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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.
Video written, directed, and edited by Michael Tucker & Alex Calleros.
Listen to our podcast episode where we discuss Mass Effect with Mark Brown of @Game Maker’s Toolkit: https://bit.ly/3baUZ38
Watch our @Story Mode video on the dynamic storytelling of Mass Effect 3’s “Cure the Genophage” mission: https://bit.ly/3zdQvTH
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 @Alt Shift X for sharing some Game of Thrones headshots 🙂
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– Tricia Aurand (https://twitter.com/TriciaJeanA)
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– Alex Calleros (https://twitter.com/alex_calleros)
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Source
If you’re as excited about this idea as we are, please like the video and share with as many people as you can!
📺 Watch our video on the dynamic storytelling of Mass Effect 3's "Cure the Genophage" mission: https://bit.ly/3zdQvTH
🎧 Listen to our podcast episode on Mass Effect with Mark Brown of Game Maker's Toolkit: https://bit.ly/3baUZ38
Don't they'll ruin it
Hey, as long as the series doesn't end with Ashley sneaking aboard the crucible and ending the reapers with a well placed rifle shot……I'd love to see it.
When season 8 happened the hurt was so deep & I don't know if I can go rough that again. I mean think about what you're asking Ron!"
I really thought Witcher the Netflix show will be the closest show to Game of Thrones not gonna ngl.
Idea in my head: Tom Cruise as Shepard in Season 1. The season ends with the Collector attack. Project Lazarus brings Shepard back, but in reconstruction, Shepard is Emily Blunt moving forward.
Male Shepard is way better!
At the series finale, I hope when Emily Blunt has to make a choice to decide the fate of the galaxy, she doesn't choose "Bran the Broken"
Cool world, excellent world building and terrible endings.
You left out one sub-genre of Mass Effect: H.P. Lovecraft. The Reapers are essentially a Sci-Fi interpretation of Cthulhu. The game itself even acknowledges this during the scene where Legion is introduced. The scientists on the dead Reaper all went mad and murdered each other. One of their logs says, verbatim, "But even a dead god can dream."
The Expanse is really good
I’ve always thought HBO should pick up mass effect, it’s cool to feel validated 😁
Mass effect is the best ip out there, period.
3 Games condensed down to 3 movies possibly ? Yeah I don't think so, the tv series idea works soooo much better and your video explaining why it should be a tv series is so well done. Though personally I think shepard should be played as male just for some hot scenes with liara, Ashley or miranda, also garrus as your bro/bestie is so good with male shepard but that's just my opinion lol. Though If they did a mass effect movie as a way to set up a series that would be amazing. They could make the movie about anderson and maybe the early days of shepard before the start of mass effect 1.
I have been putting so much thought into this exact concept with this exact framing since Legendary Edition came out. Specifically, I've been telling all my friends that Mass Effect could be the next Game of Thrones if someone in Hollywood's upper crust could just have the vision for it like they did for GOT. And honestly, I think it will be. There's just too much money in it once someone sees the potential and it's just too perfect of a story. it has every single element necessary to make it the next big thing. If Cavill's movie comes out, we'll just have to wait for it to flop hard first (which it will) and then years from now someone with a passion for these games (like you) will get a shot at doing it justice the way it's supposed to be done. Like Watchmen or Percy Jackson. And yeah, I pretty much believe that because I have to believe it or I'll be sad.
PS: My version of how the plot would take shape and what Shepard would be like was slightly different than yours but I mean you have pages upon pages of research and finished work and I have a half-baked idea that I daydream about while at work. So, I suppose I'll ALLOW you to take the reigns from me :P.
I don’t think a series that focuses on Shepard is the right direction. Video game adaptations traditionally draw from linear games, leaving less room for interpretation of the source material. The Mass Effect trilogy being an RPG, I feel that the show would suffer from essentially canonizing a certain path and Shepard. In your essay you chose the Spacer Shepard as the best fit. As someone who prefers Colonist background, I’d already feel slighted in that show. I know it’s a little thing, but that’s what makes RPGs special, the ownership of the story. While I do think a series set in the universe of the series would be cool, I’d have a hard time connecting to the show if it focuses on the main games.
It cant be the next game of thrones because Shepard didnt die in the first game. Usually main character dies in GOT
I never thought to put Mass Effect and Game of Thrones together in a sentence before, but I'm pleasantly surprised. 😯 Upon watching this, I can believe Mass Effect could be a new "Game of Thrones." 😀 I agree with everything except Commander Shepherd being FemShep though. I'd prefer BroShep instead for hypothetically television show. 😄 Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed that you used Emily Blunt's character from Edge of Tomorrow as an analog – that was a great choice. 👌 I just don't like the current or the past sum years, to be exact, of Hollywood putting female characters into the spotlight when they aren't compelling or don't add to the overall story. 😕 For lack of a better word, transplanting a social justice warrior feminist agenda into movies that didn't need it. 😒 "Cough" Rey "Cough." Lmao 😆 If Hollywood decided to actually do this, they need to have an legitimate reason for going FemShep over BroShep. It would have to be natural like Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley from Alien or Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Stroud from Halloween. ☺️ I just wanted to get that off my chest. Anyways, great video. 👏 #FemShepOrBroShep
Remember to fix the ending and go with the indoctrination theory. But it should be BroShep who's the protagonist
The ending of Mass Effect trilogy was Bad just like Game of Thrones though.
I am Commander Shepard and this is my favorite YouTuber on the Citadel.
So I've thought about this, but I keep coming down to the logistics of One Actor (whoever plays Shepard), being in virtually every scene for a 5 season run. The logistics of the first 5 or so seasons is that they had 3 or four units running for each region of Westeros. I am 100% on board, but it's a lot to ask of an Actor or Actress because Shepard is such the catalyst/filter for each character and action and battle. It's a big ask.
The ending of thrones was good.
Nah man, this will be like adapting The Witcher, which already had a form of visual media. I mean, the witcher netflix series comes across as somewhat lackluster. If you want to make another game of thrones it has to be a universe that we have never seen play out infront of us. We have a mass effect and its a mass effect that just got its legendary edition and has been remastered. Gaming is the deepest form of media because in incooperates almost everything, music, art, sound, gameplay. There is a way that we already envision Shepard and the crew. Its already got a television series and we've played it if you understand what I'm saying. So no, you shouldnt even be looking at Mass Effect because it will not be able to get on Game of Thrones level. This is just how I feel however I could be wrong of course, but I feel in order to make a good show, the source material has to be the first after a book or so. A game cannot be adapted and made huge by another form of visual media. Game of Thrones > Game of thrones Tell Tale. Witcher Game > Witcher Tv series.
I didn't think it was possible for me to love this channel even more.. but now you've done it! 😀
Your Mass Effect series really needs to happen!
i want like 10 seasons of mass effect as a high budget high quality show.
destiny also needs to be turned into a show.
but mass effect should also be a MMO RPG…
As long as you pull a reverse Game of Thrones and make the ending better than the source material
Henry Cavill as Camander Shepard. Ugh. First off sploosh. And secondly what would he be? Who will be bone?? I have so many questions. He's gonna be a biotic because flashy
Are you serious? At least the writing in ME2 was often terrible (not always). Many of the characters were super cringe and as cliché as it gets. The complete opposite of nuanced writing by George RR Martin.
I hope to God I get to see this one day on television. Please pitch this to someone! If HBO was willing to do Game of Thrones, maybe they will be willing to do this too!
Uhh… I have to say I really want a live action Mass Effect to be a reality and this really makes it possible. They will be biotic to show the flashy stuff of what commander Shepard can do but I don't mind that won't be MY Shepard I am seeing on the big screen. If they don't royally mess it up I. Will be happy just seeing live mass effect.
This was a great video (as usually). I also dig the the poke at all those 'the next Game of Thrones' headlines which media used for every generic fantasy show that was out there – while missing the point that GoT wasn't so successful because of the fantasy element but the politics and subversion of tropes.
The last thing is something that I missed a bit in this essay. Robb Stark is the perfect example for this subversion. While Mass Effect is great and detailed I wouldn't call it subversive but rather a good cocktail that nearly perfects the formula.
Also I longed for a mention of 'sociological storytelling'. This is what made GoT great too. ME could pull this one as well.
Lastly, the ending of the ME trilogy was messy as well. It was fine by me but not great.
The issue I would have with turning Mass Effect into a film or a series is the fact Mass Effect is a fully interactive experience. There is a linear story in there but key moments are informed by the player's choices, giving everyone a unique experience. How do you reconcile this in a non-interactive medium? My idea of what should happen at these crucial moments may be very different to yours. Heck, my Shepard probably behaves differently to yours. Everyone has a personal story, a show would cut across that.
We need to will this into existence. What can we do?
This already happened, it was called Babylon 5.
And unlike Mass Effect it only gets better as it goes on.
I’m sold, need to check this game out rn. Hopefully your pitch goes well cause I see a great future ahead of this idea. Thanks so much for this wonderful video❤️
Michael, thanks for this! What's the software/website you're using to map out your series called? It looks great!
Also, if they make an amazing Mass Effect show then flounder at the end with an awful ending like GoT. People won't be as angry because that's canon to Mass Effect anyway!