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This is my first post on the DakkaDakka forums. I know what I'm about to say is going to sound like the worst sort of heresy possible. If you disagree with my ideas, I completely understand. I am expecting an apocalyptic avalanche of geek rage for what I am about to post. I have only a novice's grasp on the fluff, at best, but try to hear me out.

If 40K were ever adapted into a series of live-action feature-length motion pictures, some compromises will have to be made. I think the first one will have to be to drop the 40K. By that I mean set the stories in the 41st century, not the 41st millenium. This will have the effect of decreasing on the amount of "wasted time" in the backstory, as well as simultaneously preserving the grimdark, mystic sense of otherworldliness while at the same time straddling the border between "our future" and "the distant future". In essence, it will become Warhammer 4K instead of Warhammer 40K.

With that being said, I think a good portion of the backstory writes itself. The Imperium was founded sometime around AD 2900, meaning the Horus Heresy happened at around AD 3000, and so on. Again, I would try to tighten up the timeline in the interest of providing a better sense of urgency for the events that take place, both in the backstory and in the time of the films (the 41st century).

I think a good way to start this series off is to center the first movie on a relatively easily-understood conflict. The gist of this film (tentatively titled "The Dark Angel") is that a young boy gets inducted into the Dark Angels chapter after the death of his family at the hands of a CSM attack. After fifteen years of training and fighting he partakes in the defense of Earth against Abaddon's Third (and final) Black Crusade. This attack is made possible with heretically-advanced jump drive technology obtained from the Necrons. We get a bunch of backstory on the founding of the Imperium and the unfinished business Horus had with the Emperor, and how Abaddon vows to kill the man himself if he must. Our hero ultimately has to sacrifice himself to save the Emperor of Mankind, killing Abaddon as well and dividing the Chaos Marines into many easily-defeated enclaves.

I've devised an opening narration (title crawl, perhaps?) for the film:

It is the 41st century.

The Imperium of Man, a starfaring theocratic regime, is beset on all sides by innumerable foes.

Among these adversaries are exotic alien empires, traitorous rebels, and the primordial terrors known as Daemons.

The Imperium's greatest defenders from these threats are the Space Marines, biologically-enhanced super soldiers.

They are the vanguard of the Emperor's will, the finest warriors humanity has ever produced.

It is said that the most daring and loyal of the Space Marine chapters are the Dark Angels.

This is the story of their finest hour.

Reminds me of battletech lol. "It is the 31 century and mankind is once again...at war"

I would be more interested in movies based on the horus heresy, or better yet, a TV series (movies tend to generalize things to much).

Cant say I agree switching the timeline. People who go see something like this are going to be 40k fans, I cant see many new people being drawn into it to justify making changes such as that.

I don't see how changing the timeline would make things any less complicated or more exciting to those who don't already have a knowledge of the fluff. Especially if all the history is the same. All you'd be doing is confusing the fans and tempting a whole lot of nerd rage.

I agree with kelsukekun about making it a t.v series rather than a movie, and basing it on the Horus heresy. The heresy is arguably the most exciting piece of fluff in the entire universe, and it's epic enough to sustain itself through a decent-lengthed series.

I think a lot of hardcore fans would actively avoid it if you changed the timeline that much, they would be horrified of what else you decided to change. Honestly, this sounds like you're trying to make 40k into a HALO movie.

Why would the timeline need changing?

The setting needs no additional back story then whats inside the front cover of the rule book(perfect opening Monolog)


"For more then a hundred centuries the Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth,

He is the Master of Mankind by the will of the gods and master of a million worlds by the might of his inexaustable armies,

He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology,

He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium, for whom a thousand souls die every day,

for whom blood is drunk and flesh eaten, human blood and human flesh, the stuff of which the Imperium is made,


Forget the power of technology, science, and common humanity,

Forget the promise of progress and understanding,

For there is no peace amoung the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter and the laughter of thirsting gods.

But the universe is a big place, and whatever happens, you will not be missed"

I don't know if "The Dark Angel" is a workable title. I mean, do they really want to draw the direct parallel to Lionel Johnson's poem by the same name about his closet homosexuality and the oppression of the Catholic Church?

I honestly think that the forces of Chaos have had too much exposure as antagonists in other media. Gaunt's Ghosts, Space Marine, Dawn of War. Please, give someone else a try. And your timeline change solves...absolutely nothing and would actually just annoy the fans.

I think a HBO mini series based on an imperial guard regiment that's similar to our military would work well. This would create better empathy with a wider audience. Then in later series' you could shift perspective to a more grimdark regiment or chapter (Once the wider audience is getting accustomed to the 40k universe)

There's so much scope, like one episode could focus mainly on a DE raid, or you could have the whole series on one campaign (an ork waaagh etc)

It would be awesome.

EDIT: What I wouldn't do to see an ork portrayed on screen with the realistic effects hollywood can apply thesedays. XD

EDIT 2: OMG can you imagine a scene where an imperial guard without a weapon is faced with a dark eldar who proceeds to drop his own weapon and draw his blade. And you can see in the guardsmans eyes that he knows it's over, but draws his own knife anyway . He knows he's going to die anyway but is hopelessly defiant....

Am I the only one who thinks this would be freaking epic? :'D

Kain wrote:I honestly think that the forces of Chaos have had too much exposure as antagonists in other media. Gaunt's Ghosts, Space Marine, Dawn of War. Please, give someone else a try. And your timeline change solves...absolutely nothing and would actually just annoy the fans.

Chaos are an interesting antagonist though. They can be just as mindless and bloodthirsty as Orks or Tyranids, but there's also this devious, cunning, seductive and deceptive aspect of Chaos as well. That's why it remains so prevalent in other media. For the uninitiated, Chaos is pretty identifiable as "the bad guys" and would be easier to portray in film than Orks or Nids for both budgetary and practical reasons. It's cheaper to just dress a dude up in some 8-pointed star tattoos and bondage gear and have him be a Chaos cultist than it would be to model a hormagaunt, rig it, animate it, and compositie it.

^
I agree. I think someone like Abaddon would be a bad villain.

The main Antagonist could be Ahriman, he's a devious, intelligent, villainous Chaos marine who can be properly be displayed without the insanity of DOW's Chaos lords. Plus, he'd have Rubrics as goons, which would be awesome.

(Plus the action figures....)

Or, you could just make up a random Chaos Lord. That way you can actually kill him and have the good guys win(but of course there's more where he came from)

Ahriman escaping allows for a sequel, or having him wounded and left to scamper back into the void.

I'd watch an hour long, weekly Gaunt's Ghosts program, that'd be the best thing I could imagine...EVER

Yeah, but thats how all the movies would have to end. He's a main character in the 40k universe. You can't kill him, same with Calgar, Dante, Mephiston, Vulkan, Abbaddon, Draigo, Ghazzy...

I'm sorry, but this is horrible. I'd prefer them to not make a 40k film rather than that.

Squidmanlolz wrote:I'd watch an hour long, weekly Gaunt's Ghosts program, that'd be the best thing I could imagine...EVER

it that happened who would you cast though?

Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:

Squidmanlolz wrote:I'd watch an hour long, weekly Gaunt's Ghosts program, that'd be the best thing I could imagine...EVER

it that happened who would you cast though?

I hear Jon Bernthal's not doing much, he can be Mkoll if he grows out his hair and a beard.

I always imagined Gaunt as sortof a Daniel Craig, but he's not really a TV actor... That'd probably be the hardest role to cast, they could probably just do some standard casting calls to find the rest, as "no name" actors would probably sell the setting better than recognizable faces.

I'd much rather see a theatrical adaption of the Armageddon Wars.

The First War about how so many Imperial troops fought Angron and his army, and the bittersweet victory: non-Astartes are purged by the Inquisition to the great anger of the Space Wolves.

The Second War, about the arrogant stupidity of Armageddon's rulers, the heroic sacrifice of the Titan Legions, the desperate defense of the Hives, and the actions of Yarrick and the eventual arrival of the Astartes and the toppling of the stupid Governor.

The Third War, it's surprising beginning, the eventual (and indecisive) Imperial victory, the epilogue stating that fighting still rages on the planet's surface...

And maybe a TV series about Yarrick's and the BT's Crusade to prevent the Orks from returning.

Brother SRM wrote:

Kain wrote:I honestly think that the forces of Chaos have had too much exposure as antagonists in other media. Gaunt's Ghosts, Space Marine, Dawn of War. Please, give someone else a try. And your timeline change solves...absolutely nothing and would actually just annoy the fans.

Chaos are an interesting antagonist though. They can be just as mindless and bloodthirsty as Orks or Tyranids, but there's also this devious, cunning, seductive and deceptive aspect of Chaos as well. That's why it remains so prevalent in other media. For the uninitiated, Chaos is pretty identifiable as "the bad guys" and would be easier to portray in film than Orks or Nids for both budgetary and practical reasons. It's cheaper to just dress a dude up in some 8-pointed star tattoos and bondage gear and have him be a Chaos cultist than it would be to model a hormagaunt, rig it, animate it, and compositie it.

The Dark Eldar can be just as devious, they're not that much harder to animate or cast, and if anything they're even more over the top sadistic and horrifying. Most of the forces of Chaos do what they do to appease their gods and attain further power in all but the worst cases of corruption. The Dark Eldar do it for fun, the fact that they get immortal off of it is merely an added bonus. Additionally, now that the Necrons have personality they are also capable of great seductive and devious evil (though the Necron Lord who impersonated Inquisitor Raleigh in xenology already proved that by infiltrating the freaking inquisition). Additionally with the Tyranids you an have genestealer cults to initiate the viewer into the unstoppable hunger of the Tyranids, show their cunning and subtle side, then bring in the full hammer of the hive fleet.

I had an idea today, and Idk if it would be a good idea or not.

What if instead of restarting everything, why not take one battle? there are plenty or pre-written, awesome stories to tell in 40k. The space marine Battle-Novels spring to mind.

Can you imagine the book Rynn's world as a big-budget movie? Crimson fists vs the orks, plenty of action and story with interesting characters.

Or maybe Helsreach? Same premise, orks vs marines, only on the world of Armageddon. Imaging the titan fights you could film.

Tiger9gamer wrote:I had an idea today, and Idk if it would be a good idea or not.

What if instead of restarting everything, why not take one battle? there are plenty or pre-written, awesome stories to tell in 40k. The space marine Battle-Novels spring to mind.

Can you imagine the book Rynn's world as a big-budget movie? Crimson fists vs the orks, plenty of action and story with interesting characters.

Or maybe Helsreach? Same premise, orks vs marines, only on the world of Armageddon. Imaging the titan fights you could film.

Macragge springs to mind as a good idea for a film

Id love to see a 40k tv series/film series. Start it off with the great crusade, then work into the horus heresy and then fast forward to "present" timeline. Possibly doing mini series based on famous battles. Rynn's world, battle of Macragge, etc etc.

I could certainly see Sam Worthington, Bruce Willis, Daniel Craig maybe Russel Crowe in power armor.

It would have to be about an IG regiment. Space marines are way too boring. Talk about a snooze fest. SM walks into a room bullets bouncing harmlessly off his armor. Yawn.

IG regiment story sounds too much like Band of Brothers and other such war dramas. There's been plenty of them. Not that they weren't good, but if a channel like HBO, Showtime or Starz were to pick up a 40k based series I think they'd go for something a little more new and "hasn't been done before".

l0k1 wrote:IG regiment story sounds too much like Band of Brothers and other such war dramas. There's been plenty of them. Not that they weren't good, but if a channel like HBO, Showtime or Starz were to pick up a 40k based series I think they'd go for something a little more new and "hasn't been done before".

Like rynn's world? come on, you know you wanna see that

Space marines would have no character. The audience would have no empathy. All the show would be is action. No character development. No intregue. Nothing worth watching.

ObliviousBlueCaboose wrote:Space marines would have no character. The audience would have no empathy. All the show would be is action. No character development. No intregue. Nothing worth watching.

While I agree on some level, the Horus Heresy novels and those like them are full of character. SMs are much more three dimensional than they seem in their codex and on the table top.

ObliviousBlueCaboose wrote:Space marines would have no character. The audience would have no empathy. All the show would be is action. No character development. No intregue. Nothing worth watching.

Hard to imagine the character development for a guardsmen. Since he'd die horribly within the first encounter lol. I fail to see the intrigue of we lost 6.5 million guardsmen and 2500 tanks but we won! Next episode wash, rinse, repeat. Boring. Ho hum.

ObliviousBlueCaboose wrote:Space marines would have no character. The audience would have no empathy. All the show would be is action. No character development. No intregue. Nothing worth watching.

I could say the same for Guardsmen - it'd be like watching Soviet/Nazi propaganda. Bash the Astartes, and I'll bash the Guard, .

Tadashi wrote:

ObliviousBlueCaboose wrote:Space marines would have no character. The audience would have no empathy. All the show would be is action. No character development. No intregue. Nothing worth watching.

I could say the same for Guardsmen - it'd be like watching Soviet/Nazi propaganda. Bash the Astartes, and I'll bash the Guard, .

Can't help if giants who have no emotions are something I can't feel empathy towards. On the other hand a show about a guardsman is something I can feel empathy for.