In the nearby future, there is a rise of AI and the dwindling resources.
The authorities propose a solution: People should "sleep"(cryogenics) a few thousand years until resources can regenerate and nature can self-clean the pollution.
Many agree to this. Not our hero. For refusing this, he becomes hunted. Failing to "sleep" becomes illegal.
The hero fights off humans and androids, but falls into a snowy cave and into a frozen river. He sleeps for a long time until he recovers(climate change).
He now seeks other humans he can awake. Robots rule the world now.
They want to keep us "asleep". But this John Connor figure will fight them. He "unfreezes" many humans.
They fight various types of robots as they uncover the plot, the reason for why they froze the humans: To clear the way for an invading alien species.
Frozen, unable to resist humans are a perfect situation for them.
Behind this are humans. Traitors who struck a deal with the aliens to secure their own butts. They gave the "sleeping" law years ago.
The hero and his team fight them all. In the end, aliens arrive. Most humans still lie in fields after fields of ice containers.
But this world is not theirs. The hero fights the alien leader(it controls a badass robotic monster machine), and any rogue AI.
He and the others gain control over the robots and use them to awaken the rest of mankind.
Many containers were destroyed during the war. But those who survive will build a better, brighter society. The hero is now a winner.
PS: I hope it's not spam... I just like writing and can't help it. Feel free to use any ideas I post here if you like them! :)
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I dig this. Write a logline, design your cast and characters, outline it, and write a first draft.
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Thank you for commenting here! :) I just thought the river part was to show that the hero was "frozen" in a different way(and against his will), something which could relate to a theme like "think differently, think for yourself, don't just blindly follow what others say".. I hope what I wrote, thought it's OK! :(
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Plot heavy. A fun plot but where's the human touch? Give me some emotions...what's the hero's character flaw? What is the underlying Human psychological theme? There's so much going on fun plot wise...but I won't buy in unless there's a very real personal connection....
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It's an interesting idea. The snowy cave sleeping thing wouldn't work, really, because the human body would just die. Cryogenics in this sense is still very much a science fiction rather than a science fact so there'd need to be some mechanics around that that made it plausible. I think having ALL the bad things in one script could be awkward as well - human Illuminati-type conspiracy forcing everyone to sleep, Robots and AI that attack humans AND Aliens trying to invade and make all the things bad might be a bit much - you may find you lose a lot of background, emotional connection, and plot in the process. Also, just one guy handling all that? He'd be squished like a bug in half a day. Also, I'm a bit stuck on why he wants to object in the first place. There doesn't seem like anything to lose really.
You could cut some of the chaff, say it was just the Human Conspiracy sending everyone to sleep to save the world and then One Guy (who's one of the cryogenics team maybe? Or just to be really fun, one of the funding administrators or something on the edge of the organisation) discovers that not everyone will be woken - "Security Rank 5: Memo to Team: 85% of humanity must be wiped out in order to insure our survival. Cryogenics Units 1 through 6billion 8 hundred million must be programmed with in-built obsolescence" or wotnot. So that person then has a reason to try and Save The Day! Once you get a handle on that story it might be possible to get an AI element in, but I think I'd leave the Aliens out of it for now if it were me.
If aliens are really more your focus then you'll need to drop the robots or the dwindling-resources-human-conspiracy idea. Also, wouldn't they just wipe us out? Because seriously, if aliens, AI or zombies started attacking humanity we'd be screwed. In reality most of us wouldn't last a day in war with other humans, let alone a greater force bent on our destruction. For that matter most of us would be toast in a bar fight! Humans are naturally weak and very squishy (:
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Yeah, that's what I was thinking Owen! There's possibly a cool story in an element of humanity trying to bargain with aliens to purchase land on other planets or a 'shipping out convicts' type arrangement. Something where a huge portion of humanity is offloaded or something. That's quite topical as well...
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I would cut out the alien part... it doen’t fit to the sleeping-theme.
If robots rule, why wouldn’t they just kill humans? (don’t say they use them as batteries)
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This was also my thought. Why preserve them and not just kill them?
If they are freezing them, they must need them for a later purpose. Decide what that purpose is and bring it full circle to the ultimate plan of the robots. If they're clearing the way, will the humans flesh or blood help stop the aliens? Or will it help them reproduce a superior species?
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Do you really think it'd take a 1000 years to depollute our planet? Water eventually purifies itself down a stream by the passing abrasion from the riverbed's rocks.
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Are the original authorities that decide to freeze the humans also human or are they robots? Later it reads like it was the robots who originally decided to freeze humanity - so they'd have to be AGI rather than ANI. How far in the future is the starting point? Artificial general intelligence making choices and decisions such as these are a long way off as is the cryogenics needed for the premise as well. If we take out the guy freezing in the lake and waking up and riding a woolly mammoth into battle then we remain at time point zero, say 100 years in the future? Okay, so politically we're in a different place - are we in a totallitarian militaristic state of constant war or have things broken down to a technological feudal society with countries broken down into corporate-run factions?
Who is this protag - someone with enough power to disagree with being frozen, with the charisma to convince others to run, and with the intelligence to know what to do instead.
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Seems rather like The Matrix? Plus there's a lot going on, aliens, robots... perhaps too much? Struggling with the logic here. Perhaps better align it with science, physics, environment, biology, climate change, etc. Don't quite understand what's happening... but if someone fell into a "snowy cave" and "frozen river" that person wouldn't "sleep" that person would die. You know... hypothermia, freezing to death, etc. Struggling with the whole "frozen" cryonics (in reality deemed untenable), cryogenics thing... sorry, I know, I know... but perhaps better ground this science fiction story to make it stronger, somewhat "believable." ;)
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A couple of things off the top of my head:
1. As you have it now, the hero awakening to find the world controlled by AI is not a surprise. Try making AI less dominant in the beginning.
2. to put everyone to "sleep" it seems like you would need someone to NOT sleep to make sure it all goes well. That person seems like a natural choice for a shape-shifter hero, i.e. the world sees him as a hero but YOUR hero suspects he has other motives. Maybe then, when the hero awakens from his own slumber, they discover the false hero has survived by.... becoming part robot, perhaps? Why did he/she want to do this? Maybe it has something to do with the alien bargain you mentioned.... and his/her lust for power and immortality.
3. The above would also help us empathize with the hero more. As you have it, he/her resisting efforts to save the planet (by sleeping) seem either selfish;,or just a right-wing, anti-government ethos which not everyone in the audience will buy into.
Your idea has lots of potential, I think. I think Beth is correct in pointing out you have too many major elements, e.g. sentient robots AND invading aliens. Focus on one or the other, otherwise audience focus will be scattered and your concept will feel like a mish-mash. Best of luck.
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Owen Mowatt My post was merely a metaphor to plant a seed. In 200 years, our technological prowess now grows exponentially so instead of a 1000 years, make story's impact felt sooner.
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Pages 130-132 of Save the Cat mention Too Much Marzipan that says, "the desperation of Hollywood types trying to squeeze 10 pounds of shit into a 5-pound bag."