# Can they make a good Heinlein Movie?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 15, 2005, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602 "2005-07-15T02:07:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2005, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602/1 "2005-07-15T02:07:09Z")
I would love to see a well-done Heinlein movie.
Which books could be best adapted in 2005?
I keep thinking there must be some way to make “Moon is a Harsh Mistress.”
I think the story would hold up.
I thought “Puppet Masters” was very disappointing.
“Starship Troopers” was okay but not great and not much like the book.
“Dave” was based on Double Star but very loosely.
“Glory Road” would be fun, but would it find an audience?
Would they dare to make “Stranger”?
I Grok that the very negative press and protest from the religious right should help promote the movie at least.
Well what do other fans think?
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### Author:  [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602/2 "2005-07-15T02:14:02Z")
I’d **love** to see Stranger done. But it’d probably never happen with the religious right wielding so much power.
Starship Troopers, on the other hand, could easily be remade into a badass film if they actually followed the plot and gave them powered armor!
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### Author:  [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602/3 "2005-07-15T02:16:05Z")
I’d love to see a well-done version of **Podkayne of Mars**. I bet at least one other Doper would agree.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2005, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602/4 "2005-07-15T02:35:15Z")
I’d love to see _Stranger in a Strange Land_ made.
The next two on the list (though probably not terribly popular choices) would be _Job_ and _Number of the Beast_.
They both would translate well into Hollywood rollercoaster “What next?” type things, and they both have the element of “fluffy metaphysics as entertainment” that has been an easy sell ever since _The Matrix_ and the PKD revival.
The ending of _Number of the Beast_ would probably draw unwanted litigious attention from a certain cult, though, and will therefore probably never be made.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602/5 "2005-07-15T02:38:41Z")
In order, I would like to see good (ie faithful) movies made of:
_The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
Starship Troopers
Glory Road
Friday_
_Citizen of the Galaxy
The Door Into Summer
Tunnel In The Sky
The Star Beast_
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### Author:  [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2005, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602/6 "2005-07-15T02:39:13Z")
Was there every really a Philip K Dick revival? I figured that his books have pretty steadily been made into movies as time went on.
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### Author:  [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602/7 "2005-07-15T02:41:15Z")
Goddamn… I don’t know how that Y snuck in there. I’m gonna take a nap.
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### Author:  [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2005, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602/8 "2005-07-15T02:56:05Z")
I’ve only read a few Heinlein books (_Space Cadet_, _Have Spacesuit Will Travel_, _Starship Troopers_, _Citizen of the Galaxy_ and _The Star Beast_). I think any of those could be adapted into a decent movie, if someone put their mind to it.
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### Author:  [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602/9 "2005-07-15T03:00:35Z")
I’ve said it before on the boards somewhere, I think that _Double Star_ would make a fantastic movie.
Also, as mentioned up-thread _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ and _The Door Into Summer_ would make good movies.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602/10 "2005-07-15T03:38:30Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#):
>
> Was there every really a Philip K Dick revival? I figured that his books have pretty steadily been made into movies as time went on.
It’s not exactly exponential – but it sure hasn’t been steady, especially when you consider that not a single movie was released during his long and storied career. Used to be seven years or so between adaptations. Then, after the phenomenal success of _The Matrix_, which was understandably described as “Philip K. Dick-ish”, we soon had _Minority Report_, _Paycheck_, and _Imposter_ within a one-year period. Next year, we get Keanu in a _A Scanner Darkly_ and Nick Cage in _The Golden Man_.
[/hj]
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2005, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602/11 "2005-07-15T03:48:19Z")
To directly answer the OP: No, they **can’t** make a good Heinlein movie! The script-writer would never admit that the Old Man had better ideas on the crapper than the script-writer ever had in his miserable existance. Then the director would crap all over the movie, inflicting his “vision” on the story. (Yes, I’m looking at **you** , Verhoven!)(Hi\*\* lissener\*\*, wherever you are! 😃 ) Next, the actors, none of which have ever read Heinlein, would totally miss the point, motivation, and meaning of the characters. Then the Suits would insist on adding a love interest and sex scenes to a story written for Boy’s Life in the 50s. Finally, the studio would totally mishandle the ad campaign, and the movie would stiff.
10 years later, someone on a message board would ask: **Can they make a good Heinlein movie?** and the Circle of Life would begin again.
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### Author:  [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2005, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602/12 "2005-07-15T03:53:52Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#):
>
> I’d love to see a well-done version of **Podkayne of Mars**. I bet at least one other Doper would agree.
Yo. 😃
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2005, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602/13 "2005-07-15T05:00:15Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> To directly answer the OP: No, they **can’t** make a good Heinlein movie! The script-writer would never admit that the Old Man had better ideas on the crapper than the script-writer ever had in his miserable existance. Then the director would crap all over the movie, inflicting his “vision” on the story. (Yes, I’m looking at **you** , Verhoven!)(Hi\*\* lissener\*\*, wherever you are! 😃 ) Next, the actors, none of which have ever read Heinlein, would totally miss the point, motivation, and meaning of the characters. Then the Suits would insist on adding a love interest and sex scenes to a story written for Boy’s Life in the 50s. Finally, the studio would totally mishandle the ad campaign, and the movie would stiff.
>
> 10 years later, someone on a message board would ask: **Can they make a good Heinlein movie?** and the Circle of Life would begin again.
**silenus** has it exactly right.
Heinlein’s young adult novels or short stories would make better movies than MIAHM, Troopers, etc. Those books are all long and didactic, page after page of expository prose as he explains things. Don’t get me wrong, that’s part of the attraction to his work for me: it’s part philosophy, part outer space cowboy. But it doesn’t lend itself to Hollywood movie making very well.
The YA stuff tho: Podkayne, Space Cadet, Have Spacesuit… that stuff would make a great flick. But it won’t happen, as per **silenus**.
I’ll keep crossing my fingers and hoping everytime they wanna try tho 😉
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### Author:  [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2005, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602/14 "2005-07-15T06:09:09Z")
Did Heinlein ever do movie or TV work (scripts, story treatments, anything)? I know many of his contemporaries did in the 50’s and 60’s (e.g., all the SF writers who contributed to _The twilight zone_ and _Star Trek TOS_).
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### Author:  [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2005, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602/15 "2005-07-15T06:51:11Z")
Heinlein did the screenplay for **Destination Moon** , and worked as a technical advisor on the production.
**The Puppet Masters** isn’t really that bad of a Heinlein adaptation. It’s chief fault is that it had a low budget. But I thought Donald Sutherland made an excellent “Old Man”, and it’s clear that he read the book and pretty much understood the character.
b]The Moon is a Harsh Mistress\*\* is in pre-production right now. The Script has been written by [Tim Minear](http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/index.php?category=0&id=30224), who was one of the creative forces behind **Firefly** (he wrote several of the episodes). I think Firefly has a very Heinleinesque feel to it, and that may be Minear’s influence. So that give me hope for the movie.
This is what he says about it:
[/quote]
It’s been a pet project for Minear to adapt Heinlein’s difficult Hugo-Award-winning 1966 book, about the rebellion of a former lunar penal colony against the Lunar Authority that controls it from Earth. “[It’s] very difficult to adapt,” Minear said. “It’s interesting. I kept a lot more from the book than people may have expected. The light marriages are still there. The free trade with Earth is still there. The catapult is still there. And, you know, it’s not a silly arm on a fulcrum or something. The idea is this sort of Ferris wheel thing that takes it up over the gravity well and drops to Earth. The thing that I changed from the book is that Mike, the computer, manifests himself visually, so he’s not just a voice. But what I’ve done is I’ve given the citizens of Luna ocular ‘ident stamps,’ which are the equivalent of prisoner tattoos, and Mike finds a way into the personalized signature of people, so he can show himself to you, but no one else can see him. So that’s maybe the thing I added.”
[/quote]
Changes to Mike worry me - he’s the best character in the book. But Minear is a real Heinlein fan, and he won’t do a hatchet job like **Starship Troopers**.
I think Heinlein’s juveniles would make great animated films. Maybe Anime. Not cutesy kids films where they have to insert a pet dog or something, but a more mature film aimed at older family audiences. They would also make a great aniimated miniseries, with a potential for being very profitable as a DVD box set.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2005, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602/16 "2005-07-15T06:59:30Z")
Minear is a good choice. We’ll see if he can make it work. I stand by the rest of my fears, though.
Hmmmm…this could start a whole new “Casting” thread. Who would you cast as Professor de la Paz? Manny? Wyoh? Hazel? Stu?
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2005, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602/17 "2005-07-15T07:12:20Z")
> [@squeegee](#):
>
> Did Heinlein ever do movie or TV work (scripts, story treatments, anything)? I know many of his contemporaries did in the 50’s and 60’s (e.g., all the SF writers who contributed to _The twilight zone_ and _Star Trek TOS_).
from [IMDB.com](http://IMDB.com)
> [@](#):
>
> # Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy (2000) (VG) (novel)
>
> … aka Starship Troopers: The Game (USA: promotional title)
>
> # Starship Troopers (1997) (book)
>
> # The Puppet Masters (1994) (novel)
>
> … aka Robert A. Heinlein’s The Puppet Masters (USA: complete title)
>
> # “The Red Planet” (1994) (mini) TV Series (novel)
>
> # Uchû no senshi (1989) (V) (novel)
>
> … aka Starship Troopers
>
> # The Brain Eaters (1958) (novel The Puppet Masters) (uncredited)
>
> … aka Keepers of the Earth
> … aka The Brain Snatchers
> … aka The Keepers
>
> # Project Moon Base (1953) (screenplay) (as Robert Heinlein) (story) (as Robert Heinlein)
>
> # “Out There” (1951) TV Series (story) (episode “The Green Hills of Earth”) (story) (episode “Misfit”) (story) (episode “Ordeal in Space”)
>
> # “Tom Corbett, Space Cadet” (1950) TV Series (novel Space Cadet)
>
> # Destination Moon (1950) (novel Rocketship Galileo) (as R.A. Heinlein) (screenplay) (as R.A. Heinlein)
Personally, my favorite of his is ‘Moon is a Harsh Mistress’ and I would love to see it made, but unfortunately his material is very cold war and most sprouts today just don’t understand, having not really grown up in the cold war years.
I think it would be great made in a ‘futureistic’ style appropriate to the year it was actually written - 1966 … like the way they saw the year 2050 [or whatever year the book takes place in] I think as a ‘period piece’ it would work. One of the worst things they can do to a book is ‘update’ it to todays _sensibilities_. AS a sort of example, I find it jarring to see Hamlet set in 19th century Denmark, or Midsumer Night’s Dream in Edwardian england…to me shakespear is Elizabethan =\
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2005, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602/18 "2005-07-15T08:58:51Z")
> [@aruvqan](#):
>
> Personally, my favorite of his is ‘Moon is a Harsh Mistress’ and I would love to see it made, but unfortunately his material is very cold war and most sprouts today just don’t understand, having not really grown up in the cold war years.
Back in the barrel until they recognize his genius. _stands by with cork_
_The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ could work! I’m not sure exactly what you mean by “cold war,” though. It was still on when I read it and I got more of an American independence thing out of it.
Anyway, if it does work, I guess we can count on _The Cat Who Walks Through Walls_, too, if the studios are brave enough to go with the non-ending. Yeah, I won’t hold my breath, but it would be cool.
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### Author:  [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2005, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602/19 "2005-07-15T09:00:05Z")
I can’t see anything to stop **The Door into Summer** from being a good movie – it’s got intrigue, time travel, futuristic stuff, a love story…
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2005, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-they-make-a-good-heinlein-movie/312602/20 "2005-07-15T09:16:09Z")
It’s the FX that worry me. No, not that they’d screw them up, but that they’ll concentrate more on blowing crap up, than getting the story right. Let’s face it, movies like _War of the Worlds_, _The Day After Tomorrow_, and _Armageddon_ (to name but a few) are simply disaster pr0n, and that’s what Follywood wants to produce, **not** good stories. Because you can show someone a couple seconds of buildings blowing up, and get them to pony up money, but if you’re going to be concentrating on the story, you have to spend a long period of time explaining things to them, and that means they can’t play golf or get sushi enemas or whatever else is the current rage in Follywood, because they’re stuck listening to you ramble on.
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