I hope you hear something from Cyan soon! And hopefully (and my heart says, likely) it’s positive feedback.

“We’ve always felt like we were teetering on the brink of failure with this whole project.”
I can assure you you’re not.

For what it’s worth, I drive by Cyan almost everyday and the parking lot has been almost over flowing with cars lately. Something is/has definitely been going on there. Hopefully it is all good!

I had a dream last night. I dreamt that you all had great success with The Book of Ti’ana and were starting on The Book of Atrus. You were trying to decide who to cast as Ghen. After much anticipation, you selected Matt Frewer. I woke up and thought, wow, he definitely has the majestic and frailness look, but he seems too nice.

Anyway, thought you’d find that interesting.

You have to remember they’re working on various projects, as well as the recently announced MORE. I’m just saying, maybe not so much that it’s on the backburner just that Rand has time-sensitive work in the final stages =/

just remember an old, previous post “you got a letter from a-trus! you got a letter from a-trus!!!!” I’m sure he’ll love it. you’ll see. you guys have literally poured your heart and soul into the script. and if he liked the first part, why wouldn’t he like the next. don’t worry! beeeee—e happay!!!!

This project probably isn’t a high priority for Cyan at all. After all, they’re giving you pretty much free run with it and, since it doesn’t involve them hardly at all, they spend their time working on things they have direct input in. I know it’s annoying, but at this stage the whole project is pretty much you two. You’re an extraneous entity. You just have to muddle through.

I’m sure they’ll love it, and they are just really busy right now. Be patient, and it will all work out fine.

I’m afraid quite a lot of projects are on the back burner for Cyan. They have so many ideas, but little reasources and only the time alloted to the rest of us. Rand seems to be very enthusiastic about your project and I’m sure he’ll be pleased. You are doing an excellent job. Don’t be discouraged (that’s why you put this site up, so we could all encourage you) you can still read!

I have so far had no dreams about the movie casting.

Just as long as this doesn’t turn into Duke Nukem Forever.

But yes, I hear you. From what I’ve seen of Cyan Worlds, they take FOREVER to do anything, they kind of wiffle-waffle about and never get jack done.

Heh, perhaps we fans should write them a bit…

It may be that they want to give this script the attention that it deserves, which means a painstaking review of every page. And given that you had provided them with an incomplete script, they may be waiting for your end-of-September complete draft - after all, why bother reviewing it twice?
…
So, if nothing else, that should give you incentive to wrap it up: to be able to hand it off to Cyan and letting the burden of this project rest on their shoulders until they get back to you - which will allow you to focus on FTP for a while.

I would certainly volunteer! However, we don’t want to risk annoying them.

From the sound of it, there is quite a bit of material for them to go through. If they are as thorough as usual, I can understand it taking some time, especially with MORE happening as well.

We are waiting with almost as much anticipation as you are!

I believe when MORE will be released, they’ll have more time for the myst movie, just be patient we all want to see you two bringing this movie to the screen !

Wherever you arrived, no one has ever put the feet! Do not be worried, Do not be worried, apparently Cyan trust you !

Do you happen to know who would be directing the movie? Ever since I read these books and played these games starting many many years ago I have always desired for someone to create a beautiful movie from this story. By far in my opinion it was the best story I had ever read unlike any other.

The thing I fear most however is a bad director or bad actors… A prime example of a good movie from story would be of course Peter Jackson (director) and Lord of the Rings…

Prime example of a ruined movie from an excellent book and story would be “Eragon”.

I just hope and pray it’s done right.

I know this is a bit off topic, but I am curious. I mean no offense to anyone.

I’m sure it will work out for the best. In the meantime, it’s natural to be anxious about it. Just keep swimming.

Erin, i have to disagree. A myst movie would open the world to a whole new generation of Myst fans! the games would start reselling, the books would be flying off the shelves. Then there’s the other book they are now starting to make. with all of that, why would BoT be on the back-burner? i’d think they’d be focusing on that most of all!

oh yea, and forgive my idiocy, but what is MORE? is that another version of Myst online?

I don’t think you have anything to worry about. I think once they read it they’ll approve and love it. It would be like having them read their own novel all over again! But I know you didn’t create that Animatic for nothing!

Myst Fanatic: I’m afraid things don’t normally work like that. Cyan Worlds is taking a huge risk with these guys. It’s really hard to make a successful fantasy movie nowadays that isn’t a huge, three-plus-part epic. Remember Stardust? My second favorite movie ever, but no one else saw it! Besides, with Uru Live being canceled and them scrambling to get Myst Online: Restoration Experiment (MORE) together, they have much more immediate concerns on their mind. A company can’t really bank on a gamble set in the future, especially not one as small as Cyan Worlds. I really want this movie to be a success, and I’m sure they do, too, but they can’t just drop everything they’re doing to focus on a project several years down the line that they don’t have a direct hand in. After all, we don’t want another Squaresoft fiasco, do we?

Oh what happened to them?! Didn’t they just combine with Enix?

Erin: i understand what you are saying, although i don’t really know what you mean by the squaresoft fiasco. But still, I think that Myst is well enough known as atleast a by-word in the gaming communities to merit some interest. And everywhere the Mysteriacs talked with people, they seemed interested. But as far as Cyan goes, with everything they are doing, it does sound like they are very busy. I don’t really want to argue it any further, but i still think it is unfair to say that BoT is on the backburner. ah. doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the Myst movie is going to be made, right? as long as that happens, i’m happy. don’t you agree?

Myst Fanatic: Oh I agree completely. There are few things I want more than to see this movie made. And the Squaresoft thing was when they made the movie Final Fantasy: Spirits Within. It was set to be a huge hit and tanked completely. They had to merge with Enix to not go bankrupt, even though Enix was really hesitant because Square had lost so much money on that gamble. Now, I’m not saying BoT will be like that, but that’s always a risk.

Yeah, but Erin, Square has completely rebounded from that mistake and is now making millions off their game franchises again; AND they released a successful movie (Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, which while not a good movie made bajillions in DVD sales)

I know I’m new to your community of written comment, but I wanted to throw this out there. I’m writing my thesis on communication methods used in online gaming (MMORPG’s). Your comments are the first I am reading about MORE, so I am about to do some more research on it. Keep that in mind as you read this. I have another angle for you on why the script might be delayed. And this is all conjecture…but think about this….

There is no game I have enjoyed more, or been more frustrated by when I get stuck…than Myst. It was the first game I ever saw that incorporated video. Zork would soon follow suit. It was because of those two series I played more and more computer-based series over console games. More keys to press, if you will. But it spawned a million knock-offs…the only of which I liked was Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

JUST in the past several months I have found myself interested in playing and completing at least 10 of the upcoming or existent MMORPG’s, let alone the console games I am nowhere close to completing. And as MMO’s go, they have a subscription fee. So it depends on how much time AND money I want to spend on whether I become a stable and revenue generating user.

MMORPGS…..I started in Everquest, went to World of Warcraft - am beta-ing Lich King as we speak, played Matrix and Age of Conan along the way, just completed Act 4 of Hellgate London - haven’t even had a chance to touch the expansion of Stonehenge…and I can’t wait to play Stargate Worlds, Star Trek Online or Spore. And I still hold down a 40+hr job, DJ every week, and spend my weekends singing for a karoke bar for $50 a night. My gaming time is sometimes coveted by me.

But this is to say that the market, my friends…is becoming very saturated with choices. And users can’t dedicate the time they used to, to multiple games, with something like that happening. In order for a company like Cyan to grab its niche users back into the fold (after Uru for instance)…some things have to take priority higher than others. Perhaps (and I stress the word “perhaps”) that is what we are seeing here. There is a multitude of competition, the likes of which the gaming world has never seen.

No doubt our boys here at MystMovie have worked their seats off to make this happen. But if Cyan is holding off because of MORE, then some might say they should finish -that- project properly instead of setting it (and any possible movie) up to fail miserably. It might make more sense to have a successful MORE in place before putting a movie out there. In a perfect world they might be able to feed off each other.

LOTR wasn’t made without a fight and meticulous planning, marketing and execution.

I agree with Aaron. Cyan worlds needs MORE to work, and, in different ways, it is as major as this movie. Also, it is their project, and nobody will be working on it (and holding their breath) if they don’t. Don’t worry, you have the dedication and enthusiasm to finish this. A good MORE and a good movie combined would both help each other. You guys are working on the good movie, and they are working on the good MORE. They’ll get back to you in time, and it will be a good responce, and you will write an entry tentatively title Breathing.

Aaron gets exactly what I’m talking about. Thank you for explaining it better than I could.

“Do you happen to know who would be directing the movie?”
_
The hope is that it will be Patrick and myself. Not to worry, bad actors will not be an issue. We are going after A-List talent. As for bad directors….well, you’ll have to form your own opinions about that. Personally, I think we’re pretty damn good
_
MORE is very important to Cyan’s future. There is no question that it needs to be a priority for them right now. I’m not quite as confident that it is going to be solely responsible for putting Cyan back in the comfort zone in the industry as others are. I think they need to spend some energy focusing on newer, non-Myst-related projects as well. For a lot of us, the Myst worlds are captivating and moving, but to a larger audience - and unfortunately to the majority of the gaming demographic - Myst does not engage the player in the ways they want to be engaged. Cyan stands on certain principles in their game development, which I fully respect, but if they are going to have another success like Myst (the original) they are going to need to find a way to make their non-violent approach to gaming fit into the zeitgeist somehow.

I had a dream last night. I dreamt that you all had great success with The Book of Ti’ana and were starting on The Book of Atrus.
I had a dream last night too. I dreamt that I harvested broccoli bouquets from trees. Why aren’t there broccoli trees? That’d be neat.

Are you saying we have as much chance of succeeding as we do of having broccoli from a tree, Junee? >:o I will END YOU! You will be ENDED! =P

My last year of marching band at band camp it was really sunny one day and all the trees looked like broccoli more than usual. It made the whole woodwind section hungry.

This’ll be a much better hit than Final Fantasy (which seems like a cool movie anyway).

Adrian, remember: “the ending, has not yet been written…”

“Broccoli bouquets?” Yuck!

Finding actors who fit into the flow of style that Rand and Robyn created in the original Myst will be hard. Every time I play Riven, I’m shocked at how good of actor Rand is.

Any word yet? I know asking probably will not help, but I had to ask.

Alexi: I… disagree. Rand was good in Riven, but he’s absolutely terrible in Exile and Revelation. Especially Revelation.
… no offense Rand, if you’re reading this…

Anyway, the A-list talent thing… I dunno. maybe it’s just me and my local theatre roots, but sometimes relatively unknown people can be as good or better than the big stars.

I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t want Orlando Bloom as Veovis or something equally “wat”. (though perhaps Christian Bale could pull it off… hmmmmm.)

@Ryuu: I don’t really remember how Rand was in Revelation, but I thought he was extremely good in Exile… perhaps the best performance out of all the games.

I’m afraid the only games I remember in their entirety are Revelation and End of Ages because I played them within the last year, and the original Myst because I played the DS version and my mom played it (I was away when she played Riven). I was a little girl when I played the others. I remember being quite impressed and shocked when I learned Atrus and Achenar were played by the same man in the first game. It might have been the static, but I couldn’t tell at all because the mannerisms were so different. I agree that he was really good in Revelation. I can’t say much of End of Ages, it’s hard to go from visible acting to voice acting.

Atrus was not Rand Miller in End of Ages, Erin. He was someone else. I don’t know his name, though.

Really? Well that explains why he wasn’t as good, now wouldn’t it?

I’m pretty sure Atrus was never played by anyone other than Rand Miller…

I’ve never played any of the games beyond Exile, since I’m going through them very, very, very slowly. But from what I’ve seen thus far, Riven had the best acting.

Quote:(I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t want Orlando Bloom as Veovis or something equally “wat”. (though perhaps Christian Bale could pull it off… hmmmmm.)

I think Orlando Bloom would be a good choice, as odd as that is.

Are you saying we have as much chance of succeeding as we do of having broccoli from a tree, Junee? >:o I will END YOU! You will be ENDED! =P
Don’t make me hit you. I just wanted to tell people about my dream, someone’s reading waaay too much into stuff. And who knows what GMOs people will bring us in the future?
(Not that I look forward to it, even if they DO make broccoli trees… (Try to interpret that one, ha!))

Noooo not Orlando Bloom! I think he’s one of the worst actors right now. I don’t understand how he keeps getting work. He’s not even hot.

Orlando Bloom is the direct contrast of Veovis. You do realize that, right Herohtar?

If we ever get to see a movie with adult Ghen it’s gotta be Ian McKellen. When I first saw him in X-Men (shut up, I’m young), I immediately thought Ghen.

Ian McKellen is almost 70 years old. How old is Ghen in The Book of Atrus?

I think he was in his thirties when he returns for Atrus. No, Christopher Lee is much better suited, but still to old.

@Andy: That wasn’t me; I agree with you about Orlando Bloom, lol.

Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee are both much too old to be Gehn. I don’t know my non-LOTR actors well enough to have any suggestions though.

I’m telling y’all, Matt Frewer would be perfect for the part. He’s old, but not that old. He has to look and the acting experience. He had a cameo in the remake of Dawn of the Dead, so he shouldn’t be too hard to get. Get him to take anger increasement classes and he’d make a great Ghen!

From some reason I always thought Wentworth Miller could be a good veovis.Just a little hair changing and he should be fine.

Oh,and if the movie ever go on to shooting,some comuter tweaking to the actors eyes will be needed,to make them white (at least d’ni characters).Oh,and japanese accent (it just sounds cool) when the characters talk d’ni-but-engish-but-still-d’ni is a must! it always worked in other movies

Well if Escher is anything to go by, Japanese accent wouldn’t work. Escher had some kind of German sounding accent didn’t he? I can’t remember anymore. I just remember his pronoucniation of “D’ni” as “Duhch-nee”!! LOL

~Kia

And that’s why people hate esher

Anyway,I still like japanese accent better.Always works.

Why would the D’ni speak with an accent? Anna is the outsider here. If we’re saying that D’ni now sounds like English she would be the one having some kind of “surface” accent that slowly diminishes over time. (Instead of coming there speaking clear English and then slowly get an accent as she learns… O.o)
-
It just dawned on me that Aitrus is the dark mysterious one. You lot can keep on fangirling Mr I-want-everyone-to-like-me Veovis. I want the black-haired cutie who’s torn between the love for his wife and the love for his best friend. *swoon*

By adult Ghen I meant old-guy Ghen like in Riven. I really can’t match a lot of actors’ names and faces so I can’t really push for anyone else. I think the D’ni should absolutely have accents. I’m not entirely sure why they speak English. They didn’t start on Earth, after all. I forgot if they made contact with the surface before BoT. Giving the D’ni accents would make them seem more foreign and exotic, too.

What? The D’ni never spoke English….not until after The Fall, when the survivors like Esher learned it. Although I do wonder how the people in the Ages of Myst seemed to speak “Atrus’ language”, be it English or D’ni without anyone ever linking there before….hmmmm.
_
Anyway, John Keston, Gehn’s actor in Riven, is THE perfect Gehn. Unfortunately he was in his 70’s when that game came out in 1997. So….it’d totally contradict the story if he appeared again, 36-33 years before Riven (and in the prologue as well).

John Keston is AMAZING.

Accents? The D’ni would be speaking D’ni (we’d just hear it as English), why the heck would they have an accent? And for the love of god, not a Japanese accent - Japanese dialects sound absolutely god-awful in English and generally make the person sound completely uneducated (unless you are Ken Watanabe)

If you insist on the D’ni speaking a dialect of some sort to emphasize that they are not really speaking english, get a good dialect coach and have them come up with a real dialect. Given the sounds of D’ni and its general morphology, I think the closest Earth equivalent would be Lebanese with hints of Egyptian and Israeli. D’ni is grammatically and … aurally? … most similar to Hebrew and Arabic, as far as I am aware. Hell, Shorah and Salaam mean the same thing (peace) and are used in the same way (as a greeting)

And before someone pulls out the “ITS IN NEW MEXICO” argument, realize that it doesn’t matter where D’ni is geographically - their language was unaffected by surface contact and is still more similar to Arabic and Hebrew than anything else.

TL;DR -> If you INSIST on the D’ni speaking with some sort of foreign accent, they should have Arabic accents.

I agree with some kind of Arabic accent. There’s definitely a Middle Eastern influence in the music in the games.

I have a question. In End of Ages we clearly see that the D’ni city is under New Mexico in the USA. But in BoT, there are camels and people praising Allah and Anna is European and a foreigner on the surface. What does that mean?

Well, I’ve always imagined someone like Billy Zane as a Veovis. He seems to have a hot and cold intensity about him and he can look like aristocracy.

I always like to see movies where new actors and actresses are introduced alongside some of the more nameable. When a name and face are new, their unexpectedness can attribute to a character’s believability. I’m excited to see who will be chosen for their parts.

Erin: It means that originally, Rand and Robyn had D’ni underneath the Middle East, whilst for Uru they decided to change it to something more familiar and accessible to their primarily American audience.

D’niel: I think Billy Zane doesn’t have the right look or voice for Veovis… though I’d like to see him in the movie somewhere. his voice is just so amazing.
… I of course will always hear him as “Ansem” from the original kingdom hearts, which he made absolutely chilling despite the absurdity of some of his lines. That is a man who can make “Darkness is the heart’s true essence!” sound not campy, but terrifying.

Ryuu: I’ve always heard it was David Wingrove who was responsible for the Middle East stuff, not the Millers.

Herohtar: I think you are correct.I think they always wanted d’ni to be there,it was david who did the middle-east thing.Beside,I think new mexico is much better.

Ryuu: I’m from Israel and talk Hebrew it will be cool to see d’ni speak in that accent,but I believe it will be hard to do so.The d’ni had no contect with surface people,so I can’t see any reason they won’t have hebrew accent.

I really disagree, you guys. I know everyone blames Wingrove, but given the history of New Mexico, it makes much more sense for D’ni to be under the Middle East. The Mediterranean has a history of volcanic activity which New Mexico does not; the Spaniards were the primary force in NM at the time and thus Annah would have had to have been of spanish descent (which she is not, since Atrus and Ghen both speak English).

That, and it’s cooler.

Basically guys, it’s called a ret-con, it happens all the time in fiction. Rand simply retconned it for Uru. Nyrrgh.

Randomly? While I don’t think Billy Zane would be a good Veovis, I just realized today - he’d make a perfect Ghen for Book of Atrus.

I’d audition for this movie in a heartbeat.

Ryuu: as a player/reader,I personally don’t care for the fact.It’s a game,after all.

I still think new mexico is cooler.As I said before: Indians,cowboys,small towns,and a secret underground city.

Beside,if you care about the facts,what about all those “underground city” legends of the indians?

“I really disagree, you guys. I know everyone blames Wingrove, but given the history of New Mexico, it makes much more sense for D’ni to be under the Middle East. The Mediterranean has a history of volcanic activity which New Mexico does not; the Spaniards were the primary force in NM at the time and thus Annah would have had to have been of spanish descent (which she is not, since Atrus and Gehn both speak English).

That, and it’s cooler.

Basically guys, it’s called a ret-con, it happens all the time in fiction. Rand simply retconned it for Uru. Nyrrgh.”
Yes, I think it was just retconned because, although the Middle East is exotic enough for the books, it is too exotic for URU, which wants you to start at a familiar spot, just like you’ve been driving through the middle of nowhere.

The Middle East gives a nice background with a powerful but mysterious Ottoman Empire. Anna’s parents are just wackos who moved in from England, or somewhere.

That, and as before mentioned, its cooler.

As for the accent, D’ni is very much like Hebrew or Arabic. However, as the D’ni spoken is probably going to be spoken as English (please don’t do the subtitles of a foreign language thing, just don’t), accent based on that wouldn’t matter. An accent would be cool, though. Esher’s accent was very… Dukni, but I’m not sure if others can pull it off. Any consistent believable accent should work.

Ryuu: No volcanic activity in NM? I beg to differ: http://www.nmnaturalhistory.org/sci_volcanoes.html
Yes, it was ret-conned, but I believe it was because their original intent was NM and the Middle Eastern thing was done by Wingrove as (IIRC) even Cyan has stated.

That being said, I think the ME version of the story works better.

John Keston forever, he did a better job then Brad Dourif, and Brad got a part in The Lord of The Rings.

James Marsters for Veovis.

~Kia

Or for Veovis… another James… James Callis . And why not
Edward James Olmos for Aitrus …

I’ll be in your movie. But my demands are: at least 5 dollars a day, an endless supply of Poland Springs sparkling, and my own hotel room at the Motel 6. I shall not settle for less.

Oh my god, James Callis. Yes. Yes. Yes, forever yes.

Hee, Thomas~

I am actually thinking: my mother does have SAG connections, so if/when you guys need extras… I do fit the profile of terribly pale and elfin at least!

and…after reflexion…

I can not imagine losing all input of D. Wingrove … Tadjinar, Jarnindu, the Nomads, camels, the Marchants … none of it in New Mexico (at least I think so …)

Who’s to say that Rand didn’t come up with that stuff and decided to retcon it later? I doubt that it was all Wingrove’s work.

Because gehn talked about the amad tribe (native americans who lived in new mexico) in his journal in “riven the sequel to myst”,which came out before “myst the book of ti’ana” (I think,correct me if I’m wrong).

There could be several different exits, one in New Mexico and another in the middle east. D’ni was after all a massive empire with tunnels extending for uncountable miles.

Hmm…Interesting that the Ottoman Empire was mentioned above *wink, wink*.
_
Listen, this is a point of contention even among those behind the scenes of this project. More discussions will need to be had on the matter as the project progresses. Patrick and myself are of like mind on the issue. Others are less inclined to agree. We have a strong case for our personal preferences. That’s all I’ll say for now.

As far as accents go, there is a sort of theatrical standard that has been employed for a very long time, and it works. For pieces like this it is most common for the dialect to be that of British (LOTR, Gladiator, King Arthur, any Shakespeare - the list goes on and on). I’m not saying they are all great movies, but in the end, the British dialect works to convey the sense of period. It certainly doesn’t make sense for Romans to be speaking English - let alone with a British dialect, but it was much less clunky than trying to impose a Latin dialect. Maximus in Gladiator, for example, was a Spaniard. He also spoke in a British dialect. Elves in LOTR. Dwarfs in LOTR…All of the characters in LOTR. It just works. Our vision is for the D’ni to speak in the comfortable dialect of British. Other surface dwellers - outside of Anna (who is BRITISH) may be a different story.

Adrian Wrote :
“We have a strong case for our personal preferences. That’s all I’ll say for now.”

oh? that’s all you’ll say for now… sure? …. DOH !!!

that’s very interesting. Are you going to ask Rand or someone help to actually vocalize the D’ni language, or are you just going to be speaking English and say that the D’ni Language is translated that way? (of course, that’s a stupid question, otherwise the movie wouldn’t make sense)

oh, and by the way, where’s patrick? we haven’t heard from him in it seems like forever?

Oh God, not another desert discussion.
I swear this will reach over 100 comments simply because we’re getting no new posts.
But Ryuu, that is the EXACT line I thought of when I heard “Billy Zane”, picture Veovis saying that and doing the gesture - LOL! I agree he sounded creepy.
_
Do not worry about the accent. Remember - chicks dig the Bramerican accent.

I dig it.

Oh, yes, I could be an extra…I was an extra in the Indiana Jones movie last year when I was up in New Haven…THAT was a blast!

I have acted in several short productions, all with a budget of about five dollars.

“Because gehn talked about the amad tribe (native americans who lived in new mexico) in his journal in “riven the sequel to myst”,which came out before “myst the book of ti’ana” (I think,correct me if I’m wrong).”

I don’t remember him saying anything of the kind.

Ah… you may be right…I never saw that too (not reading journals :P) but someone said that on a forum or something…so I may be wrong,forget what I said.

Point is,I think new mexico is better,O.K? everything is now set on NM anyway,changing it would be a mess.

“Because gehn talked about the amad tribe (native americans who lived in new mexico)”
The Amad do not have to be native americans. In fact, “The name “Amad” arguably has some quasi-Eastern quality, consistent to the earlier concept that the Cleft was somewhere in the Middle East,”- MYSTlore. There were many more small ethnic groups in the Middle East that would fit better with highly advanced technology than any Amerindians.
“There could be several different exits, one in New Mexico and another in the middle east. D’ni was after all a massive empire with tunnels extending for uncountable miles.”
However, both sites claim to be the Great Shaft. There was only one of those, and it went straight up (so it can’t be that one just connects partway through to it).

I will say this: at least arguments like this in our fandom don’t escalate into pointless namecalling and generally end with both sides presenting their arguments and eventually going “Fine, I think it’s in X place, you think it’s in Y, let’s all hug and go solve more puzzles.” ^_^

Agreed ryuu

Anyway,I came to realize it doesn’t really matter what’s the facts.The mysteriacs can do whatever they want with the movie: it’s all fine.
I still stick with what cyan worlds,and MOUL told us: new mexico.Old west,indians,it could be nice.A different kind of western but nevermind,I’ll leave it for the movie makers.

The cleft is in New Mexico, and all the newer official stuff supports that. However, I think that, for the movie, artistic license is fine, and that the Middle East is a better choice.

Just checking in… *cough I’ll be an extra cough* Any news from Cyan???

may be the best solution would be to choose another location for the film … The Australia … The Mongolia … Kazakhstan … after all deserts are not lacking! Anyway, wherever is the Cleft, it will be an imaginary Place

It’s in New Mexico.
By the way, I’ve read teh journals tons of times, and Gehn does mention that the imagers of him and Keta mimiced the advanced technology of the Amad tribe.

I just popped in…

Wow… 94 comments (95 + me)

Where in the hell has this post gone O-o I’m starting to wonder if I missed something incredible

(pours through the posts and finds a few things concerning casting and the dialects)

…okay… I’m lost =P

I’m the goddess of accidentally moving things off topic. Sorry about that. But hey, you guys were complaining about not many posts. Here you go! XD

I know! There hasn’t been a response this big since those two idiots hacked into Patrick and Adrian’s ID’s. (I don’t want ANYONE continuing that subject. I don’t think Adrian or Patrick would like it) But still, at least now they know that people are still coming to the website.

Just to add useless info:

I remember the whole rationale for the cleft location was revealed when the first DRC began divulging information. Since they wanted to create an experience from being fictional story to a “realistic” experience, they explained the New Mexico location was kept a secret until it was to be opened to explorers. Though the storyline of Atrus was personified in game and book, Wingrove was either “nudged” or given freedom to place it wherever to tell the story but keep a lid on it all. I think the middle east location was genius, but there has never been any actual evidence of a New Mexico placement in the story timeframe except for reports from the DNC.

All this is of course stemmed from the Millers’ desires to create a “reality” within our own.

So to the “actuality” of when D’ni was opened to explorers, this was then divulged to be in the New Mexico location and Richard Watkins began to give much more insight to all things D’ni from culture, language, etc. ad nauseam.

“may be the best solution would be to choose another location for the film … The Australia … The Mongolia … Kazakhstan … after all deserts are not lacking!”
Mongolia! Then Anna can be some sort of Marco Polo’s granddaughter, and the empire is the Chinese.

“…’Fine, I think it’s in X place, you think it’s in Y, let’s all hug and go solve more puzzles.’,…”
I think it is in the Middle East, I can’t find where you think it is. Hugs everyone. Our Mysteriac friends need to bring the puzzles.

“…but there has never been any actual evidence of a New Mexico placement in the story timeframe except for reports from the DNC.”
The Democratic National Convention? O_o

D’niel is correct; which is why I personally believe that the New Mexico shift is in fact a retcon. It’s more believable to be able to go out to a desert in the middle of New Mexico for an archaeological dig considering that Cyan’s primary audience is American (and even for most foreigners; archaeologists I know can be uneasy about some areas in the mideast due to the violence that can go on there, while New Mexico is fairly tame in this day and age) at the drop of a Relto book. So in the context of Uru and the DRC, NM is more sensical.
That doesn’t mean that Rand and co planned it from the beginning. the DRC backstory may be that it was ALWAYS in NM and the “mideast” thing was a ruse to keep curious explorers from stumbling upon it by accident; but in acutality it’s far more likely that Rand and Robyn didn’t HAVE a set location for D’ni initially other than “under a desert” and Wingrove put forth the suggestion of the Middle East - an ideal location both geologically and culturally. the Middle East is a staple of adventure fiction as a land of the exotic and unknown, and Book of Ti’ana fits firmly in the genre of old-style adventure fiction in the tradition of Jules Verne.
Sometime during the creation process of Uru, someone decided that the middle east was no longer feasible for the reasons I outlined above (inaccessibility, unfamiliarity to the audience, etc). Sticking it in one’s “backyard” makes it seem “closer”, which was the effect they wanted in Uru.
So if you step back from the metafiction for a moment, the solution is obvious: Once upon a time D’ni was “officially” under the middle east; now it’s “officially” under New Mexico; and Adrian and Patrick can pick whichever location they feel fits their adaptation of the narrative better ^_^

(Also this is totally a better conversation than a stupid one about “hackers!”)

I actually encourage everyone to pick up a history of New Mexico sometime, and perhaps also a history of the Middle East (I’d suggest areas around the Mediterranean known for volcanic activity. The country in question bears some cultural resemblance to Morroco, Egypt, or Saudi Arabia, so you can look there for inspiration), and read about the period of the 1700’s, namely around 1710-14 (around when Anna was surveying/came to D’ni), then 1766-1781 (around-ish the events of Book of Atrus), then look at the year 1806. It’s quite an interesting read to see what was going on historically in those two areas!

Glora: Yes, you see, the Democrats have long known the location of D’ni, and have been secretly hatching a plan utilizing linking books, nara stones, and quabs to enact world peace.

“Yes, you see, the Democrats have long known the location of D’ni, and have been secretly hatching a plan utilizing linking books, nara stones, and quabs to enact world peace.”

So it’s true? They’re going to build themselves shelters out of nara, link into them and release the quabs on their enemies! :O

My dream for this city is finally coming true!

@ D’niel - Richard Watkins?! Blasphemer!

The cleft was originally planned to be in New Mexico.

The following is from an OOC interview with Richard Watson (That’s RAWA, Cyan employee, not the character Dr. Watson of the DRC) on Game Invasion back in 2005:

The novels do not say where the Cleft is located, but gives several hints that it is in the Middle East. Uru pretty blatantly says that the Cleft is in the southwestern United States. People ask why we moved it New Mexico in Uru. The fact is that the Cleft has always been in New Mexico, and the red flags I raised when the hints about the Middle East were put in the novels were over-ruled. At the time, we never intended to reveal the true location of the Cleft, so the misdirection to the Cleft’s location being in the Middle East was considered acceptable, I guess. Frankly, I was very happy that the locale was finally set straight in Uru.

(link) http://www.lockergnome.com/game/2005/02/10/interview-with-richard-watson-part-ii/

For what it’s worth, I’d prefer it to be in the middle east.

Wow. Was I asleep at the keyboard or what? Watson and DRC. Once again, the political season messes me up.

“Glora”
Well, that’s a new spelling…

” “Yes, you see, the Democrats have long known the location of D’ni, and have been secretly hatching a plan utilizing linking books, nara stones, and quabs to enact world peace.”

So it’s true? They’re going to build themselves shelters out of nara, link into them and release the quabs on their enemies! ”
Of course not. They link the quabs into a lever, stick it under the Earth, drop a bunch of nara stones on the other side of the lever, and link out as the Earth careens into the sun. Then they can blame the destruction on the sun instead of themselves. Plus, releasing quabs on enemies is just too cruel. ^_^

Decides to add more confusion:
Scenes that must be in the movie.
1) Aitrus rescuing Veovis.
2) Aitrus redeeming Veovis’ promise
3) Ae’garis (totally forgot how to spell his name just right now and am too lazy to check if I’m right) tricking Aitrus/Veovis

Things that could make the movie horrible.
1) Fleshing out Ae’garis. He’s a sort of reasonless personification of anger and rebellion.
2) The Mysteriacs both dying. This would make it hard to finish the movie.
3) Adding a random character or really messing with someone’s personality to resolve conflicts already ideally solved in the book but are cast off for no reason by the movie makers.

Cameos that would be really, really cool.
1) Esher

O_O Esher should TOTALLY be in there! He could be a prisoner and be freakin’ nuts like when you lose the game.

This movie is based on the BoT, not Uru. Who cares what RAWA says? Uru is just a computer game. *feels rebellious* :p

And MTBOT is a…book?

Quoteing Junee This movie is based on the BoT, not Uru. Who cares what RAWA says? Uru is just a computer game.
Yeah, I actually agree with you completely. I only posted the RAWA quote because there was some speculation that perhaps they changed the location to New Mexico after the fact, so it was purely informative. That’s why I also posted that I personally prefer it in the middle east.

Well,it appears I lose this fight.Don’t get me wrong.I love the middle east thing.Very interesting and different.

But what can I say? I “grown” (you know what I mean ) on MOUL (uru) and I’m used to know the cleft is on new mexico.Also,living in Israel,new mexico is very interesting for me,too.

Cowgirl anna…that could be interesting

“O_O Esher should TOTALLY be in there! He could be a prisoner and be freakin’ nuts like when you lose the game.”
Why would he be a prisoner? Is that why he feels so strongly about restoring Duck’ni? Guilt?

Anyway, he was an archivist, right? And doesn’t Aitrus deal with them at some time (for the documentation of ahrotahntee who married?)? Never says he wasn’t there. Would actually make [some] sense for him to talk so about Ti’ana.

I just would so want to see a younger Esher (somewhat like the one in the EoA Trailer) just randomly walking around. Talking or doing something attached to the plot would make it even better.

“And MTBOT is a…book?”
ahaha… yeah. We’re arguing whether books or computer games are more canon.

NO. No Esher and no Kadish, kthxbai. *hates them both* It’s BoT. Just… do BoT, don’t worry about sh** with the games. just. what.

no Esher. 90% of the Myst fans I know hate his guts and don’t even consider the 5th game canon.

Also, I’d prefer to flesh out Ae’garis. Villains who are evil for the sake of evil are boring; I’d like him to have more motivation than just being a jerkass. That doesn’t mean he has to have a tragic past or something, he could still just be a jerkass, but I’d like to have some reason for his jerkassness.

So just because you hate Esher he shouldn’t be included? That hardly seems fair. And I think he would be cool as a prisoner just because we could see the nutso aspect of his personality and that might be a cool way to do it. Doesn’t have to be a prisoner, I just like to see him be CRAAAAAZY!

*Playing small finger violin*

This place should have a FORUM section.

@Ryuu Tenshi
90% of the Myst fans you know are weird. If anything, the fifth would be the ONLY one that’s canon (besides Uru), with Exile and Revelation perhaps.
@MystRiven
Agreed.
It would be nice to have Esher, but it’s not really….needed.
A’gaeris was mad with revenge from being exlcuded from the Guild for something he didn’t do. It’s like losing your job for something so horrible and being exiled to the streets for something you didn’t do. That, and he was insane. Hard to believe they actually had a cult following towards the end there.

Oh and….I think we’re all still holding our breath if you know what I mean….:D This is the 118th comment…

Havent heard from Patrick in a while and at least if we could have new insights at least every 5 days it would freshen up the place.
Even if they just gives us there grocery list :/ LoL

@Andy
Yeah….I know what you mean!

I think we proved that this project is not going completely unnoticed.

Again, more useless info just to keep this going…

RAWA is actually the chief D’ni historian and linguist with Cyan, so he is actually quite the expert. If I understand his post, if he is still there anyways, he is in charge of keeping it all constant and consistent. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_A._Watson

Not to cause strife, just offering info about the originators. Kinda like to keep the respect where it belongs.

Another sort of late add-in with Uru is the D’ni use of the Bahro creatures. I suppose I’m not completely sure when they moved into the Cavern, but were they there during prior to The Fall? I’ve not had the opportunity to explore that part of the history, but understood they played a part not described in the books.

I have to agree with Deius and everyone else who prefers the Middle East locale for D’ni. There’s something exotic, far-off, and undiscovered about that area, not to mention it was where the birth of civilization started and where great empires like those of Egypt and Rome ruled the known world. This, to me, fits the D’ni picture perfectly, possibly even instigating the influence of those few Maintainers gone missing in the early days of D’ni. Wherever the Mysteriacs put the story, however, will be where the vast majority of the public will envision it, so I’ll just wait and watch, and appreciate the outcome.

“NO. No Esher and no Kadish, kthxbai. *hates them both* It’s BoT. Just… do BoT, don’t worry about sh** with the games. just. what.

no Esher. 90% of the Myst fans I know hate his guts and don’t even consider the 5th game canon.” So? He’s still there. Even if he wasn’t there, he could still exist in BoT. The movie will need more people than just those main characters in BoT. I’m not saying the movie should follow his story, just that since it needs someone of his position, it should be him.

“Also, I’d prefer to flesh out Ae’garis. Villains who are evil for the sake of evil are boring; I’d like him to have more motivation than just being a jerkass. That doesn’t mean he has to have a tragic past or something, he could still just be a jerkass, but I’d like to have some reason for his jerkassness.”
What I’m saying is that fleshing out Ae’garis is a very dangerous thing to do. He does have a reason for being a “jerkdonkey”, but end it at that. He needs the sort of mysterious background. DId he originally do something wrong, or was he a victim of the guild system? We don’t know. He says he was innocent, but we can’t check it at all. He is evil. There are simply people in the world who want to be bad, whether they have a cause or not. The complexity is with Veovis, and fleshing out Ae’garis would be diminishing Veovis.

“Oh and….I think we’re all still holding our breath if you know what I mean….:D This is the 118th comment…”
So this is the 124th. Wow.

D’ni, URU Cleft and Fissure near a dormant volcano?
Click the link below and look at what “D” location is for:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&q=uru%20cleft%20new%20mexico&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

Link does’nt work here :/ so in GOOGLE enter “New Mexico Cleft” and look at location “B”

I guess there is a volcano there, and I am an idiot when it comes to geology/geography. *eats her words*
That’s hardly a desert, though…