Ringworld Vs. Halo

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speedbump

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I neurotically worry that Halo will be made into a feature film before its legendary predecessor; Ringworld, by Larry Niven.

Both series' revolve (no pun intended) around an artificial 'world', or spacestation, but the similarities basically end there. Niven's Ring also has an artificial sun surrounded by an inner-band of shadow-squares, which provide a day/night cycle. The ring(s) were created by a mysterious race called, the Puppeteers... and the storylines concern them. The two main characters are a Puppeteer named Nessus, and a wayward human named Louis Wu. The most dangerous lifeform on the Ring Surface are sunflowers, which have the ability to redirect-and-intensify sunlight into a narrowly focus'd death-beam.

If intelligently adapted, Halo and Ringworld would both make great movies, but my worry is that Ringworld (because of today's I don't read books-generation) would be eternally percieved as a Halo-ripoff if it 'followed' in Master Chief's boot-steps. Like Dune, RW is a standalone sci-fi classic.
 
A guy named Louis Wu runs the Bungie fan site, halo.bungie.org. Huh.
 
Halo was heavily based on Ringworld.

And what do you mean don't-read-books? WHAT ABOUT TWILIGHT?
 
A look at all the latest releases of novels indicates that your opinion of the lack of book reading amongst people is either highly specific to your location or just flawed.

Literacy is at the highest levels its ever been and people who cant read in a world that requires literacy as the most basic of life skills is someone who isn't going to achieve much and hence will feel compelled to become literate.


So yeah, your fears are unfounded. Though Halo will probably be made a movie first because hard sci-fi rarely translates well to the big screen.
 
I read Ringworld years back, when I was 10 or 11. Really enjoyed it.

Wikipedia says that SciFi was planning to turn it into a mini-series back in 2004, but it doesn't say anything more about that. Might still be in the works.
 
If Ringworld or any of its spinoffs haven't been made into a movie by now, it seems like they wouldn't be, so I wouldn't sweat it. I also think the confusion between the two would be mild at best. A Halo fanboy would almost immediately notice that this ring was orders of magnitude larger than the Halo ring, and that it's not a weapon (although somewhat similarly, a terrarium).
 
nurizeko said:
A look at all the latest releases of novels indicates that your opinion of the lack of book reading amongst people is either highly specific to your location or just flawed.
Click to expand...


My premise is flawed. I based it on a poll that said 15-to-35yearolds (Ringworld's hypothetical target-audience) spend a combined average of about 3-hours-a-day online and/or vid-gaming.


The special-effects for a Ringworld film may be a logistical nightmare.

http://www.larryniven.org/
 
Acepilotf14 said:
Halo was heavily based on Ringworld.
Click to expand...
Really? It seemed far more similar to the last act of Iain M Banks' Consider Phlebas to me, save its circular setting. A small facet of an interstellar war, a mysterious planet, an ancient weapons installation, religious fundamentalist aliens...
 
speedbump said:
The special-effects for a Ringworld film may be a logistical nightmare.
Click to expand...
It seems like it's a medium well suited to CGI, I think. Is there something on Niven's website mentioning these hurdles?
 
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