# The original book, or the video adaptation? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 27, 2026, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-book-or-the-video-adaptation/1031948 "2026-07-27T03:22:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [July 28, 2026, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-book-or-the-video-adaptation/1031948/41 "2026-07-28T12:48:19Z")
I just wanted to observe that, although most H.G. Wells adaptations are pretty bad and/or miss the point, (including Wells’ own adaptation of his _Shape of Things to Come_) there is one that is surprisingly good – **The Man who Could Work Miracles** (1937). There was also a 2001 Hallmark Channel adaptation of several short Wells stories – Hallmark does very good adaptations – entitled **The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells** that told the stories as if they were events in Wells’ life. Pretty good, although they made significant changes in soime of them. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-book-or-the-video-adaptation/1031948/42 "2026-07-28T15:03:09Z")
For anyone interested in source material/film comparisons, I can thoroughly recommend this youtube channel… > **[Dominic Noble](https://www.youtube.com/@dominic-noble?si=kek_f_GrQDeQKMMZ)** > > Hello my beautiful watchers and welcome to my channel! > Have you ever wondered how loyal film adaptations are to the books they're based on? Do you wish to learn this information from a mildly sarcastic British gentleman with expressive eyebrows? If... ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-book-or-the-video-adaptation/1031948/43 "2026-07-28T23:24:47Z")
> [@Jaycat.again](#): > > To Have And Have Not On a fishing trip, director Howard Hawks told Ernest Hemingway he could make a movie based on Hemingway’s worst story. They settled on _To Have and To Have Not_. The film is elevated to greatness by the obvious chemistry between Bogart and Bacall, who met on the set and clicked (so much so that Bogart divorced his wife and married Bacall, 25 years younger than him). ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-book-or-the-video-adaptation/1031948/44 "2026-07-29T00:23:05Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > I cannot think of any case in which I felt the video was as good as the book. I have two- Holes- which was as good as the book, and > [@ParallelLines](#): > > The film, The Princess Bride, is so well cast and performed, that it surpasses the original (which I’ve read several times) by being “the good bits” of what already claims to be “the good bits”. Yep, Princess Bride- due to perfect casting. LotR comes close, but the books are better- slightly. Jackson did a good job of dropping Glorfindel and substituting Arwen . No, a great job. I still miss Tom Bombadil, however. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > As someone who became a fan of Tolkien and Middle-Earth as a tween, in the 1970s, I felt that the LotR films were amazing, and close, but not _quite_, as good as the books. There were so many moments in the movies where I thought, “that is _exactly_ how I pictured this moment!” For me, most of the adjustments and deletions which Peter Jackson made were understandable, in the spirit of making a set of films which held together as _films_, and weren’t even longer. I concur. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > **A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court** – I still long to see faithful adaptation of his. Don’t believe the people who say it can’t be done. The ending is SUCH a downer- Twain was having a hard time- that to me, I wouldnt bother. The Crosby version is light, fun and entertaining- but inferior. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > **The Mysterious Island** – The book is a bit of a grind. The 1961 Film comes a bit closer, and is fun, but doesnt make the cut. > [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > After seeing **Master and Commander** I was excited to read the original books and unfortunately found them boring. I found CS Forester better, but O Brians books are pretty good. Just dont binge read them. I got REALLY tired of the same joke with two variations in all or most of the books- Aubrey calls Maturin on deck excitedly- the Doctor is confused, so the Captain points out some tiny sail which is rarely used- vs the Doctor points out a small speck to the captain, which turns out to be same rare bird. Then O’Brians constant playing Lucy and the football with Aubreys finances got _really_ tiring. But still, pretty good if read casually - you likely wont notice those things. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-book-or-the-video-adaptation/1031948/45 "2026-07-29T05:28:40Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Someone will eventually step in and point out that the movie _Goldfinger_ improved on the Fleming novel This prompted me to think of which other Bond films are a definite improvement on Fleming’s novels, in my opinion. _Casino Royale [2006]_ (the novel is a good first attempt but the film was excellent) _Live and Let Die_ (the racism in the novel, just for starters) _Diamonds are Forever_ (this one is debatable because the film is enjoyable, if trashy, but not great) _The Spy Who Loved Me_ (probably the most obvious one, namely because the novel is his worst and the film takes the title and that is it) I’m not going to compare the short stories to films they were used in ---
**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:** [July 29, 2026, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-book-or-the-video-adaptation/1031948/46 "2026-07-29T11:30:52Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court – I still long to see faithful adaptation of his. Don’t believe the people who say it can’t be done. > > The ending is SUCH a downer- Twain was having a hard time- that to me, I wouldnt bother. The Crosby version is light, fun and entertaining- but inferior. > > CalMeacham: Everyone seems to think that _Yankee_ dates from the depressing end of Twain’s life, probably because of the dark ending. But the book was published in 1889, before Twain’s bankruptcy and the deaths that would so darken his later years. It was a comparatively happy time. And the book was considered to be a _kid’s_ book. People also appear to feel that “faithful” means “all or nothing”, which it doesn’t. The Bing Crosby version, like the Will Rogers version before it, was mainly a vehicle for the star, and had comparatively little of Twain in it, and none of his “feel”. I’m sure a lot of potential filmmakers are put off by Twain’s writing against the power of the Catholic Church, but you can get around that. (Twain wasn’t so much anti-Catholic as pro-democracy, and he obviously saw in the hierarchical Catholic Church an anti-democratic structure, much preferring the participatory protestant Christianity he was familiar with.) Every film I’ve seen has discarded most of Twain and the incidents in his book, sometime only keeping the notion of a Time TRaveler succeeding in Arthurian Britain because of their knowledge from the future (and often keeping the eclipse-prediction bit), but without the rest of the book that makes it worth reading. And especially leaving out the Twin wit. I want to see The Destruction of Merlin’s Tower The Restoration of the Holy Fountain. With Fireworks! THe Rescue of The Boss and The KIng by a company of knights mounted on bicycles The Boss trying to go out on his Quest and having to deal with a suit of armor. And with Sandy. The eclipse, too, put in its proper place. and so on. I could live with a downer ending, in that The Boss and his bunch defeat the combined knights, but it’s a Pyrrhic victory. That almost seems called for in the very premise – Hank Morgan clearly didn’t change history , even with all his technical improvements. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-book-or-the-video-adaptation/1031948/47 "2026-07-29T12:24:30Z")
I think most people would prefer the movie Forrest Gump over the book. There are major differences. Personally, while they are different, I think I prefer the book, may maybe because I read it first. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-book-or-the-video-adaptation/1031948/48 "2026-07-29T12:49:21Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Stephen King is a master storyteller. Sadly, movies based on his books are often poorly done. I think that _Shawshank Redemption_ and _Stand By Me_ were better movies than the Stephen King stories they were based on. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-book-or-the-video-adaptation/1031948/49 "2026-07-29T15:28:27Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > I think that _Shawshank Redemption_ and _Stand By Me_ were better movies than the Stephen King stories they were based on. Two excellent movies, as was The Green Mile. However, “The Body” novella on which “Stand By Me” was based was so evocative of my own childhood, that I have to call it a tie. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-book-or-the-video-adaptation/1031948/50 "2026-07-29T15:37:59Z")
The Muppets TV special version of _Emmett Otter’s Jug Band Christmas_ is better than the children’s picture book by Russell Hoban. (To be fair the book is **good** but the Muppet adaption is bordering on greatness with memorable songs written by Paul Williams.) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-book-or-the-video-adaptation/1031948/51 "2026-07-29T18:08:10Z")
I posted this a while back, but I still agree: I actually loved the film _The World According to Garp_. I thought the foreshadowing and callbacks actually help tie the film together, I especially liked how Garp’s story was illustrated cryptically, with the gloves and the falling piano. (Jenny: “I don’t understand it, but if that’s what it’s about, I like it.”) The book didn’t have any of the circularity of the film, which is OK, but it did have pages and pages of Garp’s actual story, The Pension Grillparzer, which violated the rule of “if you have a genius artist character, don’t actually show his art, because it will never live up to its in-story reputation.” In the book, you can’t tell if Garp is supposed to be a bad author, or Irving actually is. 🙂 Plus there’s the whole last third of the book detailing how every character died. Yes, yes, we all die. But what did it add? I’m glad it was excised. And also, I prefer the movie ending of _The Natural_ to the book. Sometimes, you just need a happy ending. I prefer the film _The Omega Man_ to the novel I Am Legend, but I like the novel a lot. It’s just different. (The novel is way better than any of the other movies, though.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-book-or-the-video-adaptation/1031948.md?page=2)