If you were writing / directing a hypothetical Battletech show... (cont from Battletech-like movies)

[Aristocra]

This is something I have been thinking about.

My idea is that you borrow from the cartoon as well as DFA. The series would follow a team of rag-tag mercs across the various parts of the Inner Sphere.

Setting: In the Year 3047, a Mysterious Benefactor assembles a team of misfits from all five successor states. Five mecharriors from the five Great Houses to form a new merc unit. The unit is assigned some 3025-era mechs, a rusty Leopard Dropship, and some support. They will be pursued by another mysterious force that wants them dead.

 

[Barracooda]

I would have the big players and Inner sphere house politics serve as a back drop only for the small merc out fit. Use all that detail sure but the core characters are still doing little things for minor players on $hit hole worlds where the chance of betrayal is real and their employers are rarely nice people. Sometimes they get to do the 'Good Thing' but most times its stomp the natives into snail snot so we can go ahead and extract the (Tech) (Raw materials) (Settlement's life blood) for the local lord / powerful corporation. Sort of makes the Pirates into romantic freedom fighters. Until you meet the pirates. Then it's "OMG! Quick pass the ammo and take no prisoner."

 

[Barracooda]

So who are the good guys in this? The mech pilot sitting next to you and the rest of your buddies in the Merc outfit. Sort of like Darkmatter show come to think of it

 

[Barracooda]

But with Big stompy robot goodness

 

[Deaghaidh]

The more I think about this the more my ideal hypothetical BT series resembles Firefly. Several reasons.

1. Firefly was damn good. I'm biased, but I also recall reading an article from a professor who used "Out of Gas" as a case study in a screenwriting class.

2. There are fundamental similarities in the overall world. Sci-fi but no aliens. The combination of high tech and historical theming (westerns with Firefly, feudalism with BT).

3. The main characters are a rag-tag bunch thrown together by chance. How I think a BT show should be personally, ideally with crew members from opposite sides of the succession wars.

4. Characters aren't out to save the galaxy, just get by. Although Firefly teased (and Serenity paid off) a much bigger picture with River's past, the crew were just small time smugglers/Mercs trying to keep flying. Similarly I think it'd be a mistake to make the main company in a BT show too important in the grand scheme. For one thing if we start in 3025 we already know what the coming 'history' will be.

 

[HamHamJ]

I'm gonna disagree with most everyone else. I don't really need a rag tag mercenaries story but this time with mechs instead of space ships. The interesting part of the setting is the feudalism in space. So give me Game of Thrones in space.

I would pick the 4th Succession War as the focus. That may just be my bias based on when I got into the novels, but I think you could basically just adapt the Warrior Trilogy and it would be great. You have a strong central character narrative surrounded by big epic world events, strong dramatic scenes, all kinds of stuff.

Alternatively if you want something more GoT in length, which just doing the Warrior Trilogy would not be, you could basically do the life of Hanse Davion as your central arc. Start with say the death of his brother and his being unexpectedly thrust onto the throne. The 4th SW can be like season 3 or 4, and if it stays popular you can push on into the Clan invasion.

 

[Deaghaidh]

This would work, but it would require a lot more characters with a lot of separate story lines in each court. Game of Thrones generally pulls this off pretty well, but it's a damned tricky needle to thread.

 

[Horseman]

Indeed. It's the Battletech series many of us would want to see, the merc angle was mostly discussed as an angle to providing a primer to the setting.

 

[HamHamJ]

Indeed. It's the Battletech series many of us would want to see, the merc angle was mostly discussed as an angle to providing a primer to the setting.

You don't need one. You can literally say everything you need to about the setting in the first episode. That is the power of storytelling. Like, let's run with my idea of a Hanse Davion biopic because I think it's cool:

Cold open on the battle of Mallory's World. We see infantry and vehicles get dominated by Mechs, establishing that they are the deciding force on the battlefield.
Ian orders his army to retreat, and then challenges Yorinaga Kurita to a duel. The Kurita forces stop to observe it. This establishes the nature of Mechwarriors as new age Knights and the pseudo chivalry of warfare at this time.
We see dropships taking off in the background.

Intro. Include a map of the Inner Sphere.

Open to Hanse out partying or whatever in disguise. Use this to show the "commoner" lifestyle which is basically just the same as modern day with maybe some holograms or whatever to make it "the future".
When he arrives back at the local palace he is informed of Ian's death. Here we see the renessance visual trappings of the nobility, and maybe like the ComStar logo on the message.
A brief discussion establishes that the FedSuns is a hereditary monarchy, the king just died fighting another nation, and his brother is next in line.
Hanse leaves for New Avalon and we see our first Jumpship and get a brief explanation of how they work to some character who has never been on one before.
Coronation, and then a war room where the advisors go through the galactic political situation and the local politics of the FedSuns.
Maybe a scene where someone mentions a dream to reunite (conquer) all of the Inner Sphere under a new First Lord?

Bam. In an episode or less you have established everything you need to know about the setting.

 

[Salcor]

I agree with the idea of the 4th succession war. You have the high perspective of the leaders of the inner sphere, then you put a low perspective of some mercenaries who are fighting the war on the ground. Perhaps they start with House Davion, and move around a bit.


Salcor