Skip to main content

adaptation comparison - What was the timeframe which the Ender's Game movie took place within?


The book and the movie for Ender's Game each appear to work within very different timeframes.



The book started when Ender was six and appears to have continued for a span of five to seven years. In contrast, during the movie, there's a shot in which Colonel Graff views a computer screen and sees the Formic ships in earth's vicinity. I believe that this shot of the computer screen indicated that the Formics were twenty eight days away. This would mean that the entire Ender's Game movie took place within a twenty eight day timeframe.


Can anyone confirm this?



Answer



During Ender's training in one of his letters to Valentine he says that he has been training for three months with his launchie group (at the point only three of them passed the gravitation planet test). After that initial period we see he is assigned to Salamander Army. Now, the way the movie presents it, it almost seems like Ender is in 1 batte with Salamander Army before being promoted to commander. I think it is fair to assume that he was actually in the army for more than one battle, particularly since there was training time leading up to the battle which was portrayed.


After he is given his command is when we see Graff and the display of ships. And we to assume Ender clearly fought several armies as the leader of Dragon Army, before defeating the Salamander and Rat army in the 2 on 1 fight. I read that display to mean the human fleet was going to reach the Formic System in 28 days. Then he gets promoted to command school. However, before that he says he won't go and is back on Earth at the lake. He has time to build his raft. Maybe a week there.


Then he goes into Cryo-sleep on his journey to command school, seems to take 20 days or so? There is a display on his sleep chamber, and I remember thinking there weren't very many days left.


Then there are a series of battles in command school with the simulator and his team, before the final battle. These clearly take place over a period of days, if not weeks.


So my rough estimate is



  • 3 months as a launchie


  • 1+ month in Salamander Army

  • 1+ week as commander of Dragon Army

  • 1+ week at the lake

  • 20+ days of travel to Command School

  • 3+ days at Command School


This brings a low estimate to possibly 5 months and 1 week. It also throws off whatever the display Graff was looking at for the IFF Fleet reaching Formic space. Maybe there was a danger that the Formics would detect the fleet and demolish them before they had a commander? That apparently didn't happen.


As is the consensus of many, putting an extra five minutes into 5-6 different things would have greatly improved the development of elements in the film.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?
Post a Comment
Read more