# "Novelizations" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novelizations/300662 "2005-04-22T19:30:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [April 23, 2005, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novelizations/300662/21 "2005-04-23T00:59:00Z")
There are a couple of cases of the original author re-writing hs book in the wake of a movie so hat it more closely resembles the film. Martin Caidin rewote **Marooned** after the film so that his Mercury-era space drama resembled an Apollo-era spaceship. And Peter Bryant’s novel **Red Alert** was rewritten by him (under the name Peter George) as **Dr. Strangelove: or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb**. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2005, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novelizations/300662/22 "2005-04-23T01:54:10Z")
I just thought of another noted SF author who did one – Robert Heinlein wrote a sort-of novelization of **Destination Moon** to coincide with the film’s release. He, of course, wrote the screenplay, which was, in turn _very_ loosely based on his first juvenile novel, Rocket Ship Galileo. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novelizations/300662/23 "2005-04-23T02:01:31Z")
I’ve read them occassionally, just for the hell of it-I like to read more than I like to watch movies, actually. But the only ones I really crave are the novelizations for the _Star Wars_ movies. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2005, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novelizations/300662/24 "2005-04-23T02:07:40Z")
One of the weirder novelizationists (?) has got to be **Donald F Glut**. He did the novelization of **The Empire Strikes Back** , which is the only one he has done (that I know of). It’s his other wrting that’s fascinating and weird: Scholarly books on Vampires (published by Scarecrow Press) **The Dinosaur Dictionary** (I’ve seen it on sale at the American Museum of Natural History) **The Dinosaur Scrapbook** (filled with dd reproductions of dino memorabilia. I didn’t know anyone besides me knew of this stuff) A series of not-great novels based on Frankenstein, the Mummy, etc. Sociallyresponsible soft-core porn comics, like **Fanta** Harder-core poern comics, like [BRocketship SM\*\* (I kid you not) He’s alsp appeared on the VHS compilation **Dinosaurs**. The guy’s had a heck of a career. I still woner how he talked them into letting him do the Star Wars noveliation. The king of novelizations has to be **Alan Dean Foster**. Here’ as complete a list as I can think of: **Star Trek Logs** (novelizing the Star Trek animated TV series) \*\*Dark Star Star Wars Outland Alien The Black Hole The Thing Clash of the Titans Krull The Last Starfighter Starman Aliens Alien Nation Alien III \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novelizations/300662/25 "2005-04-23T02:17:19Z")
Oh weird, I was just wondering about this. I just can’t imagine feeling very satisfied or creatively fulfilled working as a, uh, novelizer. I bought a copy of _Nightmare on Elm Street_ (I think there are a couple of them in there) just for the kitsch factor. I’m not sure I could ever bring myself to read it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novelizations/300662/26 "2005-04-23T02:41:58Z")
Some more SF novelizers: George Alec Effinger wrote novelizations for the _Planet of the Apes_ TV series. Timothy Zahn and Kevin J. Anderson wrote novels based on _Star Wars_. S.M. Stirling wrote some _Terminator_ novels. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novelizations/300662/27 "2005-04-23T04:45:59Z")
> [@well he's back](#): > > You know what I mean - Movie comes out; becomes hit; cheap “novelization” of script come out to cash in on popularity. > > Like to know your thoughts on these. Will anyone own up to reading any? I read qute a few when I was really, really young and couldn’t let go of a favorite movie experience. I can’t imagine reading one now. But apparently somebody does. They even come in hardcover. Were any written that were good enough to stand on their own? > > Do you think “novelizations” are novels? To be quite honest, I consider the entire _Star Wars_ series of books to be nothing more than novelizations. But I’m pretty much of a snob that way. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novelizations/300662/28 "2005-04-23T06:25:16Z")
> [@Cat Fight](#): > > I just can’t imagine feeling very satisfied or creatively fulfilled working as a, uh, novelizer. It depends on how you approach it. Take the novelizations of the two _Spider-Man_ movies (both by Peter David). The first one is a straightforward adaptation of the script, with some small backstories added to try and give a little more meat to the story. The second one includes entire scenes, characters, and dialog that aren’t even remotely in the film, to show more depth to the main characters that the movie doesn’t even approach. Yeah, if your approach to novelization is to just parrot the script verbatim, there’s little creative satisfaction involved. On the other hand, if you use the novelization as an opportunity to add stuff to the story that the movie can’t capture (time is a precious commodity in film, but words are easily available in writing), then it can be a satisfying challenge. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novelizations/300662/29 "2005-04-23T18:15:36Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > To be quite honest, I consider the entire _Star Wars_ series of books to be nothing more than novelizations. But I’m pretty much of a snob that way. 😉 My understanding is that their contracts are similar - flat fee and they need to be vetted by corporate. I suspect Star Trek novels are similar. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novelizations/300662/30 "2005-04-23T18:33:34Z")
I saw Foster giving a talk at a con once and someone asked him about his novelizations. He said that doing them got his name known to publishers; that he could then go in with a novel of his own and say “I’ve sold x thousands of copies of my books” and have a better chance of getting his own stuff published. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novelizations/300662/31 "2005-04-23T22:07:37Z")
I suppose the all time classic must be J.M. Barries novalization of his own play \* Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up\* ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novelizations/300662/32 "2005-04-23T22:16:21Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > What I always found funny was when there were books based on novels. So, you’d go into the bookstore, and find the original novel, then next to it, the novelization of the movie. Yes . . . A really egregious example: When Kenneth Branagh’s _Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein_ (purportedly more faithful to Shelley’s seminal SF novel than any film adaptation to date) came out, it was shortly followed by a novelization, titled _Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein_ but not, needless to say, written by Shelley. I remember a Phil Foglio cartoon from the D&D zine _The Dragon:_ It’s about what to do if you’re an SF author whose book is being made into a movie. (Basic instructions: Demand payment in cash. Go to the California state line and have the bag of cash tossed over the border to you. Boil the bag before opening it. HAVE NOTHING MORE TO DO WITH THE MOVIE.) In one scene, a producer, sitting in an office with a big _Dune_ poster on the wall, is leaning back in his chair and talking on the phone: “But Frank! Sweetie! Alan Dean Foster does **all** our novelizations!” I don’t think I’ve read a film-novelization since the first _Star Wars_ was novelized. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novelizations/300662/33 "2005-04-23T22:20:14Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > S.M. Stirling wrote some _Terminator_ novels. Those don’t count – they’re set in the same fictive world as the first two movies, but not adaptations of their plots. (I was really surprised, by the way, when _T3_ came out and it was not an adaptation of one of Stirling’s novels – I just assumed he was working under an arrangement with the studio, reversing the usual order by writing the novel before the release of the movie.) ---
**Author:** ![boofuu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@boofuu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boofuu)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novelizations/300662/34 "2005-04-24T00:00:33Z")
One of my favorite reads in grade school was the book version of **Back to the Future** , those you got from Scholastic. It had pictures from the movie and all! Relatedly, I hate when a movie is based off of a _real_ book and they reprint the book but then the cover is a still from the movie. Argh, I hate that! I just feel the unwashed masses don’t realize their was a book **before** the movie. But then I guess it is good they are reading. (Or those books that have "Oprah’s Book Club stamped on it. At least I know to avoid it.) My brother cannot think of the example that pissed us off just right now. But he does think that the Bible should replace the cover with a still from _The Passion._ ---
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novelizations/300662/35 "2005-04-24T07:28:21Z")
I wonder if they are going to come out with novelizations of the _Lord of the Rings_ movies - if they do, I hope they throw in some catgirls. Or better yet, _ninja_ catgirls. 😃😃😃😃 (Let’s see who gets that reference.) ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novelizations/300662/36 "2005-04-24T08:55:34Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Isaac Asimov famously wrote the novelization for **Fantastic Voyage** , which has probably been in print longer than asny other novelization. He also wrote a “sequel”, _Fantastic Voyage II_. Interesting book, as I recall, but it’s been forever since I read it. I do remember, though, that not only is it not a direct sequel to the original, but it takes place in a world in which the events of the first book (and movie) never happened. So, I guess it’s more of a “remake” than a true sequel, despite its title. > [@Odinoneeye](#): > > The only one I can think of that was significantly better than the movie was “Fun House” > > Dean Koontz was just starting out, having a couple books published, when they came to him with the script and asked him to do the novelization. He hated the script, but needed the money, so while the movie was being shot, he wrote the novel, giving the characters much more character, motivation and backstory. > > In fact, the novel is about 4/5s over before the events in the movie even start. If Dean Koontz’s _The Funhouse_ is better than the movie, that must have been one shitty movie. I like a lot of Koontz’s stuff, much to my embarrassment, but I thought _The Funhouse_ stank like a steaming pile of manure. You’re right, there was quite a bit of backstory there, but it was _so_ poorly written. Even stuff he wrote before that (like _Whispers_) was better, even with his annoying tendency to inject his politics into the storyline. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novelizations/300662/37 "2005-04-24T12:05:31Z")
> [@RandomLetters](#): > > I wonder if they are going to come out with novelizations of the _Lord of the Rings_ movies - if they do, I hope they throw in some catgirls. Or better yet, _ninja_ catgirls. Or give the Corsairs of Umbar some speaking lines: “Aaar! ‘Tis Elendil’s heir, blister me bollocks if it ain’t! An’ he’s at the head of an spectral army, splinter me sphincter! Damn rot and blast me eyes! Mr Bones! Break out the rum an’ cutlasses, an’ we’ll shiver their livers, pox take me else! Aaar!” On the subject of S M Stirling, another faded cyberpunk luminary, Pat Cadigan, is also doing novelisations now - of **Jason X**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novelizations/300662.md?page=1)