I read all the books when I was a kid and I'm so grateful to RDM for not agreeing to the changes. Maybe some day we can bring these stories to life, but that was not the way.
I read the books when I got the first 3 books in one when joining the Science Fiction Book Club (had no choice as it was part of the package). So I thought, why not and read them. Now I'm addicted. And after seeing this I'm glad that they were never made. Look at Andre Norton's books Stargate and Beastmadter. The movies and TV shows have nothing to do with the books 😢
Likewise, I read Anne McCaffrey's Dragonrider books 45+ years ago, when I was a pre-teen. I would love to see the right producer and director bring these books to life as a movie or series of movies.
I met her back in 1982 at The Andromeda bookshop in Santa Barbara. She was signing her books. I am so happy her series wasn't ruined. Her books stand alone anyways. I'll never forget how incredible nice she was to me!
Anne used to have a fair on her property in the UK which was very popular in the 80s/90s. That's when I asked her to come to my uni and she accepted! Our school had a fund for visiting artists. We applied for a grant and was awarded one. The rest is history! My uni was very small, but our yearly book fair was well-known. That year Anne visited we did a Renaissance fair which was a family oriented at that time. Great memories!
I knew that the Dragonriders of Pern was set to be produced, but I didn't know that Moore would have run the show, nor had I heard before why it was cancelled. I wish someone would pick it up again, as it's SUCH a rich lore, and I would so love to see the dragons from the Michael Whelan cover art spring to life!
Given the current emphasis on woke culture I am glad it hasn't been picked up yet. Give it another decade until Woke culture has died and lets ee where we are.
I first came across these books in early high school. Not long after I bought all the books and subsequent novels. I'm now in my 50's and still enjoy them once or so a year. Would be good if Ronald Moore could resurrect his original vision as BSG version 2 is excellent.
BSG 2003 was good, I just didn't like all the god stuff.. That took a lot away from it for me. Makes me wonder if he would have done the same thing with Pern, and that would have ruined it..
This should only be made the way B5 was - a labour of love. Yes, B5 was subject to meddling and f***ery, but ultimately it survived and thrived despite it. This deserves the same treatment for many of the same reasons.
The fact that Paramount basically stole the idea of Babylon 5 and aired it as DS 9 and B5 was _still_ being made, even with very little changes to Straczinski's original script, shows the sheer determination this man must have had.
Warner gave JMS almost total freedom to make what he wanted. The problem is that after it finished, no division could/would take ownership of the property and run with it. Warner divisions act as if separate companies and success by one (A) is counted against another (B) if it was originated in that other B division. As Jack Sparrow would have put it, “Cuttlefish!”
As someone who read the first three books,waiting for the next one to come out, having my sister steal my book because she was waiting for the new book to come out too. Yeah Pamela, where did the White Dragon disappear too? Then show back up again two days later? and settling for the Harper series of book's in between that I got from her, some time last century. I have almost everything Pern on my shelves and if I don't have it my sister does, I highly agree with this decision.
Wasn't WB that did dirt unto JMS' productions. They did their level best to manage the odd consortium of TV stations across the country that made up the Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN), and it was relatively successful for a while. It fell apart, but they were totally onboard with the move to TNT for the 5th season, as they'd have to be given that Warner Bros. had the TV right to the series (as they do today). And even the first couple years at TNT were okay, as we got not only year 5 of B5 but four TV movies, including the one that set up Crusade. It was after the head honchos at TNT Atlanta got involved that the meddling and the cancelling happened.
I truly wish that her books could come to life on the big screen, like Star Trek and Star Wars! Her books are incredibly fantastic! I was so fortunate to meet her back in 2000 when I traveled to Ireland. I wish this series could come to life on the big screen. On the MOVIE big screen! Not a TV.
They are a fabulous set of books, that I’ve been reading since I was a teenager and I’ve always hoped that a film or series might be made but only if keeping to the book storyline.
This is so sad. I read all the Pern books when I was a teenager. It’s too bad WB wanted to make Pern into a cheesy, subpar Xena type drivel. Now we have GoT: House of the Dragon blazing across the airwaves with its Dragonriders! With modern tech and brilliant writing, Pern could be made to such a higher standard now! I hope one day somebody makes it into a series with the same level of quality as Game of Thrones!
And now Mr. Moore is rocking it with the Outlander Series, taking another book series and showing how it should be done. I'm so sorry he wasn't able to do the same with Ms. McCaffery's Pern novels. I have long been a fan/collector of them and would loved to see it. Networks so often underestimate the appeal of these stories.
I think we're probably in a place now where the production values and writing sensibilities could do this series justice. But it was a product of its time and some of the attitudes would no doubt be updated, though they make sense in the context of the Pern universe.
I visited Anne McCaffrey while this was still in production -- they got as far as doing the computer models for the dragons, and had put together a promo that she was excited to share. I even still have some bookmarks or something somewhere with the original logo for the show. She was so excited that it was being done, and done right. The news that production had been canceled the day before filming started was devastating.
When I first heard about it back in the day, it was being reported that production was stopped literally 15 min from starting principal photography because of last minute changes.
This totally is a series I would love to see. although it might be a bit challenging jumping from book to book seeing as it's like 250 years between thread fall. on the other hand what a great way to make seasons push new actors and actresses to keep the show fresh with new face's. I could easily see them getting 3 or 4 really good seasons out of the whole thing, and truly you don't need much more before a show runs on so long that it needs to end.
While this does show promise and it's unfortunate it was cancelled, his Battlestar Galactica is one of my favorite shows of all time, I'm looking at the board game on my shelf as I write this.
I believe the original goal of the 'high tech' original settlers was to live an 'agrarian lifestyle' in the first place because of the constant warlike lifestyle of their current situation (not because of the 'thread'). They chose PERN because it was substantially far away from the current 'empire' and because it didn't have much in the way of resources (Parallel's Earth Resources Negligible) and thus it would have been left alone.
Game of Thrones that's a stretch. The Dragon Riders series is pretty unique story I cannot come up another story that had similar plot. I could see some themes in RDM BSG from his stalled series. Yes I would like to see RDM finish his Dragon Riders series.
Much as I'd like a TV show or movie, thank goodness he protected the integrity of the series by not agreeing a Buffy-esque rewrite. :P I wish I could read his original script, though. When I think about potential adaptions of the Pern books, I always imagine the biggest challenge would be pitching the world of Pern, which has very, VERY strict gender roles and uncomfortable sexual politics (not challenged in like 90% of the books) to a modern production company. It's definitely possible to tweak things in such a way that the original spirit of the world is maintained without getting too rapey, but I feel like it might be hard to convince executives that it could work. This story took place nearly 20 years ago, but I wonder how he handled it then.
Years ago I guess around 1970 or 71 my mom bought me a paperback from the BX store (base exchange) for all of you who never were in the military or were not a family member of a service member. It's like a big Walmart and the commissary is the grocery store part. Whenever we went to the BX I would get a couple of books and as the comic books were ten cents each I got ten for a dollar. I loved to read the DAW books. In each book was always an ad for the Science fiction book club. Eventually I convinced my mom to let me join. You could get something like 5 books for a dollar or two. The dragon riders of pern were one of my first selections and I loved them. I was around ten or 1
Wow, I have never heard of this before. 'The White Dragon' was the first book I ever bought for myself as a kid. I'm glad RDM didn't give to network pressure and make a garbage show.
A huge criticism I have of McCaffrey's work was the portrayal of the women, ie, Lessa started out as a strong character, but then begins to be treated like a child, ridiculed, in front of others by F'lar. This happens with almost all the tough women characters, and its pretty disgusting. However to be fair, the series started in the 70s, so it is simply showing it's age. I think a change of view on that point would be necessary to make a tv series/movie work. Comparing to Buffy and Xena I found interesting, as those women are super strong characters that I admired as a kid/teen. If Moore wanted the women to be portrayed traditionally like McCaffrey's work, it would have been a waste, and I think WB made the right decision, not Moore.
I was 10 when the first book came out. I've been reading & rereading them for 50 years. Glad he didn't compromise. There's too much bad (i.e. compromised) scifi & fantasy on tv. Maybe now with streaming he can revisit the series idea. Carefully, as actual readers are generally dissatisfied with adaptations.
Really a pity this wasn't made into a TV show, which I think would be better suited to the story than films. It's one of the best blends of sci-fi and fantasy I've ever read. McCaffrey was a very intelligent writer, and although there are obviously fantasy elements, she kept the story very believable and grounded. The books have always had a broad audience, suitable in theme and content for teens, the elderly, and everyone in between. It also has a fairly extensive female fan base... a benefit of an excellent female writer. I think the audience would be huge... maybe not GoT or Star Wars huge, but definitely massive, if it's done right. Warner Bros missed out on a winner, but I'm glad their rewrite wasn't accepted by Moore. Maybe someday.
In their time, Anne's books were discoveries in many ways. Her ideas and morals were ahead of their time in the book industry. Female leader, main character in an adventure novel (and not in a romantic novel and not an appendage to a male hero in an adventure), participation in the storytelling of different layers of class society, breaking down gender stereotypes, racial diversity, the inclusivity of same-sex relationships and people and animals with limitations. Now it has come to the film industry. A movie or TV series will be bad if there is no person of color, a homosexual or a disabled person, or even better, a black disabled lesbian in the main role. But for some reason, showmen prefer to cripple normal works by cramming the uncrammible into it, instead of taking a work where inclusiveness is laid down by the author and no one representative of minorities will look out of place in it.
as much as I'd love a show for dragonriders, I don't quite know if the story itself would work really well on screen. Granted, I haven't seen Game of Thrones so I don't know if the show captured the nuance that makes the books as great as they are, but I can't imagine it does. That said, I think a video game MMORPG of life as a dragonrider would be really fun. Just playing as a character in weyr life would be SO cool, where maybe canon characters can be referenced but for the most part the universe exists within itself only so you don't have to spend ages explaining everything in a way that might undoubtably become boring in TV format. Not to mention, visually speaking, getting pernese dragons to not look like crap would be a chore and a half and the budget for a show would have to be MASSIVE as gold dragons in particular are FAR larger than most movie dragons you see lol the budget would have to be INSANE, and I don't imagine they'd be able to put forth that much money for a tv show.. and a movie runtime would be too short for anything aside from the short stories series which would leave people new to Pern confused and old residents disappointed
What a disappointment! Having read the series and heard a few years ago that they'd become a movie, excited me but after Anne died, I wondered if it would be followed through as she imagined...
I was handed a Pern book by my freshman English teacher when I finished early one day: "DragonSinger" and it became my favorite series throughout high-school and college, especially since I didn't play video games. I would've really loved to watch that series, especially since I had a Neisen Family box on my 📺 the year that Firefly came out. I wish that I'd known what channel it was on and at what time it was shown. It may not have been canceled. Cowboys in Space-type series have always been a family favorite. Unfortunately I hated TV commercials back then, and would skip from one show to the other during commercial breaks. I really needed two TV sets back then.
I admit that I couldn't get into New BSG because it was too Hard SF in the beginning, as opposed to the more Space Opera of the original, but I'm grateful now that I found out that Ron Moore refused to let Dragonriders of Pern get watered down into a sitcom. Dragonriders is character-driven Hard SF posing as pure Fantasy at first (indeed, it's not until the rediscovery of AIVAS and the prequel novels such as Dragonsdawn and First Fall that we see just how much real science went into Pern and its dragons and other lifeforms), and it needs to be treated properly. I can't compare it to Game of Thrones because Dragonriders isn't as heavily political as GoT is, but I've felt since I read the first trilogy that it deserved to be turned into a good TV miniseries, much as the John Carter of Mars novels or Roger Zelazny's Amber series, all of which I would (figuratively) kill to see done right.
I'm glad RDM stuck to his guns on this, but a Pern adaptation of some sort -- series, miniseries, whatever -- is LOONG overdue. I knew Anne M. "back in the day" -- in fact, she might have named a character after me -- and I'd have hated to see a sub-par, over-romanticized version of this hit the screen.
I'm glad he did it. Though I am sad never to have gotten a live action Pern series, I wish someone had had the same integrity with The Wheel of Time, which is an utter betrayal of Jordan's and Sanderson's works!
Personally, I’m loving it. It’s not a perfect adaptation, but it’s also not trying to be a direct adaptation, but rather an exploration of the same themes and characters interpreted in a new way for a new audience, ala RDM’s 2000’s Battlestar Galactica reinterpretation of the original BG series. My wife, who’s never read the books, is loving the Wheel of Time, while as a fan, I don’t like even very change they’ve made (mostly Loial and Matt changes, while I love a few like the expansions of Moiraine and Lan’s personal stories), but still had lots of fun with it.
It is an ABOMINATION that is like if The Dark One rewrote History. It is divisive in every way. Instead of sending the message that the only way to defeat Darkness is together, it furthers the purpose of the Dark One Tainting Saidin. There is not one male character who is not deeply flawed in some way that was NEVER in the books. And every woman seems to have redeeming qualities and proclivities they NEVER had in the books. If you are looking for Lesbian Porn, I guess you could find it satisfying, but they can't even get right that the Weaves are invisible to anyone who doesn't have the talent and training to see them! Decent Trolloc effects and lots of naked women don't make for a good show. They are pandering.
This ia asad story! not becuase the producer said "no" to change the spirit of the books, it's sad because executives didn't see the worth of the original stroy! I think it would be veru difficult to make a Drafonriders of Pern story even with todays effects, but we (the fans) need it! Very sad indeed we didn't get to see the sets. Maybe some fans don't know there is a graphic novel of the first book, very enjoyable.
I have loved these books for over 40 yrs . I've always loved them and I always hoped that a film series would be made . I hope this happens before I pass on . Maybe then I can have my own dragon .❤
Thank you, I've been waiting for someone to cover this and just how often it has been optioned since then. I would also love to find out if any of they set pieces still exist anywhere since so much of the Pre-Production work had been done.
Glad you like it. For a show that was cancelled like a day before shooting I find it so strange that so little remains. I found some concept art but for that I had to go into an archived web page. You'd think there would be photos of the sets, costumes, etc.
@@CaptRobau yeah, I think I may know the concept art you're talking about a still of Jaxom and Ruth, Ramoth Hatching and a couple others. It took me a minute to realize while watching this that the Ronald D. Moore project was actually completely seperate from the 1999-2000 Alliance/Atlantis series that also got close to having a full pilot episode or at least as far as having a promo shot. Which i'm sure you've probably seen this trailer for: ua-cam.com/video/7Q9PUrBsk0E/v-deo.html though more than the show trailer the little behind the scenes at the end is kind of the best part. In the late 80's Pern was almost adapted into a cartoon that eventually evolved into Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders. I think the clip is in the time out of mind interview with Anne McCaffrey somewhere here on youtube. But yeah, sorry, but have genuinely been outlining a little video project idea myself on this subject. So its something I could go on and on about.
Absolutely, it can be made. It should be. It is timeless. You don't need to worry about modern technology dating the show, and subsequent books will mostly have different characters being portrayed, so new actors can come in without previous actors aging too much between books. Plus, subsequent chapters/seasons can skip books if need be since they have minimal tie-ins between them, and can be exposited to catch viewers up. Just need to get rid of visionless studio executives who try to show they have power instead of integrity.
With the success of BSG under his belt RDM has more clout to get the studios to bring his vision of this franchise closer to fruition the way he intended.
I loved RDM for Battlestar! I love him for For All Mankind! I think I might love him for Outlander, if I can ever find it streaming! This man has done so much work in redefining not just what science fiction is capable of, but how to create and maintain multiple character arcs. RDM, science fiction owes you a debt we'll be hard pressed to repay. So to find out, on the eve of his passion project, that his corporate masters wanted to fuck things up. He said /no/! To have the balls to shitcan a project of this scope? I've seen videos of Anne McCaffery watching CGI dragons in flight/! Ron D Moore had the balls to say /no/. SIr, I owe you an evening's worth of drinks! ^_^
What a missed opportunity! Anne McCaffrey's _Dragonriders of Pern_ books were some of the first full-length fantasy novels I remember reading as a kid, so they are near and dear to my heart, and I thought the _Battlestar Galactica_ reboot was artfully done, but I'm glad Moore didn't compromise. So many of my favorite sci-fi and fantasy sagas have been horribly mangled in the adaptation process. Maybe someday.
So many great Sci fi writers have been burned, watching their creations distorted and corrupted by the ego of corporate movie studios. Just ask Alan Dean Foster.
I sure hope that they never film movies based on Dragon Riders of Pern. We do not yet have enough TRANSFORMERS, STAR WARS, STAR TREK or ALIEN/PREDATOR movies and I want lots more of those before they give that a rest and give us a new kind of science fiction.
As far as I am concerned I feel STRONGLY (and I will bet that the majority of fans would too) that Moore was right and it would be phenomenal if it was brought back - with dignity to it’s original form. Anne McGaffrey put a HUGE amount of research into the things she put into her stories. Additionally - she sought out the advice of experts in different fields of research so that many aspects of colonizing a completely new world would be more authentic in it’s presentation. Likewise, the agriculture, science, mechanization to people who lost most of it after centuries of time. Not only that, butAnne wrote her stories taking into consideration many social issues like prejudice- bigotry- mob justice - and ethical considerations in a fair and reasonable way, so it would be relevant to issues that people today should or would Want to watch. In addition to those things, as far as the entertainment field is concerned, it is OBvious that the public is interested in the idea of Dragons! Right? But - should the big wigs be worried that it has already been Done - - and that would make this seem to be a “ wanna be” production? NOT AT ALL! First - Anne’s books obviously came first - -and were extremely well loved by multiple generations. It caught the spark of imagination for very talented people in the sci-fi fields. Wouldn’t it be AWEsome to have the backing of high budget producers like Lucas or the like?!? Second - except for the fact that there Are dragons IN the stories…. Anne’s stories were totally different, from the fascinating beauty of beings who were kind hearted and empathetic towards their life partners, so the LOOK of the dragons would/should/could be completely different! The terra forming of a new civilization brings in a completely unique story as well as the tension of thread (an unthinking - never the less viciously deadly organism) with life threatening elements adds excitement and there is romance between the different dragon riders, between dragonriders and others, overcoming biases that prevent people from being able to get together…. The list of possibilities are endless. There is NO valid reason for script writers to depart from the premise of the original stories! Fans and those who have never read them would ALL LOVE these stories and they would potentially make Millions!! Look at FIREFLY! It was very popular when it was out, and did not Loose its popularity even after it was canceled. Those who know and love well done sci-fi are strong and lasting fans!
Coming directly after the WB/CW show Roswell on the same network, it's only natural that the execs expected another show in the same vein they were used to. No one should go to all that work on preproduction if there isn't already a solidly agreed upon vision of what the show will be about, its style, its nonnegotiable sticking points, and ideally a pilot script. What good is it to fly and drive thousands of miles, push out thousands of pages of art for potential production design, etc., when there hasn't been a contractual agreement to the central concepts and vision?
One possible correction: I'm pretty sure there was a version of the game for the Atari 800, since I used to play it a lot. I didn't buy it, though. :-'
Very glad that a WB'd version of the show was never made, but even if it had gone ahead as Moore planned, there is no way the dragons would have been done properly at the time and at that budget. Game of Thrones showed what can done today with a big enough budget, but even that series had MANY MANY episodes without a SINGLE dragon to save costs... a Pern series would not only have to have multiple dragons in every episode, but they couldnt just be CGI cookiecutters either... different colors in different sizes with different personalities... and they have to show empathy which is even another level more difficult! I just dont know how anyone could get a budget to do it justice as live action/CGI. An animated series would be awesome.
I'm a scifi guy or to be honest I like normal everyday stuff that has slightly scifi or exaggerated elements so I guess I'm happy that we got BSG. I just wish we could cross into other universes and see these other properties. I absolutely loved your Harlan Ellison impression!
The books were so uncomfortable on so many levels. Not intentionally, but by stuff McCaffrey just didn't think of as controversial at all. The amount of domestic violence that McCaffrey seems to have internalized and normalized all the way to it just being background noise... I'm pretty glad we have come a lot farther since then. Oh, nevermind, "romantic" literature is still packed to the brim with that shit. A few friends and me used to meet and read shitty romantic and erotic novels to each other for fun. It's fun, but also seriously disturbing what a sick and broken idea of intimacy some people seem to hold on to.
I was quite chapped when I learned Game of Thrones was adapted to the screen. I've been waiting for decades for someone to give Dragonriders (Warner Brothers) a chance.
These books have been a massive influence on my life. I know its not super likely, but I still hope to see this amazing series brought to television in my lifetime so that more people can experience it. Too few people read nowadays, it would be wonderful to see it brought to a platform that could reach a larger audience, if it was done the right way of course.
So now, with all the clout of his years of successful series running combined with the last decade's trend of bringing books and games to television and film, maybe now's the time.
As a fan of the Dragonriders of Pern books, I hesitate to recommend them to anyone. They have significant historical significance to the scifi genre, to dragon fiction (DRoP invented friendly dragons for the Western audience), and McCaffrey was a breakthrough writer that inspired generations of women to write... but the books are like, pretty gross sometimes. Not in a fun or interesting way, just in a way where McCaffrey clearly had a dubcon kink and thought that was the height of romance, and clearly thought disabled people were only useful to society as grunt workers.
Harlan Ellison was ... something. His "I have no mouth but I must scream" short story still haunts me. He was briefly hired by Disney, but in the lunch room he was telling obscene jokes about Tinkerbelle and Mickey and didn't understand why no one else at the table laughed. When he finished his lunch and turned around ... there was a table full of Disney execs behind him. He got his termination check the next day. P.S. I think it was Harlan who said something like "Editors want to pee in the stories so it tastes better to them."
Damn, I was not really paying attention to the second half of the title after 'Galactica' and now I am utterly disappointed that this is not one of those amazing Galactica space battles, but with dragons instead of cylon raiders. Serves me right for not reading properly, me thinks.
I'm proud of him for protecting the series!! I LOVE the Dragonriders series and as much as I want to see it on the big screen, I don't want it ruined or take the path of The Sword of Truth mistake of Legend of the Seeker 🤢
You will NOT be disappointed. This is one of the greatest Fantasy/SciFi series of all time. I too read it many years ago and I recently (within the last 2 months) have been rereading them. I purchased all of the books according to the Pern chronology (not the publishing order) up to and including The Skies of Pern. My wife is becoming annoyed with me because all I do is read! I'm nearly finished with the Dolphins of Pern and that will leave me with only one more book to read. I'll then have to consider if I want to start delving into the books written by Anne McCaffery's son.
@@Shadowgopher hmmst, most interesting, that they weren't released in chronological order... Say, what do you mean by having to consider to read the books written by McCaffery's son? Are those not as good?
@@Mike14264 I've heard that the books written by her son Todd are not nearly as good as those written by Anne. Having never read them, this is just hearsay. The claim is that he doesn't capture the magic that his mother did. Anne's novels began with the trilogy starting with Dragonflight. She later went back and filled in the pre-history. Personally, I like reading in chronological order because it helps to flesh out the characters. Her novels build to a climax and when she's done, it doesn't leave as much room to continue the stories. Her son gets around that by writing novels that delve into Pern's past so he's free to develop his own characters and make effective use of the world his mother created.
@@Shadowgopher ah, I see... There's this odd thing about reading books in release order vs chronological order. The latter helps us see the characters on a full light, see what motivates them to do things later on, but the former can make for us realizing things and give us a twist moment that makes us recontextualize everything we knew about the characters. It's kinda like the Darth Vader thing, as much as I wanted to avoid making this comparison 😅
@@Mike14264 Anne McCaffrey herself suggested someone should read Dragonriders of Pern in the order in which they were published, except for one book she advised to read a little bit later than its published date. For the most part I DO agree with that approach, but I'd advise someone new to the series to go Dragonflight, Dragonquest, Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, The White Dragon, Dragondrums, The Renegades of Pern, All The Weyrs of Pern, The Dolphins of Pern, and The Skies of Pern. Those are the books that take place in the present time-line of the series (the other books take place in different periods of Pern's history. Dragonsdawn is the story of the colonization of the planet and the creation of the original dragons, The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall is a collection of short stories that takes place within that same time period and several years afterwards. Dragonseye (US title)/ Red Star Rising (UK title) takes place 200 years later just before the start of the second pass (Thread falls on Pern in roughly 50 year periods of time known as 'passes' and are separated by thread-free 'intervals' of usually 200 years. The series starts before the beginning of the 9th pass, before which time an unusually long interval of 400 years has occured; leading to the non-dragonrider folk to believe thread will never fall again so the dragonriders have become obsolete in their eyes. A Gift of Dragons is another collection of short stories set in various time periods. Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern and Nerilka's Story occur during the 6th pass. Masterharper of Pern is the story of a very prominent 9th pass character Masterharper Robinton, so I'd recommend reading it after Skies of Pern. These are the ones written by Anne herself and frankly the ones I recommend. Now....Todd Mccaffrey's Pern books. I don't really care for them. If you're ravenous for anything in the Pern setting give them a read, but they're a HUGE departure from Anne's style, play very loose with her canon, retcon a bunch of stuff...etc. Dragon's Kin, Dragonsblood, Dragon's Fire, Dragon Harper, Dragonheart, Dragongirl, Dragon's Time, and Sky Dragons. Her daughter Gigi Mccaffrey has most recently written Dragon's Code. It's....well, not as bad as Todd's books, it's set during the 9th pass sort of partway between The White Dragon and Dragondrums. But she writes certain characters completely different to how Anne portrayed them, and somehow thinks horses have six legs >_>;
I'm an artist and Dragon lover. Pern is a beloved series of books for me. While I was looking forward to the TV series, I am happy it was cancelled for these reasonings. WB just wanted to make it into another teenager show. While I loved Xena at first, it changed during the show and just became a weak, adolescence targeted joke.. WB would have tainted Annes stories and that would have been even more heartbreaking than not doing the show at all.. Thank you RDM for not selling out, and remaining a TRUE fan of Pern.. I'm so tired of Hollywood wanting to rewrite other peoples stories because they think they can do better..
I met Anne McCaffrey at a sci-fi convention and talked with her while she was signing books for other people. I was honored that she spoke with me so long, about cats and dragons and the pern series of books. I am glad Moore held out to preserve her ideas of Pern. It would have ruined the dragonriders to turn it into a buffy or zena remake. Thank you Mr Moore.
I met Anne during the last time she attended Dragon*Con. I'm glad he held true to Anne's work - I feel he failed to do so with Battlestar. He changed the primary plot point in Battlestar that, in the original series, the Cylons were built/descended from an alien race and they were reacting/over-reacting to contact with humans. I lost interest when it was a rehash of Frankenstein.
Gonna be too honest for the room: The books, while enjoyable, are insufferably lame. Thus, any faithful TV or movie treatment of them would also by extension be insufferably lame. Better to just not do that.
I read all the books when I was a kid and I'm so grateful to RDM for not agreeing to the changes. Maybe some day we can bring these stories to life, but that was not the way.
I read the books when I got the first 3 books in one when joining the Science Fiction Book Club (had no choice as it was part of the package). So I thought, why not and read them. Now I'm addicted. And after seeing this I'm glad that they were never made. Look at Andre Norton's books Stargate and Beastmadter. The movies and TV shows have nothing to do with the books
😢
Likewise, I read Anne McCaffrey's Dragonrider books 45+ years ago, when I was a pre-teen. I would love to see the right producer and director bring these books to life as a movie or series of movies.
I won't count on it. Producers are always in the way, things are not gotten better in the meantime.
I met her back in 1982 at The Andromeda bookshop in Santa Barbara. She was signing her books. I am so happy her series wasn't ruined. Her books stand alone anyways. I'll never forget how incredible nice she was to me!
Anne used to have a fair on her property in the UK which was very popular in the 80s/90s. That's when I asked her to come to my uni and she accepted! Our school had a fund for visiting artists. We applied for a grant and was awarded one. The rest is history! My uni was very small, but our yearly book fair was well-known. That year Anne visited we did a Renaissance fair which was a family oriented at that time. Great memories!
SHARDS!
My respect for Moore has increased significantly based on this story.
Hell yes.
I knew that the Dragonriders of Pern was set to be produced, but I didn't know that Moore would have run the show, nor had I heard before why it was cancelled. I wish someone would pick it up again, as it's SUCH a rich lore, and I would so love to see the dragons from the Michael Whelan cover art spring to life!
Same here. Ad long as the books were followed properly.
I totally agree. Great cover art work.
Given the current emphasis on woke culture I am glad it hasn't been picked up yet. Give it another decade until Woke culture has died and lets ee where we are.
With the success of LOTR, GOT, etc, I would think that a recreation of a book would be high up on the to do list.
I first came across these books in early high school. Not long after I bought all the books and subsequent novels. I'm now in my 50's and still enjoy them once or so a year.
Would be good if Ronald Moore could resurrect his original vision as BSG version 2 is excellent.
BSG 2003 was good, I just didn't like all the god stuff.. That took a lot away from it for me. Makes me wonder if he would have done the same thing with Pern, and that would have ruined it..
This should only be made the way B5 was - a labour of love. Yes, B5 was subject to meddling and f***ery, but ultimately it survived and thrived despite it. This deserves the same treatment for many of the same reasons.
The fact that Paramount basically stole the idea of Babylon 5 and aired it as DS 9 and B5 was _still_ being made, even with very little changes to Straczinski's original script, shows the sheer determination this man must have had.
Warners really fucked over B5. Sounds like they did a number on this as well.
WB really fucked over a lot of franchises
Warner gave JMS almost total freedom to make what he wanted. The problem is that after it finished, no division could/would take ownership of the property and run with it. Warner divisions act as if separate companies and success by one (A) is counted against another (B) if it was originated in that other B division. As Jack Sparrow would have put it, “Cuttlefish!”
As someone who read the first three books,waiting for the next one to come out, having my sister steal my book because she was waiting for the new book to come out too. Yeah Pamela, where did the White Dragon disappear too? Then show back up again two days later? and settling for the Harper series of book's in between that I got from her, some time last century. I have almost everything Pern on my shelves and if I don't have it my sister does, I highly agree with this decision.
Wow, JMS and RDM both got messed over by Warners. A great moment.
Wasn't WB that did dirt unto JMS' productions. They did their level best to manage the odd consortium of TV stations across the country that made up the Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN), and it was relatively successful for a while. It fell apart, but they were totally onboard with the move to TNT for the 5th season, as they'd have to be given that Warner Bros. had the TV right to the series (as they do today). And even the first couple years at TNT were okay, as we got not only year 5 of B5 but four TV movies, including the one that set up Crusade. It was after the head honchos at TNT Atlanta got involved that the meddling and the cancelling happened.
I truly wish that her books could come to life on the big screen, like Star Trek and Star Wars! Her books are incredibly fantastic! I was so fortunate to meet her back in 2000 when I traveled to Ireland. I wish this series could come to life on the big screen. On the MOVIE big screen! Not a TV.
They are a fabulous set of books, that I’ve been reading since I was a teenager and I’ve always hoped that a film or series might be made but only if keeping to the book storyline.
This is so sad. I read all the Pern books when I was a teenager. It’s too bad WB wanted to make Pern into a cheesy, subpar Xena type drivel.
Now we have GoT: House of the Dragon blazing across the airwaves with its Dragonriders! With modern tech and brilliant writing, Pern could be made to such a higher standard now! I hope one day somebody makes it into a series with the same level of quality as Game of Thrones!
Oh my oh my oh my gosh I was SO STOKED when I saw this was recent! I LOVE this series, and I’m SO glad someone is talking about it!
And now Mr. Moore is rocking it with the Outlander Series, taking another book series and showing how it should be done. I'm so sorry he wasn't able to do the same with Ms. McCaffery's Pern novels. I have long been a fan/collector of them and would loved to see it. Networks so often underestimate the appeal of these stories.
I think we're probably in a place now where the production values and writing sensibilities could do this series justice. But it was a product of its time and some of the attitudes would no doubt be updated, though they make sense in the context of the Pern universe.
I visited Anne McCaffrey while this was still in production -- they got as far as doing the computer models for the dragons, and had put together a promo that she was excited to share. I even still have some bookmarks or something somewhere with the original logo for the show. She was so excited that it was being done, and done right. The news that production had been canceled the day before filming started was devastating.
Interesting. Do you have stuff you could share. I'd love to see it.
I think the promo is uploaded
ua-cam.com/video/7Q9PUrBsk0E/v-deo.html
When I first heard about it back in the day, it was being reported that production was stopped literally 15 min from starting principal photography because of last minute changes.
This totally is a series I would love to see. although it might be a bit challenging jumping from book to book seeing as it's like 250 years between thread fall. on the other hand what a great way to make seasons push new actors and actresses to keep the show fresh with new face's. I could easily see them getting 3 or 4 really good seasons out of the whole thing, and truly you don't need much more before a show runs on so long that it needs to end.
While this does show promise and it's unfortunate it was cancelled, his Battlestar Galactica is one of my favorite shows of all time, I'm looking at the board game on my shelf as I write this.
I believe the original goal of the 'high tech' original settlers was to live an 'agrarian lifestyle' in the first place because of the constant warlike lifestyle of their current situation (not because of the 'thread'). They chose PERN because it was substantially far away from the current 'empire' and because it didn't have much in the way of resources (Parallel's Earth Resources Negligible) and thus it would have been left alone.
Game of Thrones that's a stretch. The Dragon Riders series is pretty unique story I cannot come up another story that had similar plot. I could see some themes in RDM BSG from his stalled series. Yes I would like to see RDM finish his Dragon Riders series.
i love dragonriders of pern. still read them to this day.
Much as I'd like a TV show or movie, thank goodness he protected the integrity of the series by not agreeing a Buffy-esque rewrite. :P I wish I could read his original script, though. When I think about potential adaptions of the Pern books, I always imagine the biggest challenge would be pitching the world of Pern, which has very, VERY strict gender roles and uncomfortable sexual politics (not challenged in like 90% of the books) to a modern production company. It's definitely possible to tweak things in such a way that the original spirit of the world is maintained without getting too rapey, but I feel like it might be hard to convince executives that it could work. This story took place nearly 20 years ago, but I wonder how he handled it then.
Years ago I guess around 1970 or 71 my mom bought me a paperback from the BX store (base exchange) for all of you who never were in the military or were not a family member of a service member. It's like a big Walmart and the commissary is the grocery store part. Whenever we went to the BX I would get a couple of books and as the comic books were ten cents each I got ten for a dollar. I loved to read the DAW books. In each book was always an ad for the Science fiction book club. Eventually I convinced my mom to let me join. You could get something like 5 books for a dollar or two. The dragon riders of pern were one of my first selections and I loved them. I was around ten or 1
Wow, I have never heard of this before. 'The White Dragon' was the first book I ever bought for myself as a kid. I'm glad RDM didn't give to network pressure and make a garbage show.
Peter Jackson can afford to do Pern justice.
A huge criticism I have of McCaffrey's work was the portrayal of the women, ie, Lessa started out as a strong character, but then begins to be treated like a child, ridiculed, in front of others by F'lar. This happens with almost all the tough women characters, and its pretty disgusting. However to be fair, the series started in the 70s, so it is simply showing it's age.
I think a change of view on that point would be necessary to make a tv series/movie work. Comparing to Buffy and Xena I found interesting, as those women are super strong characters that I admired as a kid/teen. If Moore wanted the women to be portrayed traditionally like McCaffrey's work, it would have been a waste, and I think WB made the right decision, not Moore.
I was 10 when the first book came out. I've been reading & rereading them for 50 years. Glad he didn't compromise. There's too much bad (i.e. compromised) scifi & fantasy on tv. Maybe now with streaming he can revisit the series idea. Carefully, as actual readers are generally dissatisfied with adaptations.
Really a pity this wasn't made into a TV show, which I think would be better suited to the story than films. It's one of the best blends of sci-fi and fantasy I've ever read. McCaffrey was a very intelligent writer, and although there are obviously fantasy elements, she kept the story very believable and grounded. The books have always had a broad audience, suitable in theme and content for teens, the elderly, and everyone in between. It also has a fairly extensive female fan base... a benefit of an excellent female writer. I think the audience would be huge... maybe not GoT or Star Wars huge, but definitely massive, if it's done right. Warner Bros missed out on a winner, but I'm glad their rewrite wasn't accepted by Moore. Maybe someday.
In their time, Anne's books were discoveries in many ways. Her ideas and morals were ahead of their time in the book industry. Female leader, main character in an adventure novel (and not in a romantic novel and not an appendage to a male hero in an adventure), participation in the storytelling of different layers of class society, breaking down gender stereotypes, racial diversity, the inclusivity of same-sex relationships and people and animals with limitations. Now it has come to the film industry. A movie or TV series will be bad if there is no person of color, a homosexual or a disabled person, or even better, a black disabled lesbian in the main role. But for some reason, showmen prefer to cripple normal works by cramming the uncrammible into it, instead of taking a work where inclusiveness is laid down by the author and no one representative of minorities will look out of place in it.
as much as I'd love a show for dragonriders, I don't quite know if the story itself would work really well on screen. Granted, I haven't seen Game of Thrones so I don't know if the show captured the nuance that makes the books as great as they are, but I can't imagine it does. That said, I think a video game MMORPG of life as a dragonrider would be really fun. Just playing as a character in weyr life would be SO cool, where maybe canon characters can be referenced but for the most part the universe exists within itself only so you don't have to spend ages explaining everything in a way that might undoubtably become boring in TV format. Not to mention, visually speaking, getting pernese dragons to not look like crap would be a chore and a half and the budget for a show would have to be MASSIVE as gold dragons in particular are FAR larger than most movie dragons you see lol the budget would have to be INSANE, and I don't imagine they'd be able to put forth that much money for a tv show.. and a movie runtime would be too short for anything aside from the short stories series which would leave people new to Pern confused and old residents disappointed
What a disappointment!
Having read the series and heard a few years ago that they'd become a movie, excited me but after Anne died, I wondered if it would be followed through as she imagined...
I was handed a Pern book by my freshman English teacher when I finished early one day: "DragonSinger" and it became my favorite series throughout high-school and college, especially since I didn't play video games. I would've really loved to watch that series, especially since I had a Neisen Family box on my 📺 the year that Firefly came out. I wish that I'd known what channel it was on and at what time it was shown. It may not have been canceled. Cowboys in Space-type series have always been a family favorite. Unfortunately I hated TV commercials back then, and would skip from one show to the other during commercial breaks. I really needed two TV sets back then.
I admit that I couldn't get into New BSG because it was too Hard SF in the beginning, as opposed to the more Space Opera of the original, but I'm grateful now that I found out that Ron Moore refused to let Dragonriders of Pern get watered down into a sitcom. Dragonriders is character-driven Hard SF posing as pure Fantasy at first (indeed, it's not until the rediscovery of AIVAS and the prequel novels such as Dragonsdawn and First Fall that we see just how much real science went into Pern and its dragons and other lifeforms), and it needs to be treated properly. I can't compare it to Game of Thrones because Dragonriders isn't as heavily political as GoT is, but I've felt since I read the first trilogy that it deserved to be turned into a good TV miniseries, much as the John Carter of Mars novels or Roger Zelazny's Amber series, all of which I would (figuratively) kill to see done right.
I'm glad RDM stuck to his guns on this, but a Pern adaptation of some sort -- series, miniseries, whatever -- is LOONG overdue.
I knew Anne M. "back in the day" -- in fact, she might have named a character after me -- and I'd have hated to see a sub-par, over-romanticized version of this hit the screen.
After the fiasco of GOT, the Amazon LOTR one and others major fantasy series should be on hold.
I'm glad he did it. Though I am sad never to have gotten a live action Pern series, I wish someone had had the same integrity with The Wheel of Time, which is an utter betrayal of Jordan's and Sanderson's works!
Personally, I’m loving it. It’s not a perfect adaptation, but it’s also not trying to be a direct adaptation, but rather an exploration of the same themes and characters interpreted in a new way for a new audience, ala RDM’s 2000’s Battlestar Galactica reinterpretation of the original BG series. My wife, who’s never read the books, is loving the Wheel of Time, while as a fan, I don’t like even very change they’ve made (mostly Loial and Matt changes, while I love a few like the expansions of Moiraine and Lan’s personal stories), but still had lots of fun with it.
It is an ABOMINATION that is like if The Dark One rewrote History. It is divisive in every way. Instead of sending the message that the only way to defeat Darkness is together, it furthers the purpose of the Dark One Tainting Saidin. There is not one male character who is not deeply flawed in some way that was NEVER in the books. And every woman seems to have redeeming qualities and proclivities they NEVER had in the books. If you are looking for Lesbian Porn, I guess you could find it satisfying, but they can't even get right that the Weaves are invisible to anyone who doesn't have the talent and training to see them! Decent Trolloc effects and lots of naked women don't make for a good show. They are pandering.
This ia asad story! not becuase the producer said "no" to change the spirit of the books, it's sad because executives didn't see the worth of the original stroy! I think it would be veru difficult to make a Drafonriders of Pern story even with todays effects, but we (the fans) need it! Very sad indeed we didn't get to see the sets. Maybe some fans don't know there is a graphic novel of the first book, very enjoyable.
If you have any hope that Hollywood will be faithful to the books and the characterizations, watch the Wheel of Time series. Hope will be gone.
I have loved these books for over 40 yrs . I've always loved them and I always hoped that a film series would be made . I hope this happens before I pass on . Maybe then I can have my own dragon .❤
Anyone with the money to make the Pern stories the right way would totally eff them up. See Amazon. See Netflix. See etc., etc., etc...
After seeing what the SciFi channel did to Earthsea--it's probably for the best Dragonriders of Pern never got off the ground.
PERN, should be picked up, made into a series but not changed.
Does anyone know who did the color sketches of Lessa and F'lar, etc? And can we support that artist?
Integrity matters.
Thank you, I've been waiting for someone to cover this and just how often it has been optioned since then. I would also love to find out if any of they set pieces still exist anywhere since so much of the Pre-Production work had been done.
Glad you like it. For a show that was cancelled like a day before shooting I find it so strange that so little remains. I found some concept art but for that I had to go into an archived web page. You'd think there would be photos of the sets, costumes, etc.
@@CaptRobau yeah, I think I may know the concept art you're talking about a still of Jaxom and Ruth, Ramoth Hatching and a couple others. It took me a minute to realize while watching this that the Ronald D. Moore project was actually completely seperate from the 1999-2000 Alliance/Atlantis series that also got close to having a full pilot episode or at least as far as having a promo shot. Which i'm sure you've probably seen this trailer for: ua-cam.com/video/7Q9PUrBsk0E/v-deo.html though more than the show trailer the little behind the scenes at the end is kind of the best part. In the late 80's Pern was almost adapted into a cartoon that eventually evolved into Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders. I think the clip is in the time out of mind interview with Anne McCaffrey somewhere here on youtube. But yeah, sorry, but have genuinely been outlining a little video project idea myself on this subject. So its something I could go on and on about.
Keep to the original Anne McCaffrey vision
Salute to RD MOORE
This is why respect him !
Dang. That would have been awesome! Loved the Dragonriders of Pern series.
He made the right decision. Too bad that the same was not done for the Earthsea series.
Can Dragonriders of Pern still be made into a movie or tv series?
Absolutely, it can be made. It should be. It is timeless. You don't need to worry about modern technology dating the show, and subsequent books will mostly have different characters being portrayed, so new actors can come in without previous actors aging too much between books. Plus, subsequent chapters/seasons can skip books if need be since they have minimal tie-ins between them, and can be exposited to catch viewers up. Just need to get rid of visionless studio executives who try to show they have power instead of integrity.
With the success of BSG under his belt RDM has more clout to get the studios to bring his vision of this franchise closer to fruition the way he intended.
I'm glad he told them to piss off. This book series needs the proper attention it deserves in it's full glory.
Neat, thanks for sharing. I'd have liked to see what they had planned but not what the studio tried to force.
I loved RDM for Battlestar! I love him for For All Mankind! I think I might love him for Outlander, if I can ever find it streaming! This man has done so much work in redefining not just what science fiction is capable of, but how to create and maintain multiple character arcs. RDM, science fiction owes you a debt we'll be hard pressed to repay.
So to find out, on the eve of his passion project, that his corporate masters wanted to fuck things up. He said /no/! To have the balls to shitcan a project of this scope? I've seen videos of Anne McCaffery watching CGI dragons in flight/!
Ron D Moore had the balls to say /no/.
SIr, I owe you an evening's worth of drinks! ^_^
Harlan Ellison
What a missed opportunity! Anne McCaffrey's _Dragonriders of Pern_ books were some of the first full-length fantasy novels I remember reading as a kid, so they are near and dear to my heart, and I thought the _Battlestar Galactica_ reboot was artfully done, but I'm glad Moore didn't compromise. So many of my favorite sci-fi and fantasy sagas have been horribly mangled in the adaptation process. Maybe someday.
Moore ought to do a Kickstarter with Anne's family. The books would do well on tv format
So many great Sci fi writers have been burned, watching their creations distorted and corrupted by the ego of corporate movie studios. Just ask Alan Dean Foster.
I sure hope that they never film movies based on Dragon Riders of Pern. We do not yet have enough TRANSFORMERS, STAR WARS, STAR TREK or ALIEN/PREDATOR movies and I want lots more of those before they give that a rest and give us a new kind of science fiction.
As far as I am concerned I feel STRONGLY (and I will bet that the majority of fans would too) that Moore was right and it would be phenomenal if it was brought back - with dignity to it’s original form. Anne McGaffrey put a HUGE amount of research into the things she put into her stories. Additionally - she sought out the advice of experts in different fields of research so that many aspects of colonizing a completely new world would be more authentic in it’s presentation. Likewise, the agriculture, science, mechanization to people who lost most of it after centuries of time. Not only that, butAnne wrote her stories taking into consideration many social issues like prejudice- bigotry- mob justice - and ethical considerations in a fair and reasonable way, so it would be relevant to issues that people today should or would Want to watch. In addition to those things, as far as the entertainment field is concerned, it is OBvious that the public is interested in the idea of Dragons! Right? But - should the big wigs be worried that it has already been Done - - and that would make this seem to be a “ wanna be” production? NOT AT ALL! First - Anne’s books obviously came first - -and were extremely well loved by multiple generations. It caught the spark of imagination for very talented people in the sci-fi fields. Wouldn’t it be AWEsome to have the backing of high budget producers like Lucas or the like?!? Second - except for the fact that there Are dragons IN the stories…. Anne’s stories were totally different, from the fascinating beauty of beings who were kind hearted and empathetic towards their life partners, so the LOOK of the dragons would/should/could be completely different! The terra forming of a new civilization brings in a completely unique story as well as the tension of thread (an unthinking - never the less viciously deadly organism) with life threatening elements adds excitement and there is romance between the different dragon riders, between dragonriders and others, overcoming biases that prevent people from being able to get together…. The list of possibilities are endless. There is NO valid reason for script writers to depart from the premise of the original stories! Fans and those who have never read them would ALL LOVE these stories and they would potentially make Millions!! Look at FIREFLY! It was very popular when it was out, and did not Loose its popularity even after it was canceled. Those who know and love well done sci-fi are strong and lasting fans!
Coming directly after the WB/CW show Roswell on the same network, it's only natural that the execs expected another show in the same vein they were used to.
No one should go to all that work on preproduction if there isn't already a solidly agreed upon vision of what the show will be about, its style, its nonnegotiable sticking points, and ideally a pilot script. What good is it to fly and drive thousands of miles, push out thousands of pages of art for potential production design, etc., when there hasn't been a contractual agreement to the central concepts and vision?
One possible correction: I'm pretty sure there was a version of the game for the Atari 800, since I used to play it a lot. I didn't buy it, though. :-'
Very glad that a WB'd version of the show was never made, but even if it had gone ahead as Moore planned, there is no way the dragons would have been done properly at the time and at that budget. Game of Thrones showed what can done today with a big enough budget, but even that series had MANY MANY episodes without a SINGLE dragon to save costs... a Pern series would not only have to have multiple dragons in every episode, but they couldnt just be CGI cookiecutters either... different colors in different sizes with different personalities... and they have to show empathy which is even another level more difficult! I just dont know how anyone could get a budget to do it justice as live action/CGI. An animated series would be awesome.
I'm a scifi guy or to be honest I like normal everyday stuff that has slightly scifi or exaggerated elements so I guess I'm happy that we got BSG. I just wish we could cross into other universes and see these other properties.
I absolutely loved your Harlan Ellison impression!
The books were so uncomfortable on so many levels. Not intentionally, but by stuff McCaffrey just didn't think of as controversial at all. The amount of domestic violence that McCaffrey seems to have internalized and normalized all the way to it just being background noise... I'm pretty glad we have come a lot farther since then.
Oh, nevermind, "romantic" literature is still packed to the brim with that shit. A few friends and me used to meet and read shitty romantic and erotic novels to each other for fun. It's fun, but also seriously disturbing what a sick and broken idea of intimacy some people seem to hold on to.
I was quite chapped when I learned Game of Thrones was adapted to the screen. I've been waiting for decades for someone to give Dragonriders (Warner Brothers) a chance.
It would fly now!!!! And with all the new technology it would be amazing and beautiful! The stories are addicting!
These books have been a massive influence on my life. I know its not super likely, but I still hope to see this amazing series brought to television in my lifetime so that more people can experience it. Too few people read nowadays, it would be wonderful to see it brought to a platform that could reach a larger audience, if it was done the right way of course.
So now, with all the clout of his years of successful series running combined with the last decade's trend of bringing books and games to television and film, maybe now's the time.
Ha that sounds EXACTLY like Harlan Ellison.
Sounds like Ronald D. Moore got the "Firefly" treatment from Warner Bros.
When I start hearing things like “faithful to the core elements”. I know that the show would have sucked.
Glad that neither version got produced.
Captrobau you ever heard of Bryan singer and Tom destanto battstar glacticacseries that wre going to develop in the erly 20000s before rdm bsg series
As a fan of the Dragonriders of Pern books, I hesitate to recommend them to anyone. They have significant historical significance to the scifi genre, to dragon fiction (DRoP invented friendly dragons for the Western audience), and McCaffrey was a breakthrough writer that inspired generations of women to write... but the books are like, pretty gross sometimes. Not in a fun or interesting way, just in a way where McCaffrey clearly had a dubcon kink and thought that was the height of romance, and clearly thought disabled people were only useful to society as grunt workers.
My grandfather gave me the dragon rider of pern books that he owned before he died, such a good series.
I would have picked the Dragon riders of pern IF it would be done right as in follow the book word for word.
It should have been done. Studios should never interfere. They seem to ruin everything.
Oh I remember getting this book series for Christmas last year it was very interesting and I’m still trying to read it
I wonder if Ron Moore ever played PernMUSH?
I never knew about this. thank you for sharing.
So glad he didn't sell out.
Harlan Ellison was ... something.
His "I have no mouth but I must scream" short story still haunts me.
He was briefly hired by Disney, but in the lunch room he was telling obscene jokes about Tinkerbelle and Mickey and didn't understand why no one else at the table laughed. When he finished his lunch and turned around ... there was a table full of Disney execs behind him.
He got his termination check the next day.
P.S. I think it was Harlan who said something like "Editors want to pee in the stories so it tastes better to them."
Damn, I was not really paying attention to the second half of the title after 'Galactica' and now I am utterly disappointed that this is not one of those amazing Galactica space battles, but with dragons instead of cylon raiders. Serves me right for not reading properly, me thinks.
I'm proud of him for protecting the series!! I LOVE the Dragonriders series and as much as I want to see it on the big screen, I don't want it ruined or take the path of The Sword of Truth mistake of Legend of the Seeker 🤢
Never heard of this series before, must check it out!
You will NOT be disappointed. This is one of the greatest Fantasy/SciFi series of all time. I too read it many years ago and I recently (within the last 2 months) have been rereading them. I purchased all of the books according to the Pern chronology (not the publishing order) up to and including The Skies of Pern. My wife is becoming annoyed with me because all I do is read! I'm nearly finished with the Dolphins of Pern and that will leave me with only one more book to read. I'll then have to consider if I want to start delving into the books written by Anne McCaffery's son.
@@Shadowgopher hmmst, most interesting, that they weren't released in chronological order...
Say, what do you mean by having to consider to read the books written by McCaffery's son? Are those not as good?
@@Mike14264 I've heard that the books written by her son Todd are not nearly as good as those written by Anne. Having never read them, this is just hearsay. The claim is that he doesn't capture the magic that his mother did. Anne's novels began with the trilogy starting with Dragonflight. She later went back and filled in the pre-history. Personally, I like reading in chronological order because it helps to flesh out the characters. Her novels build to a climax and when she's done, it doesn't leave as much room to continue the stories. Her son gets around that by writing novels that delve into Pern's past so he's free to develop his own characters and make effective use of the world his mother created.
@@Shadowgopher ah, I see... There's this odd thing about reading books in release order vs chronological order. The latter helps us see the characters on a full light, see what motivates them to do things later on, but the former can make for us realizing things and give us a twist moment that makes us recontextualize everything we knew about the characters.
It's kinda like the Darth Vader thing, as much as I wanted to avoid making this comparison 😅
@@Mike14264 Anne McCaffrey herself suggested someone should read Dragonriders of Pern in the order in which they were published, except for one book she advised to read a little bit later than its published date. For the most part I DO agree with that approach, but I'd advise someone new to the series to go Dragonflight, Dragonquest, Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, The White Dragon, Dragondrums, The Renegades of Pern, All The Weyrs of Pern, The Dolphins of Pern, and The Skies of Pern. Those are the books that take place in the present time-line of the series (the other books take place in different periods of Pern's history. Dragonsdawn is the story of the colonization of the planet and the creation of the original dragons, The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall is a collection of short stories that takes place within that same time period and several years afterwards. Dragonseye (US title)/ Red Star Rising (UK title) takes place 200 years later just before the start of the second pass (Thread falls on Pern in roughly 50 year periods of time known as 'passes' and are separated by thread-free 'intervals' of usually 200 years. The series starts before the beginning of the 9th pass, before which time an unusually long interval of 400 years has occured; leading to the non-dragonrider folk to believe thread will never fall again so the dragonriders have become obsolete in their eyes. A Gift of Dragons is another collection of short stories set in various time periods. Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern and Nerilka's Story occur during the 6th pass. Masterharper of Pern is the story of a very prominent 9th pass character Masterharper Robinton, so I'd recommend reading it after Skies of Pern. These are the ones written by Anne herself and frankly the ones I recommend.
Now....Todd Mccaffrey's Pern books. I don't really care for them. If you're ravenous for anything in the Pern setting give them a read, but they're a HUGE departure from Anne's style, play very loose with her canon, retcon a bunch of stuff...etc. Dragon's Kin, Dragonsblood, Dragon's Fire, Dragon Harper, Dragonheart, Dragongirl, Dragon's Time, and Sky Dragons.
Her daughter Gigi Mccaffrey has most recently written Dragon's Code. It's....well, not as bad as Todd's books, it's set during the 9th pass sort of partway between The White Dragon and Dragondrums. But she writes certain characters completely different to how Anne portrayed them, and somehow thinks horses have six legs >_>;
I am now going looking for the books
On the other hand, if the series had been made back then, at least they wouldn't've woked it up the way they did Amazons LOTR series for instance.
After the way they ruined Beastmaster from Andre Norton's vision, I am grateful RDM stood his ground.
I'm an artist and Dragon lover. Pern is a beloved series of books for me. While I was looking forward to the TV series, I am happy it was cancelled for these reasonings. WB just wanted to make it into another teenager show. While I loved Xena at first, it changed during the show and just became a weak, adolescence targeted joke.. WB would have tainted Annes stories and that would have been even more heartbreaking than not doing the show at all..
Thank you RDM for not selling out, and remaining a TRUE fan of Pern.. I'm so tired of Hollywood wanting to rewrite other peoples stories because they think they can do better..
I’ve always been curious about her books and after watching this, I agree 100% with what Ronald did. Way to have integrity.
I met Anne McCaffrey at a sci-fi convention and talked with her while she was signing books for other people. I was honored that she spoke with me so long, about cats and dragons and the pern series of books. I am glad Moore held out to preserve her ideas of Pern. It would have ruined the dragonriders to turn it into a buffy or zena remake. Thank you Mr Moore.
Sad, but glad these books didn't get "Buffied". Why hasn't some studio snatched this up? It has all the elements modern audiences want!
I met Anne during the last time she attended Dragon*Con. I'm glad he held true to Anne's work - I feel he failed to do so with Battlestar. He changed the primary plot point in Battlestar that, in the original series, the Cylons were built/descended from an alien race and they were reacting/over-reacting to contact with humans. I lost interest when it was a rehash of Frankenstein.
Gonna be too honest for the room: The books, while enjoyable, are insufferably lame. Thus, any faithful TV or movie treatment of them would also by extension be insufferably lame. Better to just not do that.
2000 gragon CGI? meh he should try again today.
They should reboot it now.