: This reminds me of an idea I had a while back. You know what would be a great
: way to introduce kids to the Halo series? An animated series. And the
: existing 'verse already has the perfect setting for that: the SPARTAN-II
: or III kiddies/teens. I've always had a soft spot for the Ender's Game-y
: bits in the Nylund books and though you can only have so much of them in
: the mainstream media which has to focus on other things, it would make a
: great framework for serialized stories.

Sometimes I think that people get the idea that Spartan training was just Hogwarts with guns. These are child soldiers and that's actually a very serious problem today in many parts of the world. It doesn't look good when you have little American kids idolize and envy these children. Today, they're taken from the clutches of their families, abused and indoctrinated, and trained to kill. In the context of Halo it's all of that plus spearheading an empire's oppression of its populace.

: Yeah, the whole setup is pretty grim and morally problematic when you get
: right down to it, but kids aren't stupid. Besides, I've been led to
: understand the Star Wars Clone Wars series and a few other modern kids'
: shows have tackled fairly adult themes with no problem. And a certain
: level of moral ambiguity has been an inseparable part of Halo since the
: start. If done right, this would also mean grownups could enjoy it too,
: and it would be a great way to expand on the Spartans as characters
: (again, if done right - done wrong, we'd just get endless repeats of
: Legends' Homecoming).

Star Wars: The Clone Wars, at least when you consider the Grand Army of the Republic, is quite tame when you compare it to Halo and its United Nations Space Command. Imperialism is merely a product of the clones' actions and not the ongoing reason for their existence like the Spartans were. Furthermore, every little thing about the clones wasn't whittled down into a broken husk as Chief Mendez did to John and his companions. They were encouraged to be individuals as a part of a whole. Spartans were abused, mentally and physically, into becoming what they were ultimately charged to do.

Such a story should be marketed to young adults who need an insight into our own fucked up world with science fiction, not children who need lessons in right and wrong in a seemingly tame and entertaining setting. I just don't think seeing grown adults abusing children is the right thing to do.