# Books to movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 3, 2004, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-to-movies/248455 "2004-06-03T15:00:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shirt\_Ninja\_13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@Shirt\_Ninja\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirt_Ninja_13)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-to-movies/248455/1 "2004-06-03T15:00:21Z")
What books would people like to see made into movies, someday? I hear the Honor Harrington series is one that would be fun. Any other ideas? _bamf_ ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-to-movies/248455/2 "2004-06-03T15:05:55Z")
Someone needs to make the greatest book written in English in the last 50 years, _[Riddley Walker](http://www.graphesthesia.com/eb/prose/riddley.html)_, into a movie. Unfortunately, no movie is likely to live up to the book. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-to-movies/248455/3 "2004-06-03T15:07:11Z")
Sorry; meant for [this](http://www.ocelotfactory.com/hoban/cowart1.html) to be my link. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-to-movies/248455/4 "2004-06-03T15:19:37Z")
Sure. I’d especially like to see more good SF. I’m getting tired of films based on Philip K. Dick that aren’t really the Philip K. Dick stories. Some things I’d like: **The Stars my Destination** – this could be _really_ good. It has a dynamite opening. **The Demolished Man** – in the right hands, the telepathy sequences could be the highlight of the film, rather than a drag. **Arena** – Fredric Brown’s short story, but it can easily be a full-length movie. I’ve filmed it in my head. **Citizen of the Galaxy** or **Double Star** or **Puppet Masters** done right or **Starship Troopers** done right or just about any vintage Heinlein. But not **Stranger in a Strange Land**. **I, Robot** using the Ellison script Some short story by Sheckley, Brown, Coggswell, Niven, , Forward, Pournelle, or somebody else done up right. Stay away from big, sprawling works like the aforementioned Stranger in a Strange Land. Or **Watchmen** , or **The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen** (oops) or **Hyperion**. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-to-movies/248455/5 "2004-06-22T00:01:25Z")
Why not _Stranger_, **Cal**? I just re-read it for the first time in 30 years, and have been wondering why it has never been made into a movie. I wouldn’t characterize it as particularly “sprawling.” It’s not exactly _Foundation_, after all. The cast isn’t that large, it all takes place within the span of a couple of years, and in a relatively small number of locations. And IMO it could be simplified for the screen (removing characters and subplots) without doing serious harm to the overarching message. Of course, it would have been a little more natural to film it back in the 1960s or 1970s, when the hippie movement it played a part in inspiring was still in swing, or at least a clear memory. But I think it could still make a pretty good movie today. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-to-movies/248455/6 "2004-06-22T02:28:46Z")
\*\*Almost Adam Witch Child Guilty Pleasures\*\* (though it probably won’t be since though written before BtVS became anything more than a movie, it might be seen as “too similar” to Buffy) \*\*Running With The Demon Jennifer Government Oryx and Crake The Martian Child The Fifth Child \*\* (by Doris Lessing) ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-to-movies/248455/7 "2004-06-22T02:51:27Z")
I’ve always thought Hey Nostradamus would make a mighty fine movie…along with any number of other Douglas Coupland books. The hard part about Nostradamus is figuring out how to lay out the events. The only thing that makes any sense to me is doing it in order of significance (that being the most significant events going at the climax). It’s not the type of book where you lay out the events in the order they occur in the book. It may work that way, I just think the greater opportunity is in order of significance. It’d be good I’d wager. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-to-movies/248455/8 "2004-06-22T03:33:33Z")
I wish they had made _The Hobbit_ to go along with the _Lord of the Rings_ trilogy. I wish Pixar would make _Watership Down_. others (almost at random; I have a long shopping list and this is just a snip): The Journeyer (Gary Jennings) Lucifer’s Hammer (Niven/Pournelle) Sleeping Dogs (Thomas Perry) Void Moon (Michael Connelly) Anything For Billy (Larry McMurtry) ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-to-movies/248455/9 "2004-06-22T05:22:26Z")
I would like to see **The Talisman** made as an animated movie (NOT Anime) and specifically I would like to see it screen written and directed by fans of the book that “got” it and Stephen King with a restraining order to be thrown in the slammer if he got within 100 yards of it while it was being made. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-to-movies/248455/10 "2004-06-22T06:57:13Z")
I’m a huge fan of historic epics and alt-history so why not combine the two and make a movie of _How Few Remain_, _The Great War_, and American \*Empire \* series by Harry Turtledove? I know I’d pay top dollar to see them. _Household Gods_ by the same author would be neat as well. \*The Forge of God \* and its sequel (whose name escapes me right now) by Greg Bear would be cool. The _Ender’s Game_ series by Orson Scott Card. _The Worthing Saga_ too. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-to-movies/248455/11 "2004-06-22T13:25:52Z")
Ringworld and others of the Tales of Known Space. The Darkover novels. Mercedes Lackey’s stuff–tales of Valdemar, Diana Tregarde, and some of her science fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-to-movies/248455/12 "2004-06-22T14:28:48Z")
Start and end with **H. Beam Piper** and the fuzzy novels. Those have almost automatic marketability and don’t require any expensive space shots. For Heinlein I’d take ‘Have Space Suit Will Travel’. I think that’s the best one. It’s got aliens trying to take over the world, kids in danger, boy scout-types and great sets (Lunar wilderness, megellanic clouds, pluto). It’d be a winner. Niven/Pournelle I think it begins with **The Mote in God’s Eye**. Especially if success could lead to **The Gripping Hand** and its sympathetic portrayal of Horace Bury. ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-to-movies/248455/13 "2004-06-22T14:40:13Z")
> [@Rufus Xavier](#): > > Sleeping Dogs (Thomas Perry) Oh yea. Though maybe do _The Butcher’s Boy_ first. Great books. William Faulkner is long overdue for a modern adaptation, imo. _Absalom Absalom, As I Lay Dying, Sound and the Fury_- once the narrative trickiness was tackled (and assuming it was in the hands of a capable director), can you imagine what an incredible film any one of these would make? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-to-movies/248455/14 "2004-06-22T14:44:41Z")
> [@Rufus Xavier](#): > > I wish they had made _The Hobbit_ to go along with the _Lord of the Rings_ trilogy. It’ll [probably happen](http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/tv_film/newsid_3380000/3380461.stm). ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-to-movies/248455/15 "2004-06-22T14:47:53Z")
I’d like to see Mary Stewart’s Merlin trilogy (The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment) done well. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-to-movies/248455/16 "2004-06-22T16:26:17Z")
I’d like to see [Dancer of Gor](http://www.shira.net/bookrvws/dancerofgor.htm) done as a musical.