# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/121 "2005-12-10T04:06:14Z")
The blazes with the drowned LA. I wanna see the anti-fire! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/122 "2005-12-10T06:28:13Z")
I’d like to see a well-done version of _he War of the Worlds_ as an 1890s period piece set in and around London… None of this ‘updating’ stuff, although George Pal _did_ do a good job. Another good one would be Poul Anderson’s _Operation Chaos_: three closely-related stories set in a Christian magical universe where magic and prayer work; where Heaven, angels, and Hell exist, and where witches ride broomsticks into battle. Ernest Callenbach’s _Ecotopia_ would be a fascinating world for a story, although I don’t think the book _Ecotopia_ would make a good movie as is. Of course, with _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_ now in theatres, and apparently pretty good, I suspect that another Narnia book will be made into a movie. Which one, though, in an interesting question. The universe of the _Shadowrun_ game would have some great stories, such as the incident where the Great Dragon, Dunkelzahn, is elected President of the UCAS (the largest successor state to the USA and Canada), and then assassinated as he takes office. :: ponders bookshelves :: How about a _Drakon_ (S M Stirling) movie? _One_ near-invulnerable genetically-engineered supergenius warrior, from a post-human society that has conquered the rest of humanity and engineered them into servitude while engineering themselves into a master race, falls through a wormhole into contemporary New York. She starts building a hidden power base, calmly killing anyone who gets in the way, so she can call home and bring in the troops. Woe to the cop who starts piecing together her trail… _The Tar-Aiym Krang_ by Alan Dean Foster. A chase across the galaxy against nasty reptilian enemies to find a mysterious artifact that might be a musical instrument, might be a weapon, and might be… something else. The hardest part would be explaining the title. How about something from Rudy Ricker’s _Liveware_ universe? _Bookworm, Run!; The Whirligig of Time; or The Ungoverned_… all by by Vernor Vinge. 🙂 Short stories seem in many cases to make better movies than longer works. ---
**Author:** ![Gerome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Gerome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerome)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/123 "2005-12-10T11:28:21Z")
I’m going to say _Snow Crash_ by Neal Stephenson. Mainly because I want to see a film about high-tech ninja pizza deliverers just once in my lifetime. Also, the Raft would be awesome on the big screen. ---
**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 10, 2005, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/124 "2005-12-10T12:53:06Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I’d like to see a well-done version of _he War of the Worlds_ as an 1890s period piece set in and around London… None of this ‘updating’ stuff, although George Pal _did_ do a good job. There is an upcoming animated full-length feature film, that is indeed a period piece. It might fit you bill nicely. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/125 "2005-12-10T18:55:48Z")
> [@The Vorlon](#): > > Another vote for “the Mote in God’s Eye” > Just thing of “Time Enough for Love” > > Can you say NC-17? Theodore Sturgeon’s **If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister** could be the basis of a nifty SF/ arthouse/ porn movie. ---
**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 10, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/126 "2005-12-10T19:15:19Z")
“Bleeding Stones” by Harlan Ellison. \ ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/127 "2005-12-11T03:18:24Z")
OK - many of my favorites have already been mentioned, but I’ve gotta throw in a few of these: (Aside to **CalMeacham**. I just finished watching This Island Earth this afternoon for the first time in probably a couple of decades. I had forgotten just what a great voice Rex Reason had. Do you follow him in that department as well?) Randall Garrett’s **Lord D’Arcy** series, a superbly written pastiche of alternate history, Sherlock Holmes analog, and magic. King Richard didn’t die from a crossbow bolt at the seige of Chaluz, the Plantagenet dysnasty still rules the Anglo-French empire, which includes the colonies. Though written in the 1960s and set in an alternate-history 1960s, the science of the times is circa Victorian-era, locomotives and horse-drawn carriages. But the real mcguffin is that magic works. Not accessible to everyone; genetics and training play a part. Learned theorists have codified its laws (the Low of Contagian, the Law of Similarity, etc.) Lord D’Arcy works for His Majesty as Chief Investigator for Normandy, and is the Holmes analog. Instead of a doctor as an assistant, he has a forensic sorcerer. Great characters, lots of little niceties throughout. Poul Anderson’s **Nicholas van Rijn** stories. Now there is a scenery-chewing character. Peter Ustinov, by shedding some gravitas, could have been superb. Jack Vance’s **The Dragon Masters**. I still have an issue of “If” from 1963, the first SF mag I ever bought, with fabulous illustrations of the variously bred dragons… and their own variously bred humans. It’s a CGI fest waiting to happen. Eric Frank Russell’s **Wasp** , about a Terran who undergoes surgery and skin-color changes to work as a saboteur on an enemy alien planet. There are lots more that have been playing in the theater of my mind for decades… ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/128 "2005-12-11T04:10:16Z")
Greg Bear’s _Blood Music_ ---
**Author:** ![Agnostic\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@Agnostic\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agnostic_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/129 "2005-12-11T04:16:42Z")
I had hoped to see a good adaptation of the **Neuromancer** trilogy by William Gibson. But [_Johnny Pneumonia_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113481/) killed that franchise. Would definitely like to see **A Mote In God’s Eye** and the **Foundation** series also. AP ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/130 "2005-12-12T02:05:24Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > I’d love to see an Honor Harrington mini-series sort of like the Hornblower or Sharpe series. I think that would be SO cool if they did it right. > > -XT I’ve just come from Philcon where David Weber was the guest of honor. During his speech (or more accurately the Q&A session) he said a Harrington movie is is “in the early stages of discussion”. He estimated there was about a 30% chance it would actually get made, but if it is made, and does well, there could be a series of films. ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/131 "2005-12-13T15:40:16Z")
For the Star Trek audience, how about **Sector General**? Or maybe Douglas Hill’s **Last Legionary** series? For the grown-ups I think **Against A Dark Background** would make the best movie of any Ian M Banks book, purely because it’s self-contained and more limited in scale. Of the classics, I’d love to see **A Mission of Gravity** - would make a really good educational kiddies movie. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2005, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/132 "2005-12-17T19:28:11Z")
I’d love to see **Dogsbody** by Diana Wynne Jones made into a movie. But not a live action one, since I don’t think live action could do the story justice. Animation done by Miyazaki, Kon or Takahata could be very cool. I’d also love to see movies of Kate Elliot’s **Crown Of Stars** series. I started reading the series in October, and I adore them, at least the first three so far. Such wonderful characters, even the “evil” hounds and dogs are written about in a way to make you care about them. The first three books, anyway, would each make a facinating movie. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2005, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/133 "2005-12-17T22:02:27Z")
> [@slaphead](#): > > Of the classics, I’d love to see **A Mission of Gravity** - would make a really good educational kiddies movie. Hard to see Hollywood touching a movie with no humanoid characters. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/134 "2005-12-17T22:04:12Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Hard to see Hollywood touching a movie with no humanoid characters. Were it not for that objection, I’d like to see a film of Robert Forward’s _Dragon’s Egg_ – which has human-explorer characters, but the story really focuses on the nonhuman, neutronium-based cheela. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/135 "2005-12-17T22:19:31Z")
I’ll second the idea that a lot of Golden Age science fiction would prove fertile ground for some new movies. Also, I think the next Star Trek movie needs to be the story of the Deep Space Nine novel _Unity_. It brings it all together and brings back a very interesting foe (the parasites from TNG’s “Conspiracy”) to do it, tying it in with Trill politics. It’s awesome. I mean, DS9’s mission was to get Bajor ready to join the Federation, and this book does that. **BrainGlutton** , look what they were able to do with Gollum. All you need is human-ish facial expressions and a damned good voice actor. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2005, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/136 "2005-12-17T22:47:11Z")
> [@Spatial Rift 47](#): > > **BrainGlutton** , look what they were able to do with Gollum. All you need is human-ish facial expressions and a damned good voice actor. That only works if the character is at least vaguely humanoid. The cheela in _Dragon’s Egg_ are not (they’re a kind of slug with twelve eyes on stalks in a ring around the body); neither are the Mesklinites in _Mission of Gravity_ (they look kind of like centipedes). Such creatures could not, for instance, produce facial expressions that would allow a human audience to form an emotional/empathetic connection with them. Nothing can, unless it has, at the very least, a definite face with two eyes set above a mouth (nose optional). ---
**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:** [December 18, 2005, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/137 "2005-12-18T08:14:03Z")
I hope imagining the films that could be made from these books makes you all happy, because I think there’s zero chance of most of them ever being produced. Most of them are too expensive compared to what they would make. The few that could be made will probably be changed so much from the novel that you will probably be disappointed by the movie. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/138 "2005-12-18T16:58:27Z")
Kurt Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle” It has a weird dysfunctional family, scientific/military intrigue, and a wonderful new religion called “Bokonism”. And of course, the Sci-fi ultimate terror: Ice-Nine. Arguably, it was Vonnegut’s best book. “Slaughterhouse Five” was made into a surprisingly good and faithful movie, it would be great to see the same with CC. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/139 "2005-12-18T18:47:38Z")
I agree that Hollywood has a hard time making any kind of real thinking-person’s science fiction. What we need is for HBO or Showtime to get into the act. HBO is famous for creating super high-quality series or miniseries. How about Heinlein’s ‘Future History’ presented in serial format, with one short story a week? Or for that matter, widen it out and make ‘Classic Science Fiction Theater’, highlighting great short stories from SF that haven’t been done before. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/140 "2005-12-18T19:45:08Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > I agree that Hollywood has a hard time making any kind of real thinking-person’s science fiction. > > What we need is for HBO or Showtime to get into the act. HBO is famous for creating super high-quality series or miniseries. How about Heinlein’s ‘Future History’ presented in serial format, with one short story a week? Or for that matter, widen it out and make ‘Classic Science Fiction Theater’, highlighting great short stories from SF that haven’t been done before. That would get me to get HBO again. I normally only get HBO during Soprano seasons. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418.md?page=8)