No; it’s a detective story not a police procedural. Let’s just agree to disagree here; I think you should re-read the book, tho. Your impression of the story isn’t accurate IMO.
Detective, defective…still needs a hook. And yes, people are going to start yelling at us shortly.
I wonder what my double-autographed, First Edition is worth these days? 
Although…if you make Dream Park a Disney creation, and put a few megabillions on the line…you might have a neat story.
I think Sam Raimi was channeling a bit of Lord Kalvan when he wrote Army of Darkness.
Ooooh! Shiny! (I need to figure out how to get Larry to sign my first ed paperback of Ringworld)
California Voodoo Game would look great on the screen, but you’d need so much time to set up the world and the backstory. And don’t let Steve Barnes anywhere near the dialogue.
I don’t understand the difference of opinion—specifically, the magnitude of it—between you and Bo on Dream Park. Shrug.
This Johnny Fedora? 
I liked those films, but then again, I have always liked Deano, met him a couple times, great guy.
Replay by Ken Grimwood.
heck they could make a pretty good netflix series out of the whole series …
Good choice.
Was it the whole story or just the usual snippets?
How about “Ramayana” then, with Hanuman providing the comedy element?
!00% with you on this one.
The latest one, at 267 half-hour episodes, I imagine is quite comprehensive. I’ve only seen the one made in the 80s, and that was 90 1-hour episodes. It seemed … sufficient. There was also a 45-episode spin-off for the bits they missed.
Ramayana has also been done a few times. I’ve only seen the 80s version, with comic (but powerful) Hanuman, but there’s a couple more recent ones for that, too.
If you follow Indian TV at all, these kinds of epic shows are not uncommon. And just a factoid, the 80s Ramayana was rerun recently during lockdown and set a record as the most watched TV show of all time (beating the GoT finale).
I’m on board with a Dream Park series based loosely on the first three books (with a bit of The Descent of Anansi borrowed for backstory) but written by actual competent writers (we will not mention The Moon Maze Game). There’s the park setting and the games themselves, the whodunnits, the romantic intrigues, the corporate intrigues, international politics… there’s a lot to build on. Niven and Barnes may have been a tad uneven (shall we say) but they built a great world.
ETA: Plus with the second season you could actually cast heavier actors for the Fimbulwinter game. That’d be a novelty in itself.
Metzger’s Dog, by Thomas Perry – a fun caper novel that I’ve been rereading every few years since the '80s. A group of small-time crooks take on the CIA…
Too old now, but I see Bruce Campbell as Jim.
Eh…too goofy to me.
Remember, when we first encounter Angelina Jim has been around for quite a bit. The first three books (sequentially) shouldn’t apply. Jim should be late 20s/early 30s when the action commences.
They never got to third series because the BBC putz who cancelled Doctor Who after Colin Baker’s first series openly hated science fiction and cancelled Tripods as well. I hate that asshole to this day.
He must have moved overseas and gone to work for Fox.
I quite liked Tripods. I’d like to see a remake that stuck more to the books (I haven’t read the books though, I’ve only read on the internet what the books were like.)
Lord of Light is first on my list; it has a beautiful combination of technology, magic, and religion that is unique. Besides Hinduism and Buddhism, it has a cynical take on Christianity as well. The three “religions” are used by various factions to further their political ends. A proper screen adaptation would have to divide it up into at least three movies, maybe more. (I see the wikipedia page divides it into seven parts.) Besides the anti-authoritarian theme of the book, it has a natural diversity in characters. It would require a large number of non-white actors in leading roles. (Reincarnation means that the each character needs multiple actors.) The producer(s) and director(s) would probably have to be Hindu to get things right.
I’m a fan of Amber, which would work best as a miniseries, but I think it’s too close to the Game of Thrones to get a good treatment in the near future.
A Hindi guy I know wanted to borrow my copy I let him read to a friend in India. I didn’t let him.