# 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:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**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, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/21 "2005-11-09T01:38:10Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > It’d be cool, no doubt, but it’d need a frigging translation from Tolkienese into English. Well, did I mean the action-y parts. I mean, the Music of the Ainur is interesting and all, but it’s not really so filmable. But Beren and Luthien? Fingolfin vs. Morgoth? The sack of Gondolin? It would be _so awesome_. (And approximately 100 hours long. At least.) I would also like a full rendition of _Les Miserables_. Give the Thenardiers and the Friends of the ABC their proper screen time (I always had a crush on Enjolras). ---
**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:** [November 9, 2005, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/22 "2005-11-09T02:04:55Z")
Frederick Forsyth’s **The Devil’s Alternative**. It’d have to be a “period piece” now about a tense US-USSR situation, but the Pres. reminds me of Bush II – “He convinced the voters that he was The Boy Next Door. But he wasn’t. He was The Man at the Top, and he knew it.” A wonderfully complexd Forsyth outing, featuring an escape from Russia, an assasination, a Bank Robbery, the hijacking of the world’s largest Oil Tanker, the threat of WWIII, double agents, and an ultimatum, all of it far too complex to be handled in a movie of reasonable length. Only a mini-series could do it justice. And, oh, yeah – there’s a twist at the end. L. Sprague de Camp’s **An Elephant for Aristotle** – Alexander the great conquers the western border of India and decides to send a War elephant back to his tutor, the philosopher Aristotle. (As de Camp argues, something like this may very well have happened). The story tells of the poor officer with an inadequate company of soldiers who has to schlep the recalcitrant beast by foot all the way from India through mountains, deserts, over rivers and seas and frequently hostile country back to Greece. Raymond F. Jones’s **This Island Earth** – not a remake of the 1955 film, but a proper adaptation of the book, wriiten and performed for an adult audience. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/23 "2005-11-09T02:10:38Z")
_The Belgariad_ _Jason and the Argonauts_ and other Greek Myths _The Legend of Maui_ ---
**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:** [November 9, 2005, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/24 "2005-11-09T02:26:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Jason and the Argonauts and other Greek Myths Hallmark did this, albeit as a shortened one-parter. And now that **Troy** has come out, don’t look for anyone to do **The Iliad**. How about Isaac Asimov’s **Foundation**. But only the first trilogy. And do it _right_. Heinlein’s **the Past Through Tomorrow**. They don’t have to do it all – just a few good parts. Harry Turtledove’s **World War**. Epic Science Fiction/Alternate History. It’s already episodic. Mark Twain’s **A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court** – to my knowledge, not one adaptation of this approaches accuracy. Arthur Conan Doyle’s **The Valley of Fear**. There have been adaptations of this, but a lot time ago and pretty obscure. The one Sherlock Holmes story that never seems to get adapted – and it even has Moriarty! ---
**Author:** ![QuizCustodet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ba0ec/32.png) [@QuizCustodet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuizCustodet)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/25 "2005-11-09T08:49:42Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > **Soul Music** or **Wyrd Sisters**. The latter has already been done - one of the UK channels, perhaps C4, did an animated series that covered it. It worked surprisingly badly, given the quality of the book. Admittedly, I’ve only watched it once, and I was very tired at the time, so possibly I’m being overly harsh. My choice re: the OP - Janny Wurts/Raymond E. Feist’s _Empire_ trilogy. It would need a big budget to properly convey the _alienness_ of Tsuranuanni, but I think it would be worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/26 "2005-11-09T09:18:41Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Raymond F. Jones’s **This Island Earth** – not a remake of the 1955 film, but a proper adaptation of the book, wriiten and performed for an adult audience. What a surprise to see you recommend this 😉 . ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/27 "2005-11-09T10:22:44Z")
Ayn Rand’s ATLAS SHRUGGED Bram Stoker’s DRACULA THE BIBLE ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/28 "2005-11-09T12:39:00Z")
Moderator mumbles under his breath: I have no idea what happened or why, and I’m on the run so I don’t have time to check it out, but I have merged the two threads. So, I may not know the cause, but (I hope) I’ve got a solution. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/29 "2005-11-09T12:43:59Z")
I can’t believe I’m the first one to say, _Serenity_ (as a series). It would be such a beautiful thing, and a story to rival the Family Guy comeback. Maybe if we just wish hard enough . . . I’d like to see the ideas in \*Dawn of the Dead/Land of the Dead \* more meticulously covered. Less emphasis on gore and shocks, a bit more on how people would really cope with such a monumental disaster, and of course, how the haves & have-nots would shake out (more realistically). ---
**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, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138/30 "2005-11-09T15:22:19Z")
> [@QuizCustodet](#): > > The latter has already been done - one of the UK channels, perhaps C4, did an animated series that covered it. It worked surprisingly badly, given the quality of the book. I own it. You aren’t being harsh…it stunk. Which is why I want it to get the full-scale HBO treatment. Besides, it would let us fight over who would make the better Magrat! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youd-love-to-see-redone-as-hbo-miniseries/330138.md?page=1)