I am way behind. I have yet to see any of the last year's worth of Doctor Who. I did, however, finally get around to watching The Hobbit, and was happily surprised to see the last REAL Doctor has a role in it. No Ace, though.

Bones should be holding the shovel in his RIGHT hand.

What's going to be missing is the age jump. In the trailer, we see a teen Ender. Ender at 6, at 10, undergoing all this is where the movie will probably deviate the most. Seeing a 6 year old kill a classmate, kicking him over and over when he's down...

As for Val, I suspect we'll see her part and Petra's be rather large, to make up for the all male cast.

Back in the start of home video era, Japanese anime companies came up with a rather intriguing format, the "Original Animated Video". As first practiced, they'd release a standalone episode of a potential series, see how it sold, then do another with the money coming in funding it. You could see the increase in budgets as they went (or decrease, as the case may be). That worked because, one, the Japanese were willing to pay $60 for a thirty minute laserdisc, and two, because the studio had other projects. They would just switch their people between them as needed.

I honestly think Gerrold came out of his experience with Star Trek Phase II thinking, "Hey, it's not that hard!"