Ever since I first heard word that James Cameron was working on a film version of my beloved Battle Angel Alita, I've been patiently awaiting more details. Today I got a chance to discover more over at io9 and I admit, I was pretty pleased with what I heard. Producer Jon Landau says that the film will focus on Alita's early life spent among cyborgs. Um, hell yeah!

The film will apparently have its name shortened to Alita and will focus on her early life when she is still dealing with memory loss. He also spilled some details about Motorball, which you can read here:

If people are familiar with the series at all, there's something they call Motorball. That is something that Jim has always been dynamically excited about. It's racing on a super track, with characters that are built and created in the cyborg world to race against each other in an arena. It's almost like a gladiator match meets an Indy 500 race. [Their mode of battle] depends on who they are. It depends how they've been modified as cyborgs; they're not in cars - it's their physical being that is out there. Some of them are on roller skates - and Alita participates in this, and she's on roller blades, while other people might have different devices. It's a wonderful, rich world to design and develop.

So Avatar-style special effects for Motorball races? Really? I'm salivating on my keyboard. Bring it, James!