# 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:** 7\ **Page:** 8
**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 19, 2005, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/141 "2005-12-19T00:38:10Z")
There are any number of excellent long novels or series of novels that would make great miniseries. There are far more of them than could ever conceivably be made into miniseries, since the market for miniseries is very small. Essentially, to make a good miniseries, you have to spend so much money that the only way to get enough viewers is to make the series an “event”. You have to have a lot of media buzz and have to have the miniseries shown in a prominent time period on a prominent TV (including cable) channel. I think that very liberally there might be enough spots on American TV for maybe a dozen of those a year. That’s for all miniseries, not just science fiction ones. TV executives have made the decision to only do already well-known authors and simple, easily advertised themes. That makes it unlikely that any of the few spots for miniseries will be science fiction. ---
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/142 "2005-12-19T05:09:46Z")
John M. Ford’s Alternities Corporation stories/concept might be woven into a decent script. I’d like to see just the story _Mandalay_ done up right, myself. David Gerrold’s _The Man Who Folded Himself_. Yeah, it’s by King, and more horror than science fiction, but _The Mist_ has some science fiction underpinnings, and I want to see it on the silver screen. Maybe these three could be set in the same movie, as separate mini-stories, like the Creepshow films. But, y’know, done seriously. ---
**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 19, 2005, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/143 "2005-12-19T11:29:14Z")
> [@](#): > > (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?) Alas, no. My choosing his name as my _nom de Internet_ is the cyber equivalent of buying a Ferrari as a 50th birthday present. I only _wish_ I was that handsome and deep-voiced. And could fly a jet. And had a lab all to myself that big. And was sent a Heathkit Interociter. And had a lab assistant like Dolly Parton…uhh, I mean Faith Domergue. … ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/144 "2005-12-19T11:47:59Z")
> [@tripthicket](#): > > Yeah, it’s by King, and more horror than science fiction, but _The Mist_ has some science fiction underpinnings, and I want to see it on the silver screen. [Frank Darabont](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/news/comments/?entryid=139185) has made some noise about working on an adaptation of _The Mist_ – but it seems as vapourous as his alleged adaptation of _Fahrenheit 451_. I’m beginning to get pictures of ol’ Frank sitting on a mountain of cocaine, talking too fast about his next big project, which happens to completely change every six months before making it to pre-production. WTF? ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/145 "2005-12-19T11:53:54Z")
> [@tripthicket](#): > > John M. Ford’s Alternities Corporation stories/concept might be woven into a decent script. I’d like to see just the story _Mandalay_ done up right, myself. > > David Gerrold’s _The Man Who Folded Himself_. > > Yeah, it’s by King, and more horror than science fiction, but _The Mist_ has some science fiction underpinnings, and I want to see it on the silver screen. > > Maybe these three could be set in the same movie, as separate mini-stories, like the Creepshow films. But, y’know, done seriously. Charles L Harness - \*\*The Rose \*\* or **Paradox Men**. Or how about Hilbert Schenk’s **Steam Bird**? The first (and only) flight of a steam-powered bomber. ---
**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 19, 2005, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/146 "2005-12-19T12:14:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Yeah, it’s by King, and more horror than science fiction, but The Mist has some science fiction underpinnings, and I want to see it on the silver screen. Then rent 1950s British science fiction movie **The Strange World of Planet X** , released in the US as **The Cosmic Monsters** , starring the favorite American for 1950s Brit Scvi Fi, the pre-F-Troop Forrest Tucker. Military research opens a crack into a parallel universe full of giant bugs. No Mist in the movie, though. > [@](#): > > Charles L Harness - The Rose or Paradox Men. I just recentlt forced myself through **The Rose**. I’d never read any Harness, and heard this was good. I still don’t know why. I hated the book, and can’t see it making a good movie. Even if I liked it, there’s way too much discussion and far too little action. You could make a stage play out of it, I think, but a movie’d be a challenge. ---
**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 19, 2005, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418/147 "2005-12-19T14:13:21Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > … And had a lab assistant like Dolly Parton…uhh, I mean Faith Domergue… …sigh [swoony voice]…Faith Domergue…[/swoony voice] sigh… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-a-movie/334418.md?page=7)