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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 Vance – Lyonesse – 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?
Published in Entertainment
Walter Miller’s post-apocalyptic novel A Canticle for Leibowitz is a deep book and could be made into a good series…it is even conveniently divided into three sections.
On the other hand, it might be more effective as a single movie on the big screen, if movie theaters are ever a thing again.
Disagree. Return Of The Jedi was much more of a kids’ movie than A New Hope or Empire Strikes Back.
I’ll probably rent the Black Widow movie, because I like the gag of an over-the-hill Red Guardian.
Ok. It’s the ewoks, isn’t it. No argument, I fold.
The Belgariad and The Mallorean are basically Game of Thrones without the excess, as I recall.
The Year of the French is set in Ireland circa 1798, at the time of the French landing in support of Irish rebels. One of the best historical novels I have ever read; my review is here. It was made into a TV miniseries and broadcast on Irish television–does not seem to be available now, in the US or anywhere else, so I’m not sure how well it was done. The story deserves to be shown in America, either by reviving the Irish miniseries or doing a new one.
Actually, the Ewoks are virtually the only element of the movie that adds any maturity. The scene where the one Ewok mourns the death of its mate/friend is the most emotional scene in the series after the deaths of Owen and Beru. The Ewoks are the least cartoony characters in that movie.
I think Alvin Maker would be a lot of fun. I’m skeptical of any further Card adaptations being made, though. In our cancel-culture era there’ll be big SJW pushback against any of his work being adapted due to his conservative views on sexual morality and marriage. Back when they made Ender’s Game there were people calling for a boycott of the film.
The Hornblower novels were made into a series, which I thought was mediocre. Needs to be redone.
Disney needs to stick to their core competency: princess movies.
I don’t have a problem with princess movies. I don’t watch them, so no problem.
I always wondered why Thomas Covenant was never brought to the screen. I read the first six books as a kid, and if I recall Thomas Covenant commits a rape early in the first book. I think it has a lot of potential, but it’s also really intense in terms of the protagonist’s personal and psychological issues. Maybe it scared Hollywood off.
You’re just being contrary. The resolution of the father-son conflict might be a cartoon (this is Star Wars) but it’s an archetype of maturation.
Saw it when I was deployed. I enjoyed it.
One excellent TV-adaptation of a fantasy novel was the 2015 BBC Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell series. It’s not a perfect adaptation (I think they botch the Stephen Black character and arc, sadly), but much more faithful than most adaptations you see, and most of the cast nail their characters. The production values and cinematography are also quite impressive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXv9Ozt0thE
Resurrection Day, by Brendan DuBois. Great premise, decent characterization, middling plot (but a good screenwriter could fix it). It’s 1972, ten years after the Cuban Missile Crisis led to limited nuclear war between the US and the USSR. Many of America’s east coast military installations were hit as well as several cities. (But not all). The country is preparing to re-open after a ten year decontamination period, somewhat paralleling what we’re deciding now–how safe is it? How much choice do we have? It’s made for a movie or TV adaptation, with lots of striking visuals. Streets full of rusting cars that haven’t run in ten years; a double cyclone fence keeping people out of Manhattan, with thousands of improvised notes and tributes, an eerie prefigurement of NYC life after 9/11. (The book was written in 1999).
I guess what I like about it is believability. The country is a poverty-stricken shell of what it had been pre-1962, but it functions, with two national channels in black and white, a handful of thin newspapers, minimal agriculture and massive humanitarian aid from Europe, the UK in particular. I don’t like this America, but I can imagine it.
It’s a very visceral story. The movie would have to bring the reality of leprosy to the screen. I found the first three Covenant books intense, so much that it was good to be able to put them down – can’t do that with a movie.
If you are looking for that, Decatur’s burning of the Philadelphia would make a great movie. You could even film some of it on location. Part of the story took place on USS Constitution. If you know a producer, I know someone who wrote a book about it.
On a graph, A New Hope was an excellent pulpy young adult (without the condescension) movie, Empire Strikes Back was sharp adult fare, and everything from Return of the Jedi through the prequels were gauged to sell value meal toys and action figures. I refuse to hate the last three because Rogue One and Mandalorian were very good and watching Luke Skywalker drink that awful milk was a perfect touch. And Luke’s dual with what’s his name at the gate was so perfect as far as I’m concerned.
If JJ never directs another movie, I’m fine. If he does, I’ll watch it with the same lowered expectations he always brings. The visuals with the oversaturation on his first Star Trek was inspired and annoying all at once. Can you imagine trying to actually work on a starship bridge with that absurd light show going on. It’s enough to make you want to jump out of a perfectly functioning spacecraft.
And I did like Spock tossing Kirk out in a life pod. Should have done it sooner. Archer and (not Discovery version) Pike are starship captains, Kirk is a disease vector surrounded by competent morons too stupid to transfer out. He was the answer to the question, if network television designed a starship captain so flawed that he would spew plot complications with every breath, what would he look like. The answer of course being, Denny Crane, starship captain. (Love Denny!)
But, I digress.
FIFY
;-)
It’s also a major trope of fiction for children.
I’ve written it before and I’ll write it again, I think the Solo movie was better than Rogue One.
Whahhhht? As a certified contrarian myself, all I can say is: sometimes it does go too far. Ewoks as the least cartoony characters in the movie is just too far. Saying Shiites and Sunnis can get along? Fair game I say. This Ewok business, though, is madness.
Anyone’s free to like whatever film they want for any reason they want, but I just find the comment odd. I love Rogue One and enjoyed Mandalorian, but have no issue separating them in my head from the Sequel Trilogy, which I find tragically disappointing.
(chuckle) It was with delight that I discovered that The Black Hole is on Disney+, though I don’t know if I’ll ever actually take the time to watch it again (haven’t seen it since I was a kid).
It’s very important that we exercise the Left’s veto for them so that they don’t wear their dainty little snowflake selves going to the effort. The sound of whining Leftists is the sound of victory!
I’m not saying I wouldn’t enjoy seeing Card adaptations. Card’s one of my favorite authors. I’m just saying it’s doubtful we’ll see Hollywood try any more Card adaptations.
I still haven’t gotten around to watching Solo. I will…someday…probably.
One Minute After (about a small town in the Carolinas after an EMP strike on the US) would be a great extended TV series. The next two books in the series aren’t nearly as good, but would probably work cinematically as well.
Because you’d have to explain to the millennials what “condign” means. It’s a good word, but I swear Donaldson used it two or three times per chapter.
OK, this may be off-topic as it’s not a novel series, but I’ve long wondered why there aren’t good screen adaptations of the Old Testament stories of the conflict between King Saul and king-to-be David as Saul is chasing David around the countryside. There is lots of good story-telling conflict between Saul and David, with intermediate resolution when Saul occasionally realizing that maybe he shouldn’t be trying to eliminate David, conflict between David and his supporters, conflict among the followers of David, plus the internal conflict within David about whether or not his hand is to be the hand that kills Saul. And the story includes lots of good visuals – the characters running all about the countryside, and especially the scene in which David cuts off a corner of the robe of Saul in a cave and David appears at the mouth of the cave to show the robe section to all of Saul’s men. The whole story seems perfect for the big screen treatment.