# Why Mass Effect Should Be the Next Game of Thrones

## Метаданные

- **Канал:** Lessons from the Screenplay
- **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-elPKyfpJrM
- **Дата:** 10.06.2021
- **Длительность:** 20:31
- **Просмотры:** 316,731
- **Источник:** https://ekstraktznaniy.ru/video/17994

## Описание

In this video we explain why Mass Effect has the potential to be "the next Game of Thrones" and pitch our vision for a Mass Effect TV show adaptation.

Video written, directed, and edited by Michael Tucker & Alex Calleros.

Listen to our podcast episode where we discuss Mass Effect with Mark Brown of @GMTK: https://bit.ly/3baUZ38

Watch our @StoryModeOn video on the dynamic storytelling of Mass Effect 3's "Cure the Genophage" mission: https://bit.ly/3zdQvTH

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Timecode
00:00 Intro
03:03 Game of Thrones
09:23 Mass Effect

Concept art from The Art of Mass Effect by Fernando Bueno
Thanks to @AltShiftX for sharing some Game of Thrones headshots :)

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Michael Tucker (https://twitter.com/michaeltuckerla)
The

## Транскрипт

### Intro []

(keyboard typing) Hi, I'm Michael. This is Lessons from the Screenplay. 10 years ago, Game of Thrones premiered on HBO and went on to become television's must-watch series. In the show's final seasons, every episode was a major cultural event. Millions of dedicated fans tuned in, reacted online, made predictions about the fate of their favorite characters and obsessed over the rich history and lore of the storyworld. And while the show's disappointing conclusion tarnished it for many fans, the series as a whole was an unmitigated success. Ever since, discovering the next Game of Thrones has been the Holy Grail of television. What intellectual property, what idea or premise has the potential to resonate on such a massive scale and become the next must-watch TV phenomenon. All of this was on my mind while standing in line at a coffee shop a few years ago when I casually ran an idea by my writing partner, Alex Calleros, who you might know from our podcast Beyond the Screenplay. Alex and I have been making movies together ever since film school. The idea was this, what if our favorite video game trilogy of all time, Mass Effect, was a Game of Thrones-style TV show. It began as a simple thought experiment, but the more Alex and I talked about it, the more we realized that the science fiction epic could make for an incredible series. So between creating videos for Lessons from the Screenplay and Story Mode and working on an original feature film script, we started developing a long-form adaptation of Mass Effect. Before long we'd outlined a pilot episode along with the character arts for the first season. We kept going. We broke down the major turning points in each game of the trilogy and mapped the full story across five seasons. We did a deep dive into the lore of Mass Effect to imagine the rich and fascinating storyworld a long-form television series could explore. And then, this happened. Henry Cavill, most famous for his roles as gamer and PC builder, teased a secret project on Instagram sparking rumors that he'd been cast in a movie adaptation of Mass Effect. The news wasn't particularly surprising. Legendary Pictures acquired the film rights way back in 2010, but the rumors of a Mass Effect movie were disappointing because we think trying to cram all the depth and richness of the Mass Effect games into a single film or even a series of films is a huge missed opportunity. So today we want to demonstrate why Mass Effect can and should be the next Game of Thrones. We'll start by analyzing the first season of Game of Thrones to understand six essential story elements that helped make it such an exceptional series. And then we'll share our vision for a Mass Effect TV adaptation to demonstrate how and why it has the potential to be the next great television phenomenon. If you want to jump ahead to Mass Effect, there are chapter markers for each section and time codes in the description. Let's take a look at Game of Thrones and Mass Effect. (tense music)

### Game of Thrones [3:03]

When Alex and I first started thinking about how to adapt Mass Effect into a TV show, one of the first things we did was study season one of Game of Thrones. The show has all the basic story elements found in any TV show, but it takes each of these elements a step further. The Game of Thrones pilot quickly establishes the show's genre. There are kings and queens, castles and dungeons, dragons and magic. All the hallmarks of fantasy, but it's also a brutally realistic world. (sword smashes) (blood sputters) And the cutthroat politics of Westeros, no character is safe. Every action can and does result in serious, often fatal, consequences. Game of Thrones evolves beyond its classic fantasy tropes, twisting the genre to feel adult and modern and hooking viewers who might otherwise be uninterested. So Game of Thrones offers a unique take on its genre, and part of what makes Game of Thrones feel so real is the incredibly rich well thought-out storyworld of George RR Martin's novels. From the very first episode, we feel like we're dropping into a moment in history. It's been 16 years since a war for the throne reshuffled the power dynamics of Westeros and all the show's main characters are where they are as a result of this conflict. But the intricate history of this world goes far deeper. It includes the diverse laws and customs of each region, the reputation of each noble house and the rivalries between them. All this detailed world-building isn't just there for super fans who want to go deep into the lore, go watch Alt Shift X. It also serves a dramatic purpose. Each player in the Game of Thrones is constrained, influenced and driven by the fraught complicated history that led to this moment. So Game of Thrones has a storyworld with a dramatic purpose. But an interesting storyworld only goes so far unless viewers have a narrative reason to keep watching. To keep an audience hooked season after season, you need a strong dramatic question. The dramatic question of Game of Thrones, who will sit on the Iron Throne and rule over the Seven Kingdoms drives the major conflicts of the show and isn't resolved until the final episode of the series. But the show goes a step further, adding a ticking clock that threatens to upend everything. Winter is coming and with it, the invasion of the terrifying undead White Walkers. This impending existential threat complicates the dramatic question and gives the show a trajectory. Game of Thrones is not an open-ended story. At some point, winter is going to come and with it, the ultimate reckoning for our characters. This is a great setup, even if the payoff in the final season was disappointing. So Game of Thrones has a dramatic question with a ticking clock. And despite what David Benioff said, the dramatic question of Game of Thrones is actually anchored in a very compelling theme: "Can honorable men or women rule if you must be dishonorable to gain power? " This timeless theme is why the answer to the dramatic question will be meaningful. It's not just about who will win the game of Thrones. It's how they will win it. I did warn you not to trust me. So Game of Thrones has a compelling and relevant theme. But ultimately, any TV show is only as great as its characters. Game of Thrones impressively integrates essential story elements into its character web. Each main character in season one either has a claim to the throne, is working for someone with or has a meaningful connection to one of those two. So they all have a stake in the dramatic question of who will sit on the Iron Throne. The characters also represent the values and perspectives of the different regions, cultures, and noble houses of the storyworld. That means every relationship, every interaction, and every betrayal isn't just personal. There are political ramifications that ripple out into the world. And finally, the various characters also express different takes on the theme. In season one, Ned Stark and Cersei Lannister embody the opposing sides of the show's thematic tension. When Ned discovers the heir to the throne as illegitimate, he tries to do the honorable thing, to protect the queen and her children. Go as far away as you can, with as many men as you can. But Cersei sees Ned's honor as a weakness and takes advantage of the situation to gain the upper hand. When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die. The fact that only one of them makes it to season two says a lot about the world of Game of Thrones. So the characters are enhanced by tying them to the dramatic question, storyworld and theme resulting in an integrated character web. Finally, there's the obvious, but perhaps most crucial element behind the show's cultural impact, its format. The plot of the first season corresponds to the first book in George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, and because the story is told across 10-hour long episodes, the audience can experience every twist and turn of the novel. Over the course of the seven seasons that followed, viewers had time to get to know every inch of the storyworld, understand its complex politics and watch a cast of fascinating characters undergo dramatic changes. Imagine trying to condense the third season of Game of Thrones into a single two hour movie. You could make a satisfying movie about two unlikely travel companions becoming friends or about a warrior with a secret mission, falling in love with the enemy, or a queen freeing an army of slaves, or a king choosing love over obligation and paying the ultimate price, but you could not make a satisfying movie about all of those things. The power of the narrative and its cultural significance are amplified by long-form storytelling. Okay. So, Mass Effect.

### Mass Effect [9:23]

(exciting music) Mass Effect is a popular video game series beloved for its rich sci-fi storyworld, compelling cast of characters and cinematic storytelling. And as Alex and I discovered while adapting the story for television, it also contains all the same elements that make Game of Thrones so special. Let's take a look at how each of those elements would function in our vision for a Mass Effect TV show. Mass Effect is a sweeping science-fiction epic that follows the crew of the SSV Normandy as they raced to stop a galactic threat. The games offer a unique take on the sci-fi genre by effortlessly combining and remixing several sub-genres. Mass Effect has all the elements of a space opera, sci-fi, fantasy like Star Wars, romantic adventure, massive space battles, and characters with extraordinary abilities. It has the nuanced science fiction of Star Trek evoking a spirit of scientific discovery and using the genre to explore complex ethical dilemmas. And it has the exciting military sci-fi action of aliens in Edge of Tomorrow. This unique blend of sub-genres creates an experience that feels both familiar and fresh and helps to forge a fascinating storyworld. As Alex and I discovered going down rabbit holes on the 4,000 page Mass Effect Wiki, a TV adaptation of Mass Effect will be able to draw from a deep and fraught history just like Game of Thrones. Mass Effect also begins and the aftermath of a war which has shaped the characters and conflicts of the storyboard. According to the game's history, when humans discover interstellar travel in the mid 22nd century, they make contact with an advanced alien race, the Turians, and inadvertently spark a war. This first contact war comes to an abrupt end with an intervention by the Citadel Council, the ruling body of a vast galactic civilization populated by many alien races. Humans realize that they are newcomers in a 2000-year old interstellar society. The alien races of the galaxy view humanity with increasing concern as the powerful human military colonizes planet after planet accumulating resources and influence at a breakneck speed. You humans are eager to take all the power you can get. Don't expect the rest of us to just sit back and let you take it. But the politics of Mass Effect are more complex than Humans versus Aliens. All the alien races have complicated histories with irreconcilable conflicts that date back hundreds or thousands of years. This complex political environment leads to territorial disputes and skirmishes, politicians competing for galactic power and shadow organizations using espionage and terrorism to advance the interests of their species. As the show begins, humanity is on a mission to gain a seat on the powerful Citadel Council in order to have a say in galactic affairs and to protect its colonies, but as newcomers, humans have no allies leading some to believe that humanity should abandon diplomacy and seize power by any means necessary. So humanity is faced with a choice. Introducing the show's dramatic question: will humans forge alliances and cooperate to bring the galaxy together or seek to dominate the galaxy through strength? But like in Game of Thrones, there's a time limit on the dramatic question. Season one of Mass Effect will unravel the mystery of the Protheans, an ancient civilization that mysteriously vanished thousands of years ago. And by the end of the season, we learn why. They were annihilated by an unfathomably powerful race of machines called the Reapers. The Reapers sweep through the galaxy every 50,000 years to harvest all advanced organic life and time is almost up. The looming threat of the Reapers gives the show a ticking clock and a clear trajectory. At some point, the invasion will begin and no species, planet or character will be safe, which leads us to the theme of Mass Effect: Can a divided galaxy come together to survive an existential threat? This theme is directly connected to the dramatic question. Humanity could play the role of galactic mediator to unite the alien races against the Reaper threat, or humanity could soak further distrust and division in its quest for galactic dominance, making collective action against the Reapers impossible. This thematic tension is at the core of every conflict in Mass Effect and it also happens to be a theme that resonates with our world in the 21st century. Can people with historical grievances and irreconcilable differences come together to face existential threats? All these elements, storyworld, dramatic question and theme set the stage for a compelling science fiction drama that feels relevant to our times. Okay. So mass fact has the story fundamentals you need to make a great TV show, but as I mentioned earlier, it's really famous for its amazing cast of characters. Fans are obsessed, like obsessed, obsessed. So what's so special about the characters in Mass Effect? Can they make for a good character web and a TV show? And what does Emily Blunt have to do with any of it? The protagonist of Mass Effect is Commander Shepard of the Human Alliance Military. In the game, the player can choose their Shepherd's gender. So the protagonist of a Mass Effect TV show could be either male or female. Alex and I have enjoyed using Emily Blunt character in Edge of Tomorrow as a stand in for what our Shepard could look and feel like. The player can also choose between different backstory options for Shepard, which we've adapted to fit the show's theme and dramatic question. Shepard is a Spacer, part of the first generation of humans who have grown up entirely aboard star ships and space stations. As a result, she feels more at home in a diverse galactic society than her earth-born peers, but she's also being used by human politicians as a kind of Captain America propaganda symbol hailed as a war hero who represents Earth's strength and resilience. The problem is she doesn't necessarily believe in the earth-first values politicians are pressuring her to represent. So Shepard is directly struggling with the dramatic question. Beyond Shepard, season one of the show would focus on the crew of the SSV Normandy, politicians vying for power on the Citadel and rogue aliens attacking human colonies. Like in Game of Thrones, Mass Effect integrates essential story elements into its character web. Wrex and Garrus demonstrate how the intergalactic conflicts of the storyworld become personal on the Normandy. Wrex is a Krogan, an aggressive species built like tanks who hold a deep grudge against Turians for their role in an ongoing genocide, but aboard the Normandy, Wrex has to work alongside Garrus, a Turian. Tali and Liara wrestle with the show's theme on an individual level, would you sacrifice your personal goals and responsibilities for the greater good. For the introverted Liara, it's a matter of giving up her life as a solitary archeologist. For Tali, it means abandoning her dwindling tight-knit culture, and Ashley and Kaidan, both soldiers in the Alliance Military, have very different perspectives on the dramatic question. Ashley distrusts all aliens and believes humanity must watch out for itself, while Kaidan, who was trained as a child soldier, doesn't trust humanity to wield power responsibly. So as commander of the Normandy, Shepard is tasked with getting all these humans and aliens to cooperate, placing her at the center of the show's theme: can a divided galaxy come together to survive an existential threat, which finally brings us to the format. This whole time we've been arguing for Mass Effect as a TV show, but could it be a movie? And the answer is, of course. A Mass Effect movie could be a lot of fun. Movies tend to have bigger budgets, which has historically meant they have been the only way to pull off big epic visual effects-filled spectacles, although that is quickly changing and those limitations are starting to disappear. Movies are great at telling a focused psychological story about a hero. And if you want a simple three-act story about a Commander Shepard that shoots his way to victory, a movie is the way to go, but that's not what we want from Mass Effect. We want a Mass Effect that doesn't try to reduce the moral complexities of the games to fistfights and explosions. We want a Mass Effect that lets us all discuss and wrestle with its ideas and themes and an ongoing way. We want a Mass Effect that lets us be with each character for every step of their journey and gives us time to get to know and fall in love with them. We want a Mass Effect that lets us soak in the intricacies of a vast storyworld and invites us to ponder its ethical dilemmas. We want a Mass Effect that can pay off years of investment with major turning points that deliver the kind of emotional catharsis only possible in long-form storytelling. In other words, we want Mass Effet to be the next Game of Thrones, but you know, with a better ending. As you can tell, we've thought a lot about how Mass Effect could be a TV show, and honestly, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the work Alex and I put into adapting Mass Effect in creating a pitch for the series. It's the passion project that has inspired us to study the best storytellers in film, television and video games to better grasp how to translate our favorite game series to the screen. Alex and I had a lot of fun to finally getting to share all of this with you guys. So I hope you enjoyed. Thank you for watching and I'll see you next time. This video is sponsored by Mubi. Mubi is unique among all the streaming services because it features a curated selection of exceptional films from all around the globe. Every day, Mubi premiers a new film and each and every one of them is hand selected. It might be a timeless classic, a cult favorite or an acclaimed masterpiece. 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