# SF Books You'd Like To See As Movies
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 16, 2005, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337 "2005-02-16T10:08:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2005, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337/1 "2005-02-16T10:08:00Z")
What SF would you like to see on the big screen? I still can’t figure out why Harry Harrison’s **The Stainless Steel Rat** hasn’t been filmed yet - light, fun, strong characters {a stylishly roguish hero and his sexy nemesis}, great settings, lots of action, steam-powered robots, and the book practically _is_ a screenplay. Cast George Clooney as Slippery Jim, Angelina Jolie as, well, Angelina, a nice cameo for Sean Connery as Inskipp, and I can’t see it failing.
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### Author:  [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2005, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337/2 "2005-02-16T12:01:34Z")
_Starship Troopers_, not done as either a)a bad movie, or b) a very clever self parody. (Depending on how you see it.)
John Christopher’s _Tripod Trilogy_. (Yeah, the BBC did a version, but one could probably do bigger and better.)
Anything by Cyril Kornbluth.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2005, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337/3 "2005-02-16T13:26:39Z")
We’ve been here many times before, so I’ll re-iterate:
**The Stars my Destination** by Alfred Bester. I still think the opening, with Gully Foyle trapped in his coffin of an air locker aboard the derelict spaceship, seeing a passing ship, signalling to it, and having it ignore him is one of the best and most cinmatic of opening for an SF movie. In the right hands, this would be _wonderful_.
**The Demolished Man** , also by Bester. This won the very first Hugo award, and deserved it. Again, in the right hands the telepath party woulsd be ground-breaking and beautiful. (Although I can easily see it becoming crap in the wrong hands)
**Arena** by Fredric Brown. It’s a short story, I know, but you can properly treat it if you give it a whole movie length. And, although it’s been ripped off and supposed adapted for Star Trek, it’s never been done right and accurately. It’s about time.
**Rendezvous with Rama** by Arthur C. Clarke. Ignore the damned sequels. and, yes, this would be a visual and sense-of-wonder film. Not a lotta plot or character development. But it would be _great_.
**I, Robot** by Isaaac asimov. The Harlan Ellison script, that actually adapts the book, instead of stealing the title.
**Nightfall** by Asimov – It’s been done badly as a movie twice. It might be better if they actually kept to the damned story.
**Double Star** by Heinlein, or maybe **The Moon is a Harsh Mistress**. It’s about time someone did Heinlein the honor of adapting his work _straight_.
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### Author:  [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337/4 "2005-02-16T13:59:00Z")
First, one that C.S. Lewis actually wished to see as a movie- Arthur C. Clarke’s CHILDHOOD’S END.
Also~
Lewis’s SPACE TRILOGY
Heinlein’s STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND
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### Author:  [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2005, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337/5 "2005-02-16T14:04:23Z")
I think The Stars My Destination would make a great animated film. It seems like a lot of the scenes would work better in animation than in live action. Cel animation, not digital, of course.
If I could make one movie, I’d want that movie to be an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s Martian Time Slip, and I’d want it to star John Tuturro as Jack Bohlen and Gary Sinise as Arnie Kott. Dick’s Dr. Bloodmoney would also make a fine film, but first things first.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2005, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337/6 "2005-02-16T14:26:23Z")
**Ringworld.** As long as we don’t have to cast Jackie Chan as Louis Wu
**Permutation City.** , as long as it is nothing whatsoever like _Lawnmower Man_.
**Weapon** by Robert Mason - it has already been made into a movie called _Solo_ (sort of a conglomeration of the book and its sequel), but it was inexcusibly complete, utter shite and needs to be redone properly.
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### Author:  [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2005, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337/7 "2005-02-16T14:35:26Z")
Haruki Murakami’s _Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World_.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2005, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337/8 "2005-02-16T14:37:55Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I think The Stars My Destination would make a great animated film. It seems like a lot of the scenes would work better in animation than in live action. Cel animation, not digital, of course.
Naaahhh. It might be a matter of personal taste, but I’d _much_ rather see this as a movie with good CGI effects. An animated feature would seem too unimpressive and cheap. But a live-action movie of this would blow me away.
YMMV
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### Author:  [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337/9 "2005-02-16T14:41:54Z")
Heinlein’s juveniles would make great animated films. An animated movie version of “Have Space Suit - Will Travel”, or “Starman Jones”, or “Citizen of the Galaxy” would be awesome.
I’d also love to see an animated movie of a collection of Heinlein short stories. Something akin to ‘Heavy Metal’, with Heinlein’s future history tying the stories together.
Citizen of the Galaxy would also be a good live action movie.
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### Author:  [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337/10 "2005-02-16T14:42:48Z")
Let Peter Jackson handle Asimov’s “FOUNDATION” series. Make 5 movies, take 10 years. Skip the two prequels as they contain too many spoilers.
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### Author:  [@The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mad_Hermit)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2005, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337/11 "2005-02-16T14:55:46Z")
Niven and Pournelle’s _Lucifer’s Hammer_ (or even _Footfall_) would have made a much better movie than _Armageddon_ or _Deep Impact._ Harry the Mailman would have been a great character, I could see Jeff Daniels in the role.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2005, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337/12 "2005-02-16T15:07:29Z")
Not **Ringworld** , but **The Long Arm of Gil Hamilton**. You can sell a cop movie easier than an SF extravaganza. \*\*Lucifer’s Hammer \*\* would work better than **Footfall** , I think. Not so much cutting away to the ship, for example.
Hell, I’d settle for a movie that did the novel justice. I don’t care which novel. Just don’t think that because you are writing the screenplay, you know better than the author. I fact, there should be a law against such crimes as \*\*I, Robot \*\* and **Starship Troopers**.
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### Author:  [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337/13 "2005-02-16T15:29:24Z")
John Brunner’s **The Sheep Look Up** , though I realize how unlikely it is for anyone to finance a long and extraordinarily depressing movie that only I would go and see. Maybe they could figure out a “love conquers all” ending for it.
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### Author:  [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2005, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337/14 "2005-02-16T15:41:07Z")
To be honest I’ve always wanted to see film of “…The Gods Themselves…”
Hey, we’ve got all this CGI technology. Could we not put it to use making squares and triangles into interesting interesting characters?
Wasn’t that what the story was inviting us to do? I dunno, I think it would be an interesting challenge.
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### Author:  [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337/15 "2005-02-16T16:19:54Z")
I’d like to see a movie version of Eric Frank Russell’s **Sinister Barrier**. A thriller/action movie, although it might bring out the tinfoil hat brigade with some of the subject of the story. Alternately, from the same author, an adaptation of his **Wasp** book, another thriller but with comic potential.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337/16 "2005-02-16T17:44:01Z")
The only sf books I’d like to see done are the ones with the absolute minimum of special effects and maximum of characterization.
The one I think has the best potential to be a good movie is by Roger McBride Allen:
> [@](#):
>
> ORPHAN OF CREATION
>
> The bones of a australopithicine – a form of pre-human thought to be extinct for a millions – are found in Mississippi, and seem to date from the period just before the Civil War. As the evidence mounts that australopithicines are alive in the present day, a question that no one ever thought to ask before suddenly become more more urgent – what, exactly, is a human being.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2005, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337/17 "2005-02-16T17:51:43Z")
How about a version of _Solaris_ that doesn’t suck?
One that stays true to the theme of the book, which is about the difficulty in understanding something that is truly alien. One that is not sex lies and videotape in space, or an incomprably boring art film.
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### Author:  [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337/18 "2005-02-16T17:52:24Z")
Orson Scott Card’s **Ender’s Game** and Iain M. Banks **Consider Phlebas**.
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### Author:  [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2005, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337/19 "2005-02-16T17:57:39Z")
William Gibson’s “Neuromancer.”
John Steakley’s “Armor.”
Walter Jon Williams’ “Days of Atonement.”
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### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-books-youd-like-to-see-as-movies/290337/20 "2005-02-16T18:07:39Z")
_Ender’s Game_, by OSC.
_The Left Hand of Darkness_, by Ursula K. LeGuin
_I, Robot_, Asimov.
_The Hobbit_.
_Childhood’s End_.
Oh! It’s frustrating me I can’t think of anymore. There are so many!
The \*\*2001 \*\* series, a good movie, not a bad one with horrible 70’s clothing. And let’s tone down some of the annoying characters from the later books.
\*\*Roundevous with Rama \*\* series is good, even the sequels. Let’s kill the absolutely horrible depressing ending.
I couldn’t get into this thread fast enough. I’ll be back.
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