# Can Hollywood Make a Good SF Film?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-hollywood-make-a-good-sf-film/20124>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [May 21, 2000, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-hollywood-make-a-good-sf-film/20124 "2000-05-21T19:43:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2000, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-hollywood-make-a-good-sf-film/20124/61 "2000-05-27T08:31:08Z")

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The starfighters fought like spacecraft 'cuz he had the special-effects people copy the scenes from old WWII movies.

Sheesh.

ANYWAY, not to get off-topic or anything…

> [@](#):
>
> But what do those “greats” have in common? They were NOT book adaptations.

I don’t think that’s entirely it. The problem doesn’t arise simply from a movie being an adaptation from a book, but the fact that if you were to make a movie using the novel as a script, you’d wind up with a movie that’s seven or eight hours long. So SOMEthing has to go, and usually it’s something critical. Hence, the difficulty of making a good book adaptation.

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**Author:** ![Danielinthewolvesden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Danielinthewolvesden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danielinthewolvesden)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2000, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-hollywood-make-a-good-sf-film/20124/62 "2000-05-27T09:10:14Z")

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Yes, that IS part of it, but I think that the screen version never lives up to “the movie in your head” is also important.

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**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2000, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-hollywood-make-a-good-sf-film/20124/63 "2000-05-27T09:29:18Z")

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Well, the “movie in your head” is different for everybody. Reading a book is definitely a better experience for those with strong imaginations (like me!!! Wee!!). But for those with no imagination whatsoever (yes, there are a few, poor souls), the movie would be better for them.

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