'Mass Effect' TV Series Is In the Works At Amazon

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Variety: A "Mass Effect" TV series is officially in development at Amazon MGM Studios, Variety has learned exclusively. Daniel Casey is set to write and executive produce the adaptation. Karim Zreik will executive produce under his Cedar Tree Productions banner, with Ari Arad and EA's Michael Gamble also executive producing. Cedar Tree is currently under an overall deal at Amazon MGM Studios. Exact plot details are being kept under wraps. [...]

The first "Mass Effect" game launched to rave reviews in 2007. Since then, there have been three more games in the main series, with "Mass Effect: Andromeda" debuting in 2017. There have also been multiple mobile games in the franchise, as well as an animated film, novels, comic books, and other media. The story of the first three "Mass Effect" games revolves around Commander Shepard, a human soldier in the 22nd century trying to save humanity from a race of aliens known as the Reapers. "Andromeda" moved the games much further into the future with a new protagonist, with a fifth game also in the works. The franchise is developed by BioWare and are now published by EA. In 2010, EA announced plans to turn Mass Effect into a movie, but the project was later canceled. However, Ari Arad (known for co-founding Marvel Studios) led the initial effort and is now working to bring the film to life in this latest attempt.

A better medium for it

[Baron_Yam]

The rails in the games are obvious on the first playthrough - if they want to tell a linear story, television is a better medium for it than a videogame.

Re: A better medium for it

[ByTor-2112]

The linearity of the game is what keeps it interesting. Open world games just drag in and on while you stop to smell the procedurally generated roses.

Re:

[Calydor]

Having rails provides a direction so you don't end up with decision paralysis because there are just too many options to pick between.

Re:

[Luckyo]

Open world games put player on rails whenever they try to deliver on major plot points.

For a reason.

But I suppose after Andromeda's DEIfication, it's ready for a TV adaptation to give the franchise a well deserved executioner's shot in the back of the head. Seriously, how the fuck do you make species who's primary reproductive trait is being extremely attractive to all aliens, because they procreate almost solely with aliens... extremely ugly and have it make sense in game lore?

Oh I forgot. The evil of male

From the studio that brought you-

[locater16]

The Rings of Power, that show that someone or other watches, we think, comes an adaptation that will exist.

Re:

[Baron_Yam]

>The Rings of Power

I tried. I am not one of those "that doesn't match the book canon" types, I can handle a different interpretation.

The story just didn't earn my attention, and I got half-way through the penultimate episode and found I couldn't must the enthusiasm to continue.

When you're writing a prequel with mandatory major story beats, you have to be pretty damn clever to make it engaging, and whoever wrote this series was not up to the task.

Re:

[Zarhan]

I'm in same boat. I didn't mind the compressed timeline (in book canon, the forging of the rings and fall of NÃmenor happen generations apart etc). However, since the plot is more or less given ("Bad Guy Wins"), then there should still be an engaging story.

However, what happens is that a bunch of wooden characters namedrop a few names known from books occasionally and otherwise...you just don't care. Battles happen, some romances happen, some supposed character development happens. And as a watcher, yo

Well Amazon has to do something

[rossdee]

to replace all the revenue from stuff they import and sell
Since that will all go away when Trumps Tariffs take effect.

Re:

[Baron_Yam]

I wonder what really happened between Bezos and Trump before the WP endorsement cancellation. Threats, most likely.

After all, Bezos might like a US in which he can treat his workers like disposable items and have no fear of legislation or court interference in that, but most of Trump's platform is more likely to hurt his bottom line than to help it and Bezos still fell in line like a good boy.

I really wonder what those threats were.

Re:

[Luckyo]

I suspect the opposite. Most billionaires live in a bubble, because their time is exceedingly expensive and access to it is strictly rationed by their aides.

I doubt any of the self made ones would support Marxism in any form, because they tend to value judging people based on merit, rather than on race, class or sex. It's how they made it to where they are after all. So they are typically looking to maximize people who can work for them and do the job exceptionally well at the expense of all other character

Re:

[Miles_O'Toole]

I wouldn't worry too much. There might be a few cosmetic measures to save face, but if Trump actually tried to put tariffs in place on the scale he promised, he'd wind up just like his buddy Jeffrey Epstein.

Something Else For Amazon To Fuck Up Entirely

[theshowmecanuck]

Sigh

Easy pickings if they're not stupid

[fleeped]

The story is there, and the story is amazing. If they smarten up to bring the story to new wider audiences, they can swim in money. Any deviation will possibly worsen it, given recent experiences.

Re:

[Luckyo]

Problem is that "new audiences" don't want to watch "the story". They want to sit on twitter and talk about how great it is that "the story", or as they put it "herstory" is being pushed down the throats of the nasty, evil, hateful and bigoted audience that needs to see the light and join them in sitting on twitter and talking about how many insanity diagnoses they have, and how evil normal people are.

Re:

[fleeped]

Come on, you're rambling a bit, after suffering through some clearly obnoxious and polarized social media.

Sir Isaac Newton

[Meneth]

You know what they should add? A little side-story that shows that gunner "eyeballing it" before the famous "deadliest son-of-a-bitch in space" rant on the Citadel.