# What sci-fi story would you like to see made into a movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 6, 2005, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418 "2005-12-06T22:09:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/101 "2005-12-08T15:03:41Z")
I’ve always thought David Brin’s **Sundiver** would make a pretty decent movie. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/102 "2005-12-08T15:20:09Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072886/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072886/) > > Or did you want something less campy? He’s not the only member of the Legion Of Bronze here. And, **much less** campy, please. ---
**Author:** ![grey\_ideas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dfb087/32.png) [@grey\_ideas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grey_ideas)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/103 "2005-12-08T15:46:19Z")
> [@velveeta](#): > > This was the one I was going to mention. So far no one has done anything with it which leaves me conflicted. As much as I’d love to see Kovacs kick ass and The Hendrix hotel brought to life, I’m relieved that no one’s attempted to try it. I don’t know how they could pull off the whole body resleeving thing. Agreed. Part of me would like to see it in the cinema, the other part is screaming 'NO! Leave it alone! You’ll only mess it up!". There is a lot in Morgan’s books that I can’t see making it into the cinema, even with an ‘18’ rating. The trouble with _Altered Carbon_ is that I think you need the context of just how many nasty things can be done to someone who’s stack is removed to see how tough a world Kovacs walks in (that part of it anyway). Speaking of the Hendrix…there’s an awful lot of scenes in that hotel that would end up on the cutting room floor! > [@velveeta](#): > > However, Warner Brothers recently bought the film rights to Market Forces, and I’d love to see this one make it to the big screen. Picture a dark version of Office Space where unlikeable yuppie Peter runs Lumbergh’s Porsche off the road on the way to work, steals his job, and kills Milton for the Swingline. I could cope with this RM book coming to screen a bit more easily since it’s a standalone. I have a suspicious feeling it would get very Mad Max though…alright a lot of the inspiration for the duel scenes came from that film but it could just end up being a cheap rip off. Fingers crossed it isn’t if it makes it to the big screen though. Bah…this is the problem I always have. Most of the time I don’t want to see books that I really enjoy being made into films, I know that what ends up on the screen is going to mess around with so many of the ideas I’ve gotten from the books ☹ grey\_ideas ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/104 "2005-12-09T02:50:16Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072886/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072886/) > > Or did you want something less campy? I said a GOOD Doc Savage movie. So far, the best one I’ve seen is [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086856/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086856/) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/105 "2005-12-09T03:15:09Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I said a GOOD Doc Savage movie. You gotta admit, this is the guy who in the Louisiana Swamp Story…_Something Or Of the Spider_, I think…snuck about in an alligator suit. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/106 "2005-12-09T04:17:02Z")
George R. R. Martin, _Armageddon Rag_ Norman Spinrad, _Agent of Chaos_ and _Little Heroes_ John Brunner, _The Shockwave Rider_ (if it could be updated for the contemporary state of the art of the internet) ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/107 "2005-12-09T14:19:39Z")
I am really conflicted on this subject. There is one book I’d love to see a movie of ( **The Stars My Destination** , already nominated by **Cal Meachum** ), but it’d have to be a good movie, and faithful; and frankly, given that Hollywood has turned some great books ( **Starship Troopers** and **I, Robot** )and good premises ( **The Island** ) into the most by-the-numbers, now-it’s-time-for-the-chase-scene-and-exploding-helicopter rubbish, I don’t think Hollywood is capable of doing a good adaptation. So, really, I’d rather they didn’t make **The Stars My Destination**. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/108 "2005-12-09T14:57:39Z")
George R.R. Martin’s “The Skin Trader.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/109 "2005-12-09T15:50:57Z")
Another vote for “the Mote in God’s Eye” Just thing of “Time Enough for Love” Can you say NC-17? ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/110 "2005-12-09T16:00:32Z")
_Gateway_ would make a kickass movie. It’s got everything: sex, mystery, adventure, even the _Citizen Kane_ framing device already built in to the story. I have no idea why it hasn’t been done yet. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/111 "2005-12-09T20:42:11Z")
I often hear folks (on this board, mostly) saying that they’d like to see _The Stars my Destination_ as a movie, but frankly, I just don’t see it. Yes, it’s a great story. And yes, the opening scene of Gully being left to die in space would be a great visual. But how would you introduce jaunting? It’s critical to the story, and in the book, an author can get away with saying that in the world he’s depicting, normal humans can teleport around at will. But I don’t think you could get away with that in a movie, both due to the different medium, and to the wider audience. ---
**Author:** ![DfrntBreign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/112 "2005-12-09T21:37:51Z")
“Camouflage” by Joe Haldeman would make a great movie! You’d get two different shape-shifting characters, a series of historical flashbacks (from pre-dinosaur eras onward), a love story, mysterious alien artifacts, shady military-industrial types, all the wars and carnage you could want and special effects up the wahzoo (sorry for the technical term). Mystery! Suspense! Romance! Sharks! If no-one in Hollywood has bought these film rights, it can only be because they haven’t read it. ---
**Author:** ![yastobaal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/258eb7/32.png) [@yastobaal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yastobaal)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/113 "2005-12-09T21:48:58Z")
> [@velveeta](#): > > Didn’t you hear? Peter Jackson is producing Halo for 2007. 😉 > This was the one I was going to mention. So far no one has done anything with it which leaves me conflicted. As much as I’d love to see Kovacs kick ass and The Hendrix hotel brought to life, I’m relieved that no one’s attempted to try it. I don’t know how they could pull off the whole body resleeving thing. > > However, Warner Brothers recently bought the film rights to Market Forces, and I’d love to see this one make it to the big screen. Picture a dark version of Office Space where unlikeable yuppie Peter runs Lumbergh’s Porsche off the road on the way to work, steals his job, and kills Milton for the Swingline. I’m also with you guys on the _Altered Carbon_ film. Hard to do the book justice. Thing is with _Market Forces_ is that Richard Morgan wrote it as a movie screenplay before writing _Altered Carbon_. The execs thought the main character was too dark and nobody would like him. So he went and wrote _Altered Carbon_ then after that got published fleshed out _Market Forces_. But he’s sold his soul (his words) as he has no right to creative input into either movie if they get made. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/114 "2005-12-09T21:52:15Z")
The Man Who Never Missed by Steve Perry. ---
**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:** [December 9, 2005, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/115 "2005-12-09T22:43:19Z")
> [@](#): > > But how would you introduce jaunting? It’s critical to the story, and in the book, an author can get away with saying that in the world he’s depicting, normal humans can teleport around at will. But I don’t think you could get away with that in a movie, both due to the different medium, and to the wider audience. It’s not hard – audiences have seen teleportation plenty of times ( **Star Trek** alone has educated the general public – “Beam Down” is in the public lexicon). And the book has the “Class for beginning teleporters” scene that’s practically custom-made for spoon-feeding the details of how it works in this book (Ain’t no teleportation chambers or booths, see?) I have no doubts it all could be done, if handled with intelligence and a desire to avoid cliches. Whether it would or not, given Hollywood’s reputation, is another matter entirely. But – hey – look how good Lord of the Rings turned out (And don’t tell me “it’s not Hollywood” – you know what I mean.) ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/116 "2005-12-09T23:42:28Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > You gotta admit, this is the guy who in the Louisiana Swamp Story…_Something Or Of the Spider_, I think…snuck about in an alligator suit. :rolleyes: “Quest of the Spider” The Gray Spider had recruited the degenerated bayou voodoo cultists to help him buy out and plunder the top companies of the Lousiana lumber industry. Doc had an alligator skin in the rumble seat of his roadster, and after the members of the Cult of the Moccassin exploded that bomb that threw his car over the levee he pretended to be eaten by an alligator so that he could later disguise himself in that alligator skin and scout out their compound and devise a plan to rescue Ham, Long Tom, and Johnny… Why are you all looking at me like that? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/117 "2005-12-10T01:57:54Z")
> [@The Vorlon](#): > > Another vote for “the Mote in God’s Eye” > Just thing of “Time Enough for Love” > > Can you say NC-17? How about _I Will Fear No Evil_ or _Farnham’s Freehold_? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/118 "2005-12-10T02:02:52Z")
> [@Dr. Rieux](#): > > How about _I Will Fear No Evil_ or _Farnham’s Freehold_? > 😃 _Farnham’s Freehold_? I would love to see the McDonald’s promotional tie-ins to that one… ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/119 "2005-12-10T03:04:15Z")
_The Man In The High Castle_, if we’re talking Dick: preferably directed by somone weird like David Cronenberg or Terry Gilliam, assuming he can still get work. Or, for a dose of steam-punk {there just aren’t enough steam-punk movies} William Gibson/Bruce Sterling’s _The Difference Engine_: granted it isn’t Gibson’s best work, going a little too Harry Harrison at the end, but that would make it easier to adapt as a screen play - hurtling through the streets of a retro-future Victorian London on the brink of anarchy in a steam powered racing car in pursuit of the machiavellian Captain Swing. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/120 "2005-12-10T04:04:47Z")
**Dreampark** It’s got an accesable story, a noob to explain thing to (and thus to the audience), a murder mystery, an orgy if you want it, an ending that cuts deep, and a cameo by the Spruce Goose (and pilot). Oh, yeah; and a drowned Los Angeles. DD [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418.md?page=7)