Ideon- How would you organize the story?

[gunform1010]

Ah, Ideon. The heavyweight champion of the Kill Em All trope. Now we know Be Invoked was spectacular.However, that film cannot be watched without it's preceding series... which takes a lot of patience to watch. The series was very slow paced initially but built up steam gradually.

Ideon's first film, A Contact, got rid of the slow stuff but sacrificed characterization, especially for Bes and Gije. For me, I felt that in an ideal world, Ideon could have been told well through three films.

The first film could have had an expanded escape from Solo (though not dragging out for 6 episodes) to give enough time for a solid introduction to the colonists. The rest, I'm not too sure, but it does need to avoid stupid space travelogue adventures and include the entirety of episode 12, a real pivotal moment for not only my OTP but for Ideon, because this relationship actually becomes really important later on:

Spoiler

Bes and Karala (aka the resident alien hippy) have "first contact" and the Ide takes a shine to their hybrid child...

The second film should focus on the mistreatment of the Solo colonists by fellow Earthlings. Gije should still be abandoned by Daram, but I'd rather he pilot the Barume Baram than that "Headache Mecha" because the former was cooler. It should end where Be Invoked started, with Kitty Kitten's death on Krayal.

The third film starts with Lin's death and the rest is the entirety of Be Invoked.

How would you organize these three films?

[Quiddity]

Good thread idea, I like the movies quite a bit but the TV series needs work. As obsessed as I am with Ideon, those first 10 episodes are quite the chore to get through and there are still quite a few duds after that too. At the same time, 3 movies instead of 2 would have been preferred in my eyes since they did have to cut a number of interesting plots from the movies such as the events on Ajian and Kyaral, as well as much of the events surrounding Earth.

I think A Contact handled things fairly well, but like you said, sacrificed too much characterization, in particular for Gije, who has such a big role in the series but practically none in the movies. So he'd get a lot more face time in my vision of a revised trilogy.

Be Invoked is about as perfect as they come so I'd try to leave that as much intact as possible. Meaning spreading out A Contact to 2 movies, while adding in storyline from episodes 33 - 38 which for whatever reason were ignored sans some very short footage in the Be Invoked opening credits.

Movie 1 I would cover episodes 1 - 21, ending with the battle when the Solo Ship and Dorowa Zan come across each other in subspace. I think they handled things pretty much perfectly in A Contact regarding the events on Solo, so I'd leave that as is, keeping Mayaya's death as it was in the movie. I'd keep everything from those episodes they had in A Contact, and I think there are various options you could have to fill in some of the other time, such as the scenes with Bes and Karala in episode 12 to help further develop their relationship. Include the events on Ajian and the black hole cannon as well. Rather than send Gije away I'd give him a more active role though, probably by having him take over the role of some other Buff Clan officer like Abadede or Guhaba.

Movie 2 I would cover episodes 23 - 38. Include an abbreviated version of the events on Kyaral (which were cut entirely in A Contact), retaining Kitty Kitten's changed death from Be Invoked at the end of that sequence. Retain the Ome Foundation in the storyline (why they removed any reference to it in A Contact, especially when Gindoro had a decent sized role in Be Invoked eludes me). Have the Solo Ship go down to Earth as is done in the series, perhaps breaking up the large battle from the end of A Contact (which was from 3 seperate battles in episodes 27, 29 and 32) into 2 seperate ones, as they arrive at Earth and as they depart it. Have Gije defect and shoot Daram as he does in the series although perhaps slightly change his motivation since it may be harder to buy him being betrayed and abandoned by Daram like he was in the series. Have the Solo Ship then head to Ajian as they do towards the end of the series, with the storyline there relatively the same as the series. Cut out the plotline with the heroes trying to abandon the Solo Ship as well as all the various minor Buff Clan officers like Rukuku Kil, Hannibal Gen and so on. Make the battle at Steckin Star where Gije dies and the planet is sliced in half by the Ideon the climax of the film.

Third movie is pretty much left as is, minus the subtraction of Kitty's death from the start and the clips of Gije's death, which are now featured at the end of movie 2.

[gunform1010]

Prepare for a wall of text.

Movie 1 I would cover episodes 1 - 21, ending with the battle when the Solo Ship and Dorowa Zan come across each other in subspace. I think they handled things pretty much perfectly in A Contact regarding the events on Solo, so I'd leave that as is, keeping Mayaya's death as it was in the movie. I'd keep everything from those episodes they had in A Contact, and I think there are various options you could have to fill in some of the other time, such as the scenes with Bes and Karala in episode 12 to help further develop their relationship. Include the events on Ajian and the black hole cannon as well. Rather than send Gije away I'd give him a more active role though, probably by having him take over the role of some other Buff Clan officer like Abadede or Guhaba.

I still feel the scenes in Solo are too fast. My take is that the events of Solo should play out like this
*The Buff Clan DS-outs into the system
*The majority of the original footage from Episode 1 is kept
*There is an attempt at cease fire and Cosmo and co. figure everyone is dead
*The Ideon separates (just to be convenient for a little foreshadowing)
*A rewritten encounter between Bes and Karala occurs (because goddamn Bes, that was kinda weird)
*The cease fire fails
*Lotta and co. get aboard the Ideon, but with Fard this time (necessary to foreshadow Lou's influence of the Ideon)
*The ship comes out of the ground, allowing the Solo colonists to escape

The scenes of Karala and Mayaya being discovered and Lotta going nuts should be retained from A Contact.

Follow that with Episode 12. For sure, that event is very important to a plot-critical relationship, then the first battle of Ajian.

Movie 2 I would cover episodes 23 - 38. Include an abbreviated version of the events on Kyaral (which were cut entirely in A Contact), retaining Kitty Kitten's changed death from Be Invoked at the end of that sequence. Retain the Ome Foundation in the storyline (why they removed any reference to it in A Contact, especially when Gindoro had a decent sized role in Be Invoked eludes me). Have the Solo Ship go down to Earth as is done in the series, perhaps breaking up the large battle from the end of A Contact (which was from 3 seperate battles in episodes 27, 29 and 32) into 2 seperate ones, as they arrive at Earth and as they depart it. Have Gije defect and shoot Daram as he does in the series although perhaps slightly change his motivation since it may be harder to buy him being betrayed and abandoned by Daram like he was in the series. Have the Solo Ship then head to Ajian as they do towards the end of the series, with the storyline there relatively the same as the series. Cut out the plotline with the heroes trying to abandon the Solo Ship as well as all the various minor Buff Clan officers like Rukuku Kil, Hannibal Gen and so on. Make the battle at Steckin Star where Gije dies and the planet is sliced in half by the Ideon the climax of the film.

The Ome Foundation barely did much, but hey, it explains Daram and Gije's costumes. So Cosmo needs up to ten minutes of screentime with Kitten, though this is strangling the movie with a red string. Cosmo then should sustain his injuries on Kyral right after seeing Kitty Kitten die right in front of him.

The Earth should refuse to them let the Solo Ship land and keep the moon sequence as it was in A Contact, but with Gije, who just trashed with Barume Baram, being abandoned by Daram, and with Moera not quite dying yet. Then the Earth should try to seize the ship and use Bes's parents as leverage against Bes. Not sure if Gije should be seen betraying Daram but definitely have him yelled at by Kasha and co.

The battle at Saturn should kill Moera, and the 2nd Ajian sequence should end the film.

Not sure where to include the Ideon Gun's first use, but it has to scare the crap out of everyone.

Third movie is pretty much left as is, minus the subtraction of Kitty's death from the start and the clips of Gije's death, which are now featured at the end of movie 2.

I'd rather open the third film with the battle of Steckin Star. Otherwise, it's the same as Be Invoked (save Kitten's death, which has been moved to earlier).