Big West (I believe that's their name), sued both Tadaka and Harmony Gold for the illegal release of those designs/series in America.
(Which is why they had to stop sales of the toys, and Robotech's second season was never completed, only 3 or 4 episodes were made.)
Harmony Gold thought they'd play it smart, and had toys made in China.
Big West sued them, and won, and the Robotech market has been reduced to ebay auctions of old stuff.
Nothing new has been made for Robotech in the last couple years, according to a Robotech fan/friend of mine.
(Which may, or may not, be true.)
There IS a company in Japan that still makes Macross stuff, and it occassionally shows up on ebay.

As a line up:
Crusher Joe provided the: Locust, Leopard Dropship, most of the Aerospace fighters.
Dougram provided the: Shadowhawk, Thunderbolt, Battlemaster, Scorpion, Goliath, and several ground vehicles.
Macross provided the: Rifleman, Stinger, Wasp, Phoenix Hawk, Crusader, Warhammer, Blackjack, and Archer.
Macross also provided the original Behemoth, which was only seen in the BattleDroids set.
(It had 4 huge barrels on top of the mech.)

Many of the original Fasa Battlemechs, Panther, Spider, Vindicator, Javelin, and others, were inspired by the above series.
Of the original BattleMechs, the Atlas is about the only Fasa design that was their own original design, and that has stood the test of time with fans.
Mechs like the Firestarter, and Grasshopper, didn't fare as well.

Edit:
As a side note...
The founders of Fasa sold out, sorta, to Microsoft.
Jordon Weisman, and his brother/partner?, who's name I've forgotten, sold Fasa to Microsoft, who in turn produced MechCommander 2, and the MechWarrior 3 & 4 series of games.
(They had started work on MechWarrior 5, but cancelled it in the middle of 2004, in favor of their Xbox series of the MechWarrior games.)
Jordon either retained, or purchased the rights to board games of the BattleTech universe, and released the "MechWarrior: Dark Ages" miniature collectible game.
(He recently sold Wizkids to TOPPS, so that should be that, for now.)
I'm not clear on who has the rights to Classic BattleTech, right now, but I seem to recall reading about an affiliation with a German company.
Ral Partha, who made the miniatures for classic BattleTech, and was eventually owned by Fasa, has been replaced by a company called something "Ironworks."

Edit #2:
I became interested in "Mech" games back in 1982, when a friend introduced me to "Dougram: The Battle of Stanrey."
Instead of the familiar cardboard cutouts of mechs, it had lead figures, plastic trees, and a periscope to help determine "Line-of-Sight."
It later became the foundation for BattleDroids, and eventually BattleTech.
I could kick myself in the butt for not buying BattleDroids, but at the time, I thought that it was some Star Wars' B.S.
Except for BattleDroids, I've got just about everything there is for BattleTech.
All of the computer games, all of the board games (Except for the short-lived AquaTech, and of course BattleDroids), most of the TRO's (Pre & Post law-suit versions), all of the maps, many of the scenarios, etcetera.
(AquaTech rules were in the "MechWarrior 2 Ghost Bear's Legacy" game, in the single underwater scenario.)
Likewise, I'm a collector of Wing Commander stuff, although my collection there started with Privateer.
(I don't have WC I/II/Armada.)
 
But PLEEEEEEEEASE make it a Classic Battletech Movie!

No matter what, this movie will suck. The director is really bad, and no computer game has ever been made into a good movie (i.e. Wing Comamnder, Wing Commander, Wing Commander)

I'm not familiar with the BattleTech universe at all -- I'll google it later -- is it similar to Transformers?

I know this sounds silly, but it is more pure than most 'mech games. It has a very good, well-developed story, no anime-related retardedness, and the 'mechs aren't stupid looking (for the most part) like Gundams or other such rubbish. Classic BatteTech the board game is a very good game, and so are the Mechwarrior computer game series.
 
Fatcat said:
no anime-related retardedness

There's no reason to insult perfectly wonderful franchises like Macross.

Speaking of which, Macross Zero recently finished production in Japan and will likely be Studio Nue's last Macross production for a while.
 
Back
Top