# SF Author with most big/small screen adaptations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 2, 2005, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580 "2005-03-02T10:52:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580/1 "2005-03-02T10:52:36Z")
Just a thought, after visiting the Philip K Dick website to see the trailer for A Scanner Darkly, which science fiction author has had most adaptations for the big screen (or small?) So far there have been six films, with “Scanner Darkly” and “The Golden Man” to come, a “Valis” opera and a play of “Flow My Tears The Policeman Said.” Has anyone else had so many films made out of their work? Has anyone’s work been picked up and adapted for (instead of something they’ve explicitly written for) TV as many times? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580/2 "2005-03-02T11:38:33Z")
I’d guess that H. G. Wells has the most movies made from his works: [http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0920229/](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0920229/) ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580/3 "2005-03-02T11:48:07Z")
Although I am sure some would dispute the movies based on his books being adaptations, Michael Crichton is probably up there in number: _Sphere_; _Congo_; _Jurassic Parks_ I, II, III, and IV; _Timeline_; _13th Warrior_; and _Andromeda Strain_ all spring to mind immediately. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580/4 "2005-03-02T12:45:39Z")
Thinking along similar lines to **Wendell** , [Jules Verne](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0894523/)? ---
**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:** [March 2, 2005, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580/5 "2005-03-02T12:46:30Z")
Jules Verne has to be a major contender. Just off the top of my head: **20,000 Leagues Under the Sea** – at least 4 versions \*\*Mysterious Island – 2 Children of Captain Grant/In search of the Castaways --2 Michael Strogoff =–2 Robur the Conqueror/Master of the World – 2 Around the World in 80 days – 3 The Light at the End of the World From the Earth to the Moon Journey to the Center of the Earth For the Flag - 2 or 3 \*\* If you check the IMDB you’ll find other adaptationsd, I know. There have been quite a few made in other languages that were never translated into English. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580/6 "2005-03-02T13:34:34Z")
The dark horse is Robert Sheckley: Freejack (1992) (novel Immortality Inc.) Prix du danger, Le (1983) (novel The Prize of Peril) Condorman (1981) (novel The Game of X) Millionenspiel, Das (1970) (TV) (story The Prize of Peril) Immortality, Inc. (1969) (TV) (novel) Buenos samaritanos, Los (1966) (story) Decima vittima, La (1965) (story The Seventh Victim) Escape from Hell Island (1963) (novel) ---
**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:** [March 2, 2005, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580/7 "2005-03-02T13:50:01Z")
I was thinking about Sheckley, too, but Verne clearly outdoes him. As I’ve said before, I think Sheckley is also the most ripped-off of writers. **Total Recall** , except for the first 20 minutes or so (which are adapted from the Philip K. Dick story “We Can Remember it for you Wholsale”, as advertised) feels an awful lot as if it’s taken from Sheckley’s **The Status Civilization** , right down to Mutant Town, where you can find psychic mutants that can scan your wiped memory for your true past. **The Running Man** , both the King novel and the movie adaptation, feel as if they ripped off Sheckley’s “The Prize of Peril”. Harlan Ellison and Sheckley felt the same way, according to Ellison, although they were willing to put iot down to subconscious borrowing on King’s part. And several people have long felt that Douglas Adams’ **Hitchhiker’s Guide** (soon to be a film) owes an awful lot to Sheckley’s **[Dimension of Miracles**. Ironically, the movie adaptations of Sheckley’s works that openly acknowledge this are pretty awful and strasy pretty far from his actual stories and novels. One day we’ll see a decent adaptation of his work. Maybe one of those obscure TV versions cited about already is. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580/8 "2005-03-02T14:27:16Z")
Don’t forget to give an honorable mention to Authur Conan Doyle’s **The Lost World**. I count at least 8 versions filmed of that book alone. ---
**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:** [March 2, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580/9 "2005-03-02T18:15:36Z")
If you want to get technical about it, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Arthur Conan Doyle were both SF authors and both probably had over a hundred movies based on their works - but in both cases, it wasn’t their SF work that was adapted to the movies. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580/10 "2005-03-02T18:50:00Z")
I respectfully submit that **The Lost World** is science-fiction. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580/11 "2005-03-02T20:16:29Z")
_Ray Bradbury Theater_ was a TV series which filmed many of Bradbury’s short stories. I don’t know how many episodes it had. A lot of Harlan Ellison short stories ended up as episodes of the revivals of \*The Twilight Zone \* and _Outer Limits_. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580/12 "2005-03-02T20:35:52Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > I respectfully submit that **The Lost World** is science-fiction. But most of his movie adaptions are from Sherlock Holmes, which isn’t. (although Poe equated the detective and science fiction stories) Speaking of which, we can list Poe as a science fiction author with a lot of non-scifi stuff being made into movies. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580/13 "2005-03-02T20:51:37Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > A lot of Harlan Ellison short stories ended up as episodes of the revivals of \*The Twilight Zone \* and _Outer Limits_. Yeah, there were _Soldier_ and _Demon With A Glass Hand_. Ellison wrote _The City on the Edge of Forever_ for _Star Trek_, and he wrote at least one episode of _Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea_. He wrote _The Starlost_ television series (later turned into a book by someone else – with a scathing anti-NBC account of the series by Ellison). _A Boy And His Dog_ was a pretty good adaptation of the novella. I read something Ellison wrote about a project where one of the characters referenced Camus. When s/he pronounced it ‘kay-muss’, Ellison protested. ‘Who’s that?’ ‘It’s the writer.’ [From IMDB](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0255196/) (edited and 'list’ed for clarity): [quote] [ul][li]“The Hunger” (1997) TV Series [/li][li]“The Outer Limits” (1995) TV Series (story) (episode “The Human Operators”) [/li][li]I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (1995) (VG) (design, dialog and story) (short story I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream) [/li][li]“Babylon 5” (1994) TV Series (story) (episode 5.5 "A View from the Gallery) (episode 5.21 “Objects in Motion”) (writer) [/li][li]“The Twilight Zone” (1985) TV Series (teleplay) (“Gramma”) (writer) (episode “Crazy as a Soup Sandwich”) (writer) (episode “One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty”) (writer) (episode “Palladin of the Lost Hour”) (writer) (episode “Shatterday”) [/li][li]The Terminator (1984) (screenplays Soldier, Demon with a Glass Hand) (originally uncredited) [/li][li]“Tales from the Darkside” (1984) TV Series (writer) (episode “Djinn, No Chaser”) [/li][li]Jackpot (1980) (story) [/li][li]The Starlost: Deception (1980) (TV) (creator) (as Cordwainer Bird) [/li][li]The Starlost: The Beginning (1980) (TV) (as Cordwainer Bird) [/li][li]“Logan’s Run” (1977) TV Series (writer) [/li][li]A Boy and His Dog (1975) (story) [/li][li]“The Starlost” (1973) TV Series (creator) (as Cordwainer Bird) [/li][li]“Ghost Story” (1972) TV Series (writer) [/li][li]“The Young Lawyers” (1970) TV Series (writer) (episode “Whimper of Whipped Dogs”) [/li][li]“Cimarron Strip” (1967) TV Series (writer) (episode “Knife in the Darkness”) [/li][li]“The Flying Nun” (1967) TV Series (writer) (episode “You Can’t Get There from Here”) (as Cordwainer Bird) [/li][li]“Star Trek” (1966) TV Series (writer) (episode 1.28 “City On the Edge of Forever, The (4/6/1967)”) [/li][li]The Oscar (1966) [/li][li]“The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” (1964) TV Series (writer) (episode “The Pieces of Fate Affair”) (writer) (episode “The Sort of Do-it-Yourself Dreadful Affair”) [/li][li]“Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” (1964) TV Series (episode “The Price of Doom”) (as Cordwainer Bid) [/li][li]“Burke’s Law” (1963) TV Series (writer) (episode “Who Killed 1/2 of Glory Lee?”) (writer) (episode “Who Killed Alex Debbs?”) (writer) (episode “Who Killed Andy Zygmunt?”) (writer) (episode “Who Killed Purity Mather?”) [/li][li]“The Outer Limits” (1963) TV Series (writer) (episode “Demon with a Glass Hand”) (writer) (episode “Soldier”) [/li][li]“Ripcord” (1962) TV Series (writer) (episode “Where Do Elephants Go to Die”) (writer) (episode “Where Do Elephants Go to Die?”) [/li][li]“The Alfred Hitchcock Hour” (1962) TV Series (story) (episode “Memo from Purgatory”) (writer) (episode “Memo from Purgatory”) [/li][li]“Route 66” (1960) TV Series (story) (episode “A Gift for a Warrior”) [/li][li]“Letter to Loretta” (1953) TV Series (writer) [/ul][/li][/quote] ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580/14 "2005-03-02T21:31:57Z")
> [@Odinoneeye](#): > > But most of his movie adaptions are from Sherlock Holmes, which isn’t. (although Poe equated the detective and science fiction stories) Which is why I specifically only made mention of that one particular story. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580/15 "2005-03-02T22:43:54Z")
Movies have been made of other Dick stories as well. **Imposter** was a short story. As was **Second Variety** which was filmed as _Screamers_. **DADoES** of course is _Blade Runner_. _Total Recall_ has been mentioned. There is also _Minority Report_, _Paycheck_ and _Confessions of a Crap Artist_ - filmed as the French movie **Barjo**. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580/16 "2005-03-03T09:31:51Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > Movies have been made of other Dick stories as well. **Imposter** was a short story. As was **Second Variety** which was filmed as _Screamers_. **DADoES** of course is _Blade Runner_. _Total Recall_ has been mentioned. There is also _Minority Report_, _Paycheck_ and _Confessions of a Crap Artist_ - filmed as the French movie **Barjo**. Yup, those are the ones I meant as the six already filmed. Except “Confessions of a Crap Artist,” that was part of his non-SF work wasn’t it? ---
**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:** [March 3, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580/17 "2005-03-03T12:51:32Z")
The only story of his that I know Ellison adapted for TV in the 1960s was **Soldier**. “Demon with a Glass Hand”, although my all-time favorite episode of any SF tv show, was an original story. Most of the screenplays listed in **Johnny L.A.**'s post were, in fact, original screenplays, and I wouldn’t consider them “Fair game” for this thread. On the other hand, the Twilight Zone writers **Richard Matheson** and **Charles Beaumont** wrote more TV episodes than Ellison, and many of them were adaptations of their own previously-published shjort stories. The IMDB isn’t much help here, and I’m nowhere near my copy of Zicree’s book on Twilight Zone. Beaumont is listed as having 21 episodes and Matheson 16, but I don’t know how many of those are original teleplays or adaptations of other people’s stories. They both wrote movie screenplays, too, but only Matheson’s are based on his own books. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580/18 "2005-03-03T12:57:53Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Although I am sure some would dispute the movies based on his books being adaptations, Michael Crichton …: _13th Warrior_ That story was just Beowulf, with the hero recast. I think we should use time travel so that the real author can dispute copyright violation Viking style. With his [thing.](http://www.arild-hauge.com/elov.htm) What? Why are looking at me like that? That’s just the word for their assembly of citizens settling disputes. What did you think I meant? Or maybe by holmgang, if I’m lucky. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580/19 "2005-03-03T13:52:29Z")
Yes, I know it’s an obvious adaptation but it still counts. In my mind, at least. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-author-with-most-big-small-screen-adaptations/292580/20 "2005-03-03T13:57:37Z")
Yeah, your probably right. But still, I want to see that “author” fight a viking.\>:-\>