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Something's just not quite adding up....

Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 5:34 pm
by Boothby
Compare, if you would, the level of activity on this site and on its new little sister site, http://www.EndersAnsible,com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, against what (I imagine) the volume of fannish deliria that must have been washing through equivalent fan sites for Hunger Games and Twilight about a year before they came out.

Actually--does anyone here have any FACTS about Twilight and Hunger Games? I'm actually basing my biased basis off of what I see as the responses to those films NOW, and what I can only imagine must have been going on a year ago for HG.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=c ... 0&bih=1081" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Any thoughts? I thought these places (here and EA) would be SWARMING by now!!

Re: Something's just not quite adding up....

Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 8:04 pm
by Luet
Just off the top of my head, I think one of the biggest differences is that HG and Twilight were both fairly recently published books and bestsellers when their movies came out. So, they had tons of fans ready and waiting. EG was written over 25 years ago. It has a large fan base but they vary widely in age and enthusiasm.

Re: Something's just not quite adding up....

Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 11:57 pm
by Boothby
I think it's the "varying widely in enthusiasm" that I'm thinking about....

Re: Something's just not quite adding up....

Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 1:22 am
by neo-dragon
Yeah, Twilight and HG were picked up as movies right in the midst of their teen craze. While EG has remained consistently popular (almost always in Amazon's top 20 sci-fi novels) for over 20 years, I don't think it ever had that kind of hype. I don't think that most people even have a clue that there's a movie in production at this point. There probably won't be any surge of newbie activity here until a trailer is released, and even then, I'm not expecting Twilight or HG level of excitement. If those franchises are the measure of success for EG I think people are going to be disappointed.

But hey, having a more intelligent, if not more numerous and excitable, fan base has gotta count for something, right? :)

Re: Something's just not quite adding up....

Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 12:00 pm
by Boothby
Well..the movie's getting made. THAT counts for something!!!

I wonder: Is there some Ender's Game fan base that we're just not aware of? Some hidden, subterranean ocean of Ender's Game fanatics hanging out on Usenet or Reddit or Tumblr that we've just never met?

Re: Something's just not quite adding up....

Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 12:04 pm
by Boothby
I guess I'm wondering where the NASCAR-fan level response is, instead of the, "Oh, look, dear! They're playing the 'Einstein at the Beach' Suite by Phil Glass on NPR this Sunday! Let's do remember to listen" type of response we seem to be getting.

Re: Something's just not quite adding up....

Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 12:19 pm
by Gravity Defier
It seems to me that a decade of "We are!" and then "We aren't!" has a lot of fans, even with casting done and filming started, not willing to believe it until they see something.

Re: Something's just not quite adding up....

Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:19 pm
by Tiny genius
My idea exactly. The boy who cried "Ender's Game movie!" and ended up all excited and alone.

Wish I'd known sooner though, I sort of gave up looking and now I'd like to play Carn Carbi or even, for smeg sake, an extra at TS!

Re: Something's just not quite adding up....

Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 4:45 pm
by jen_nerd
Well I think you all summarized it best. FIrst off, I am a huge Hunger Games fan, not quite Twilight, though I have read the books and own the movies, so I can see the different build up for Ender's Game. HG and Twilight were picked up at their climax of book success. A time where it's fan base was still in the hype for the books. Plus, the audience for the two books is concentrated on a specific age group, but doesn't hold to it. As HG fans claim the HG reaches out to all age groups and both genders. Where as EG has been out for a long time. It hasn't been advertised like HG and Twilight in recent years so not alot of people know about the book. Let alone about the upcoming movie. Hopefully, once a movie poster is released or a teaser trailer people will begin to get curious about the movie. Comparing, again, to HG, who gained more attention once the teaser trailer released and even more when the full length trailer was shown back in Oct. or Nov. (don't quite remember which month).

Re: Something's just not quite adding up....

Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 9:07 am
by KennEnder
Yup, that's exactly what my reaction was about a month ago when someone told me they were making an "Ender's Game" movie. "

Yeah, right. I'll believe it when they actually start filming."

And then as soon as I got online, I found out they WERE filming.

In many ways I'm still in shock, although the coverage here and on EndersAnsible (when/where did THAT forum suddenly spring up?) has helped make it more tangible. On a certain level, though, it seems like many of the obstacles that prevented the movie from being made before are in fact not "solved" but merely compromised. I'm not really complaining that Ender and his team / jeesh are 15 instead of 6-11 (face it, a group of teens saving the world is still a pretty remarkable feat)... but with a cast of mostly big names, a jeesh that's nearly double the age of the book, etc etc etc ... I'm skeptical. On the other hand, talent is certainly not wanting, and I'm excited to see what FINALLY becomes of it; I'm sure it will be entertaining and fun. How could it NOT be? But I also can't help thinking I'll wish afterwards that OSC had waited it out a little bit longer...

*crossing fingers*

Re: Something's just not quite adding up....

Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 4:27 pm
by Boothby
According to a recent post over at EndersAnsible, I think we may be running the risk of EG becoming "The Bad news Bears...in Space."

If that turns out to be the case, I think that we would be totally justified in smacking Gavin Hood about the head and neck with long slabs of raw meat.

I will say, though, that I fully plan on going to EG 3D IMAX, standing up at the 5 minute mark when the Battle School looms large on the screen, and shouting, "W00t! That's my *%$%$ Battle School!" (and then they throw me out). Power of positive thinking.....

Re: Something's just not quite adding up....

Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 11:49 pm
by Tiny genius
If that turns out to be the case, I think that we would be totally justified in smacking Gavin Hood about the head and neck with long slabs of raw meat.
Dibs using the chicken!

Re: Something's just not quite adding up....

Posted: Fri May 25, 2012 6:31 am
by Taft
If I'm going to be honest, I expect that absent a good marketing campaign (and a good one wouldn't surprise me, but the movie does need it), the movie will be a commercial flop. It won't do horribly, but it won't be a sequel-generating smash hit (which IMHO is probably good, since what there is to generate broad appeal about EG...i.e. Battle School and so forth...is notably missing from the sequels; for comparison, witness the efforts that HG went to in getting Katniss and Peeta back in the games for book two).

With that said, I think part of the reaction (or lack thereof) is down to the aforementioned cries of wolf many of us have been seeing for the last too many years. But I think part of it is also down to the fact that...well, a lot of the fandom seems to have sputtered over the last five years and change (Ansible is hardly as active as it once was; P-web seems less active than I recall it being in 2004 or 2005, etc.).

Re: Something's just not quite adding up....

Posted: Fri May 25, 2012 5:11 pm
by Boothby
I'll tell you this...I'm rapidly losing my enthusiasm.

I've worked out the details on the Tech behind EG for over 10 years, and not one person from the film's production crew has ever contacted me. Yes, a few have contacted me BACK, after I've sent them cold-call e-mails, but it's always been, "Oh, sorry--I'm not the one you need to talk to," or, "We've already designed so many of the assets, sorry..."

I thought I had been slowly, steadily making a name for myself in this narrow realm. Apparently, I have not. Or, worse, I haven't made the name I've intended to make for myself.

I've been as outspoken as I possibly could have. I've even reigned it in, when I've been asked to. I've always been supportive, and a cheerleader for the project; for the team.

I've even been able to make SOME contributions--to the Marvel comic; to the "Companion." I'm proud of my work there, and very grateful for having been given those opportunities.

But, at this point, I've been sitting on the bench for far too long, especially now that we're in the End Game. This is exactly the moment I have been working towards, and I'm doing nothing more than warming the bench.

Time to find another Game.


Of course, I say all this after having been offered a possible opportunity to write an article for the "Ender's Game in Philosophy" book--assuming they like my abstract (and still getting excited over that possible opportunity).

Re: Something's just not quite adding up....

Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 2:16 pm
by Gravity Defier
If I'm going to be honest, I expect that absent a good marketing campaign (and a good one wouldn't surprise me, but the movie does need it), the movie will be a commercial flop. It won't do horribly, but it won't be a sequel-generating smash hit (which IMHO is probably good
That's about what I expect.

I also don't think there are fewer fans or anything, just less site loyalty -why devotedly follow one when you can get your news from multiple sites, in multiple formats?- and definitely less usage of BBs in general.

Re: Something's just not quite adding up....

Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 4:27 am
by Taft
If I'm going to be honest, I expect that absent a good marketing campaign (and a good one wouldn't surprise me, but the movie does need it), the movie will be a commercial flop. It won't do horribly, but it won't be a sequel-generating smash hit (which IMHO is probably good
That's about what I expect.

I also don't think there are fewer fans or anything, just less site loyalty -why devotedly follow one when you can get your news from multiple sites, in multiple formats?- and definitely less usage of BBs in general.
Well, and I think another thing is that to the extent that there was a super-active fandom, it peaked out around 8-10 years ago...at least from what I can tell. P-Web was far more active, Ansible was more active, etc. There just isn't the critical mass anywhere at the moment. I haven't looked, but has there been any movement on Facebook or any other similar platforms?

And Steve: Man, I'm sorry that hasn't worked out for you. I still remember back in high school when we shot the breeze about designing a working Battle Suit (and I've still got the [literal] stick figure model that I made in my room almost ten years later). Heck, the movie has me wondering about that project again (especially now that I've got at least some disposable income to work with plus some friends who actually know a bit of engineering to handle the physical side of things).

Re: Something's just not quite adding up....

Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 10:05 am
by Boothby
Well, it has worked out somewhat, just not as much as I had hoped.

I have my Battle School design in Marvel comics, and in the "Companion," at least!

Re: Something's just not quite adding up....

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 12:30 pm
by elfprince13
Basically all of the EG fans I've talked to were huge fans 8-10 years ago (when they were in middle/high school), still have fond memories of the book, and can't believe that it's becoming a movie (or that the movie will be good). I have a feeling that when the marketing machine kicks in, we'll see them slowly filtering out of the woodwork.

Re: Something's just not quite adding up....

Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 12:14 am
by TerresaWiggin
Speaking on behalf of the new teen/tween generation after conducting a very informal poll in our middle school I was shocked at the few number of people who had read EG or knew about the movie. I am certainty doing my part to rack up attention however I must say that the new hunger games movie is drawing attention away from EG as it will also be released in November. While the few people who had read EG were large fans of the books there were not many and in our school not much of an EG community. It is going to take a strong marketing campaign to get people exited about EG.