New Rogue Trooper Film!!

[Steve Green]

If they were ditched, I think it might be more of similarities to concepts in Altered Carbon rather than it being a talking hat called Helm.

It would be a shame to see them go, otherwise you're down to Soldier with a bit of gas.

[Keef Monkey]

I guess the biochips don't have to go into his equipment. A small "rescue terminal" with three slots/ports would do, I suppose. That might even set up the question of whether their voices are real or imagined, at least in the first half of the film.

I was going to suggest the same thing, I wouldn't want to lose the biochips but I do think the idea of having them in his equipment will be a hard thing to sell in a film without it feeling a bit silly so my first thought was that he could have them with him and preserve the buddy dynamic without having them necessarily responsible for controlling any of his equipment. The idea of him carrying around the voices of his dead friends is interesting and cinematic enough I think.

[SIP]

I would be surprised if the fundamentals of the character change at all, Rebellion seem very protective (thank God!) of its characters.

I would expect to see a blue rogue with a talking gun, bag and helmet. I can't see any real reason why they would feel the need to change the most interesting aspect of the character/strip.

[Frank]

I do believe that the "electronic ghosts of his dead buddies" is absolutely integral to make a Rogue Trooper movie, rather than A. N. Other Future Soldier film.

Dropping the chips is such a stupid idea I can't believe we're even discussing it. If you* don't want to make a Rogue Trooper movie, make something else instead.


* Nobody has suggested Jones wants to drop the chips.

[TordelBack]

I think we're more discussing how biochips and their equipment - and indeed the G.I. setup itself - might be realised in a contemporary film, rather than suggesting they are at risk.  That I feel the need to continually emphasise their importance is just nervousness!   

[Steve Green]

For the equipment - if you can get over the basic premise, Helm is a passive character relative to the others. See what else you can give him to do rather than just be a hat.

Sensors, decoding, hacking, decoy etc.

Wouldn't be a bad idea to separate the group out occasionally, Gunnar on sentry duty, Helm hacking a comms terminal, which is more like the convention of a heist movie, or Mission Impossible.

[TordelBack]

I wonder could you build that into the story itself (as GFD did on occasion) - maybe the control of the equipment is a hack or fix by Rogue that comes later on, with the guys thoroughly despondent at being dead and toted around by Rogue, but then given useful roles? A bit twee, I know, but this is Rogue Trooper after all...

[Greg M.]

Helm is a passive character relative to the others. See what else you can give him to do rather than just be a hat.

Given that one of Helm's most clearly-defined traits is his egotism, I agree it makes sense to give him more to do to make him feel like he's the most important chip. As it stands, he just has the best view.

[Steve Green]

I wonder could you build that into the story itself (as GFD did on occasion) - maybe the control of the equipment is a hack or fix by Rogue that comes later on, with the guys thoroughly despondent at being dead and toted around by Rogue, but then given useful roles? A bit twee, I know, but this is Rogue Trooper after all...

Could do - there is that thought of would you really want soldiers who have been traumatically killed slotted straight into lethal equipment they can control (well in two cases at least)

That it was never designed that way or a beta feature that was disabled by Milli-Com because it was too risky makes as much sense as anything in the context of the strip.

Also plays into that theme of Bagman having a breakdown, Gunnar being trigger happy etc.

[Frank]

That I feel the need to continually emphasise their importance is just nervousness!

I wasn't having a go at you, buddy.

Helm as a paraplegic version of R2D2/Al from Die Hard sounds fine to me; ditto the idea of Gunnar as one of the sentry guns from the special edition of Aliens.

As to how they're presented on screen, I'd go full-on stylised and use them exactly the way the comic did, as rectangular graphics popping up in the bottom left or right of the screen whenever they have a line. I suppose you could animate their skulls to make them more expressive, like Cain in Robocop 2.

[The Legendary Shark]

I wonder what kind of psychological strain being trapped in a chip might have. At first, they'd expect to be re-gened and put up with it, but when it becomes apparent that this isn't going to happen they might well go a little stir crazy, dragging Rogue with them. Might make for an interesting set of character arcs.

[Steve Green]

That I feel the need to continually emphasise their importance is just nervousness!

I wasn't having a go at you, buddy.

Helm as a paraplegic version of R2D2/Al from Die Hard sounds fine to me; ditto the idea of Gunnar as one of the sentry guns from the special edition of Aliens.

As to how they're presented on screen, I'd go full-on stylised and use them exactly the way the comic did, as rectangular graphics popping up in the bottom left or right of the screen whenever they have a line. I suppose you could animate their skulls to make them more expressive, like Cain in Robocop 2.

It wouldn't be a mile away from GERTY (just with less Spacey)

If the chips are some OLED type affair, maybe even project a hologram, maps, info etc. it gives them something else to do.

Don't know about the animated faces - on the short I just went with animating the speakers and it kind of worked for that, but you might need more to go on for a feature audience.

The question is why just go for a skull rather than a face - like the Friday reboot did? And the answer seems to be skulls are slightly less goofy than a CGI face?

In the days of poop emojis/avatars a fully animated face might be a step too far - certainly an animated skull could look pretty Skeletor.

[blackmocco]

Surely the chips lighting up when they speak isn't the brightest idea if Rogue wants to remain concealed, particularly at night. It's going to be an interesting challenge to bring to life onscreen. There's some creative leeway to be taken here, for sure. No reason they have to be numbered 1, 2 and 3 (some coincidence out of all the dying GIs in proximity) either. And as much as the names Helm, Gunnar and Bagman are ingrained into our consciousnesses, it's also a little too on the nose for their functions. Maybe they're just nicknames Rogue gives them once he's rescued the chips.

(This is why no-one's giving me money to make movies...)

[Mardroid]

I guess we could interpret the lighting as a perception thing that only Rogue can see. Much like he is the only one who can hear them. A neural link of some kind, possibly via this own chip.

[TordelBack]

Hmm, that could work - MCU Iron Man and Jarvis/Friday (not that one) work pretty well, as did Spidey and Friday (was that Friday? Or a different AI? Anyway...),  as long as we stay clear of too many Doom-style HUD POVs.

I do prefer the idea of the voices being audible to others, permitting interaction with Souther grunts and scaring Norts.