Scifi’s “Dune” miniseries was pretty good (the first one anyway), but I would love HBO (or Netflix) to do something with a bigger budget, no commercials, and of course, gratuitous sex, violence, cursing, and drug use. To me, the best part of “Dune” is the transformation of a snotty rich kid into a spiritual leader and guerrilla general.
If you think about it, Paul Atreides is Osama bin Laden, except instead of getting capped by Seal Team 6 (the Imperial Sardaukar) he wins his holy war and conquers his oppressors, upending the secular empire, and ushering in a new era of theocratic rule. Continuing with the analogy to the Middle East, the spice is similar to oil, a valuable commodity, that is essential to modern life, which superpowers will go to war for (both overtly and covertly).
The people who write the checks that pay for these productions, no doubt, are not keen to play up the similarities between rebel fremen and modern jihadists. Which is a shame, because that is exactly what makes “Dune” so relevant right now. “Dune” is partially about the blurry line that separates “freedom fighters” from “terrorists.”
Milton’s Paradise Lost. The great battles in heaven between Lucifer and the other Archangels, the casting out into hell, the construction of Pandemonium, the demonic transformations and power struggles, the innocence in the Garden followed by the temptation and fall.
It’s a phenomenal piece of literature, which many never touch because it’s pretty difficult to read and understand.
Now that Game of Thrones is such a hit, I’d like to see two other GRRM books filmed: Fevre Dream (vampires along the Mississippi before the Civil War) and Tuf Voyaging (terrific sf/environmental satire). Both very good, both very different.
It’d certainly be interesting to see what they could do with some SF. I’m a big fan of the recent Leviathan Wakes, a space opera with interesting characters (including an excellent tension between a Humphrey-Bogart-type detective and a Jimmy-Stewart-type ship captain) and some truly oogy scenes.
Although, you know what would be absolutely perfect? A nineteenth-century serialized novel like The Count of Monte Cristo. Roughly one chapter per episode would get you about ten seasons, so they might need to change that, but if they could pull it off, how incredible would that be, to have a hundred-hour-long adaptation?
Gone With the Wind. If you’ve only seen the movie and haven’t read the book, they’re both classics but they’re very different. The movie is more mythology while the novel is more historical fiction and has many great characters and scenes not included in the film.
To Kill a Mockingbird. If you’ve only seen the movie and haven’t read the book, the rape trial is only maybe a quarter of the novel, if that, and another “many great characters and scenes not included in the film” or in the play versions (all of which center around the trial).
I would say the Aubrey/Maturin novels, but the number of novels, and cost of having sailing ships, etc… would probably be too much- how many years would the show have to run?
I like the idea of the Flashman novels; plenty of violence, sex scenes, and hijinks, and with the added bonus of having an utterly reprehensible protagonist. It would be hilarious and entertaining all around.
There was a comic book miniseries by Ed Brubaker back in the early oughts called “Sleeper” that I have always believed would be the perfect HBO series - it’s full of over the top violence, moral ambiguity, and gratuitous nudity. Various people have been in talks over the years to make a movie of it (such as Tom Cruise, for some reason) but I think that a premium-cable series would be a better fit for it.
One issue would be timeline. Some of the key characters are young adult children of WWII vets. Pushing it in a Post-Reagan apocalypse. Couldn’t be set in current-ish times without padding a generation.
I’m probably one of the few that think that Cryptonomicon could be suitably converted into a mini-series.
Sandman would work well as an anthology-style series which also has an ongoing overarching plot going on as well. The titular role would also allow various actors to take their turns playing Morpheus.