# Movies you'd love to see redone as HBO miniseries **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 9, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138 "2005-11-09T00:32:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/1 "2005-11-09T00:32:25Z")
Even a great movie adaptation of a medium sized great book has to ditch so many sideplots and characters that I’d like to see some redone as an uncensored miniseries or multipart movie. My suggestions: _Cider House Rules_ and _The World According to Garp_- both just had too much material for even the greatest of screenwriters to capture in 2-3 hours. Both could be great if allowed the multigenerational scope to allow in some of the deleted moments and characters. _To Kill a Mockingbird_- seeing the movie long after I read the book was actually a disappointment. It wasn’t bad, but some of my favorite moments and characters didn’t make the transition (Calpurnia taking Scout to her church, the “drunk” with a mixed-race family, Atticus’s sister, etc.). _Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe_- There was much to recommend the hit movie version, but I’d like to see Big George’s twins, the side characters (like Dot Weems and Young Ninny) and the modern plotline dealt with. Your pics? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/2 "2005-11-09T00:38:07Z")
_Confederacy of Dunces_- the only way I think it would work would be as an HBO miniseries (perhaps with Philip Seymour Hoffmann or Oliver Platt in the lead). _The Straight Dope Code_- a globespanning epic in which various Dopers, members all of the Priory of Cecil, left clues to the greatest mystery of history, but none of them can agree on what it is and the word CITE? is written everywhere. _Gone With the Wind_- it’ll never happen, but I think it would be cool to see a remake featuring Scarlett’s older children, a more understandable Ashley Wilkes (Orlando Bloom, perhaps- there’s no way anybody would fall in love with Leslie Howard) and filmed on location with believable houses rather than the way too grand for the book Tara and the “Holy Mother of All Magnolias” overdone Twelve Oaks (if any Georgia planter had seen a house like that he’d have exploded). It’d be especially cool (speaking of will never happen) to simultaneously film _The Wind Done Gone_ and air them back to back (with Dave Chappelle as Polk). ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/3 "2005-11-09T00:40:00Z")
The _Silmarillion_. Because I am that dorky. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/4 "2005-11-09T00:41:27Z")
Stephen King’s Dark Tower saga. There’s no way to do it at the rate of one movie per book. I think it would make a great animated series if done in the right style. Each book could be a 13-week mini-series (with hour-long eps). ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/5 "2005-11-09T00:42:18Z")
That’s odd- it gobbled my OP- well, I’ll take it the thread title is self explanatory enough. In the OP I mentioned: _To Kill a Mockingbird_- include the deleted sections and characters (Calpurnia taking Scout to the black church, the “drunk” man with the biracial children, the inferences of incest in the Ewell family, Atticus’s sister, etc.). _Cider House Rules_ and _The World According to Garp_- again to restore the deleted portions of the novels that had to be changed or cut altogether to fit into a 2 hour movie. _Ragtime_- the movie was not without its moments, but I would love to see either the full novel filmed as a miniseries or a movie version of the musical. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/6 "2005-11-09T00:43:19Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > There’s no way to do it at the rate of one movie per book. I think it would make a great animated series if done in the right style. Each book could be a 13-week mini-series (with hour-long eps). The (gobbled) OP had a similar thought about an animated SANDMAN as well. (It would be next to impossible to do it live action.) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/7 "2005-11-09T00:44:41Z")
Seasons 5-7 of **Buffy the Vampire Slayer**. Nekkid Willow. Nekkid Tara. Nekkid goings-on. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/8 "2005-11-09T00:46:16Z")
> [@Orual](#): > > The _Silmarillion_. Because I am that dorky. Dang Orual, you not only beat me, but you were the first responder. So I second Orual. I would settle for a 10 or 19 part Hobbit. 1 or 2 chapters per episode. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/9 "2005-11-09T01:02:00Z")
> [@Orual](#): > > The _Silmarillion_. Because I am that dorky. It’d be cool, no doubt, but it’d need a frigging translation from Tolkienese into English. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/10 "2005-11-09T01:06:05Z")
DUNE comes to mind. Almost anything by Dickens would be good - maybe having more than one novel overlap. Wouldn’t exactly be the cheeriest of mini-series, but Deadwood usually doesn’t have people rolling in the aisles with laughter either. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/11 "2005-11-09T01:07:17Z")
**MASH** not the squeaky clean TV that I adored when I was a kid, but grittier and funnier as the book. I’d also tune into a newer gun-toting version of **Charlie’s Angels** and maybe the **A-Team**. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/12 "2005-11-09T01:07:54Z")
Hmm…maybe a mini-series on The Curse Of The Multiple Theads. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/13 "2005-11-09T01:08:57Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Hmm…maybe a mini-series on The Curse Of The Multiple Theads. Theads? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/14 "2005-11-09T01:09:17Z")
Okay---- the OP is decapitated and in another post. I have no idea what the hell has happened here. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/15 "2005-11-09T01:10:43Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Okay---- the OP is decapitated and in another post. I have no idea what the hell has happened here. …and I swear I posted to THAT thread. I reported it to a Mod. Maybe they can figure out what happened. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/16 "2005-11-09T01:11:45Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Theads? No, [Thades](http://www.derok.net/derok/images/classics/planet%20thade.jpg). I have no idea what happened. I posted the OP, then hit “Reply to Thread” to add another movie, and somehow it posted another identically titled thread. IT’S A MADHOUSE! To anybody coming in after this, please post only to the other “HBO” thread. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/17 "2005-11-09T01:24:00Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > …and I swear I posted to THAT thread. > > I reported it to a Mod. Maybe they can figure out what happened. And thank you for pointing out my typo in that **thead**. At any rate, here was my post in the soon-to-be-deleted duplicate thead/threat/thread: "DUNE comes to mind. Almost anything by Dickens would be good - maybe having more than one novel overlap. Wouldn’t exactly be the cheeriest of mini-series, but Deadwood usually doesn’t have people rolling in the aisles with laughter either." ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/18 "2005-11-09T01:28:18Z")
**Soul Music** or **Wyrd Sisters**. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/19 "2005-11-09T01:29:35Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > And thank you for pointing out my typo in that **thead**. I live to serve. 😃 A few sci-fi sagas/books I’d like to see: Dan Simmons’ Hyperion/Endymion saga John Varley’s Gaea trilogy (Titan, Demon, Wizard) & Steel Beach. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/20 "2005-11-09T01:37:14Z")
“Outlander” by Diana Gabaldon. It’s way longer than a conventional movie yet needs a big budget to be done correctly. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138.md?page=2)