When they announced a movie based on the game "Battleship," there were lots of "jokes" about the next "classic property" to be inflated way beyond its original parameters, and turned into a gigantic, soulless, effects-driven movie. Heck, what's next, Space Invaders?

Why, yes.

Details, details. The writer's task will be both easy and hard:

If there's one thing you can say about the game, it's the lack of a built-in mythology. Good thing, too; they always louse that up for no reason. You can imagine a game fan seething in his seat because they changed some important detail just to make the movie more mainstream.

As for the plot: Let's see. Invaders. From space? Does that work for anyone? Granted, it was the plot of ID4, "War of the Worlds," several hundred lousy straight-to-DVD sci-fi movies, "Skyline," which was horrible, and "Battle Los Angeles," which was much better than the critics said, the aforementioned "Battleship," and "Fallen Skies" on TV. Other than that, it's a fresh concept just waiting to be explored. Hey, how about the aliens have come here for a resource? And they look like a cross between a snake and an insect? And instead of just gassing everyone on the planet, they send down troops to shoot billions of people on an individual basis? Also, they have rocket ships that go RRRRROOOOOAAAAWWWWW when they cross overhead, and laser rifles that go pew-pew. Okay, this meeting's been a success; everyone knock off for the day. Come back tomorrow with casting ideas for the main character. I stand by my words, the nation is ready for Vin Diesel to do a sci-fi pic again.

PS: They already made a Space Invaders movie.