Line #30 Trivia/EndersGame


1	!!Books:
2	* ExecutiveMeddling:
3	** ''Ender's Shadow'' was originally titled "Urchin". That title was re-included as that of the first chapter.
4	** An accidental example: Card intended for only ''Speaker For the Dead'' and ''Ender's Game'' to be written. His agent accidentally pitched them as "the Ender trilogy", and Card decided to use the opening to write ''Xenocide''.
5	* InspirationForTheWork: Orson Scott Card got the idea for ''Ender's Game'' as a kid, when he tried to theorize what the military of the future would use to train soldiers in space, thus imagining the Battle Room. That manifested into the original short story, but the full novel didn't emerge until he was trying to decide who would be the protagonist of ''Speaker for the Dead'', when his wife suggested it could be Ender.
6	* ReferencedBy:
7	** Bliss from ''Literature/Mouse2017'' owns a copy of ''Ender's Game''.
8	** The third DTV ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' movie is called "[[Recap/FuturamaM3BendersGame Bender's Game]]", replacing Ender's name for a character in the work whose name rhymes with theirs, although the plots are very unlike each other.
9	* ScienceMarchesOn: Notably averted in the remarkably accurate descriptions of tablet-sized computers, the Internet, and the blogosphere, in a book written before the creation of the World Wide Web. Although, as [[http://xkcd.com/635 xkcd points out]], it missed the mark on the blogosphere in terms of scale if nothing else.
10	* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The ''Shadow'' books were originally going to be written by different authors, each centering on a different member of Ender's friends.
11	* WordOfGod: In one interview on ''National Review'', Card says that he was inspired by Bruce Catton's histories of the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar, and that part of the message was that war means sacrificing the innocence of young people for the Greater Good and that it is the duty of the old to make sure their civilization is worth it.
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13	!!Movie
14	* AllStarCast: Creator/HarrisonFord, Creator/BenKingsley, Creator/AbigailBreslin and more. In fact, the marketing campaign made a point of including "Academy Award Nominee" and "Academy Award Winner" in front of every name that qualified to show just how many heavy hitters were in the cast. Even Harrison Ford's nomination for ''Film/{{Witness}}'' was included even though he normally doesn't have any awards or nominations mentioned above his credit.
15	* BoxOfficeBomb: The film was budgeted at $110 million not counting publicity, and it only made back $125 million worldwide. This is mainly due to an extremely poor marketing campaign that, in assuming that all audiences were familiar with the novel, not only made the story rather unclear, but suffered from [[UncertainAudience uncertainty about its target audience]], and the tight competition it faced from ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld''. The backlash the film received from the LGBT community due to Card's less-than-favorable views on homosexuality and gay marriage did not help Lionsgate one bit, despite the fact that [[http://www.thewrap.com/orson-scott-card-boycott-enders-game-box-office-book-instead Card actually makes NO money from the film's ticket sales]], and director Creator/GavinHood and co-star Creator/HarrisonFord stating repeatedly that they support gay rights.
16	* DawsonCasting: The Battle School students are all meant to be ten years old, but they're all played by actors who are very obviously in their teens.
17	* DevelopmentHell: The film was mired there for decades. Unusually, Card was partially involved in keeping it there, as he preferred having no film than having one with a poor script and a bad child actor in the main role.
18	* EnforcedMethodActing: The film was shot in sequence with Ford keeping his distance from Butterfield and the other kids at first so that their being in awe of The Harrison Ford (as well as their physical growth) would work for rather than against the story.
19	* FakeAmerican: The British Asa Butterfield as Ender.
20	* OffTheShelfFX: The command school sequences show the characters using [[https://www2.razerzone.com/au-en/gaming-keyboards-keypads/razer-nostromo Nostromo keypads]] as they give commands to the fleet.
21	* PlayingWithCharacterType: Harrison Ford is known for playing heroic characters, among them [[Franchise/StarWars Han Solo]], a JerkWithAHeartOfGold that was likable. Ford's portrayal of Graff is just the opposite - a cold, calculating figure that isn't concerned for the safety of his cadets so much as he's concerned with overwhelming an alien race.
22	* RoleEndingMisdemeanor: Orson Scott Card's vocal cameo was removed from the final cut after threats to boycott the film followed anti-gay remarks he had made. Still didn't help its box office chances, though.
23	* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: Finally released in October and November of 2013.
24	-->'''Card''': My favorite thing about the end of 2013: I will never again have to answer questions about when the ''Ender's Game'' movie will come out.
25	* StillbornFranchise: Plans were made for a sequel, but the underwhelming box office performance has left that in doubt. That being said, the plans were to follow with the ''Literature/FleetSchool'' series instead of the actual follow-ups (which are completely different in tone from ''Ender's Game'', slower-paced, more philosophical, and eventually reaching ''[[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey 2001]]'' levels of oddity; in Card's own admission, ''Literature/SpeakerForTheDead'' is unfilmable for being "talking heads, interrupted by moments of excruciating and unwatchable violence").
26	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
27	** [[Film/ThePhantomMenace Jake Lloyd]] as Ender and Creator/DakotaFanning as Petra. And yes, Card knew of how hated Lloyd was and felt a better script would have done him justice.
28	** Wolfgang Peterson (''Film/DasBoot'', ''Film/InTheLineOfFire'', ''Film/AirForceOne'' and ''Film/ThePerfectStorm'') was initially going to direct this film
29	** In one draft, Colonel Graff and Mazer Rackham [[CompositeCharacter were the same character]].
30	** The twist of the book would have been known from the beginning in Card's draft.
31	** At one point during the film's production, effects studio Creator/DigitalDomain (''Film/Transformers2007'', ''Film/RealSteel'') were co-producers. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in that they ''did'' wind up co-producing the film anyway.
32	** Card suggested that the scenes for the POVSequel ''Ender's Shadow'' could be filmed at the same time as ''Ender's Game''. [[http://www.hypable.com/2013/11/07/enders-shadow-script-game-sequel/?utm_content=sidefeatured&utm_campaign=sidefeatured&utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=banner While Gavin Hood wrote up a script for]] ''Shadow'', the budget limited them from filming both movies.
33	** Music/FlamingLips wrote a EP that they suggested as a concept soundtrack for the producers. Only one of the songs made it onto the film (over the end credits).

Context Trivia / EndersGame