Scheduled for release in 2008! Woohoo!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808236/

It will be intresting to see if the movie will still call Rukbat a G type star instead of a B type one. Also, how well will they explain the Red Star(Planets) eccentric orbit.

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There is no problem that cannot be solved by a suitable application of high explosives - US Army Demolitions School

I just saw Hayley's comet, she waved, Said "why you always running in place? Even the man in the moon disappeared, Somewhere in the stratosphere" - Shinedown

http://worldsofothersuns.home.comcast.net/

Thats Dragonriders of Pern. dang A key missfired

__________________
There is no problem that cannot be solved by a suitable application of high explosives - US Army Demolitions School

I just saw Hayley's comet, she waved, Said "why you always running in place? Even the man in the moon disappeared, Somewhere in the stratosphere" - Shinedown

http://worldsofothersuns.home.comcast.net/

The only explanation that explains the "red star" (a body that comes close every couple of centuries an stays close for several years) is to have co-orbital planets. Two planets (Pern & Red (which is actually a planet, not a star)) orbit Rukbat in almost identical orbits, but one (let's say Red) is just slightly closer to the sun than the other. The closer orbit makes Red orbit slightly faster than Pern, so over a couple of centuries it catches up to the outer planet.

As it comes up on Pern from behind, Red's gravitational pull slows Pern down, which drops its orbit closer to the sun. Meanwhile, Pern's gravitational pull speeds Red up, which raises its orbit. After several revolutions (years) the planets will have switched position. Pern has the inner, faster orbit and pulls ahead of Red. In time (a couple of centuries) Pern will lap Red and come approach it from behind. Then the dance starts all over again.

This orbital arrangement is sometimes called a "horseshoe orbit" because, when looked at from the point of view of Pern, Red's path around Rukbat looks kind of like a horseshoe: Coming all the way around, getting close, moving out, slowing down and moving back around the other way, getting close, moving in, speeding up and going back around.

Astronomers and astrodynamicists used to think that orbits like these were mere mathmatical abstractions thought-up by grad students with too much computer time. Then the two Voyager probes reached Saturn and found small moons in these weird, interactive orbits.

You can model co-orbital planets using various share-ware programs. Try Googling "gravity.exe". You will find that by increasing the difference in radius of the two planetary orbits, this will decrease the time between encounters. Beware: If you make the difference too great, the inner planet will go right past the outer one. Decreasing the mass of either or both planets will make the planets approach each other more closely before they switch position. This will increase the duration of a close encounter. If you do it just right, you can create the Rukbat system, with planets encountering each other every 200 years* and staying close for ~20 years (depending on what you want to call "close").

*Since the orbits are slightly elliptical, some encounters can be more distant than others. This will give you the occasional "long interval".

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"Transport of the mails, transport of the human voice, transport of flickering pictures - in this century, as in others, our highest accomplishments still have the single aim of bringing men together." St. Exupery

I didn't get much from the IMDB link. Who's in it, and which book is being filmed of the series?

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The dose makes the poison--Paracelsus (1493-1541) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracelsus

I don't know. That's why I'm asking--Noclevername

Intelligence may not be clearly defined, but you know stupid when you see it--Noclevername

Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge--Carl Sagan (1934-1996)

Here is what i've been able to find out so far. The IMDB on Dragonriders is only open to IMDB Pro Subscibers until this movie is announced (advertised) officialy.

The book will be Dragonflight, I gleaned this from McCaffery's web site and some fan sites.

One fan site has a recent news article on it, saying that when they talked to Todd McCaffery, he said the movie was progressing along well. That was it for details.

I'll see if I can dig up anything more on it. A 2008 release means they must be half way into filming already, and the cast is already in place.

__________________
There is no problem that cannot be solved by a suitable application of high explosives - US Army Demolitions School

I just saw Hayley's comet, she waved, Said "why you always running in place? Even the man in the moon disappeared, Somewhere in the stratosphere" - Shinedown

http://worldsofothersuns.home.comcast.net/

Ok got a hold of someone who has IMDB Pro.

Looks like the book being put on film is....*DRUM ROLL*

Dragons Dawn! Maybe... (See more later)

Here is the exceprt from IMDB Pro:

However a fan that went to Dragon*Con this last year, on the Fan Forums states that this Plot SUmmary is incorrect, and that the focus is on Dragonflight as the First movie.

The production company optioned all -19- Books for movie production, not just the main trillogy. It may be too soon to tell at this point.

__________________
There is no problem that cannot be solved by a suitable application of high explosives - US Army Demolitions School

I just saw Hayley's comet, she waved, Said "why you always running in place? Even the man in the moon disappeared, Somewhere in the stratosphere" - Shinedown

http://worldsofothersuns.home.comcast.net/

I read the first book she wrote, Dragonflight, but never read the others. Are they good? If so, should I read them in the order written? Which one do you feel is the best in the series?

I read them in the Following order.

DragonFlight, DragonQuest, The White Dragon

DragonSong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums

Moretta, Nerilka's Story

(Then all the rest)

Here is a link to the Cronology of the Books.

http://pern.srellim.org/chrono.htm

However I'd recommend the following Semi-Cronoligical order for a start. I read them this way a few times and found it refreshing, and it sort of filled in some blanks I never caught onto before.

DragonFlight, DragonSong, DragonQuest, Dragonsinger, The White Dragon, Dragondrums, Renegades of Pern (which covers exact same time frame of these six books)

Then move onto All the Weyrs of Pern, Dolphins of Pern, The Skies of Pern

__________________
There is no problem that cannot be solved by a suitable application of high explosives - US Army Demolitions School

I just saw Hayley's comet, she waved, Said "why you always running in place? Even the man in the moon disappeared, Somewhere in the stratosphere" - Shinedown

http://worldsofothersuns.home.comcast.net/

Concept art for the Movie some people have found

http://www.aaron-sims.com/landscapes...-image-03.html
http://www.aaron-sims.com/creatures/...-image-06.html
Lessa's Impression
http://www.aaron-sims.com/interiors/...-image-02.html

__________________
There is no problem that cannot be solved by a suitable application of high explosives - US Army Demolitions School

I just saw Hayley's comet, she waved, Said "why you always running in place? Even the man in the moon disappeared, Somewhere in the stratosphere" - Shinedown

http://worldsofothersuns.home.comcast.net/

Thanks!

Here's my preferred order, although I have no real objection to dgavin's list of the main plot. Still, he doesn't cover the secondary books, some of which carry (conceptual) spoilers to the main plot.

I've borrowed heavily from wiki for convenience, but my order doesn't match theirs in all respects.

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And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling [faces] lyin' to ye' everywhere ye' go
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.

Then there's Masterharper of Pern, my personal favorite.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

I like most of them, but my favourites are probably The White Dragon and Dragonsong. I haven't read the last three or four, though - I found the very late McCaffrey (pretty much everything published after about 1998) to be rather too sentimental for my taste (particularly Acorna!).

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The quarrelsome oarsmen were rowing,
The great violinist was bowing;
But how is the sage
To tell, from the page:
Was it pigs or seeds that were sowing?

I liked Dragonflight the best. Lessa got way too smug and annoying in Dragonquest and The White Dragon.

I liked the Dragonsong series too.

__________________
The dose makes the poison--Paracelsus (1493-1541) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracelsus

I don't know. That's why I'm asking--Noclevername

Intelligence may not be clearly defined, but you know stupid when you see it--Noclevername

Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge--Carl Sagan (1934-1996)

I liked the Harper Hall trilogy the best, though the Dragonriders trilogy is a close second.

The biggest problem with Dragonflight is the Time Paradox (I HATE those) and the fact that you can see where McCaffrey's original short story ended and the extension started. The story went rather downhill from there.

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Keeper of the Jabberwock

Darn it, this is what I miss when I've only got internet at work.

Good news, though, and I think that Dragonsdawn is a good idea for the movie (especially if they do it well). Dragonflight would be better, IMO, since we could have sequels. I don't like the concept art for the hatching ground (especially since it seems to be 9th Pass).

A smallish update on this for everyone.


Also for thsoe intrested, a bit aof Fan Fiction based on Anne's work, now that she is allowing such.

A Stranger in the Weyr

(And yes I wrote it)

__________________
There is no problem that cannot be solved by a suitable application of high explosives - US Army Demolitions School

I just saw Hayley's comet, she waved, Said "why you always running in place? Even the man in the moon disappeared, Somewhere in the stratosphere" - Shinedown

http://worldsofothersuns.home.comcast.net/

Anne McCaffrey (sp?). Neat! I first read her Dragonriders books before I stumbled across...

...Heinlein!

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"Toward no crimes have men shown themselves so cold-bloodedly cruel as in punishing differences of belief." - James Russell Lowell