And I believe BioWare already has that story. I'm not trying to come across as pretentious or anything, but idea for the MEM (Mass Effect Movie) Is bold, daring, risky, and has the potential to alienate and perhaps dissapoint many fans... But I believe it is a strong concept and is bankable.
My title for the MEM is this: Mass Effect: The Road to N7
It is the story of Commander Shepard's journey to the elite military rank of N7. After reading the codex entry about the ICT:
Interplanetary Combatives Training (ICT) is the Systems Alliance's premier school for leadership and combat expertise. The Interplanetary Combatives Academy, sometimes called "N-School" or "the villa," recruits officers from every branch of Earth's militaries to partake in grueling courses at Vila Militar in Rio de Janeiro.
Initially, candidates train for more than 20 hours per day, leading small combat teams through hostile terrain with little sleep or food. Trainees who do well are awarded an internal designation of N1 and are invited to return. Subsequent courses - N2 through N6 - are often held off-planet and include instruction in zero-G combat, military free-fall (parachuting), jetpack flight, combat diving, combat instruction, linguistics, and frontline trauma care for human and alien biology.
The highest grade of training, N6, provides actual combat experience in combat zones throughout the galaxy. If the trainee survives these scenarios in "admirable and effective fashion," he or she finally receives the coveted N7 designation. N7 is the only ICT designation that may be worn on field or dress uniforms.
There is little shame in failing an N course - the training is so extreme that even qualifying for N1 elevates an officer to a position of respect. The universal prestige of merely attending the academy helps to restrain trainees from taking excessive risks in pursuit of higher honors.
Although ICT qualification by itself does not guarantee higher rank, those officers who are able to complete the program are typically well suited to senior leadership positions.
I couldn't help but see this being presented on film as a 21st Century version of Top Gun in Space. (Which is actually taking place in the 22nd Century) This is the kind of film we need right now. I remember seeing Top Gun as a kid. I joined AFROTC in High School because of it.
Commander Shepard has many different possible Backgrounds.Pre-Service History and Psychological Profile. Its impossible (for me at least) to not rate them as such. Earthborn: Meh. Colonist: Wow, that's a damn good story!
Spacer: Both of your parents were in the Alliance military. Your childhood was spent on ships and stations as they transferred from posting to posting, never staying in one location for more than a few years. Following in your parents' footsteps, you enlisted at the age of eighteen. BORING...
Earthborn: You were an orphan raised on the streets of the great megatropolises covering Earth. You escaped the life of petty crime and underworld gangs by enlisting with the Alliance military when you turned eighteen. MEH...
Colonist: You were born and raised on Mindoir, a small border colony in the Attican Traverse. When you were sixteen slavers raided Mindoir, slaughtering your family and friends. You were saved by a passing Alliance patrol, and you enlisted with the military a few years later. WOW. That's a damn good story in the making!
At first when you read something like this you might think. Oh great, another trope of the hero as an orphan. I mean really BioWare. Its not enough that we already have Harry Potter, Superman, Batman and the list goes on on. But there is something almost unique about Commander Shepard's version of this. Unlike Bruce Wayne, whose parents were murdered right in front of him. With Batman.This was an isolated incident. He and his family alone suffered. But with Shepard, it 's different. Commander Shepard is just one of many people who suffered the lost of a friend, lover, co-worker or family member that day on Mindoir. He is not alone. Like Bruce Wayne is with his pain and anger. Shepard was also alot older than other Protagonist/Orphan Characters. Coming into that club at 16 years of age. Its rare for an orphan to be of such an age. Unlike Harry Potter and Kal-el. Who have next to no memory of thier parents.This is not the case with Colonist Shepard.
Also one of the things I like so much about Colonist Shepard is that even though he has every reason to be angry and resentful of the Alliance. For its failure to protect Mindoir due to its idiotic following of Sun Zu's maxim: "He who tries to defend everything, defends nothing." Like Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams he has every reason to hate the Alliance. Yet he and she chose to serve and try to make the Systems Alliance better. That's one of the things that really drew my Shepard to Ashley in ME1. This connection that they have, with being let down and neglected by the Alliance. Even Ashley says about what happened at Mindoir," The Alliance really screwed the pooch on that one. They should have had a bigger garrison." The Alliance was created to govern and defend all extra solar human colonies and space stations. But it has a First Contact War mindset. Where it assumes that aliens are going to try and occupy human settlements. When what alien pirates and slavers prefer to do is more, smash and grab type operations.
Over the years playing Mass Effect 1-3. I kept finding myself thinking about what Shepard's parents were like. Who was his best friend? Did he have a girlfriend? A favorite teacher? So many questions.It 's fun to think about every now and then. As for his parents, I imagine that they were a young vibrant couple. Not so much what thier professions were, more so what thier personalities were like and characteristics. I imagine that they were brave adventorus souls. They had to be, to do something as risky as colony enlistment. We know they fought back when the batarian slavers arrived. We also know from what Shepard says to Specialist Traynor if you invite her over to your apartment. That Shep came from a pretty well to do family and colony. If he wasn't even aware that some humans still have the kind of physical ailments that Samantha has.
Now the Psychological Profile:
Sole Survivor: During your service, a mission you were on went horribly wrong. Trapped in an extreme survival situation, you had to overcome physical torments and psychological stresses that would have broken most people. You survived while all those around you fell, and now you alone are left to tell the tale. The Sole Survivor's unit was slaughtered in a thresher maw attack on Akuze. I call this Bronze Medal Shepard.
Ruthless: Throughout your military career, you have held fast to one basic rule: get the job done. You've been called cold, calculating, and brutal. Your reputation for ruthless efficiency makes your fellow soldiers wary of you. But when failure is not an option, the military always goes to you first. The Ruthless character sent 3/4ths of his/her unit to its death and murdered surrendering batarians on Torfan.
This one I dub, Silver Medalist Shepard.
War Hero:You enlisted with the Alliance military and were posted at Elysium. You were there during the Skyllian Blitz, an attack on the colony by a massive coalition force of slavers, crime syndicates, and batarian warlords.
You rallied the civilian inhabitants, leading them in their desperate fight to hold off the invaders. When enemy troops broke through the colony's defenses, you single-handedly held them off and sealed the breach.
After hours of brutal fighting, reinforcements finally arrived and the enemy broke ranks and fled. Because of your actions, Elysium was saved, and you are regarded throughout the Alliance as a true hero. Does anyone really doubt by an interpretation that this is Gold Medalist Shepard?!
Now put Colonist/War Hero together:
You were raised on Mindoir on the fringes of the Attican Traverse. When you were sixteen, the colony was raided by slavers. The entire settlement was razed and your friends and family were slaughtered. A passing Alliance patrol rescued you, but all you loved was destroyed.
You enlisted with the Alliance military and were posted at Elysium. You were there during the Skyllian Blitz, an attack on the colony by a massive coalition force of slavers, crime syndicates, and batarian warlords.
You rallied the civilian inhabitants, leading them in their desperate fight to hold off the invaders. When enemy troops broke through the colony's defenses, you single-handedly held them off and sealed the breach.
After hours of brutal fighting, reinforcements finally arrived and the enemy broke ranks and fled. Because of your actions, Elysium was saved, and you are regarded throughout the Alliance as a true hero.
I don't know about you, but that's a movie in the making that I would go to see! Throw in Shepard's time training at ICT and its an even better story! It works as a movie or graphic novel. Its inspiring, its heart-breaking. Its the story of someone who knows what it is to suffer greatly and also knows what it is to achieve great success. A person who knows what it is to feel and be powerless at one time, and powerful at another. I believe the MEM should not even bring up anything to do with the Reapers. That's not what this story is about. Its not about saving the galaxy.
Humanity has aquired Mass Effect Technology, are anow a space-faring race and are interacting with other species, and that is the end of it. None of Commander Shepard's 2183 squadmates and crew are in it. Sorry Liara, Joker, Garrus and Tali and whomever else fans. See like I said, my concept for the MEM is pretty damn balsy
However... I do believe the movie should end with Shepard N7 meeting Captain David Anderson. That would be cool.
Modifié par ubermensch007, 19 août 2013 - 08:17 .
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