The problem with Ringworld (the original novel, anyways) is that not much really happens. Louis Wu and the rest are recruited, they travel to the Ringworld, they crash, they go back and forth a bit, and then they leave. The plot, such as it is, is mostly an excuse to let Niven write about what the Ringworld looks like, and how it operates.
Visually, it would be a good movie, if they spent enough on the effects, but story-wise, it would be pretty bland.
Don’t give me your logic, I want Ringworld, to be followed by Mote in God’s Eye. After that we’ll see 
I want Rendezvous with Rama first.
Not a lot of conflict, but awesome concepts and visuals. Like 2001
I have a different take on it. All of the main characters in The Princess Bride are the world’s best. The Prince is the world’s greatest hunter (can track a falcon on a cloudy day), Inigo is the world’s best fencer, etc. Vizzini is the world’s greatest tactical mind. But none of it matters against the world’s truest love (true love triumphs over all).
So, while I think Westley is trying to fool Vizzini, Vizzini sees through it. He knows that the Man in Black knows where the poison is. He causes a distraction and switches glasses, not because he think the poison is in his glass but because he wants to gauge the Man in Black’s reaction to picking up the goblet. When Westley picks up the goblet calmly and moves to drink, Vizzini now knows that the Man in Black believes he is drinking poison-free wine, which Vizzini now possesses and so he drinks. And dies.
Vizzini simply did not consider that both were poisoned. Presumably Vizzini was not aware that you could develop an immunity to iocaine powder.
Footfall! Footfall!
I want to see the launch of the Archangel Michael.
The hilarious bit is that none of them really are, though they all could have been.
The Prince wouldn’t have caught up to them or not nearly as quickly save for a series of accidents and mishaps and having been privy to the plot from the beginning (having paid off the kidnappers and planned they would go to the Guilder frontier).
Vizzini clearly wasn’t as clever as he thought (or too blinded by hubris, which amounts to much the same).
Inigo, whatever he once was, had been drunk too long to be in contention for best fencer.
Fezzik, whatever he once was, could no longer handle a fair one on one fight against a vastly inferior opponent.
Count Rugen’s contraption was obviously based on delusional theories on pain and was no more than an elaborate Rube Goldberg device.
Miracle Max, good as he was, was admittedly a shell of his former self from the self-doubts planted in him by the Prince.
As capable as they each were in their chosen fields, they were all deeply flawed at the same time. Very much part of the charm of the film.
Ok, I read the Wiki on Footfall and I have one question: are any of the aliens allowed to live at the end?
I’ve considered this, and basically, you can say the same think about Jurassic Park. They go to the island, see some fantastic stuff, run around, leave. And it spawned a franchise. Ringworld is even more visually exciting. I just want to see the ring running overhead all the way around the star.
The book ends with the aliens’ unconditional surrender - and when these aliens surrender, they stay surrendered. It doesn’t say what happens next, but presumably the humans let them live.
Yes, but JP has the built-in fan base of dinolovers, plus the action inherent in dinos escaping into the modern world. You really don’t need much of a story to make that popular. All the JP movies have essentially the same plot:
Ringworld has a few action set-pieces, but they’re deliberately set far enough apart (distance-wise) so as to give the reader a sense of the scale of the Ringworld. The individual action pieces don’t contribute to an over-all narrative. Most of their time is spent just driving those hoverbike thingys. And when they do get some action, like the eye storm or the encounter with the shadow square wire, it’s mostly in service of explaining how the Ringworld works. There’s a lot of exposition mixed in with the action.
The book, at least with respect to Inigo, makes it clearer than he is the best in the world. (spoilers for the book) During the duel with Wesley, Inigo wins on open ground, while Wesley is better in the woods (since he uses pirate trickery); however, even with this without the power of true love Wesley could not defeat Inigo because it is too near a thing even in the woods. I think later in the book he says this to Inigo when they’re reunited. At the end of the book, they outright same “Some day somebody would be a better fencer than Inigo, stronger than Fezzick, but love would ever be truer than that of Wesley and Buttercup” (or something to that effect). If I recall correctly, in the book, for the Prince they even outright say he is the world’s greatest hunter. The notion of true love overcoming all obstacles is, I think, more strongly themed in the book than the movie because they’re a bit more explicit in saying so. Granted it has been awhile since I read the book so I may be misremembering. I really should read it again.
Not sure I agree with your assessment.
Lefthanded, the Man in Black was better than Inigo on open ground, he wasn’t as quick in the trees or the rocks. It wasn’t pirate trickery, you had it reversed. But righthanded Westley was also better than Inigo in the open ground (strength against strenght) and he denied Inigo access to the trees/rocks. It’s not clear if it could be reasoned that he was better or worse there, but we’ll never know. Either way, they were very evenly matched and Westley won.
The text at the end that you’re referring to is part of the abridger’s notes, so not from the actual author. 
But it’s certainly worth considering:
But that doesn’t mean I think they had a happy ending either. Because, in my opinion anyway, they squabled a lot, and Buttercup lost her looks eventually, and one day Fezzik lost a fight and some hot-shot kid whipped Inigo with a sword and Westley was never able to really sleep sound because of Humperdink maybe being on the trail.
I’m not trying to make this a downer, understand. I mean, I really do think that love is the best thing in the world, except for cough drops. But I also have to say, for the umpty-umpth time, that life isn’t fair. It’s just fairer than death, that’s all.
IMHO, he’s not saying that love concurs all. Just that it’s better than not having love.
But only the good parts.
Sort of.
The book makes the point that by the time he comes to work for Vizzini, he’s desperate and is mostly in the revenge business out of inertia. He’d been a drunk for a while at that point and no longer at his peak, i.e. no longer the best. I believe it states that had he kept up his training and had never touched a drop, he would have been better than Westley. Even the terrain thing was a concession that his skills had degraded more in some areas than others.
It’s sort of the thing about all of them. None of them are at whatever “peak” they had attained earlier in their lives.
True love may conquer all but sometimes it gets help along the way.
Remember that Vizzini smells the vial that Westley gives him, and smells nothing. Westley describes iocaine as odorless. When Humperdinck arrives at the scene and smells the same vial, he identifies it as iocaine; so he does have some skill.
Indeed so.
My point is not that they are unskilled but they are all flawed in some way that keeps them from achieving the pinnacle of greatness they once had or could still have.
Heh. Just thought of a funny. “It has no odor! It must be iocaine!”
More humane than human.
Nope.
The rules are explained to Daniel by Ali, and what she says is:
“Everything above your waist is a point. You can hit the head, sternum, kidneys, ribs. Got it?”
The warning Johnny later gets is for “illegal contact to the knee.”
At the very beginning of the match, Johnny starts with a flying kick which Daniel dodges, then continues to throw a series of kicks that are clearly aimed at Daniel’s head, which he blocks. No warning.
As the fight continues, both fighters earn points for strikes to the head, once when Daniel does a scissor leg takedown followed by a back fist to the back of Johnny’s head while he’s on the ground. Point awarded. The ref instructs Johnny to see his sensei for the resulting bloody nose.
When the match resumes, Johnny kicks Daniel’s forward leg out from under him with his right foot, then follows with a left leg kick to Daniel’s face. Point awarded.
Not to mention head strikes are clearly legal throughout the “You’re the Best” montage of the tournament up to the final matches.
When the Count caught up to him again the Prince was kneeling over the still body of a hunchback. The Count dismounted. “Smell this,” the Prince said, and he handed up a goblet.
“Nothing” the Count said. “No odor at all.”
“Iocane,” the Prince replied. “I would bet my life on it. I know nothing else that kills so silently.”
I don’t think he smells anything either. But by taking in the whole scene he makes a logical conclusion.