Probably the highlight of a disappointing Microsoft conference was the appearance of the cinematic legend Steven Spielberg.
The creator of both incredible television series, Band of Brothers and The Pacific, announced that he would be giving the big budget treatment to a Halo TV series. I squealed.
Band of Brothers is a prime example of television at its very best: high budget, carefully directed, well written and with masterful performances. However, Spielberg and Co. have a long and difficult journey in taking the vast expanse of the Halo universe and bringing it into the one hour episode format.
The massive material to work with is both a blessing and a curse. It is wonderful in that there is much scope for either showcasing the stories and characters we already know or whether or not to take it to completely new worlds and characters and revealing new aspects to an already extended universe.
That very advantage could also be the downfall as fans could receive characters or stories that they just do not care about.
The best example is the Halo: Forward Unto Dawn series. It was a great mini-series on YouTube just based around a training academy that was attacked during the ‘Covenant wars’. It was short and sweet. The acting was top-notch and the original story was really engaging.
Ideally, fans will want a bigger budget and an extended version of this triumph of fan service. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out here because it is brilliant.
The big question we all want answered is: what about the Chief?
It would be foolish to completely ignore him so he will have to make a few appearances even if he is not the focus.
Despite there being some scope for the series to go wrong, it is a very exciting prospect. Giving Halo the HBO treatment is just what it needed after years and years of speculation.
Halo lends itself so well to a TV series that I could easily see it rivalling the likes of Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad. Personally, I want to see huge space and land battles that show the epic nature of the ‘Covenant war’ rather than small-scale battles.
I want to see the Chief. I think an origins story of the Spartan program would be really popular with fans.
My advice to Spielberg would be tread carefully and listen to the fans and creators. They know what they want from their beloved franchise, so as long as that’s respected, it can hardly go wrong in his hands.
So get ready people, because great things are happening in both games and television.
Alex Phelps
exeposedev 