StormHammer

While I agree with you, I think the main hurdle facing any DnD movie is the fact that it will probably be seen as a LOTR wannabe by people who are not DnD fans. Let's face it - Orcs, Elves, Dwarfs, Halflings etc., are fundamentally ripped from Tolkien's vision of such things, with Halflings taking the place of Hobbits, so they will inevitably be viewed in that context in a DnD movie. Which unfortunately gives it an 'also-ran' feel, in spite of all the 'original' content in the DnD universe. Anyway, I rented the original DnD movie on video once - and I actually fell asleep about half an hour into it. Gripping stuff. They definitely need to get away from the DnD cartoon production mentality and focus on a more mature audience. As for the suggestion to use NWN to make a 'long cutscene', you're talking about machinima - using game engines to tell stories. There have been quite a few well-made fan movies like this, so it would be intriguing to see someone develop something like that using the NWN engine. Of course, I think some custom animation wouldn't go amiss - because I couldn't handle watching the same looping animations that they used in the HotU cut scenes. I'd go mad. No...seriously.

I think we'll probably come close to extinction sooner rather than later. I'm just waiting for the old supervolcano under Yellowstone to pop it's cork, and residents of planet Earth are going to have a bad day. Some scientists believe humankind came close to extinction when Toba erupted 74,000 years ago, and Yellowstone is an order of magnitude larger. As for escaping to (or colonising) other worlds - we'd better hurry up and do something about it before we've stripped all the resources from this planet and basically stranded ourself through lack of materials. At the very least we should have our eyes on the asteroid belt and exploiting it for raw materials. While I do think we should 'tread carefully' when it comes to planetary exploration (especially in terms of any kinds of resident life forms - we should not interfere and unbalance potential ecosystems) we will have to exploit the resources of other worlds in order to expand and give ourselves a better chance for survival. In that regard we might become more like the roving 'parasitic' aliens in the film Independence Day. And as others have suggested, genetic manipulation could mean we simply reinvent ourselves and adapt to survive in the environments of other planets - rather than trying to 'terraform' them. However it transpires, we still need to make that 'first step' to another planet, but also look more carefully at setting up 'supply lines' to aid in extending our reach initially throughout the solar system, and then further afield.

I've not heard of some of these bands. Shameful I know, considering I used to listen to Metal almost religiously during the 80's, and some of the 90's. Anyway, it's good to see bands like Saxon still doing the rounds. I'm listening to Nightwish at the moment. :ph34r:

I too preferred Tom Baker in the role as the Doctor. I don't really remember the Troughton years, unfortunately (I was only born in '67 after all), but I remember well the Jon Pertwee years. While Jon was good, I think Tom was the best. I tried to like his successors, but they just didn't have the same 'edge'. Anyway, I hope the new series has some better production values - not only in terms of effects, which are important for any SF series these days - but in terms of stories, locations and acting.