Overlooked Series for TV or Movie Adaptation

 

The Game of Thrones book series is nihilistic nonsensical bilge.  But it makes for “good” television because that sort of mess seems to be popular in today’s culture, what with all the sex, sorcery, and savagery.  As an actual story though?  It’s terrible.  Which is probably why George R.R. Martin could never finish it – it had no real logical “out”, no escape from its cycles of violence and revenge, save what the HBO writers could force together.  Until HBO picked it up, though, it was unlikely fare for Hollywood treatment – Hollywood typically shies away from overly long fantasy cycles simply because such things are very expensive to cast and produce well, to say nothing of finding good writers to translate novels into scripts you can actually film.  For all the awfulness of its story, I do give full credit to HBO for the solid work they put into the project over nearly a decade – one can deplore the story but still admire the brilliant and extremely skilled craftwork involved in telling it, and (more importantly) sticking with it at that high level for so long.  Would that The Hobbit had been given that same dedication.

And now it seems we are to receive another attempt at telling the story of Dune.  I am not excited at the prospect.  The David Lynch film of the 80s was terrible.  The SciFi Channel’s miniseries of 20 years ago was much better.  But why Dune?  Why yet another attempt?  If Hollywood is looking for that next “big epic”, surely there are other and better stories to tell?  Dune, the first book, is interesting, but has its weaknesses, while the rest of the series gets rather strange.  Haven’t other authors written better and more compelling fantasy or science-fiction epics?  Or must we continually return to just a few “classics”, like Amazon is trying to do with its pending Tolkien series?  I would like to propose a few other authors and series that Hollywood should consider instead, and would invite you to make your own suggestions as well.

Jack VanceLyonesse – You have all the vying factions and warring kingdoms, spies, betrayals, magic, pending doom, adventures, and quests that people loved in GoT, but series is more tightly told, not predicated on the nonsense of centuries of cultural and technological stasis, and its story arcs and overall narrative have definite beginnings, middles, and ends.  The characters are also far more human, and thus more clever, and more fallible at the same time.  Vance is not afraid to kill off characters, but does not do so because the Plot Wheel® demands it.  Vance’s other works, from his Dying Earth stories to his science fiction, would also make good candidates – they are character driven tales in vivid worlds, but the worlds are ultimately only backdrops for the people in them.

Susan Cooper – The Dark Is Rising – Yes this is a children’s series, and yes Hollywood did, in its Harry-Potter enthusiasms, already put out a film, but it was dreadful (almost Lynch-Dune dreadful at that), and we should put it aside and start over.  The series is a modern blending with ancient Anglo-Celtic mythology, and as such is very richly told.  

Cornelia Funke – Inkheart – Like with Susan Cooper, Hollywood tried this one and blew it once already, in no small part because they could not decide whether it was a children’s story with some mature hints, or a more mature story as witnessed by a child, and of course they Americanized it.  Andrew Klavan’s Another Kingdom series deals with some similar concepts as Funke, so if you enjoyed Klavan you would find this series familiar in some respects.  Inkheart is a story series about our own world intersecting with a very rich and complicated parallel magical world, through the eyes of a young woman growing up in both.

What would you like to see made?  What authors or series have been either unfairly overlooked, or badly mangled and worth another shot?

Or are there series (say, like Dune) that you think ought to be put out to pasture just on principle at this point?  

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  1. Sisyphus (Rolling Stone) Member
    Sisyphus (Rolling Stone)
    @Sisyphus

    CB Toder aka Mama Toad (View Comment):
    No staffs were broken in the writing of that book. 

    At that moment Gandalf lifted his staff, and crying aloud he smote the bridge before him. The staff broke asunder and fell from his hand.

    From Gandalf’s battle with the Balrog, when he shatters the bridge under the Balrog’s feet to save the Fellowship.

    • #31
  2. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    Hammer Slammers for a streaming series.  

    • #32
  3. Judge Mental, Secret Chimp Member
    Judge Mental, Secret Chimp
    @JudgeMental

    Sisyphus (Rolling Stone) (View Comment):

    CB Toder aka Mama Toad (View Comment):
    No staffs were broken in the writing of that book.

    At that moment Gandalf lifted his staff, and crying aloud he smote the bridge before him. The staff broke asunder and fell from his hand.

    From Gandalf’s battle with the Balrog, when he shatters the bridge under the Balrog’s feet to save the Fellowship.

    He had already lost it before then.  Saruman takes it away from him, he jumps from the top of Orthanc to the eagle without it, and then has it the next time you see him.

    • #33
  4. Misthiocracy held his nose and Member
    Misthiocracy held his nose and
    @Misthiocracy

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):
    I didn’t like the Stainless Steel Rat myself, but don’t let that stop anyone.

    The plots are indeed … uneven … but the characters and the setting are fantastic, and that’s all you really need for a movie adaptation.

    • #34
  5. Bartholomew Xerxes Ogilvie, Jr. Coolidge
    Bartholomew Xerxes Ogilvie, Jr.
    @BartholomewXerxesOgilvieJr

    Some of Peter Hamilton’s works seem like prime candidates, especially the Commonwealth Saga. But his work is so sprawling and massive that I’d want to see it as a multi-season TV series, not a movie.

    • #35
  6. Barfly Member
    Barfly
    @Barfly

    Percival (View Comment):

    Roger Zelazny’s Amber series — the first one, anyway. I never could get the second one featuring his son Merlin started.

    I’ll second this – I can just begin to imagine Corwin and Random’s journey back to Amber in the hands of the right film maker. And the hellrides. Maybe Lynch … no. It’d be incredible. Just keep it out of the reach of Fatgirl Jackson.

    In defense of Lynch’s Dune: most of the “action” in the book consists of characters thinking things. That’s tough to film.

    I’m highly biased in regard to Lynch and to Herbert’s Dune; I value them each far beyond their peers. That said, Lynch’s Dune is … yes, dreadful. If I were to happen upon it I would dread having to watch Cooper ride the Sandworm. It could have been done well, else Lynch wouldn’t have taken the project. I understand there’s a story behind how it failed so badly. I should look into that story, it might be as layered as Blue Velvet.

    And have you ever seen Jodorowski’s vision of Dune? Tough, maybe, but what I’ve seen of his storyboarded movie moves as well as Pulp Fiction or A New Hope. Which is to say, it could absolutely rock, done right.

    But I’d rather both go unmade forever than suffer what that sissy tub of lard did to Tolkien.

    • #36
  7. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Misthiocracy held his nose and (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):
    I didn’t like the Stainless Steel Rat myself, but don’t let that stop anyone.

    The plots are indeed … uneven … but the characters and the setting are fantastic, and that’s all you really need for a movie adaptation.

    And that’s all most movie adaptions actually use anyway.

     

    • #37
  8. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    SkipSul: What would you like to see made?

    Maybe some Discworld.

    I don’t understand why, other than Harry Potter, Hollywood is always so determined to mangle the stories when they go to film.

    • #38
  9. Barfly Member
    Barfly
    @Barfly

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    SkipSul: What would you like to see made?

    Maybe some Discworld.

    I don’t understand why, other than Harry Pottter, Hollywood is always so determined to mangle the stories when they go to film.

    Yes you do. C’mon, somebody besides me say it out loud. They are people of the left, whose nature is to betray and whose tactic is to lie.

    • #39
  10. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    Sword of Shanara anyone?

    Oh hell no. I read the first one in high school.

    Never read a book because a hot girl asks you to. That way madness lies.

    I was citing that one as a blatant ripoff of Tolkien.

    In fairness, Terry Brooks did improve as an author over the years. His Magic Kingdom for Sale series was fun for the first couple of books, for instance (though it got hella-strange after that).

    And then he got worse. I had to quit reading the endless Shannara continuations.

    The Shannara tv series: Good grief.

    • #40
  11. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    Barfly (View Comment):

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    SkipSul: What would you like to see made?

    Maybe some Discworld.

    I don’t understand why, other than Harry Pottter, Hollywood is always so determined to mangle the stories when they go to film.

    Yes you do. C’mon, somebody besides me say it out loud. They are people of the left, whose nature is to betray and whose tactic is to lie.

    Well answered.

    Why’d HP escape?

    • #41
  12. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio…
    @ArizonaPatriot

    CB Toder aka Mama Toad (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    • Michael Moorcock’s Elric and Hawkmoon series.
    •  

    Oooh! Elric of Melnibone, and Duke Dorian Hawkmoon, two aspects of the eternal champion! Fun stuff…

    Yeah, I think that the Hawkmoon series would play better, as it’s set in Europe.  I think that the similarity to Europe was one of the attractions of Game of Thrones

    The Melniboneans looked a lot like Martin’s Valyrians, I think.  I wonder if Martin got the idea from Moorcock.  Elric might be too dark, though.  I mean, a black magic sword that sucks out people’s souls?

    • #42
  13. Barfly Member
    Barfly
    @Barfly

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    Barfly (View Comment):

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    SkipSul: What would you like to see made?

    Maybe some Discworld.

    I don’t understand why, other than Harry Pottter, Hollywood is always so determined to mangle the stories when they go to film.

    Yes you do. C’mon, somebody besides me say it out loud. They are people of the left, whose nature is to betray and whose tactic is to lie.

    Well answered.

    Why’d HP escape?

    I’ve wondered. On one of the late discs, the last one I think, there’s a short bit of Rowling talking about the whole thing. My impression is that she kept some degree of control over the whole movie arc.

    • #43
  14. Barfly Member
    Barfly
    @Barfly

    I’d like a multiple-movie-length serialization of Nero Wolfe. It should begin with one of the mid-career blockbusters, maybe The Golden Spiders but there are several choices. The franchise should be good for a dozen movies, if they start with a promising young core cast and manage to keep most of them. The Black Mountain would be a franchise high point, and should be set up in early episodes with flashbacks to Wolfe in wartime. And save A Family Affair for late in the series when people love all the characters but aren’t yet comfortable with any of them.

    It’s been tried twice. The 1981 television series stank. Here’s my only memory of it: the incompetent screenwriters gleaned the novels for every little quirky trait of the two main characters then cheapened each interaction they could steal like children throwing spaghetti-oh’s at the stucco. I didn’t finish watching.

    In 2001 A&E took a shot at it. Maury Chaykin did ok and Timothy Hutton is Archie Goodwin. It wasn’t quite there for me, but acceptable. It didn’t take off. I always wanted to see John Goodman in that role anyway. And I guess A&E already did The Golden Spiders, so I’ll have to think about another suitable franchise opener. But I see what they were thinking.

    • #44
  15. DrewInWisconsin is done with t… Member
    DrewInWisconsin is done with t…
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Barfly (View Comment):

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    Barfly (View Comment):

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    SkipSul: What would you like to see made?

    Maybe some Discworld.

    I don’t understand why, other than Harry Pottter, Hollywood is always so determined to mangle the stories when they go to film.

    Yes you do. C’mon, somebody besides me say it out loud. They are people of the left, whose nature is to betray and whose tactic is to lie.

    Well answered.

    Why’d HP escape?

    I’ve wondered. On one of the late discs, the last one I think, there’s a short bit of Rowling talking about the whole thing. My impression is that she kept some degree of control over the whole movie arc.

    Well, the first two movies stuck tightly to the books to the point where they weren’t so much adaptations as “news coverage.” (I mean that to be a criticism.) Things got a little more loose after that.

    • #45
  16. Tex929rr Coolidge
    Tex929rr
    @Tex929rr

    I was totally hooked on the Tony Hillerman Navajo Tribal Police books.  Looking on line it appears some movies have been made but I don’t remember any of them. The characters are great and the reservation culture makes compelling stories.

    • #46
  17. Weeping Inactive
    Weeping
    @Weeping

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    SkipSul: What would you like to see made?

    Maybe some Discworld.

    I don’t understand why, other than Harry Potter, Hollywood is always so determined to mangle the stories when they go to film.

    They probably would have mangled that series too if J.K. Rowling hadn’t been so involved in the making of the movies.

    • #47
  18. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    and the Hobbit films were borderline betrayals of much of the material.

    I made it through the first movie, then stopped somewhere in the middle of the second movie, and have no interest in finishing. It’s weird how they could go from good LOTR movies (despite the departures, the movies were good of their own rights and better than average as an adaptations) to the Star-Wars-prequels level of bad for The Hobbit. I understand wanting to cash in, but LOTR showed that they could have cashed in while also doing it right.

    My vote for TV adaptation material is: Choose Your Own Adventure series. Make it audience participation mixed with beefed up story/script where each episode ends with the decision point, and the audience votes on which way to go. Add the sex and violence too if you must. Either way would work. Assuming the audience doesn’t intentionally choose death then you can probably milk each book for around five to ten episodes.

    Frankenstein too. Not the Universal version, but the book version. Aside from the story arch, it can be treated kinda like The Fugitive, where the one armed man is always just out of reach (ohhhh yeah, pun intended). Interesting characters met along the way, solving problems like Kwai Chang Caine looking for his brother and kicking bad guy butt along the way. Mix it up: some episodes more directly related to the actual story arch and advancing it to conclusion, some other episodes exploring character development and unrelated stories.

    • #48
  19. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    SkipSul: What would you like to see made?

    Maybe some Discworld.

    I don’t understand why, other than Harry Potter, Hollywood is always so determined to mangle the stories when they go to film.

    The Brits have done The Colour of Magic, Going Postal, and Hogfather, plus some cartoon adaptions of some of the witch stories.  I’ve not the toons, but the others were very very good, especially Going Postal.

    • #49
  20. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    SkipSul: What would you like to see made?

    Maybe some Discworld.

    I don’t understand why, other than Harry Potter, Hollywood is always so determined to mangle the stories when they go to film.

    The Brits have done The Colour of Magic, Going Postal, and Hogfather, plus some cartoon adaptions of some of the witch stories. I’ve not the toons, but the others were very very good, especially Going Postal.

    Yeah, I’ve heard of such things, and would be interested in finding them on Netflix if it were possible.

    I’m just thinking–maybe more would be good.

    Hey, speaking of more–anyone remember the old animated Tolkiens? I liked those a lot.

    • #50
  21. DrewInWisconsin is done with t… Member
    DrewInWisconsin is done with t…
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Ed G. (View Comment):
    Frankenstein too. Not the Universal version, but the book version.

    But that stunk.

    • #51
  22. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    Yeah, I’ve heard of such things, and would be interested in finding them on Netflix if it were possible.

     

    Netflix was where I found them, but that was a good 8 years ago now.

    • #52
  23. CB Toder aka Mama Toad Member
    CB Toder aka Mama Toad
    @CBToderakaMamaToad

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    Hey, speaking of more–anyone remember the old animated Tolkiens? I liked those a lot.

    Rankin & Bass! This movie still from The Hobbit hangs in my playroom:

    • #53
  24. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    Tex929rr (View Comment):

    I was totally hooked on the Tony Hillerman Navajo Tribal Police books. Looking on line it appears some movies have been made but I don’t remember any of them. The characters are great and the reservation culture makes compelling stories.

    The one made-for-TV movie I watch had only one small problem. It was set in Hollywood instead of the Reservation. It was supposed to be the Reservation, but Jim Chee lived in a fancy apartment and Leaphorn was in a house fit for a California movie mogul. They were all using bleeding edge electronics. Chee had this fancy laptop.

    One of the themes of the book was the poverty in the Rez. Chee lived in an Airstream trailer. Leaphorn owned a house, but it was a small tract 3-3-2 (or maybe a 3-3-1). Turned the thing into a Starsky and Hutch knockoff.

    • #54
  25. Bob Armstrong Thatcher
    Bob Armstrong
    @BobArmstrong

    Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality series. Imagine a version of Bearing an Hourglass done in the style of Christopher Nolan – you’d end up re-watching it multiple times to figure out just what was happening. I personally think the series began to unravel after Being a Green Earth Mother, he seemed to have lost enthusiasm for the project by then. The penultimate book And Eternity was particularly disappointing. You could probably pull a shortened 8- or 10-episode miniseries season per book, with the meta-plot being good for at least four, maybe five seasons.

    The underappreciated series Dead Like Me touched on a similar idea of divine offices, and the current treatment of Gaiman’s American Gods shows a way to handle magical realism.

    • #55
  26. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    DrewInWisconsin is done with t… (View Comment):

    Ed G. (View Comment):
    Frankenstein too. Not the Universal version, but the book version.

    But that stunk.

    No way! I loved it.

    • #56
  27. DrewInWisconsin is done with t… Member
    DrewInWisconsin is done with t…
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Ed G. (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin is done with t… (View Comment):

    Ed G. (View Comment):
    Frankenstein too. Not the Universal version, but the book version.

    But that stunk.

    No way! I loved it.

    I could accept the basic premise, but the plot had so many contrivances. I think I figured out that given the timeline of some of the events, the Monster would have had to cross the entirety of the British Isles twice in one evening. On foot.

    • #57
  28. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    Dorothy Dunnett’s House of Niccolo and Lymond Chronicles series. The main characters swashbuckle their ways around Renaissance Europe and Africa, meeting up with real historical characters so you get a good story and history lesson all at once.

    • #58
  29. Larry3435 Inactive
    Larry3435
    @Larry3435

    I have waited for an effort, any effort, to put Stranger in a Strange Land onto the screen.  Probably it can’t be done, and probably Hollywood knows that.  Or maybe Hollywood is just afraid that the parallels with Christianity will offend people, or maybe they are just unwilling to put an essentially conservative message on the screen.  But that book is so much better than Dune that it is hard to even talk about them in the same paragraph.

    • #59
  30. The Scarecrow Thatcher
    The Scarecrow
    @TheScarecrow

    As long as they never, ever, ever touch Neuromancer.

    • #60
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