Rendezvous with Rama

This is a beautifully rendered tease for a movie I used to dream would be made a reality. For those of you that have read the Rama series — or in the least the first book, Rendezvous With Rama — this is a stunning piece of visualization! This short film chronicles the first humans that encounter an alien space-craft that has entered our solar system. What is revealed inside begins an adventure the likes of which mankind would never have imagined - and thus begins one of the most inspired and far-reaching adventures ever published.

I'm extremely impressed that this was done by a film student. The story, written by Arthur C. Clarke, has also inspired a PC adventure game published by Sierra in 1996 which garnered good reviews. The entire video can now be found (there are several CG ones, so be sure to check the film- maker's name) and then consider reading the first book in the series. All will be revealed.

I have not read the Arthur C Clarke novel that this film says to have been aspired by but, to be honest, I don't think it makes a bit of difference. There isn't really any plot here to be engaged by other than an unexplained space journey on the way to something unknown (for the casual viewer and the cosmonauts making the journey). The lack of plot is a real shame because this film is very well made and looks great. Considering it is a student film, it is impressive and it has a real sense of atmosphere.

OK some of the images are heavily borrowed from other sources but they do still work well. So it is a shame that it doesn't run a little bit longer and have more ambition in delivering more to the casual viewer. I don't know the background to the film but watching it I can only assume that it is suppose to serve as a sort of "fan film" trailer for the Clarke novel because the lack of substance or narrative seems so obvious that it can only have been deliberate.

Atmospheric and visually impressive then, but just a shame that with such a strong foundation there was nothing more than this.