# John Scalzi's 'Old Man's War' Sci-Fi Series Heads to the Big Screen



## Big Don (Feb 23, 2011)

*John Scalzi's 'Old Man's War' Sci-Fi Series Heads to the Big Screen*


By Peter Hall Moviefone EXCERPT:
  				 Posted Feb 23rd 2011 4:15PM
John Scalzi's 'Old Man's War'  series of novels began only six years ago, but it already boasts a  glowing reputation among sci-fi fans as being one of, if not the, best  series in recent memory. Fan base aside, it's kind of hard to argue when  three of the novels in a four-part series have been nominated for Best Novel at the Hugo Awards.  And when a series gains that kind of consistent critical acclaim, it's  only a matter of time before Hollywood decides it wants in on the  action.



Paramount Pictures has bought the rights  to the 'Old Man's War' series and have already pinned down Wolfgang  Petersen to direct and David Self to adapt. Check out the plot  description for the first novel straight from Amazon:
With his wife dead and buried, and life nearly over at 75, John Perry  takes the only logical course of action left him: he joins the army. Now  better known as the Colonial Defense Force (CDF), Perry's  service-of-choice has extended its reach into interstellar space to pave  the way for human colonization of other planets while fending off  marauding aliens. The CDF has a trick up its sleeve that makes  enlistment especially enticing for seniors: the promise of restoring  youth. After bonding with a group of fellow recruits who dub their  clique the Old Farts, Perry finds himself in a new body crafted from his  original DNA and upgraded for battle, including fast-clotting  "smartblood" and a brain-implanted personal computer. All too quickly  the Old Farts are separated, and Perry fights for his life on various  alien-infested battlegrounds.
END EXCERPT
SWEET!
​


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## jks9199 (Feb 23, 2011)

It's an excellent series, and could be very good as a movie.

But I'm not optimistic.  Unless the producers, director and screenwriter respect the material, we'll just get another *Starship Troopers* debacle.


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## Phenix_Rider (Feb 24, 2011)

Never heard of it.

Sounds interesting though.


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## Sukerkin (Feb 24, 2011)

I've always argued that the first Starship Troopers movie was good as a satire of what happens under certain political circumstances ... but it should have been called something else as it has nothing to do with the original book.

I forget tho, as I've only seen either of them once, whether it was the second or the third Troopers movie that was astronomically dire?


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## perceive (Feb 24, 2011)

This is a very good book.  I just hope the special effects department remembers that ultimately there is supposed to be a human element to the story and not just as a vehicle for the special effects. Even if they are green.  It will definitely be on my "to watch out for" list.


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## Nomad (Feb 24, 2011)

Sukerkin said:


> I forget tho, as I've only seen either of them once, whether it was the second or the third Troopers movie that was astronomically dire?



I thought that was the first.  I'm a huge sci-fi fan, and couldn't get through Starship Troopers at all.  Thought it was one of the worst examples of the genre ever made.  To hear that it apparently warranted 2 sequels is simply depressing.


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## Omar B (Feb 24, 2011)

I'm gonna have to look into these.


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## Big Don (Feb 24, 2011)

Omar B said:


> I'm gonna have to look into these.


Yes, you are. I don't remember who suggested them in the fiction thread. I'm almost surprised it wasn't you.


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## Omar B (Feb 24, 2011)

Never was a big fan of first person narrative.  I'm a third person fan all the way, I like knowing what a character is thinking, but I don't want to be in his head for the whole story, I prefer being in the world itself.

And yes, things like narrative style does bother me.


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## Big Don (Feb 24, 2011)

Omar B said:


> Never was a big fan of first person narrative.  I'm a third person fan all the way, I like knowing what a character is thinking, but I don't want to be in his head for the whole story, I prefer being in the world itself.
> 
> And yes, things like narrative style does bother me.


Really? Wow, I have never heard that before.


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## billc (Feb 25, 2011)

THe first book, Old Man's War was great.  The other two books, The Ghost Brigades(?) and the last colony were okay.  Old Mans war was really good though.  

They need to redo Starship Troopers, and with the technology from  the iron man movie and the inside the suit perspective that they created I really think they can get closer to the real story.  They also should do a Warhammer 40,000 movie with the imperial marines or at least a Gaunt's Ghosts movie.


If you liked starship troopers, John Ringo's Posleen novels are something of a Mobile Infantry tribute, fleshing out some concepts of powered armor vs. the posleen, which are much like the arachnids in Starship Troopers.  Also, David Weber has a series of books that are very much the Naval side of the fight against aliens that are essentially the Arachnids from Troopers.


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## Phenix_Rider (Feb 27, 2011)

Just breezed through Old Man's War on my Kindle.  Didn't want to put it down all through the flight, and couldn't sleep last night because I wanted to keep reading.  GREAT book.  Can't wait to start the next one in the series.


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## Sukerkin (Feb 27, 2011)

billcihak said:


> Also, David Weber has a series of books that are very much the Naval side of the fight against aliens that are essentially the Arachnids from Troopers.



Which series is that, *Billcihak*?  I re-read the Honor Harrington series frequently but have yet to dip my toe into Weber's other books (other than his initial two-parter which was essentially a log of a Starfire campaign ).


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## Sukerkin (Feb 28, 2011)

I just realised that you were indeed probably referring to the Stars At War collaboration with Steve White .  Apologies, I was very tired, that's my excuse .


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## CoryKS (Feb 28, 2011)

It'll be interesting to see how they deal with the obvious fact that Avatar borrowed heavily from this book.  I'd hate to see it panned for unoriginality just because Cameron got it to the screen first.


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## jks9199 (Feb 28, 2011)

I don't know that I'd agree that Avatar borrowed very much.  There's some overlapping ideas, like building new bodies from existing DNA, tweaked for a purpose -- but there were also pretty major differences in how they were used.


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## Omar B (Feb 28, 2011)

Sukerkin said:


> Which series is that, *Billcihak*?  I re-read the Honor Harrington series frequently *but have yet to dip my toe into Weber's other books* (other than his initial two-parter which was essentially a log of a Starfire campaign ).



Wait? What?  Dude, you need to start checking out his other stuff man.  His work in "Bolo" was great.  

Also I really dig Gates Of Hell and it's sequel Hell Hath No Fury.  Two earths in parallel dimensions, one using magic the other using science and steam-punk type technology discover traveling through dimensions and start colonizing parallel earths ... till they meet up.  It's one of those books I've always wanted to see, science versus wizardry in a true fantasy setting.  Reading it is like reading Clancy filtered through steam-punk and the other side is more in a standard high fantasy style.  I found the first one a bit slow getting going, but it's your classic "big f-ing book" in the style of Clancy doorstops (oh how I love big books!) so when it does kick in it's as if the slower first 100 pages didnt matter because there's like 800 more.  The second one is markedly shorter at around 300-400 if I remember correctly, but everything's been set up already I guess.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/david-weber/hell-s-gate.htm
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/david-weber/hell-hath-no-fury.htm


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## billc (Feb 28, 2011)

Sukerkin, one of the books in the David weber and steve white series about the war against the bugs is "In Death ground"

http://www.amazon.com/Death-Ground-...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1298933849&sr=1-1

As I said, they fight the naval war against aliens that are essentially the arachnids from starship troopers.  Don't let that discourage you though, it is done well, much like Weber's other books.  I am not sure if this is the first book in that series though, I only did a quick look on amazon after you mentioned Steve white.


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## Phenix_Rider (Feb 28, 2011)

Just finished Ghost Brigade.  Definitely not as good as Old Man's War.  Doesn't flow well at all.  Too much bouncing between characters, and big gaps in the action.  Half the time, I had to flip back several pages and guess where they went from say Phoenix to Arist or Omagh.  I'd rather see all Jared, or all Sagan, or all Boutin, more along the lines of the first book, with a continuous story line.

It's not a coincidence that another of my favorites is I, Jedi.  Very much the same narrative style as Old Man's War.


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## billc (Feb 28, 2011)

speaking of I, Jedi, how is that or for that matter the whole star wars novel experience.  I have always been reluctant to try the star wars novels, especially after the new movies.  Was Mathew woodring stover's book any good, about Mace windu?


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## Sukerkin (Feb 28, 2011)

I can't really help on that one as the last Star Wars book I read was Splinter In the Minds Eye .


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## Omar B (Feb 28, 2011)

The Star Wars novels for the most part tend to be pretty damn awsome.  They ad so much depth to the universe, explain culture, language, economy, race, etc to well that it comes across way better than the films.  The Han Solo Trilogy by AC Crispin rules, it's his whole life up to the point he shows up on screen in the movie.  Shadows Of The empire is a great parallel story taking place in the years between empire and jedi dealing with the continuing rebellion and a great look at criminal enterprise int eh galaxy.  The Thrawn Trilogy following Jedi, has to do with the planets getting back on their feet and the empire reconstituting itself around General Thrawn.  

I could go on, but all SW novels are must reads for me the moment they come out.  There are many things from the novels that Lucas himself copied over to the movies.


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## Big Don (Feb 28, 2011)

I've read all the forward moving (After Return of the Jedi) novels, and thoroughly enjoyed them. For some reason, I just can't get into any of the prequels.
I'd love to know how much Lucas charges for renting his name and the universe he created. Any of you who would like to rent my name, drop me a PM, I'll give you a hell of a deal.


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## billc (Feb 28, 2011)

Yeah, I read the Han solo books in High school or just after, they were awsome. they managed to not screw up one of Lucas's great characters. I might still have copies of them in my garage somewhere.

Omar, The han solo novels I was thinking about were written by Brian Daley, "Han Solo at Stars End," and two other books.  Are those the ones you were talking about or were the A.C. Crispin ones newer.  I would look them up, but I am really looking for feedback from a real person.


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## Omar B (Feb 28, 2011)

Omar B said:


> The Star Wars novels for the most part tend to be pretty damn awsome.  They ad so much depth to the universe, explain culture, language, economy, race, etc to well that it comes across way better than the films.  *The Han Solo Trilogy by AC Crispin rules,* it's his whole life up to the point he shows up on screen in the movie.  Shadows Of The empire is a great parallel story taking place in the years between empire and jedi dealing with the continuing rebellion and a great look at criminal enterprise int eh galaxy.  The Thrawn Trilogy following Jedi, has to do with the planets getting back on their feet and the empire reconstituting itself around General Thrawn.
> 
> I could go on, but all SW novels are must reads for me the moment they come out.  There are many things from the novels that Lucas himself copied over to the movies.





billcihak said:


> Yeah, I read the Han solo books in High school or just after, they were awsome. they managed to not screw up one of Lucas's great characters. I might still have copies of them in my garage somewhere.
> 
> Omar, The han solo novels I was thinking about were written by *Brian Daley, "Han Solo at Stars End," and two other books.  Are those the ones you were talking about or were the A.C. Crispin ones newer.*  I would look them up, but I am really looking for feedback from a real person.



I said AC Crispin.  You should have read my post more carefully.  As for the dates, I don't know.


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## Phenix_Rider (Mar 1, 2011)

billcihak said:


> speaking of I, Jedi, how is that or for that matter the whole star wars novel experience. I have always been reluctant to try the star wars novels, especially after the new movies. Was Mathew woodring stover's book any good, about Mace windu?


 


Omar B said:


> The Star Wars novels for the most part tend to be pretty damn awsome. They ad so much depth to the universe, explain culture, language, economy, race, etc to well that it comes across way better than the films.


Ditto. I haven' read most of the "newer" books (from the SW timeline). I really can't get into The Solo and Skywalker kids going bad, or Chewi dying. But the backstory books- like the Various Han Solo books and Thrawn are incredible. Nearly all of my collection is in boxes back home, and I'd like to re-read them. But for the most part, the books I've read have the feel of the original three movies- gritty and complex, not overly/obnoxiously "teen angst" like the newer movies.


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## dancingalone (Mar 3, 2011)

I want to thank everyone for posting in this thread.  I picked up a copy of Old Man's War based on the talk here and I've made it to the basic training part.  The book is a hoot - very readable.


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## Big Don (Mar 3, 2011)

dancingalone said:


> I want to thank everyone for posting in this thread.  I picked up a copy of Old Man's War based on the talk here and I've made it to the basic training part.  The book is a hoot - very readable.


Oh, you've got to go in the Fiction thread, they'll push all kinds of stuff on you...
especially Omar...


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