quote:

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Wil Wheaton had better be in the movie as an older version of himself.

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He was in the book, as a representative for Oasis user rights.

Would be pretty awesome to see a cameo of him on a video in the background, talking about Oasis user rights.

Of course. Why else would i say that?

Screenplay sounds awful. I get why some things don't translate well from the book to the screen, but why **** up major plot points that translate just fine?

Oh and there better be a **** ton of montages.

Wooo! Came home from work to find a copy of Armada waiting for me! I'll update when I finish reading which may very we be tomorrow

So damn jealous.

well I just finished reading Armada. I dont want to give anything away so I'll be a little cryptic in my review. For those who dont wish to read further here's the TL;DR version


FInal Rating: A
I'd put it a step behind RP1







MAYBE SPOILERISH













PROS

Let me start by saying the book is great. At least it was great for me. It wont appeal to as wide of an audience as RP1 because the book primarily focuses on video game and gamer culture. The majority of the references to pop culture deal with past and present video games with a smattering of 80's music. So if video games arent your thing, this book might not be for you. It is a very fun read much like RP1 with a lot more action IMO. A lot of it reminded me of the feel of the final battle in RP1. The Action is fast based and the book gets to it very quickly. There are a few twists and turns that make for some interesting plot devices. For better or worse, the book feels like a im watching a Sci Fi movie. Which really makes sense when you consider a lot of Cline's experience is drawn from movies and screen writing. Also understandable since the movie rights have already been purchased and parts of the book seem to be written so that the transition to the screen would be pretty easy.

CONS

I do have a few issues with the book though. Over the last few years, I have become a better reader. A lot of that is due to my wife and the amount of books I read on a yearly basis. Because of this, I tend to expect a lot from authors. My standard has been raised in terms of what I consider "good writing." The love interest of the main character (Zach Lightman) feels like a "dude" wrote it. Its a little forced and seems to be an afterthought that was pushed through during the editing process. The female character was so stereotypical. An edgy hot, nerdery, gamer chick clad in all black. I firmly believe that all women gamers out there aren't living, breathing clones of Tank Girl. Secondly, the references get to be a little much. At times it was as though Cline was trying to name drop or add in as many video game/geek/nerd references as possible. Dont get me wrong, I really liked it 90% of the time but it was occasionally too much. Still, those things were minor on the grand scale and I thoroughly enjoyed the book. As an added bonus he included a playlist for the book in the back pages.


FInal Rating: A
I'd put it a step behind RP1














END POSSIBLY SPOILERISH DETAILS

Someone told me that Pixels (new Adam Sandler movie) had almost the exact same plot as Armada. Any truth to that at all?

pretty much spot on with a few differences. Its a combination of a lot of different things. It actually reminds me of Wade's delorean ECTO-88. The best parts of a lot of different things all rolled into one.

I'm fairly certain that Pixels isn't sandler's. I remember seeing a neat short a while back. So I think he just bought it, put his ****ty actor friends in it, and most likely ruined it.
they are similar in nature, but not the same

Just finished RPO. Amazing book, but I can't imagine it will translate well to the screen. The licensing would be insane, and if that screenplay description from page one is accurate...ugh.

With Spielberg back with WB for this film, a lot of the licenses should be fairly easy to get, like with the Lego movie. I'm sure a lot of the references will be happy to see their work on screen for what will be a huge movie.

The script y'all were talking about one page one, is that before or after Zak Penn rewrote it? Hopefully it was before and the new one sticks closer to the story. Deadline has an article hinting that Magic Leap could potentially use this movie to showcass their product. Could be a pipe dream.

In a related note, anyone read Cline's next book "Armada" yet? Wonder if it is as well received as RPO.

Just finished it. Not nearly as good as RP1 but I still loved it. Fast paced and I liked the characters. Watch the Last Starfighter before you read it.

On a side note, one of the coolest hardcover book dust jackets I've seen.

Reading it now.

Started the audiobook (Wheaton, again) before my post and agree with this so far. Really enjoyed RPO, but Armada just doesn't deliver the same way. If I hadn't read RPO prior, it's possible I would have a different opinion. Maybe I'll feel differently by the end.

My biggest concern with a film adaptation will be that the writers/producers will believe (rightly or wrongly) that the movie-going public wont relate to or appreciate the references and usage of Joust, WarGames, Family Ties, etc. That source material was part of the books charm and harkened back to a time when home video games and liking sci-fi movies wasnt as socially acceptable as it is now. Modernizing the script and updating the allusions will diminish some of the attraction, at least for me.

quote:

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Started the audiobook (Wheaton, again) before my post and agree with this so far. Really enjoyed RPO, but Armada just doesn't deliver the same way. If I hadn't read RPO prior, it's possible I would have a different opinion. Maybe I'll feel differently by the end.

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I just started armada and it feels forced. Way too many references crammed in. I found myself rolling my eyes after a while

The ones from rpo felt more organic

Just finished reading the RPO book. Great book. Hopefully the movie does it justice.

Nm

Ok, just finished armada and the whole book just made no sense at all to me.

It reminded me of the late 90s movie, "lost in space" that unnecessarily stole a bunch of bits and pieces from other a Sci-fi movies and tried to tie them all into one thing. Armada is a combination Iron Eagle/Enders game mess that trips over itself throughout the whole book and tries to get philosophical at the end.

It just felt like a completely lazy project that had no creativity at all and a fizzled ending that was trying to preach something that came across as written by a high school philosophy student.

I loved RPO but armada was the opposite of good. Just in my humble opinion, of course.

I finished Armada yesterday and found the ending pretty cliche, and I wonder if Cline can write a story that's not just a bunch of references, but overall it was somewhat enjoyable. I certainly don't feel like I wasted my money.

Finished Armada the other day and i felt RPO was an A+ and Armada was a C+ at best. It was like Tron/Enders game and not creative......

http://deadline.com/2016/02/tye-sheridan-steven-spielberg-ready-player-one-ernest-cline-1201708720/

Read it the other week and came across this thread. The movie version sounds terrible if those changes are made.