Why there will never be a Battletech-movie (or series)

[Amechwarrior]

Shoot for a "Love, Death & Robots" anthology that hits all the separate points listed here. See what sticks, see what fails and if there is an audience that wants more go with what worked and build a series from there.

• Solaris Gladiator short to open, easy concept to get "Robot Gladiator fights? I'm on board!"
• Infantry squad vs a lone 'Mech, introduce two factions at war and how scary the BattleMech is vs conventional units
• Some "last stand" type thing with merchant guards vs pirates off in the periphery, show how interstellar travel is a thing and how far humanity has fallen
• "Grand Battle" of proper house units clashing and the protagonist's squad need to "do the thing" to turn the tide

Hell, you could even do this "Legacy" style and make them all feature the exact same 'Mech.

 

[Artificius]

Finally, I wouldn't watch it because this story, this exact story, was told in the movie Robot Jox.

Gods, what a good bad movie. If I remember right, they at one point transform for a single-stage-to-orbit fight in space, right? You can't even do that in Gundam, and that's a universe of psychics and permanent human habitation in space.

 

[MeiSooHaityu]

Robot Jox, a movie so bad it's good.

The poor script, unlikeable protagonists, stereo type characters, flip-flopping tone, cheap props, and characters that just chew scenery (especially Tex and Alexander). I mean, just look at this awesome acting...

He even yells Geronimo as he falls to his death lol. So terrible, yet so good.

Really, what's not to love.

Plus is has Jeffrey Combs (even if only in a cameo) so it is a certified B-Movie masterpiece.

Seriously though, the only thing that really shined in the movie was the robot combat. Yes the gratuitous space scene was...gratuitous, but really the stop motion practical effects in the movie were really good. You can tell that is what they blew the whole movie's budget on.

This movie is one of my B-Movie favorites and I throw it on from time to time just for the heck of it. It's good schlock.

 

[MeiSooHaityu]

Well, if BattleTech never gets made into a movie, we can at least enjoy it on TV.

Comstar Channel 5 has 'The Adventures of Steiner Assault Squad' every week. Watch as the Steiner military pulls off some of the most stealthy recon and infiltration in all the Inner Sphere...

 

[Hoi Neuling]

I say get the Books and the Games. Read all Books you can get (I´m searching for the last half from the Classic Books since over 15 Years) and play all Games you can get. More you won´t get from BT-Universe.

An other Reason why no one will produce a BT-Movie is the copyright-dispute between the BT / Mechwarriorfinancers and Gamedesigners to the Asians which had the Idea for something alike. The Asians call her Idea Robotech. The Dispute is going over 30 Years now and Harmony Gold Company seems to have fun with that. An easyer way to get many Money isn´t there on our World. You can read that on Gamestar, PC Games and other such journals.

Atm the Asians (Harmony Gold Company) are courtmateling again Harebrained Schemes (Battletech), FASA esp. Jordan Weisman (MechWarrior, MechCommander) and Piranha Games (Mechwarrior Online and the new Mechwarrior 5) in a all around blow.

It´s the old lyre. That Mech looks like ours and so on. Like I said the Asians seems to have fun with that since over 30 Years as the first Book from BT comes out.

As a Gamer and BT-Book-Reader I say: "Get away with that Copyright-[mod edit: language]. We can´t hear it anymore. If not, we will get angry and then Harmony Gold Company get more than the worstet Nightmare."

Sorry for that, but it had to be sayed, because the Community is a keen Weapon. And I´m not alone with that statement. Because about the Copyright-[mod edit: language] and the to much Claner-Story we had over a decade not one new good BT-Game after the MW 4-Series.

The latest is the cool Battletech-Strategy-Game we have now. And Mechwarrior 5 which we will get after over 10 Years of silence.

 

[Timaeus]

Atm the Asians (Harmony Gold Company) are courtmateling again Harebrained Schemes (Battletech), FASA esp. Jordan Weisman (MechWarrior, MechCommander) and Piranha Games (Mechwarrior Online and the new Mechwarrior 5) in a all around blow.
.

That's over. Cases were dismissed.

 

[Apocal]

I say get the Books and the Games. Read all Books you can get (I´m searching for the last half from the Classic Books since over 15 Years) and play all Games you can get. More you won´t get from BT-Universe.

An other Reason why no one will produce a BT-Movie is the copyright-dispute between the BT / Mechwarriorfinancers and Gamedesigners to the Asians which had the Idea for something alike. The Asians call her Idea Robotech. The Dispute is going over 30 Years now and Harmony Gold Company seems to have fun with that. An easyer way to get many Money isn´t there on our World. You can read that on Gamestar, PC Games and other such journals.

Atm the Asians (Harmony Gold Company) are courtmateling again Harebrained Schemes (Battletech), FASA esp. Jordan Weisman (MechWarrior, MechCommander) and Piranha Games (Mechwarrior Online and the new Mechwarrior 5) in a all around blow.

Harmony Gold USA is an American company.

 

[Hoi Neuling]

That would match with the over 30-year-dispute. In America you can dispute everything from a little Accident to Copyrightthings. But they (Harmony Gold) are Working for the Developers which had a similar Idea in the same Decade (Robotech) and that is what doesn´t match together since the full time.

And the BT-Books were comming in the middle 80´s where the Disput begunn. You see what I mean?!

And from what I know about Copyright it is limited for max. 20 Years. After that it´s open for Everyone. Have watched many Docus about that from the Beginning of that up to now.

 

[Havamal]

Greetings Mechwarriors,

Can we can stop referring to companies as "the Asians"? Or any similar treatment.

Thank you.

 

[AngeliDiAvanti]

I think, the script itself could be a problem as well.

For example, movie-scripts must be written in a very specific fashion: The protagonist, the antagonist, the exposition of rules and world-building... all of these must be done in a specific timing for the movie to work.
For example, consider the opening of Star Wars: Within the first few minutes the movie establishes the world, the villain and half the members of our merry band of heroes.

For example, if a producer gets a script for an action-movie, the first thing he does is flip to page 100. The 100th minute. If there is no big action-scene at the 100-minute-mark, the script goes right into the trashcan.
So, whatever that Battletech-movie script is, there must be a big final action-sequence. And not just any action: It must be earned, it must be set up, there must be clear stakes.

In other words: If the Battletech-movie shows Battlemechs, then the movie must have a big final action-scene involving Mechs.

For example, for the end of Deadpool a big shootout with explosions was planned, but the budget for that was cut at the last minute. So during the shoot the script was rewritten for Deadpool to forget his guns and instead we got a melee-heavy fight.
It worked for Deadpool, but can you imagine a Battletech-movie where Battlemechs get teased and then don't show up for budget-reasons?

 

[BZA]

Hollywood is passing a rough patch. People in the USA are going less and less "to the movies" and more to "see that movie", I think the industry calls it "event movie", the movie that you "can't miss" and this is also happening all over the world, so all producing houses are thinking twice or trice before making any move. On the past years, only the Superheroes are making huge net profits, Star Wars is having problems because it is not liked in the Chinese market, and if they don't like it you are screwed. The best example of this was the last Mad Max movie, it was loved y critics and most of the audience alike and broke many box office records in many countries... but it was banned in China, so, Warner it is just not financing a new movie so easily.

In short, a series would be the best bet to see Battletech, but it is going to be very, very expensive.

 

[Timaeus]

Hollywood is passing a rough patch. People in the USA are going less and less "to the movies" and more to "see that movie", I think the industry calls it "event movie", the movie that you "can't miss" and this is also happening all over the world, so all producing houses are thinking twice or trice before making any move. On the past years, only the Superheroes are making huge net profits, Star Wars is having problems because it is not liked in the Chinese market, and if they don't like it you are screwed. The best example of this was the last Mad Max movie, it was loved y critics and most of the audience alike and broke many box office records in many countries... but it was banned in China, so, Warner it is just not financing a new movie so easily.

In short, a series would be the best bet to see Battletech, but it is going to be very, very expensive.

ehhh...that may or may not have to do more with a legal dispute about a pay bonus in regards to keeping the budget under 157M USD more than not wanting to green-light another because it didn't make it to the chinese market, and therefore not a enough revenue.

A “Mad Max” sequel has not moved forward because of a lawsuit battle between Warner Bros. and Miller’s production company, Kennedy Miller Mitchell. The company has accused Warner Bros. of refusing to pay a bonus fee for delivering “Fury Road” under budget. Warner Bros. filed a cross-lawsuit saying the production company broke contract over the film’s intended runtime and rating. If Tsujihara remains hopeful for the future of “Mad Max,” perhaps the warring sides are slowly coming to an agreement.

 

[Packrat]

I wonder who even owns the BT movie rights these days. I can't keep track of how many companies bought pieces of FASA.

 

[Timaeus]

I wonder who even owns the BT movie rights these days. I can't keep track of how many companies bought pieces of FASA.

In a roundabout way I believe it to be Disney at this point.

 

[Packrat]

In a roundabout way I believe it to be Disney at this point.

That doesn't surprise me. They're a cyberpunk megacorp of IP.

 

[Baron Jukaga]

With how well the new Voltron series turned out on Netflix, I would be perfectly happy with a new BattleTech animated series if it was treated with that much care and attention to quality.

That would be the best way, I agree. It would suit a series much more than a movie.

 

[BZA]

What about an animated series? It could be easier than "live action" and it is easier to make animation than back in 1994. Being honest, I liked that series, I was impressed with the use of CGI in a TV show back then.

 

[Hoi Neuling]

Animated Series sounds good, but it´s expensive too at this time. It´s not like in the 60´s, 70´s, 80´s and 90´s anymore, where such things are from Mangas which get for the TV movabilitys. And a normal Animated Series like DBZ, Brave Star, He-Man, She-Ra, Mila Superstar aren´t in their Form interesting anymore.

There are such animated Series from the 80´s (Saber Rider, Mask, Transformers) which had a good storyline as well as good Voiceactors and were animated normal which sunk the costs to a Real-Series a lot.

But today you have to upgrade the Graphics to a new Level (like in the new animated She-Ra and He-Man Series tested) to get an interest for this animated Series again. That´s what makes the new Animated Series more expensive than in that time where most of us grow up. The fixcosts for the Original Voices (Acotors to give the animated Chars a Voice), translations to other Languages (for example German, Italian, French, Spanish), Storywriter, and People which animate the Series included you could maybe today save 35 % of the Costs from a Real-Series. If you are Lucky a litte bit more.

And then the Storywriter had to know the full Bookstory (like in the Adventures of Tintin or such) which had to be used for the Animated Series. And not all People had read the original BT-Books (62 / 63 in total Numbers). Here comes the difficulty to the real Series / Films again. How to tell from the beginnin on. Where I have to make a time jump and so on. If you would tell the Books from beginnin on you would get so much Parts like in a German Series called Forbidden Love, which has over 4.664 Parts until it ended.

Most animated Series have if they have many parts like the full Dragonball Storyline from beginning on from the Mangas:

Dragon Ball (153 Parts)
Dragon Ball Z (291 Parts)
Dragon Ball GT (64 Parts) [with new Animations]
Dragon Ball Super (131 Parts) [with new Animations]
alltogether: 639 Parts

You see the difficulty and the lesser Parts from the last DB-Series-Parts, which I set there as a example. If you watch DBZ with the new Animations you have only 167 Parts.

That should show you all the Difficultys only to make such a Series or Film.

 

[PauloBrito]

Me i go with an animated series like Star Wars - Rebels.

 

[starscream]

I know there was a Battletech tv show in the 90s what are the chances of a battletech TV series i think it would be cool as long as it was done right and not screwed up by holly wood