The pacing is what suffers the most from the time restriction, it honestly feels like a montage of the movie we're supposed to be watching, it cuts from scene to scene and wastes absolutely no time.

Exactly. Unfortunately the pace moved so quickly that I found it distracting. We didn't have any time to really attach to the characters, locations, or motives because by the time any exposition would have come up, we had already moved on. The visuals were great, but I think the story lost a lot of its weight when it moved to screenplay.

I thought that Asa Butterfield portrayed Ender quite well, so well-done for him! It's been almost 15 years (HOLY CRAP!) since I've read Ender's Game, so the other characters are a little fuzzy in my head. I should dig my hardcover version out of the moving box...

I definitely understand where your coming from. I'm someone who can disconnect a movie from a book it's based on and can view them as two separate things. Not a lot of people can (or even want) to do that.

The movie certainly captured the spirit of the book, it's just not as deep and personal. It missed the mark on a couple of things but certainly was a "fun" science fiction movie to spend my Friday evening watching!

Still for you, yeah I'd probably hold off; it's like I wish I had never seen Eragon. Not that it ruined the book, in fact it made me appreciate the book more. But it was just a horrible waste of my time. lol

As for the other books, I really enjoyed them. They're different style and thematically, but it was great to see Ender try and fix what he's done.

I've toyed around with X-Plane a LOT, as some of you know, and one of the things I love about it is the fact that you can in fact fly all the way from sea-level into orbit. The trouble is, once you're in orbit, you're moving REALLY FREEKIN FAST, which plays havoc with the chase-view-camera (and the in-cockpit camera is just BORING) :)

But the other neat thing about X-Plane, that almost NO ONE knows about, is the fact that you can change the atmospheric AND planetary constants! So you can set the environment to zero pressure and zero gravity, and simulate much easier the effects of actually flying around in space, without having the camera snap into weird angles because you're not actually being flung along at a bazillion knots.

So a dogfight in this environment would be something you could only expect if you and your opponent were on the same initial orbital trajectory, but "absolute" velocity is not as important in a dogfight as "relative" velocity. That is, your velocity relative to your opponent; which my tweaked-version of X-Plane does a pretty fun job at simulating.

What this little experiment highlighted for me just how DIFFERENT a space-fighter would need to be in order to maneuver effectively in an environment where the ONLY forces at your disposal are the ones you bring with you. You don't have air to push on for changing direction, and you don't have gravity to rely on for an easy trip "down". You wanna go "down"? You gotta have a rocket PUSH you "down"! Wanna turn? That's nice. You can point yourself left all you want, you ain't gonna go there unless you apply force...CONSTANTLY. :P

To say the least; it's tricky. :D

Mr. Quirel, I have planned out a number of space combat scenes for my comic, Mayflower, and Ender's Game was definitely a seed that led me to depicting them in near-realism (while still making it exciting). I often think of you or Stephen Loftus and hope it would do your wants justice. I don't know why film has never realized how unique, terrifying and exhilarating a vision of real space combat could be. Outside, there's no sound of course, the silence expressing the vast void and bringing solemnity to the actions, but inside, you'd be jumping in to hear the contrast of noise inside the cockpits: comm chatter, lock-on alerts, dialogue, and perhaps the rattle of a damaged ship. All this while you see the movements of the players unfold in three unnervingly equal dimensions. I can perfectly see a view from behind the pilot's shoulder as he pushes forward the joystick and Jupiter and the stars go reeling upwards in the vein of a roller coaster fall. Small ships act as sentient missiles, motherships are nowhere near on top of each other. One's pointing this way, one's pointing that way. It's less about dogfights and more about arcing lights moving purposefully and flexibly, like skaters dancing on ice while they perform calculus... Shit, I'm excited, I need to go make this.

I don't think I'll see it anytime soon. Not saying it couldn't be good. It's just one of those books that worked so amazingly AS a single book that I'm not interested in supplementing that special space in my brain where the experiences reside. Same reason I didn't read any of the sequels.

Man, I understand wanting to preserve the original experience, but you are missing out! When I first read Enders Game I immediately jumped into the sequels and I hated them. They were such a departure from the original, that eleven year old me didn't know what to do with them. But I read them all, and then I reread them, and re-read them.

The Shadow series, I could take or leave, they're good books but not my favorite. However Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind weave such a complete tapestry of Andrew Wiggins adult life that they easily reside at the top of my list of favorite sci-fi. Xenocide alone might be my favorite sci-fi novel, period.

Don't read them if you don't want to, but as a long-time Enders fan know that I absolutely loved the sequels. (Except the recent Ender in Exile, that one was kinda meh)

Mr. Quirel, I have planned out a number of space combat scenes for my comic, Mayflower, and Ender's Game was definitely a seed that led me to depicting them in near-realism (while still making it exciting).

I often think of you or Stephen Loftus and hope it would do your wants justice.

...
I just squee'd so hard, I think I broke something.

I don't know why film has never realized how unique, terrifying and exhilarating a vision of real space combat could be. Outside, there's no sound of course, the silence expressing the vast void and bringing solemnity to the actions, but inside, you'd be jumping in to hear the contrast of noise inside the cockpits: comm chatter, lock-on alerts, dialogue, and perhaps the rattle of a damaged ship.

I think that some tropes from submarine movies might be borrowed.
There's no windows because, well, what are you going to see? Ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion? Sure, they're the only stars in the sky that are twinkling.
And when the crew does speak during combat, it's in hushed whispers. Battles are drawn out and tense. The exciting, frantic parts are short-lived. =)

All this while you see the movements of the players unfold in three unnervingly equal dimensions. I can perfectly see a view from behind the pilot's shoulder as he pushes forward the joystick and Jupiter and the stars go reeling upwards in the vein of a roller coaster fall. Small ships act as sentient missiles, motherships are nowhere near on top of each other. One's pointing this way, one's pointing that way. It's less about dogfights and more about arcing lights moving purposefully and flexibly, like skaters dancing on ice while they perform calculus... Shit, I'm excited, I need to go make this.

Do it.