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PrintSciFi books that ought to be movies
News Type: Other — Tue Nov 7, 2006 10:03 AM EST
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The recent articles Your Favourite Science Fiction Book and Top Ten Sci Fi Movies of All Time for me naturally lead on to the question - What SciFi films would I like to see made? So rather than sit around wondering I figured it'd be a perfect subject for my first proper vine article by asking the question: What SciFi books do you think ought to be given the big screen treatment?
I think we'll need a few proviso's to trim the field down, if anything goes then we'll just end up with another list of favourite books!…
- Let's say we're aiming for blockbuster hits here, the book will need to work as something that could reasonably be pitched to a profit/numbers driven studio exec. We can all think of books we'd personally like to see made but would have limited appeal. This needn't mean 'mass-market', but at least 'commercially viable'.
- It'll need to be a story that can feasibly be told within the length of an average movie, or lend itself to being split into smaller parts that each stand in their own right (ala LOTR)
- I think we can include films that exist already but are either looking a bit dated or you think were poor adaptations in the first place and could benefit from a fresh take and/or the full 21st century effects treatment.
I'll start the ball rolling with the following five. I'm no cinema buff so my pitches may be somewhat weak and I've left out potential directors and actors, but it would be interesting to hear suggestions…
The Stars My Destination- Alfred Bester
Alfred Bester's classic has a revenge driven anti-hero character, lot's of fast paced action, deception, twists and turns (and teleportation) and a generally non-stop storyline to make for a great action movie. But there is also a deeper substance to the story in the way Gully's sense of morality grows from nothing in a believable manner as the events unfold and the story reaches it's climax, and also in it's commentary of a society ruled by a rich elite. A SciFi Count of Montechristo in many respects.
Consider Phlebas- Iain M Banks
Set within the context of a violent intergalactic battle between a super-advanced society (the Culture) and a religiously fanatical enemy (The Iridians), the story follows a Shape-changer agent in a race to recover a highly advanced artificial intelligence from an abandoned and desolate world. This is Iain M Bank's first SciFi novel and one of his best, with well drawn characters and witty dialogue, an epic space opera backdrop, super-advanced technology, weird looking aliens and lots of big weaponry! I think this one has already been 'optioned' as I believe the lingo goes? Banks' Against a Dark Background would be a good'un aswell.
Grass - Sheri S Tepper
Slower paced than the two above but with a dark and menacing alien feel to an otherwise familiar pastoral and aristocratic setting. As our protagonist goes about her mission on a backwater planet in search of a cure for an epidemic threatening to wipe out civilisation across the galaxy she uncovers dark secrets of the sinister native species, building to a surprising and satisfying conclusion. Along the way there are interesting strands about her growing estrangement from her husband and possible love interests elsewhere, and interesting supporting characters - something for everyone. Not guns and spaceships SciFi, but altogether more subtle - like Dune in it's best moments.
The Star Fraction - Ken Macleod
From the cover notes: "In a new world order where the peace process is deadlier than the wars, a security mercenary with a smart gun and reflexes to die for, an on-the-run memory scientist and a geeky teenager with a wad of illicit cash are about to set of the countdown to a devastating international conflict" - Sums it up I think! Elements of cyberpunk, touches of Sneakers and War Games but set in a balkanised future Britain with puritanical religious mini-states, radical green enclaves, shady global organisations and an emergent AI. The cast of characters are thrown together from diverse backgrounds and don't really know what they're doing or the import of their actions, but figure it out in the end for a satisfying conclusion. The three subsequent novels would make great sequels too.
The Stainless Steel Rat - Harry Harrison
I think this series has the potential to be really entertaining movie franchise, I see it as a kind of space opera Indiana Jones sorta thing - the type of character a younger Harrison Ford would have carried off perfectly. Slippery Jim diGriz, a criminal mastermind of epic proportions is captured and co-opted into the intergalactic cops (and slips in and out thereof afterwards) - fast moving action, evil bad guys, frequently hilarious scenarios and dialogue and, of course, the ruthless and beautiful Angeline heading up a great supporting cast of characters I reckon this would make superb fun lightweight SciFi entertainment.
Over to you…
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{"commentId":368535,"authorDomain":"vinnietheskip"}
hear hear on Heinlein's Friday and Moon Is a Harsh Mistress - and add to that one of the great fanboys-gone-pro writers, Spider Robinson. A condensed version of the Callahan's Place novels would be fun AND funny.
If you're talking 'originals' after 'crap effort' then I vote Harlan Ellison's ORIGINAL screenplay for I, Robot... just don't tell Warner Brothers...
{"commentId":368535,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"vinnietheskip"}
- 1 vote
#26 - Tue Nov 7, 2006 8:14 PM EST{"commentId":368658,"authorDomain":"michaelb1"}
Mission Earth - L Ron Hubbard.
He's a better SciFi writer than founder of religions.
I read this when I was a teenager and it turned me on to Sci-Fi.
Its a ten book deco-logy so I guess it would have to be several movies.
It will never be made into a movie because of the horrible Battlefield Earth movie.
{"commentId":368658,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"michaelb1"}
- 2 votes
#27 - Tue Nov 7, 2006 9:38 PM EST{"commentId":368718,"authorDomain":"spacegoat"}
Yeah, any Hubbard book would be ruined by the Scientologists, but that was an excellent series.
{"commentId":368718,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"spacegoat"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":368778,"authorDomain":"neteng"}
I would love to see Harry Turtledove's "Guns of the South" as a movie... barring that, I'd gladly settle for a mini-series for his Worldwar series.
Oh, and since Neal Stephenson was mentioned, we can't forget "Cryptonomicon".
{"commentId":368778,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"neteng"}
- 2 votes
#28 - Tue Nov 7, 2006 10:44 PM EST{"commentId":368793,"authorDomain":"fayfamily7"}
I think that "Cowboy Fengs space bar and grill" would be a fun movie.
{"commentId":368793,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"fayfamily7"}
- 1 vote
#29 - Tue Nov 7, 2006 10:54 PM EST{"commentId":368848,"authorDomain":"snwod"}
I've always thought James P. Hogan's Giants Novels, or at least the first two (Inherit the Earth and The Gentle Giants of Ganymede) would make a great movie. I imagine a nice trailor starting with a far off shot of the Apollo moon landing (the radio "one small step" message playing); zoom into the scene, but the focus is the skeleton in the space suit, which lies hidden just behind a rock away from the lander. :)
Dan Simmon's Hyperion Cantos would make a great sci-fi miniseries, or a nice 1 season only show.
I agree with the OP that The Stars My Destination has the makings for a blockbuster: lots of action, compelling characters, nice ending. I'd like to see that.
{"commentId":368848,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"snwod"}
- 1 vote
#30 - Tue Nov 7, 2006 11:19 PM EST{"commentId":370555,"authorDomain":"morwynd"}
Chalk up another vote for Dan Simmons' Hyperion.
Although my preference ideally would be to take the first two only, Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion, and make them into a motion picture trilogy, filmed all at once ala Lord of the Rings. (The two Endymion books just don't compare after Fall)
Hyperion could be the first movie, and Fall could be split between the second and third. A perfect cliffhanger to end the second movie would be the start of the Ouster invasion.
The first two Hyperion books form one of my favorite epics ever. I was really dissapointed with Simmons' recent Olympos... great ideas but shoddy storytelling in the final analysis.
{"commentId":370555,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"morwynd"}
{"commentId":370998,"authorDomain":"snwod"}
I was really dissapointed with Simmons' recent Olympos... great ideas but shoddy storytelling in the final analysis.
I agree completely. The first book was alright, but the second was a bit of a letdown.
{"commentId":370998,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"snwod"}
{"commentId":372979,"authorDomain":"morwynd"}
Yeah I was so pumped after Illium, what a setup... but he just couldn't carry through with it. Ended up solving just about everything with, quite literally, deus ex machinas.
Seemed like he was trying to end every chapter with a cliffhanger too... the contrivances got annoying after a while.
{"commentId":372979,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"morwynd"}
{"commentId":368923,"authorDomain":"michaelb1"}
The Dark Tower by Steven King.
This was a 7 book series. I think an animated HBO series would be the way to go.
This is one of my all time favorites.
Truly epic.
{"commentId":368923,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"michaelb1"}
- 1 vote
#31 - Wed Nov 8, 2006 12:04 AM EST{"commentId":369263,"authorDomain":"robw"}
I've tried time and time again to envision the Dark Tower series outside of my head, and it just doesn't work. Personally I feel it's the kind of thing that should be left as it was (like AI, which was originally a Kubrick idea I think). Although Ed Norton would make an interesting Eddie. And Jack Nicholson as Walter perhaps.
Of course, if nobody likes Spielberg, we can always use his non-union Mexican equivalent.
{"commentId":369263,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"robw"}
{"commentId":370562,"authorDomain":"morwynd"}
Too bad Eastwood is too old to play Roland, he would've been perfect.
{"commentId":370562,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"morwynd"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":372917,"authorDomain":"michaelb1"}
agreed. as I read it I pictured Eastwood as Roland.
i wonder what modern day actor could play Roland in a Dark Tower movie.
Although, I have no idea how they could make this movie.
Seems unfilmable, but then again thats why they call it movie magic.
{"commentId":372917,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"michaelb1"}
{"commentId":372980,"authorDomain":"morwynd"}
Everyone used to say Lord of the Rings was unfilmable too, so who knows? :)
I wonder if Christian Bale would make a decent Roland?
{"commentId":372980,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"morwynd"}
{"commentId":374488,"authorDomain":"michaelb1"}
Yeah, Bale would be pretty good.
he has that intense stare that Roland has.
{"commentId":374488,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"michaelb1"}
{"commentId":369086,"authorDomain":"thura"}
I don't have problems with turning my favorite books into movies, but I am terrorfied of how they will screw it up when it gets Hollywoodized.
{"commentId":369086,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"thura"}
- 2 votes
#32 - Wed Nov 8, 2006 2:52 AM EST{"commentId":369357,"authorDomain":"mrapropos"}
Heinlein's "Have Space Suit, Will Travel" would be great. Solid story set in the idealized age of space travel. And, think CGI is at a point where they could have a chance at making the Mother Thing seem real.
{"commentId":369357,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"mrapropos"}
- 1 vote
#33 - Wed Nov 8, 2006 9:33 AM EST{"commentId":369447,"authorDomain":"winsomecowboy"}
Vonnegut's 'Sirens of Titan'
The Complete Roderick ; John Sladek
{"commentId":369447,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"winsomecowboy"}
- 1 vote
#34 - Wed Nov 8, 2006 10:11 AM EST{"commentId":370178,"authorDomain":"johncwright"}
My suggestions for SF to film? STARSHIP TROOPERS would be impossible to make seriously (which is why the film adaptation was not serious)--because it is mostly talking, with no real plot. Ditto for most RAH books. One exception, and a personal favorit of mine, is CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY. Start with the slave auction, the death of the character's foster father, his trek through the Galaxy trying to find his way in life, his true identity.... it might work.
WORLD OF NULL-A by A.E. van Vogt. Movies like MINORITY REPORT or DARK CITY show there is at least some audience for this kind of paranoid thriller about an amnesia superhuman. A better choice might be SLAN: the opening scene kills the boy's mother, and everyone can sympathize with the character who defies the worldwide police state.
MOTE IN GOD'S EYE by Niven and Pornelle: this one might be too huge to compress into a film, but it has all the classic SF themes of first contact, the mystery of the Moties, and the SFX could be impressive.
RINGWORLD. A classic. Great visuals. The plot is a little slow for movie-dom, however.
CITY OF CHASCH, SERVANTS OF THE WANKH, THE DIRDIR, THE PNUME: Jack Vance does planetary romance right: this would be a thrill ride adorned with great special effects, swordfights, gunfights, intrigue, gallantry, and, best of all, good dialog, a thing Hollywood lacks and needs.
THE STAR KING, THE KILLING MACHINE, THE PALACE OF LOVE, THE FACE, THE BOOK OF DREAMS: as above, Jack Vance does a brilliant job of retelling Count of Montechristo in space.
Doc EE Smith's "Lensman" series. Space opera. 'Nuff said.
{"commentId":370178,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"johncwright"}
- 1 vote
#35 - Wed Nov 8, 2006 3:16 PM EST{"commentId":370409,"authorDomain":"wookie"}
{"commentId":370431,"authorDomain":"wookie"}
{"commentId":370779,"authorDomain":"fayfamily7"}
Oh yeah, the Dark tower series would be great, but hard.
{"commentId":370779,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"fayfamily7"}
#36 - Wed Nov 8, 2006 8:25 PM EST{"commentId":371354,"authorDomain":"finalcut"}
I haven't read it but my friends brother wrote the screenplay for Stephen Coonts' book Saucer. I'm not sure where in the production process it is at - but the screenplay was completed sometime during the last couple years.
{"commentId":371354,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"finalcut"}
#37 - Thu Nov 9, 2006 8:36 AM EST{"commentId":372918,"authorDomain":"michaelb1"}
Author C Clarkes Rama series would be great.
Its one of those epic stories that takes place over several generations so I don;t think it would have mass appeal.
Maybe as a TV mini-series on Sci-Fi or HBO it would do OK
{"commentId":372918,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"michaelb1"}
#38 - Fri Nov 10, 2006 12:54 AM EST{"commentId":374455,"authorDomain":"Buckeye"}
Algis Budrys's "Rogue Moon," if you have more imagination than budget. The alien artifact/base/mousetrap for humans doesn't have to look like anything in particular, it just has to be as cool and paradoxical and deadly as you can make it.
Pohl & Kornbluth's "The Space Merchants." The PR business always needs to be satirized.
A lot of Keith Laumer's stories would make good action-adventure SF movies, the Bolo and Retief stories for example. (I can already see a CGI Groaci looking fierce with two of its eyes, sneaky with two, and dreamy with the fifth. The comic possibilities are endless.) "The Long Twilight" is another example. (Alien superwarriors stranded on earth, manipulating human civilization in continuance of the war, with a showdown at a nuclear power plant in a hurricane. With a robot alien monster thrown in.)
{"commentId":374455,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"Buckeye"}
#39 - Fri Nov 10, 2006 10:42 PM EST{"commentId":2272095,"authorDomain":"grl727"}
My No. 1 candidate: William R. Forstchen's Lost Regiment Series. Civil War soldiers vs. 12-ft. cannibal warriors--what's not to like! Anything by Edgar Rice Burroughs now that we have the f/x technology to do it right.
{"commentId":2272095,"threadId":"52977","contentId":"431280","authorDomain":"grl727"}
- 1 vote
#40 - Thu Jul 24, 2008 4:11 PM EDT{"canLink":false,"threadId":"52977","isPrivate":false}
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