What movies do you wish would be made?
I wish they would do a War of the Worlds movie. I know they did one in '53 but it sucks, and is not true to the book. I’d like to see a modern version which follows the book closely. I think they could do a killer job with today’s special fx capabilities.
Around the late 80s/early 90s, there was a great series of SciFi books called “Wild Cards”. The basic plot was that an alien virus causes 90% of the people who get it to die, another 9% develop hideous deformities (“jokers”), and the lucky remaining 1% get super powers (“aces”). So it was basically what the real world would be like if some people had super powers while others were more or less monsters. Very few of the aces were actually heroes or villains. They were just people. All sorts of culture clashes developed, as the jokers became the lowest of the low while the aces were treated like royalty. Some very interesting characters. Of course, this could never realistially be made into a movie, because it’s waaaay too complicated, but i always wished that someone like the SciFi channel would make a TV show out of it or something.
There’s been talk, on and off, of making a movie out of Neal Stephenson’s book Snow Crash. This is one book that i definitely think would work very well as a movie, since it’s completely visual and there’s very little inner dialogue involved.
I’d like to see some of George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman books be made into films. I think the original was, in the sixties, but there’s an entire series of well-written, intelligent and really funny books just waiting.
Jack Vance’s Planet of Adventure series: City of the Chasch, Servants of the Wankh, The Dirdir, and The Pnume. A stranded Earthman journeys across a planet inhabited by multiple, mutually hostile alien races, trying to get home.
Patrick O’Brien’s Aubrey & Maturin series; start with the first. I’m seeing Johnny Depp as Maturin, not sure who’d be Aubrey–you need a younger Nick Nolte type.
War of the Worlds, set in Victorian times. I’d love to see the Thunder Child take on the wading war machines on the big screen…
I’d like to see SHOGUN made into a movie. Oh, whats that? It already is a movie? Oh yea thats right, it costs $250 to buy it and none of the video rental places around here have it.
I have a couple…
‘Legacy of Heorot’ by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes. Not my favorite story Niven, but it is begging to be made into a movie, and is pretty accessible to non-SF fans (I’ve introduced a number of my friends to SF through that book).
‘Ringworld’ by Larry Niven. I’ve heard that one of the Van Peebles has bought the movie rights to this classic, it’s about time it gets made into a movie.
Zelazny’s great series. Could you imagine doing the hellrides with todays FX? Amazing.
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. It would be very difficult to make it so that it followed the book closely enough to not insult the people who enjoyed the book, but it could be done.
I’d love to see it.
Yes they already made “The Running Man” and it wasn’t a bad movie, but if they had made it after the plot of the book, it would have been better in my opinion.
Another note, I just saw “Breakfast of Champions” and it is so true to the book by Vonnegut that it is almost scary.
Really? Even the Blockbuster next to me has the entire Shogun series for rent. The big long miniseries, not the short version.
A great movie could be made about Vlad the Impaler. The USA Network did one and it was OK but the actors weren’t that inspiring. A good big budget, full length feature film could be made with Gary Oldman as the Impaler. That first ten minutes of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) could be made into an intire movie.
Another idea is a movie about Robert Johnson. I know there was “Crossroads” with Ralph Machio but that really doesn’t count. Spike Lee could direct it and Denzel Washington could play Robert Johnson.
I’d like to see them film Harlan Ellison’s script of Asimov’s “I, Robot”. With CGI effects it could be Great!
I’ve always wanted to see a film of Fredric Brown’s “Arena”, It’s been ripped off many times, and even the episode of Star Trek that’s nominally based on it is so different that it’s a different story. They changed the ENDING! Both in practical terms (no gunpowder in Brown) and in philosophy (no “live and let live”, and no foppish “Metrons”). I’ve often thought about how to do this. Again, CGI opens doors.
Alfred Bester’s “The Stars my Destination”. The opening scene is an awesome piece of storytelling.
Bester’s “The Demolished Man”. How do you commit a successful murder in a society of telepaths? This book took the first Hugo award when it was first released.
Frererick Forsyth’s “The Devil’s Alternative”. It’s dated, but it could be done as a period piece – and a miniseries.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. I know, there have been about a half a dozen versions, counting cartoons and PBS versions. NOT ONE IS FAITHFUL at all to the original book.
I, too, would like to see “war of the Worlds” done right. I’ve seen Ray Harryhausen’s production sketches and models. He wanted to do it as a faithful period piece. THAT would have been something.
In the same vein, someone should re-do The Time Machine. George Pal’s 1960 movie really did get it all wrong.
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by H.P. Lovecraft. Arguably, it’s his most filmable. The fil “The Haunted Palace” was supposedly based on this book. Despite a screenplay by Charles Beaumont (“The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao”, and a LOT of the original Twilight Zone episodes), it didn’t succeed.
L. Sprague deCamp’s “A Gun for Dinosaur”. People keep proposing an idea like this, but it never happens.
“The Lost World” – not counting the Spielberg flick there have been at least three films with this name. Aside from the 1925 version, none has been at all close to the original.
A Good Heinlein, Asimov, Hal Clement, Arthur C. Clarke, Fredric Brown, Cordwainer Smith, Larry Niven, etc. movie/series. There’s plenty of material out there, and audiences aren’t as stupid as the filmmakers believe.
I’d like to see
Usually, the finished product that Hollywood puts out makes me wonder why I was looking forward to it in the first place.
A few years back, I read that some studio was preparing to produce Don Quixote, with John Cleese as the Don and Robin Williams as Sancho Panza. It’s too bad that it never came about. Yea, there have been several adaptations of Don Quixote, but none of them come close to capturing the books humor. Cleese would have been perfect for this part.
Badtz Maru: Me too for a Ringworld movie. Earlier, it would have been impossible to depict a puppeteer and difficult to depict a kzin. The Ringworld itself would have been a challenge to do convincingly. Now we can do them all, and I hope it is made and made well. In my opinion, the key would be to not let the characterizations come in second to the special effects. The differences between, and relationships and revelations among the four characters are what makes the story hum for me. That, and Niven’s terse, almost Dashiell Hammett-like style of writing. Aside – didn’t I read somewhere that Quincy Jones had acquired the rights to this movie? I gotta get on Google and check it out!
AndyKeats: I agree that the 1953 War of the Worlds was not at all true to the book, but I still felt it was a darned good flick. The suspense was very well done. This film scared the poop out of me when I was a kid and the scenes in the old farmhouse still give me the shivers.
One of the peole I work with translated that one to “reader’s theatre.” Apparently, it went over VERY well, and with the author’s blessing. She’s considering making it a screenplay. I’ll keep you updated!
I’d like to see the Asimov/Silverberg novel version of the Asimov short story Nightfall made into a movie. It wouldn’t need great special effects (which is what ruins sci-fi movies now), it could get by on plot, dialogue and characters alone (the neglect of which in favour of FX is truly what ruins sci-fi movies now)
Something about the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915. There have been hundreds of films done about the Titanic…but the Lusy would make for a really great story…all it got was one dinky little silent propaganda film by the British!
The Dragonlance Choronicles would make an excellent trilogy. I heard that Hickman has a screenplay that he’ll sell if the DnD movie does well.
Also Stranger In A Strange Land would be a good movie, but I think it would be too hard to make. The characters are too deep for the silver screen.
I, too, would love to see some sort of Wild Cards production. A TV series would be cool, but only if it were done sort of like the books: With lots of short stories, punctuated with a few larger plots. I wouldn’t like it if it were just “The Adventures of Dr. Tachyon and Cap’n Trips” (for instance). The various points of view are too important to only follow one or two through a series.
A true-to-the-book War of the Worlds would be heaven. I love that book, and can’t stand the California version. The fighting machines don’t even have legs!
On the same vein, how about a movie version of Footfall by Niven and Pournelle? They’d have to drop eighty percent of the details, but it’d still be a great story. The filmmakers would have to resist the temptation to update any technology. The great thing about the story is how humanity figures out how to fight a war in space when we don’t have the technology available when the attack starts.
Another great one would be the Seafort saga by David Feintuch. They’re kinda like Starship Troopers for the Navy, with a Horatio Hornblower angle.