# The greatest sci-fi movie never made? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431 "2008-02-13T14:56:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431/41 "2008-02-13T17:28:37Z")
[QUOTE=Triskadecamus] You know, though, thinking about Zelazny, **This Immortal** could be done well, and be a great movie. Hard to cast, though, and the dog would be important. ( I loved the dog.) Tris [/QUOTE] I’d rather see _Lord of Light_ or _Creatures of Light and Darkness_. Although the former may have some minor political correctness issues (I suspect some Hindus may object to the depiction of Brahma as a frustrated lesbian, for insance) and the latter may be just a little too… weird. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431/42 "2008-02-13T17:43:59Z")
I popped in to say “Ringworld” but it’s been mentioned. Some of the Stainless Steel Rat stories could be good, I remember talk of it many years ago. Guy Pearce as Slippery Jim and the properly named Angelina Jolie as his better half Angelina. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431/43 "2008-02-13T17:48:01Z")
I agree Fire Upon the Deep could make a great movie, but I think the Tines (Tynes? it’s been a while) would be difficult to get right. However, [Rainbow’s End](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End) , would be awesome. I’ll third (fourth, whatever it’s up to) Moon is a Harsh Mistress. And of course, [this.](http://xkcd.com/311/) ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431/44 "2008-02-13T17:50:24Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] **Buckaroo Banzai vs. The World Crime League!** [/QUOTE] Oh, \*\*HELL \*\* yes. I wanna learn about the Death Dwarfs! I wonder if \*The Shockwave Rider \* could be done, even though most of the tech it describes is already here or has been surpassed. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431/45 "2008-02-13T17:50:38Z")
Greatest? I dunno, but I think _The Man Who Never Missed_ could be a fun movie. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431/46 "2008-02-13T17:51:12Z")
[QUOTE=Bill Door] The advertisements for _Jumper_ make me wish for a screen adaptation of _The Stars My Destination_ . I also wouldn’t mind seeing if someone could bring Zelazny’s Amber series to the big screen. [/QUOTE] IIRC about a decade or so ago there were rumors of an adaptation in the works, but nothing ever came of it. Found linky. [Sci Fi Wire](http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?1998-10/08/21.36.film) blurb from 10 years ago. Then again considering whom the director was going to be, perhaps it was best that it died the quiet death. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431/47 "2008-02-13T17:55:23Z")
[QUOTE=Valgard] I popped in to say “Ringworld” but it’s been mentioned. [/QUOTE] Actually, I think that ‘Protector’ would make a pretty good movie, too - there’d be a lot of space action sequences between the Belter stuff and the Ramjet ships, but I don’t think the budget would be truly unfeasible. (Maybe we don’t need to worry about that in this thread too.) I do wonder if the ‘two hundred years later’ bit halfway through would be too much of a WTF moment for any of the audience who weren’t expecting it. And you could build a kickin’ montage around Truesdale’s final message. “If we lose one fight somewhere or other, a survivor will beam this message back to Human space. In which case… you’ll be smarter than they are. You can whip them. An alien fleet who was nasty enough to wipe us out will be following this transmission at nearly lightspeed. I love you. NOW MOVE!!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431/48 "2008-02-13T18:02:19Z")
[_John Carter of Mars_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carter_of_Mars_%28film%29) might or might not make it out of Production Hell. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431/49 "2008-02-13T18:08:23Z")
[QUOTE=chrisk] Actually, I think that ‘Protector’ would make a pretty good movie, too - there’d be a lot of space action sequences between the Belter stuff and the Ramjet ships, but I don’t think the budget would be truly unfeasible. (Maybe we don’t need to worry about that in this thread too.) I do wonder if the ‘two hundred years later’ bit halfway through would be too much of a WTF moment for any of the audience who weren’t expecting it. And you could build a kickin’ montage around Truesdale’s final message. “If we lose one fight somewhere or other, a survivor will beam this message back to Human space. In which case… you’ll be smarter than they are. You can whip them. An alien fleet who was nasty enough to wipe us out will be following this transmission at nearly lightspeed. I love you. NOW MOVE!!” 😃 [/QUOTE] I’m a big Known Space fan and thought that a lot of the Man-Kzin Wars could be adapted into a great HBO miniseries type thing. “Tales From The Draco Tavern” likewise although it’s not K.S. - might make a good combination with “Tales From The White Hart” and “Tales From Gavagan’s Bar”, you could have a miniseries set in a pub and change the time period as needed for the stories. Kind of a Blackadder approach, or mix them up. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431/50 "2008-02-13T18:08:28Z")
+1 for Varley’s Gaea trilogy–it’s actually feasible now with the CGI greenscreen/live action technology although it would be a spendy movie to make. But damn, how cool would live Titanides be? Not to mention all the other scary monsters. Total action/quest movie with juicy roles for women. We’d need a younger Grace Jones to play Cirocco! For a lower budget alternative perhaps \*\*Red Thunder \*\* or one of the post Invasion stories that take place in Luna. I guess my main point is that it’s a real headscratcher for me that Varley hasn’t been tapped for a movie adaptation because his stuff is just tailor made for visual media. ETA: Yeah, forgot **Millenium,** but hasn’t everybody? :smack: 😛 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431/51 "2008-02-13T18:12:33Z")
_Flash Crowd_ by Larry Niven. It’s only a novella, but that never stops Hollywood. Or _The Door into Summer_ by Heinlein. Love that book. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2008, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431/52 "2008-02-13T18:15:18Z")
I think it’s a mistake to try to adapt longer, more complex works for the screen. I’d love to see **Ringworld** done, but I’m afraid that hollywood would feel compelled to dumb it down for the General Audience (and there’s a HELL of a lot of backstory). Giving most of these SF novels a decent treatment means making it long. Look how well that worked out for **Dune**. The ideal would be to take a short story and flesh it out. They can screw this up, too – look at **Mimic** , which was a halfway decent short story. Or **the Sound of Thunder** or… well, you see. I’d love to make Fredric Brown’s **Arena** into a movie. It’s simple enough, and it could be done AMAZINGLy well with CGI. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431/53 "2008-02-13T18:17:13Z")
Fritz Leiber’s _The Big Time_ would make a fine little movie. In fact, it could be adapted to the stage. “No Great Magic” is another Change War story. Even more theatrical–with Shakespeare, no less. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431/54 "2008-02-13T18:21:39Z")
[QUOTE=Morgyn] I wonder if \*The Shockwave Rider \* could be done, even though most of the tech it describes is already here or has been surpassed. [/QUOTE] Wow. I thought I was the only person on the planet who had read that. I think this is the first time I have ever seen it mentioned. My nominee for a great science-fiction movie would be Stanislaw Lem’s _Cyberiad_. RR ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431/55 "2008-02-13T18:23:05Z")
The Honor Harrington series, especially the early ones. I think this would be a GREAT series of movies (if they did it right…wouldn’t hold my breath). John Ringo’s A Hymn Before Battle series…wow. What a great series of movies that would make. How about the Dies the Fire series (not really SciFi but would be very cool)? The Forbidden Borders series could also be cool if they did it right. Kings Dark Tower series is sort of SciFi’ish…but most King movies have sucked big time so maybe not. -XT ---
**Author:** ![counsel\_wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/65b543/32.png) [@counsel\_wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/counsel_wolf)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431/56 "2008-02-13T18:34:21Z")
Most of my first round of choices are already mentioned: **A fire upon the deep** Fun story, some opportunities for ground breaking CGI (the single intelligence pack creatures), nobody to get offended by it. **Lord of Light** How I wish this could be made, one of my favourite novels. Unfortunately it offends followers of practically every religion. It should be however noted that the Hindu ‘gods’ in the book are not gods, but people pretending (quite illegitimately and as a transparent control mechanism)) to be gods. This kind of distinction (for example The life of Brian is clearly taking the piss out of Jesus’ followers and not christianity) is never perceived by the kind of people who get offended by things however. **Snow crash** Despite being the most recent, probably has aged least well. I’d still like to see it done well though, mostly because it and Stephenson’s other work are common cultural referents for my peer group. The same could be said of much of William Gibson’s work. If I was to pick one Stephenson work, I’d pick **Interface**. For Gibson, probably \*\*Idoru \*\*and **All tomorrow’s parties**. As for my own picks I’d be pretty excited about Gene Wolfe’s \*\*Urth of the new sun \*\*4 book series being adapted. The vast dying cities, strange semi-familiar landscapes and general tone would lok great if done right. I suspect that it would not work for the kind of mass audience required to get the budget it needs though. Another series to look at would be Iain M Bank’s Culture novels. Again a hard sell because much of what makes them work is the cleverness of the Mind conference transcripts (and the ship names ofc) which probably would not translate well. That said I’d still like to see someone try. To pick a novel, lets go with **Excession** , just because The Affront are great. **The player of games** might work too. On the completely unfilmable front I would submit Stapleton’s **Last and First Men** , although i suspect somebody will probably try eventually ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431/57 "2008-02-13T19:19:30Z")
> [@](#): > > Some of the Stainless Steel Rat stories could be good, I remember talk of it many years ago. > > Guy Pearce as Slippery Jim and the properly named Angelina Jolie as his better half Angelina. I am totally on board with that. Fincher doing _Ringworld_? Best of luck to him! I’d love to see it done right, but like I said, I have my doubts. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431/58 "2008-02-13T19:38:36Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Excellent] No. There’s weren’t. Clarke never got around to it. Shame, that. But perhaps it’s just as well. [/QUOTE] My sentiments exactly. [QUOTE=cmyk] [ahem.](http://imdb.com/title/tt0134933/) [/QUOTE] Help me, Jebus. I’ve heard the rumors for years, Morgan Freeman included, but I’d never heard that Fincher was on board. Nevertheless, I stand by my assertion: they will f&ck it up. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431/59 "2008-02-13T20:45:09Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] **Buckaroo Banzai vs. The World Crime League!** [/QUOTE] Oh, yeah, baby, bring it on! That’d be great… but Buckaroo’s posse is probably a little too long in the tooth now, 20+ years later. Probably need a whole new cast. Clarke’s _Childhood’s End_ could be a beautiful, moving, powerful flick. There were rumors a few years ago that Hilary Swank was attached to a script for it, but nothing ever came of it. George R.R. Martin’s _Tuf Voyaging_ (a favorite of mine, with a great antihero and a funny but powerful pro-environment/anti-war message) and _Dying of the Light_ (could be a very elegiac different-cultures movie) would both be great on the big screen. I’d pay big money to see either. Heinlein’s _The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress_, as noted above. That’d be outstanding, and long overdue. Also _Glory Road_, which with just a few tweaks of the book would be a rollicking good adventure. If they’re gonna redo _Starship Troopers_, they’ve _got_ to have powered armor. Just got to. (I’ve always thought that it could be done really well in Pixar-style CGI, like _The Incredibles_). Ursula K. LeGuin’s _The Left Hand of Darkness_ would be another great first-contact story. It could pretty much be filmed on a shoestring, too. I liked Will Smith’s _I Robot_, although it bore only the barest resemblance to Asimov’s original. I’ve read Harlan Ellison’s screenplay and, if the studio was true to it, it would _rawk_. And either Diane Duane’s _Dark Mirror_, a ST:TNG novel set mostly in the Mirror Universe (with a dolphin navigator, Klingon opera and backstabbing crew plots), or Peter David’s _Imzadi_ (one of the best, most moving and clever ST time-travel plots ever), would be waaaaaaaaaaaay better than the recent run of ST movies. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431/60 "2008-02-13T21:02:05Z")
My pick for a Heinlein film would be _The Rolling Stones_. I think you could do it on a relatively modest budget. > [@](#): > > by **Elendil’s Heir** > Clarke’s \*Childhood’s End \* could be a beautiful, moving, powerful flick. I’m not certain the plot would make a good film, but it would be visually spectacular. Especially when the children start getting clairvoyant. Would you want to use Wayne Barlowe’s version of the Overlords, or get some other artist to render them? How about a nice, brainless, action flick with great visuals? I keep hearing rumors about a _John Carter of Mars_ film in pre-pre-pre-production. Mars, Venus, Pellucidar…any of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ worlds would make good eye-candy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-sci-fi-movie-never-made/437431.md?page=4)