Ready Player One

halliwax said:
was the delorean time machine in the book?
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Yes, as one of the vehicles Wade drives in the OASIS (he also uses an X-wing to travel between various planets as well, IIRC). The author Ernie Cline also drives a Delorean IRL. Edit - actually, yes, he does.

Edit 2 - book spoiler (probably not in the film):
Around his 30th birthday, James Halliday bought and restored one of the original DeLoreans used in the Back To The Future films.

Wade obtained one in the OASIS by completing a Back to the Future quest on the planet Zemeckis. The DeLorean came outfitted with a (nonfunctioning) flux capacitor, and several additions to its equipment and appearance. First, he’d installed an artificially intelligent onboard computer named KITT (purchased in an online auction) into the dashboard, along with a matching red Knight Rider scanner just above the DeLorean’s grill. He also outfitted the car with an oscillation overthruster, a device that allowed it to travel through solid matter. Finally, to complete the ’80s super-vehicle theme, he slapped a Ghostbusters logo on each of the DeLorean’s gullwing doors, and added personalized plates that read ecto-88.

M
 
halliwax said:
I’m gonna have to pick up this book
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Well, when you do, you have two options: read it before the film or read it after. But keep in mind, a lot has been changed for the film, so don't expect a sequence like the race seen in the trailer to show up anywhere (amongst other things).

Also, yeah, Wade's DeLorean (nicknamed the Ecto-88) was a time machine in the book (the hardware functioned like it did in the film. The only thing it couldn't do was actually travel in time in the OASIS. However, in the Andy Weir fan fiction story called Lacero, which Cline accepted as canon, one character used it to discover a hidden Easter Egg, not the big one being looked for, programmed by Halliday by using a DeLorean Time Machine in a certain place that allowed it to travel back in time for the lead of that story to witness The Harmonic Convergence and receive a hint about a certain item that is shown at the end of the book. It's not a bad read, but I don't consider it canon because not only does it conflict with what is established about Halliday in the book, it also gives a rather bland and typical backstory to a character who doesn't need it. But that's just me. You can find the Andy Weir fan fic online to read after you get done with the novel).


mkstewartesq said:
Agreed - when used in the book, it was one of the cooler little touches, and was meant to demonstrate that only a person who had obsessively immersed himself or herself in all things that Halliday adored (like WarGames/Holy Grail) could move to the next level. And in the book, the descriptions of these flicksyncs are pretty abbreviated, so there's no line-by-line run-through of the movie that would bore the reader. Out of context, sure, it sounds like a drudge - but, in the book, it fits perfectly.

That being said, I've heard nothing to indicate that these are used at all in the RP1 film, and I always suspected that they wouldn't be. One reason being that cited by Angelus Lupus - it wouldn't translate well to the movie format, and would run the risk of being tedious unless exceedingly brief. Second - and in line with the various other updates we've seen that no longer tie the film strictly to "80s" references, I doubt many in the audience today would get much of a buzz off of watching a character reenact "WarGrames" - let's face it, other than maybe the line "Shall we play a game?", that movie hasn't exactly stayed top-of-mind in the collective consciousness of the movie-going public. "Holy Grail", while still an amazing film, also isn't much of a blip on the radar of the general public today like it was in the 80s. And I doubt they'd preserve the flicksyncs but replace them with more modern films. Third , of course, is whatever effort might be needed to clear yet another set of rights to use a third-party property.

But who knows? - I'll be going in relatively unspoiled as to what from the book is included and what isn't, as there hasn't been a lot of info on that point so far. (Though I am still bummed that they reveal the "real people behind the avatars" from the get-go, unlike in the book; holding the reveals of Art3mis and Aech until the end was one of the best things about the book, and would have played beautifully on-screen.)

M
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I agree with all your points about the Flicksync. And, yeah, I suspect there will not be any FlickSyncs featured in the film. But as I originally said in my post where I first mentioned them, the posters that people are getting upset about come off as a tongue-in-cheek reference to them to me. A few of the other fans over at the sub-Reddit for the book also feel the same way about it.


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CB2001 said:
.And, yeah, I suspect there will not be any FlickSyncs featured in the film. But as I originally said in my post where I first mentioned them, the posters that people are getting upset about come off as a tongue-in-cheek reference to them to me.
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Well, that also raises a point similar to what I raised before: there’s been precious little information about what this movie “is”, in the sense of how faithful it hews to the book’s emphasis on the 80s. On the one hand, the trailers seems to make pretty clear that they’ve updated a lot of the references (at least characters in the OASIS) to be more current – yet they put out these posters which are very squarely 80s references, as if the film will center on that in the same way as the book. So I’m getting mixed signals here.

(All that being said, I’m basing the “they’ve updated things” reference mainly based on the “post-80s” avatars we’ve seen. I guess that’s maybe not an inconsistency since anyone can choose the avatar they want in the OASIS, so avatars will naturally gravitate to whatever subject matter interests the user – heck, you could have an avatar of Mario running along side an avatar of Marty McFly alongside an avatar of Amelia Earhart – but the core of Halliday’s quest and its clues could still be 80s-centric. So maybe not an issue. Will just have to wait and see – though I personally don’t see them making the quest items entirely “80s” as that would exclude people in the audience who don’t get the references.

Just like, speaking frankly, the book is a bit meaningless to people outside a specific age range, like my significant other, who is seven years older than I am and has zero clue what Zork is. (In unrelated news, I have completely failed her in my duties as a life partner.))

Lastly – sigh, boy, do I miss the warm look Spielberg’s movies had in the 70s and 80s, even though he used several different cinematographers during that period. This “cold”, over-sharp look he’s adopted since Minority Report or so is not my cup of tea.

M
 
I agree, Mike, the marketing for this film hasn’t been very effective at explaining what it’s about and I think it’s going to struggle to find its audience.
 
mkstewartesq said:
Well, that also raises a point similar to what I raised before: there’s been precious little information about what this movie “is”, in the sense of how faithful it hews to the book’s emphasis on the 80s. On the one hand, the trailers seems to make pretty clear that they’ve updated a lot of the references (at least characters in the OASIS) to be more current – yet they put out these posters which are very squarely 80s references, as if the film will center on that in the same way as the book. So I’m getting mixed signals here.

(All that being said, I’m basing the “they’ve updated things” reference mainly based on the “post-80s” avatars we’ve seen. I guess that’s maybe not an inconsistency since anyone can choose the avatar they want in the OASIS, so avatars will naturally gravitate to whatever subject matter interests the user – heck, you could have an avatar of Mario running along side an avatar of Marty McFly alongside an avatar of Amelia Earhart – but the core of Halliday’s quest and its clues could still be 80s-centric. So maybe not an issue. Will just have to wait and see – though I personally don’t see them making the quest items entirely “80s” as that would exclude people in the audience who don’t get the references.

Just like, speaking frankly, the book is a bit meaningless to people outside a specific age range, like my significant other, who is seven years older than I am and has zero clue what Zork is. (In unrelated news, I have completely failed her in my duties as a life partner.))

Lastly – sigh, boy, do I miss the warm look Spielberg’s movies had in the 70s and 80s, even though he used several different cinematographers during that period. This “cold”, over-sharp look he’s adopted since Minority Report or so is not my cup of tea.

M
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Actually, that "cold" look started after he directed Schindler's List. Even The Lost World: Jurassic Park has a bit of it.

And when it comes to the OASIS, to be fair, the 1980s references were only limited to Halliday's Egg Hunt. Keep in mind, there are hints of pre and post '80s pop culture in the book as well, a great example being that Wade commandeered a Firefly-class transport. Firefly came out in 1999. And Monty Python and The Holy Grail came out in 1975. World of Warcraft is mentioned, that was released in 2004. The Matrix trilogy is mentioned, that's 1999 and 2003/4. The Star Wars films (1977-1983, 1999-2005). Schoolhouse Rock went from 1973 to 1985. Lord of the Rings (this is mentioning the films instead of the books, which the films came out in the early 2000s). The reason why the 1980s is so prominent is because of the Egg Hunt, which is about Halliday and the clues tying into the things he liked from hat timeframe. And since the book is about the Egg Hunt and its ties to the 1980s doesn't mean that the book doesn't have anything outside of that (with some of the above mentioned). So, that means other pop culture of other decades (as well as other countries) are in the book, just as much as they're present in the film (though more limited to what the film could get the rights to use in comparison to what could be used for book). And including more modern references as well makes sense, as our modern pop culture would also be 2045's past pop culture that people then would also be nostalgic for as well.

And the posters above back up that as well (The Matrix, 1999. Iron Giant, 1999. Bullitt, 1968).

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Bryancd said:
I agree, Mike, the marketing for this film hasn’t been very effective at explaining what it’s about and I think it’s going to struggle to find its audience.
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Exactly. I adore the book, but, looking at the trailer:

- if I look at it from the perspective of someone who read the book, I don't see much reassuring me that it is "like the book"; and
- if I look at it from the perspective of someone who didn't read the book, I don't have much interest in it because I can't tell what it is about in the slightest. Lots of CGI, but what's the story about?

It's just kind of "there".

And, let's face it - the days where the name "Spielberg" would be enough by itself to get people in the seats are long gone. So that isn't a given as far as drawing in people either.

M
 
CB2001 said:
Actually, that "cold" look started after he directed Schindler's List. Even The Lost World: Jurassic Park has a bit of it.

And when it comes to the ...

...would also be nostalgic for as well.

And the posters above back up that as well (The Matrix, 1999. Iron Giant, 1999. Bullitt, 1968).

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Click to expand...

THANK YOU! Beat me to the punch by half an hour. So many of my comrades have been confused with the same thinking. the posters helped cement that, although admittedly I missed the Bullitt reference. It's probably about time I sat down to watch that one. Looks like I know what I'm doing this weekend.

Well said @CB2001
 
CB2001 said:
A

And when it comes to the OASIS, to be fair, the 1980s references were only limited to Halliday's Egg Hunt. Keep in mind, there are hints of pre and post '80s pop culture in the book as well, a great example being that Wade commandeered a Firefly-class transport. Firefly came out in 1999. And Monty Python and The Holy Grail came out in 1975. World of Warcraft is mentioned, that was released in 2004. The Matrix trilogy is mentioned, that's 1999 and 2003/4. The Star Wars films (1977-1983, 1999-2005). Schoolhouse Rock went from 1973 to 1985. Lord of the Rings (this is mentioning the films instead of the books, which the films came out in the early 2000s). The reason why the 1980s is so prominent is because of the Egg Hunt, which is about Halliday and the clues tying into the things he liked from hat timeframe. And since the book is about the Egg Hunt and its ties to the 1980s doesn't mean that the book doesn't have anything outside of that (with some of the above mentioned). So, that means other pop culture of other decades (as well as other countries) are in the book, just as much as they're present in the film (though more limited to what the film could get the rights to use in comparison to what could be used for book). And including more modern references as well makes sense, as our modern pop culture would also be 2045's past pop culture that people then would also be nostalgic for as well.

And the posters above back up that as well (The Matrix, 1999. Iron Giant, 1999. Bullitt, 1968).

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Yes, exactly - you hit upon (more articulately than I did) the realization I was coming to in the middle of my prior post. The Hunt can still be all 80s (because it's all about Halliday personally) but the book didn't limit the "whole OASIS" to the 80s. So I stand corrected. Now it just remains to be seen if they keep faithful to that aspect of the Hunt.

M
 
mkstewartesq said:
Yes, exactly - you hit upon (more articulately than I did) the realization I was coming to in the middle of my prior post. The Hunt can still be all 80s (because it's all about Halliday personally) but the book didn't limit the "whole OASIS" to the 80s. So I stand corrected. Now it just remains to be seen if they keep faithful to that aspect of the Hunt.

M
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True (on both the point and hoping it keeps the aspect of the Hunt true, if not close enough to the book). But don't worry, you're not the only person who got that mixed up.

I've noticed a lot of people have gotten things mixed up about the book or don't notice things correctly. A while ago, on the sub-Reddit for RPO, someone asked why the GTA series wasn't in the OASIS (they acknowledged that they got that GTAV was released years after the book was published, but pointed out that the series was popular before that game). I told him, "Just because it's not mentioned, doesn't mean it's not in the OASIS." And that fact is true. The OASIS is a big place, and leaves enough wiggle room for franchises that have yet to be release to possibly exist in the OASIS.

Another user and I got into an argument about the Egg Hunt, them not getting that if a character got killed, they'd end up having to go back through the first two gates in order to get into the third. They kept arguing that the OASIS was non-linear gameplay, but I had to explain to them there was a difference between regular OASIS gameplay, which was non-linear, and the Egg Hunt, which was a linear quest gameplay. After I pointed that out, they realized their previous assumption was wrong, especially since Halliday would have programmed it to where each key and gate after the Copper Key would require past challenges to be won to proceed.


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The easy way to explain it is that dying = your entire account being deleted. So any money, items, quest completion flags, etc. are null and void. It would make you a newbie again, and even if you had done something in-game before, that was on the old account, not the new one.


You know, speaking of things that wouldn't go over as well in the movie as in the book, I wonder how they'll handle
the Pac-Man perfect game and Wade's quarter? They can't skip it, because it's so integral to the ending, but watching even an abridge Pac-Man game isn't that interesting.
 
Dessa said:
The easy way to explain it is that dying = your entire account being deleted. So any money, items, quest completion flags, etc. are null and void. It would make you a newbie again, and even if you had done something in-game before, that was on the old account, not the new one.


You know, speaking of things that wouldn't go over as well in the movie as in the book, I wonder how they'll handle
the Pac-Man perfect game and Wade's quarter? They can't skip it, because it's so integral to the ending, but watching even an abridge Pac-Man game isn't that interesting.
Click to expand...

Not that i'm a filmmaker or anything (honest to goodness, not a filmmaker), but if i were to do it, i'd have a montage of wade running around Archade (sp? book loaned to friend) then have him sit in the pizza shop and think for a minute. then he get's up, looks around the cabinets, find pac man, yank at the quarter, have his eyes widen

then cut to Aech or Art3mis or somewhere else.

Leave the knowledge of what took place to those of us who read the book, and enlighten the rest of the planet with Wade's explanation at the gate after the Cataclyst.

that's just me, but who knows?

all I know is I woke up this morning with this unyielding desire to see a massive air to air battle where a Viper blasts the living grace outta a Tie fighter, then immediately gets tailed by a Harvester... I'm going to call it an interceptor (Independence Day), because it sounds cool, and the internet isn't giving any names beside "spaceship" or "ship" for the small one that Goldblum and Smith piloted.
 
TinyTim said:
Not that i'm a filmmaker or anything (honest to goodness, not a filmmaker), but if i were to do it, i'd have a montage of wade running around Archade (sp? book loaned to friend) then have him sit in the pizza shop and think for a minute. then he get's up, looks around the cabinets, find pac man, yank at the quarter, have his eyes widen

then cut to Aech or Art3mis or somewhere else.

Leave the knowledge of what took place to those of us who read the book, and enlighten the rest of the planet with Wade's explanation at the gate after the Cataclyst.

that's just me, but who knows?

all I know is I woke up this morning with this unyielding desire to see a massive air to air battle where a Viper blasts the living grace outta a Tie fighter, then immediately gets tailed by a Harvester... I'm going to call it an interceptor (Independence Day), because it sounds cool, and the internet isn't giving any names beside "spaceship" or "ship" for the small one that Goldblum and Smith piloted.
Click to expand...

Technically, you get that with the mechs, as it's a one-on-one battle like aircraft. It's the ground level battled we never get to see, which (I'm more than willing to admit) served as the basis for an RPO fan fiction story I've written called "Live To Tell."

Also, from what I gathered from the book, the perma-death system didn't completely wipe out your account. All it did was wipe out the character and reset you back to Level 1 ranking, meaning you had to recreate your character all over again and possibly at the starting planet in the OASIS. The difference with Wade and the quarter, it respawned him right back where he died instead of forcing him back to where he started from. I could be wrong in that (I'm re-reading the novel now, so, I'll have to see if I can find the perma-death portion of the story again).


Additional Edit: I've been listening to Retrowave music for a while. And Gunship just brought out an RPO inspired song and music video: https://youtu.be/WQaH3lh-CA4

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CB2001 said:
Technically, you get that with the mechs, as it's a one-on-one battle like aircraft. It's the ground level battled we never get to see, which (I'm more than willing to admit) served as the basis for an RPO fan fiction story I've written called "Live To Tell."

...

Additional Edit: I've been listening to Retrowave music for a while. And Gunship just brought out an RPO inspired song and music video: https://youtu.be/WQaH3lh-CA4

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Click to expand...

you do Not... as a Viper and a Tie Fighter are not mechs, but I see your point. looks like it's time to learn how to do CGI...

I would like to read this. I would like to read anything Cline-related.

this may be my new favorite chill out song on the planet. I froze when the Blade Runner homage started, and the little notes throughout the song.

Thank you for sharing this.
 
TinyTim said:
you do Not... as a Viper and a Tie Fighter are not mechs, but I see your point. looks like it's time to learn how to do CGI...

I would like to read this. I would like to read anything Cline-related.

this may be my new favorite chill out song on the planet. I froze when the Blade Runner homage started, and the little notes throughout the song.

Thank you for sharing this.
Click to expand...

I know the air fight is different from a mech fight, but an air fight, or even a mech fight, are one-on-one. So, the mech fight gives off the sense of the one-on-one fighting that differentiates itself from an actual ground battle. But I'm glad you get the point.

You want to read my RPO fan fic? Oh boy... Well, the thing is when I was writing it, I was more concerned about getting the story out of my head. I did try to get beta readers to tell me what needed to be fixed, but due to the 35 page length, many either didn't get through the whole story to make necessary changes or they never got back to me. So, even now, I'm spotting some grammar and spelling errors that I'm still correcting with each read through (and I posted it to FanFiction.net back in October), and I know there's a lot of things can come out of it (mainly the opening scenes with the lead's back story, but other than that, not much I can tell). But, one important thing to keep in mind is that I saw this story as a character piece, meaning that we're following an OASIS user and long time gamer from the moment he gets the laser guided "Call To Adventure", his trip to Castle Anorak, meeting up with his old friends and his own doubts just before the actual fight. So, if you get bored half way through, I'll understand if you abandoned it. Also, keep in mind, the story has a lot of references from recent pop culture, with an occasional 1980s references. Well, without further ado, here is "Live To Tell" (and good luck with spotting all the references, including the more not so obvious ones). I hope you fund it enjoyable, even with the flaws: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12674904/1/Live-To-Tell-A-Ready-Player-One-Fan-Fiction-Story

And, yeah, me too. I've been listening to that song on repeat along with "Tech Noir" (which I also reference in the fan fic story).


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Dessa said:
The easy way to explain it is that dying = your entire account being deleted. So any money, items, quest completion flags, etc. are null and void. It would make you a newbie again, and even if you had done something in-game before, that was on the old account, not the new one.
Click to expand...

Just to confirm, your account doesn't get deleted. Wade states on page 75 in the paperback edition that when it came to the possible creatures inside the Tomb Of Horrors, he had a few things going for him: "First, I really didn't have much to lose. If my avatar was killed, I would lose my sword, shield and leather armor, and the three levels I'd managed to gain over the past few years. I'd have to create a new first-level avatar, which would spawn me at my last log-in location, in front of my school locker." That means the account doesn't get deleted, the avatar just gets erased, any loot on them drops and the users create and spawn back in with a new avatar at Level 1 ranking again. So, that means any housing or items at the housing isn't lost, including what ever cash you have in your OASIS account. Just the items you had on you when you died (including cash you didn't pocket into your online bank account) gets lost.



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