# Mortal Engines trailer **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 29, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541 "2017-12-29T21:19:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541/1 "2017-12-29T21:19:22Z")
Link: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fupYIggOq38](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fupYIggOq38) This is based on a YA [novel](https://www.amazon.com/Mortal-Engines-1/dp/1338201123/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1514581096&sr=1-1&keywords=Mortal+Engines) of the same name by Philip Reeve. In my opinion, it’s one of the very best YA science fiction novels out there. In fact, I would put it equal to Harry Potter in character development, plot, and humor, and above Harry Potter is moral complexity and intelligence. I was very excited to learn that it would become a major movie produced by Peter Jackson, and directed by Christopher Rivers, who apparently did storyboarding and special effects with Jackson in the _Lord of the Rings_ movies. So first thoughts: great trailer. The biggest danger with a steampunk-type movie is that they’ll go overboard trying to make everything dark and gritty, but in this trailer everything has bright colors and occurs in broad daylight. The idea of a huge city rolling across the landscape is hard to pull off but I’d say London looks pretty good. Glad to see that they have St. Paul’s Cathedral mounted at the top of London, which is a detail mentioned in the book. One thing that will be interesting to see is how they portray Hester Shaw. The book says that she’s hideously ugly because of a huge scar across her face. Of course, Hollywood rarely approves big-budget movies with an ugly woman in the leading role. Here they’ve solved the problem by having a scarf over her face, but one assumes they can’t escape the dilemma for the entire movie that way. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541/2 "2017-12-29T21:33:08Z")
I was whelmed by the trailer when I saw it. Not necessarily underwhelmed, but definitely not overwhelmed. London was smaller than I imagined it. (Personally, I preferred the Fever Crumb books.) ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541/3 "2017-12-29T21:39:39Z")
Never heard of the novels but that looks quite interesting. Don’t hold your breath for an ugly female main character, Hermione was supposed to be ugly too. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2017, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541/4 "2017-12-30T02:42:06Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Don’t hold your breath for an ugly female main character, Hermione was supposed to be ugly too. [I hadn’t realized that about Hermione](https://www.reddit.com/r/harrypotter/comments/2xlxn6/til_jk_rowling_agrees_that_emma_watson_was_too/). But yes, you generally shouldn’t expect to see ugly or even average looking people in leading roles no matter how the character was written. Staying in the area of kidlit, _Bridge to Terabithia_ is one that immediately comes to mind. The moment that the two main characters meet in the book goes like this: > [@](#): > > He paused … to face the questioner, who was sitting on the fence nearest the old Perkins place, dangling bare brown legs. The person had jaggedy brown hair cut close to its face and wore one of those blue undershirtlike tops with faded jeans cut off above the knees. He couldn’t honestly tell whether it was a girl or a boy. > “Hi,” he or she said, jerking his or her head toward the Perkins place. “We just moved in.” > Jess stood where he was, staring. > The person slid off the fence and came toward him. > “I thought we might as well be friends,” it said. > “There’s no one else close by.” Girl, he decided. > Definitely a girl, but he couldn’t have said why he was suddenly sure. She was about his height-not quite though, he was pleased to realize as she came nearer. > “My name’s Leslie Burke.” > She even had one of those dumb names that could go either way, but he was sure now that he was right. But [this](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=&bih=&ei=e81GWtX8G-XBjwSi7YPYDg&btnG=Search&q=annasophia+robb+bridge+to+terabithia) is who was cast as Leslie Burke in the movie, who would–it seems to me–_not_ be subject to gender ambiguity. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2017, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541/5 "2017-12-30T17:51:35Z")
I might not see the movie, but the trailer’s made me interested in reading the book. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2017, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541/6 "2017-12-30T21:30:28Z")
I was wondering what the heck this was when I saw the trailer (before _Star Wars_). I had figured that they were just trying to cash in on Mad Max-- I didn’t realize that it was already a Young Adult book. I presume that the book gives a good explanation for why an entire major city would be driving around in a wasteland and consuming all in its path? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541/7 "2017-12-31T04:48:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I was wondering what the heck this was when I saw the trailer (before _Star Wars_). I had figured that they were just trying to cash in on Mad Max-- I didn’t realize that it was already a Young Adult book. It is actually seven books–[four of them in the main series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Engines_Quartet) that the movie is nominally based on and [three prequels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fever_Crumb_Series) (the prequels are what I was referring to when I mention preferring the Fever Crumb books.) > [@](#): > > I presume that the book gives a good explanation for why an entire major city would be driving around in a wasteland and consuming all in its path? The books take place thousands of years after a civilization-ending war that took place at some time considerably more technologically advanced than ours. The new civilization that grew out of the ruins is a hodge-podge of technologies less advanced than those in the real hear-and-now, steam-punky tech, and technology far beyond what we have now that has been scrounged from the ruins of their past/our future collapsed civilization. The four novel main series takes place in a stage of that civilization where _all_ population centers are mobile, and big cities chase down and consume smaller ones, using their raw materials for maintenance and expansion and integrating the populations. The three prequel novels cover how the first “traction cities” became a thing. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2018, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541/8 "2018-01-02T15:05:01Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > Link: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fupYIggOq38](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fupYIggOq38) > > This is based on a YA [novel](https://www.amazon.com/Mortal-Engines-1/dp/1338201123/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1514581096&sr=1-1&keywords=Mortal+Engines) of the same name by Philip Reeve. In my opinion, it’s one of the very best YA science fiction novels out there. In fact, I would put it equal to Harry Potter in character development, plot, and humor, and above Harry Potter is moral complexity and intelligence. I was very excited to learn that it would become a major movie produced by Peter Jackson, and directed by Christopher Rivers, who apparently did storyboarding and special effects with Jackson in the _Lord of the Rings_ movies. > > So first thoughts: great trailer. The biggest danger with a steampunk-type movie is that they’ll go overboard trying to make everything dark and gritty, but in this trailer everything has bright colors and occurs in broad daylight. The idea of a huge city rolling across the landscape is hard to pull off but I’d say London looks pretty good. Glad to see that they have St. Paul’s Cathedral mounted at the top of London, which is a detail mentioned in the book. Yeah, I thought that trailer was great. And “There’ll Always be an England” is excellent - apparently it’s the British parallel to “I’m proud to be an American” ? > [@](#): > > One thing that will be interesting to see is how they portray Hester Shaw. The book says that she’s hideously ugly because of a huge scar across her face. Of course, Hollywood rarely approves big-budget movies with an ugly woman in the leading role. Here they’ve solved the problem by having a scarf over her face, but one assumes they can’t escape the dilemma for the entire movie that way. They’ll probably go the Watchmen route - the Comedian’s horribly disfiguring facial scar from the comics turned into a barely noticeable line on his cheek in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2018, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541/9 "2018-10-06T02:30:48Z")
[Second trailer](https://youtu.be/cuL5yXsOAIA). Probably looks like a confusing hash of random clips if you haven’t already read the book. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541/10 "2018-10-14T19:10:41Z")
I’m about half-way through the book and have avoided all images from the movie so I can form my own vision of the thing. It’s pretty good, not amazing. I’m definitely interested in the story, but it is not pulling me in like some series. I’m not sure if I’ll go past the first one, but I am interested in seeing the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541/11 "2018-10-17T22:38:09Z")
I finished the first book, so I watched the two full trailers. You know what? It…actually looks really good. I think they captured the feel/look pretty well. I support a reduced scar for Hester, much as I did for Tyrion on Song of Ice and Fire. I’m looking forward to the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541/12 "2018-10-18T02:05:17Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I support a reduced scar for Hester, much as I did for Tyrion on Song of Ice and Fire. [There is “interesting” reasoning behind that](https://www.themarysue.com/mortal-engines-hester-scar-change/). ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2018, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541/13 "2018-11-03T20:14:10Z")
I’m on the fourth book now and am hopeful that they will manage to make all of them. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2018, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541/14 "2018-11-03T23:35:43Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I’m on the fourth book now and am hopeful that they will manage to make all of them. As I mentioned in post #2 (and clarified in post #7) I liked the prequels better, so be sure to give those a try. A passing curosity–are you reading the Shrike or the Grike editions? In the original UK releases, the deadly killer android is named Grike. In the US editions they changed hus name to Grike to avoid confusion with the deadly killer android Shrike in the Hyperion Cantos (Dan Simmons, not John Keats.) I had originally read the first few books in the UK editions, and when I started the next in the US edition, I thought that there had been a universal spellcheck correction error until I googled up that it had been intentional. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2018, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541/15 "2018-11-04T01:46:24Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [There is “interesting” reasoning behind that](https://www.themarysue.com/mortal-engines-hester-scar-change/). First, I’m amazed that he sounds like he prolly doesn’t understand that he’s just undercut one of his most important themes. Second, that doesn’t show a whole lot of confidence in his lead actors’ abilities to _act_. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541/16 "2018-11-12T20:44:48Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > As I mentioned in post #2 (and clarified in post #7) I liked the prequels better, so be sure to give those a try. > > A passing curosity–are you reading the Shrike or the Grike editions? Grike. I just finished the fourth one now. I have to say. I think the first book is great, but the second-fourth one were only OK. Some powerful stuff at the end of the fourth one, but I honestly found most of the story for parts 2-4 to be only OK. Clear that Philip Reeve did not intend to go past the first book. Everything in the sequels felt added on. I hated Pennyroyal so much, and not in the way the author intended. I hated that he survived the second book and then hated every appearance he made after that. I would have killed him in the first book he appeared. I did not find him funny or fun to read about. An OK series, but nothing amazing. I do recommend the first one, though. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541/17 "2018-11-12T21:29:03Z")
Previous thread: [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=858810](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=858810) Unless the reviews are abso-freakin’-fantabulous, I’m not likely to see it. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541/18 "2018-11-12T23:44:56Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > It is actually seven books–[four of them in the main series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Engines_Quartet) that the movie is nominally based on and [three prequels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fever_Crumb_Series) (the prequels are what I was referring to when I mention preferring the Fever Crumb books.) I read the first four when I found out there was going to be a movie, but missed the prequels so I’ll have to go back and pick them up now. Thanks for pointing them out. ps. Really hate Pennyroyal too. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541/19 "2018-11-12T23:45:14Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Previous thread: [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=858810](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=858810) > > Unless the reviews are abso-freakin’-fantabulous, I’m not likely to see it. [I love that your link to a “previous thread” links here as the earlier thread…since this one is the earlier thread.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21094534&postcount=21) It’s an endless cycle! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortal-engines-trailer/805541/20 "2018-11-13T03:32:29Z")
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