# Worst butchery in turning book into movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 2, 2001, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413 "2001-12-02T03:32:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/81 "2001-12-05T20:33:52Z")
The Lord Of The Rings (animated version of 1980’s) made me wonder why I loved the book. I have high hopes the new version will be better…at least they filmed all three books. The advanced reviews have been good so far. On the flip side, however: The Wizard Of Oz movie was, to me, better than the book(s)it was based on…I know some will disagree, but it is hard to top Garland, Haley, Lahr et al, and the music and…well, you know. Might also be because I probably saw the film 20 times before reading any of the books. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2001, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/82 "2001-12-06T03:19:37Z")
[Logan’s Run](http://www.stellar-database.com/non-ISDB/LogansRun.html) ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2001, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/83 "2001-12-06T12:22:53Z")
God that _Nightfall_ movie was horrible. The last sun is eclipsed, the stars come out - and nobody goes crazy, the hero fights the villain with some crystalline sword, and then him and his love interest have a happy ending looking at the pretty stars while snow falls. I was SO pissed at that movie. Same thing with _The Running Man_ - they took the idea of a game show where someone is hunted and made up the rest for the movie. In the story it’s a nationwide hunt over a period of weeks, a kind of reality TV, no goofy hunters, no bombed out section of town or arenas, basically it’s a contest to see how long the guy can stay out there before someone recognizes him and turns him in. And _The Lawnmower Man_ had absolutely NOTHING to do with the (very) short story with the same name, which was a weird little surrealistic piece about a crazy guy who mows a lawn in the nude and ate a gopher that got run over (it’s been a while). I think it was only 2 or 3 pages, had absolutely nothing to do with VR, scientists, retards, etc. ---
**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 6, 2001, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/84 "2001-12-06T12:34:02Z")
Hey, I’m surprised I didn’t think of this earlier, considering my SDMB name and all: **This Island Earth** Read the book – it’s _good_, dammit! It’s finally back in print after almost half a century of being out of print. They butchered the first part, where they build the interociter (In the book they _didn’t_ send plans – what kind of aptitude test would that have been? Cal Meacham has to dope it out from the product catalog. He also has to rebuild the parts that break. _You_ try doing that with genuine Metalunan parts!) Then they simply discarded the reast and cobbled together a half-assed story based, apparently, on bad 1940s SF magazine cover art. The book makes sense, and earth people don’t come off as superior in it, which might be why they tossed it. We reallt are inferior to the Metalunans (who don’t have lobster-armed “mutants”, BTW), who basically want to use us as semi-skilled labor. Maybe that hit too close to home for some folks. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2001, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/85 "2001-12-06T12:50:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DavisMcDavis \* > \*\*_The Life & Loves of a She-Devil_ by Fay Weldon, transformed into the Roseanne Barr vehicle _e-Devil_ > > The ending in the book (SPOILER ALERT) had the lead woman undergoing total body plastic surgery and turning herself into the spitting image of the woman her husband had an affair with. She also touched on the “Disney-fication” of the original “The Little Mermaid” story, saying that the little mermaid didn’t necessarily want legs, but “the part where they joined together on the top” and that after getting leg, “every step was as if she trod on nails” which is what happens to the protagonist. (/SPOILER ALERT/) > > The ending in the movie removes all the original ending and just has Rosanne Barr gaining self-esteem. SNOOZE.\*\* Ah but did you see the British TV adaptation? It was **excellent**! Patricia Hodge starred as the affair-woman and I forget the name of the she-devil actress but she put in a stunning performance. Then at the affair-woman’s funeral at the end, there was a shot of [CONFUSION ALERT] the actress-playing-the-affair-women playing the she-devil converted into the actress-playing-the-affair woman [/CONFUSION ALERT]. I will never forget that scene as long as I live, the make-up was brilliant. Patricia Hodge, but with fake “stitches” criss-crossing along her eyebrows etc, to make it look as though she’d just had surgery. All totally true to the book, just as one might imagine the characters, all-in-all a wonderful adaptation. Why Roseanne Barr felt the need to turn it into a B-grade vanity drama is beyond me. ---
**Author:** ![Ura-Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Ura-Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ura-Maru)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2001, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/86 "2001-12-06T18:22:34Z")
Johnny Mnemonic. There was the makings of a great movie in there, with minimal changes. Unlike most of Gibson’s stuff, it wasn’t 3/4ths internal perceptions, and a fairly long short-story is about the right length to turn into a movie. And they’ve got no excuses. Gibson did the screenplay himself, apparently without too much interference, and they had a real budget. “Yes! Replace Molly with some teenybopper with a pointy stick! It’s brilliant!” “Falling cars! Surely, no cooler or more practical defense has ever been devised by man!” Had it been inexpertly done, but vaguely faithful to the story, I wouldn’t have minded . . . I think that was the only time I’ve ever felt betrayed by a movie. Oddly enough, Gibson’s X-Files episode was not only competent; it was considerably better than most episodes. (Keep in mind I think most X-files episodes are marginally better than a John Agar film-fest . . .) Of course, it had orbital particle beam satellites. They make anything cool. – “Food courts. Of the FUTURE!!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413.md?page=4)