What's a sci-fi or fantasy book or series that you want to see adapted as a movie/television series?

I didn’t read this series when I was a kid, but I finally got around to reading Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber.

Given it’s an older series, I wasn’t sure how much I’d like it (some of those older series age horribly), but it was actually REALLY good still, and the few minor things that’d aged too much wouldn’t be hard to update for a modern audience.

But the concept of Amber is fantastic, Corwin’s behavior and arc perfect, and I think a TV series could do it justice nowadays. Man, some CGI artists could do some beautiful work depicting a hellride through shadow.

I also would really, really love to see Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern adapted…but there’s a few parts that have aged pretty badly, so it’d need careful handling of things like Lessa and F’lar’s relationship and such. And maybe, you know, keep Jaxom the hell away from Corana.

But I think the whole idea of threadfall, and Impressing dragons, could be done beautifully on the screen. I think a run from Dragonflight to All The Weyrs of Pern (including the Harper Hall Trilogy) could be done. (Then leave the later books out, they don’t really add much, lol.)

The series would need a top-notch composer scoring it, though. I’d vote for Natalie Holt. She did wonderfully with Loki, and it’d be a nice touch having a woman score the series that’d have the Harper Hall Trilogy included in it.

daqqad,

I always wonder why sci-fi gets mixed in with fantasy so much? It’s always a pain to find decent movie/show or a book because these categories are treated as the same thing.

In my mind they are trivial to separate and I struggle to think of a single book or a film/show that even comes close to crossing over.

I enjoy quality writing in either genre, but as I get older I gravitate towards sci-fi because most fantasy seems to be written for younger audience with some great exceptions like Chronicles of Amber or Witcher.

And just to stay on topic, I nominate Asprin’s Myth Adventures.

IonAddis,
@IonAddis@lemmy.world avatar

They’re only trivial to separate if you think the only “real” sci-fi is hard sci-fi. Star Wars, Star Trek, and plenty of other beloved sci-fi series that blur the lines would get lost in the infighting.

I mean, the “war” between sci-fi and fantasy has been going on for decades, and it’s always been ridiculous.

daqqad,

Not really. Like I said in a comment above, if they treat magic as advanced tech to be explored - sci fi. If it’s treated as a given - fantasy.

Moneo,

Hard agree. There’s sci-fi/fantasy settings and then there’s sci-fi/fantasy writing. Star wars is a fantasy story that takes place in a sci-fi setting, if you’re so inclined. But it’s hard fantasy in my books.

If your book is focused on adventure and characters it’s probably fantasy, if your book is focused on humanity or other grander themes it’s probably sci-fi. Focusing on whether there is magic or elves or whatever is completely missing the point in my opinion.

The whole debate is childish. If you refuse to read a book because there is X race or X technology or whatever then you really need to change your priorities.

It’s like when people say “I don’t watch cartoons”. Fuck off!!

OceanSoap,

My problem with scifi and movies is that most of them are scary/horror. Not so much the case recently, but I remember walking the scifi section being mashed in with the horror section.

daqqad,

Lots of great horror sci fi, but definitely different genres.

bionicjoey,

I always wonder why sci-fi gets mixed in with fantasy so much? It’s always a pain to find decent movie/show or a book because these categories are treated as the same thing.

As Arthur C. Clarke famously said: “You have reached the end of your free trial subscription to ArthurCClarkeQuotes.com” “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”

A lot of Sci-Fi stuff is just fantasy with a different coat of paint. Any universe where the technology is just acting as a stand-in for magic qualifies. There are even many settings that blur the line between the two, like Warhammer 40K.

“Hard” Sci Fi is another beast entirely. That would be more like OG Star Trek or even something like The Twilight Zone. Something where the “magic” exists to explore thoughtful/philosophical “What if?” questions rather than simply as a system of magic to serve the fantasy.

Transcendant,

As Arthur C. Clarke famously said: “You have reached the end of your free trial subscription to ArthurCClarkeQuotes.com” “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”

I lol’d

daqqad,

Approach is different. If they treat magic as given without trying to understand it - fantasy. If they treat it as advanced tech - sci fi.

Moneo,

But why does it matter? In Dune characters are able use mindfulness to control their body so finely that they can manipulate molecules. So there’s a “scientific explanation” but for all intents and purposes it’s magic.

I don’t understand the need to draw hard lines, the fantasy/sci Fi distinction has always just been a way to describe the setting moreso than the genre. Many fantasy novels read like a typical sci-fi and vice versa.

alansuspect,

Yep, when I’m looking for sci-fi I don’t want elves or whatever. The only pointy ears belong to Mr Spock.

Moneo,

I feel like you mentioning Spock/elves just highlights how similar the two genres are. Sci-Fi (in theory) uses a future universe as a setting in which to explore characters/themes. Fantasy uses a fictional universe as a setting in which to explore characters/themes.

Preferring one to the other feels pedantic. Is Dune sci-fi or fantasy? Does it matter? I say no. Grumpy rant/

Vaggumon,
@Vaggumon@lemm.ee avatar

I’d absolutely love a faithful adaptation of SnowCrash by Neil Stephonson to a TV series, don’t think a movie would be doable, unless they did a trilogy or something.

Usernameblankface, (edited )
@Usernameblankface@lemmy.world avatar

I read some Halo books that seemed like they’d make for great TV.

TheLowestStone,
@TheLowestStone@lemmy.world avatar

It’s a shame that instead of any of that we got the garbage Paramount+ version.

Modern_medicine_isnt,

I have often thought about dragonriders of pern as a movie. I am not sure thread really would show well. The books really emphasize people’s fear of thread. But I don’t see anything visual about it that would really inspire that fear on the screen. Even while reading, I often felt the fear level was unrealistic. And a lot of peoples motivations were based on that fear. Now a great writer might be able to adjust things to work aroundvthat, but it seems tough.

Transcendant,

Hyperion Cantos (Dan Simmons)

Any of the Xeelee series (Stephen Baxter)

Quantum Magician series (Derek Künsken)

Aermis,

Second the hyperion cantos. I’m surprised it’s not mentioned more

Transcendant,

Dan Simmons is an incredible author, I really should check more of his books out. The only other ones I read (before Hyperion actually) were the Ilium / Olympos ones which were very enjoyable.

Starb3an,

Quantum Magician is really cool. If it was made into a movie it would look like The Mechanic or the Equalizer

Transcendant,

It would also heavily utilise the graphic from that meme where the woman is thinking deeply and all these equations appear around her head

Moneo,

Hyperion would be cool but for gods sake they better stop after the second book.

Transcendant,

Aww. I loved all three, though perhaps that opinion is formed in some way because I was heavily into learning about Buddhism at the time.

Moneo,

There’s 4 aren’t there? Fair enough, I liked his writing but a third of the way through the 4th book I realized I didn’t give a shit about the characters anymore.

The age dynamic between them is really fucking gross and pointless too.

That first book was amazing though, no doubt about it.

Transcendant, (edited )

I liked his writing but a third of the way through the 4th book I realized I didn’t give a shit about the characters anymore.

xD fair point. I guess we all have different tolerances for different stuff. I was dating women in their 40s when I was in my 20s so maybe the age gap stuff flew over my head when I read them. I just finished a really enjoyable book by Stephen Baxter called ‘World Engines’, the main character also appears in other books by him and I really, really struggled with it purely based on the character.

He’s called Malenfant, and would you believe it, he’s bad-tempered! ‘Malenfant grunted:’, ‘Malenfant snorted’, Malenfant scowled, oh very subtle Stephen. He is capable of imagining such diverse creatures, thought patterns and genuine ‘hard sci’ concepts, then went with ‘grumpy old man’ for the protag. There’s enough grumpy old men running the place already, I’d prefer my fiction to be a respite from that!

Looking forward to his next book about a protaganist paralysed by indecision called Soppy McSimpleton.

Vaggumon,
@Vaggumon@lemm.ee avatar

A real adaptation of the Foundation Series. Not the abomination we are getting from Apple.

eu,

I love the books and would like to see a 1:1 adaptation so I have no interest in the Apple show, but I've been told the show is good if you pretend the books do not exist.

redballooon,

I loved the books, and I loved season one on Apple TV. But then it lost me. I didn’t recognize any storyline anymore

Marin_Rider,

season 1 I thought was S tier, really good. Season 2 was horrible

Transcendant,

I didn’t watch it until second season was out, I just didn’t see how they could possibly do it justice… look at how Altered Carbon floundered, I expected (and was proven right) the same problems.

People need to attach to characters and plot. It’s very hard to do that when the characters (or actor in the case of AC) change every chapter, and the plot arches over 10s of 1000s of years!

I have to say once I was able to let go of preconceptions based on the books and just enjoy it for what it is, I really enjoyed Foundation series.

GenesisJones,

Project hail Mary is my favorite literature I’ve read in the last few years.

I would love to see it done justice with a movie done right.

CitizenKong, (edited )

You’re in luck, Chris Miller and Phil Lord (LEGO movie) are working on an adaptation with Ryan Gosling set to star. Drew Goddard (The Martian) wrote the screenplay together with Andy Weir himself.

GenesisJones,

Oh fuck yes. I’m so goddamn hype to hear that Andy is involved

Vaginal_blood_fart,

Thank

CoughingwithCoffee,

The Caves of Steel quadrilogy. Especially now that we’re on the eve of AI mates, this one would be fitting for the times.

sgharms,

During the pandemic nadir I kept thinking about “viewing” and “seeing” and Zoom and Gladia.

corsicanguppy,

Firefly looks good.

shalafi,

Drangonlance could be as epic as The Lord of the Rings. Yes, really.

vivadanang,

do game of thrones-fidelity live action for the main line, and some bitchrod love-death-and-robots-type cg for Legend of Huma and I’m in.

Beelzebob,

And a Lord Soth spinoff movie.

IvanOverdrive,

I came here to say Chronicles of Amber. Damn, I thought I was the last fan left.

spittingimage,
@spittingimage@lemmy.world avatar

Not the last. Chronicles of Amber is awesome.

Vertelleus,
@Vertelleus@sh.itjust.works avatar

Warhammer 40k - Horus Heresy, live action, to the books. Then Eisenhorn eventually.

buzziebee,

eventually

I’d absolutely love to see the whole heresy play out on the screen, but it would be hundreds or thousands of hours to show it all lol. I’ve been reading through it at a pretty good pace and after a year in only about halfway through lol.

Looking forward to seeing what Cavill does with 40k. I heard they only got the rights to 40k though, not 30k or fantasy, so it’s possible someone else gets those rights.

TheInsane42,
@TheInsane42@lemmy.world avatar

I’d love to see the Foundation and the Robot series of Asimov.

As single movie, Asimov’s End of Eternity would be great.

Grimy,

Foundation is currently being adapted. They have changed quite a bit and it’s a bit clumsy at times but Trantor, Cleon and Demerzel are very well done.

They wrapped up season 2 a few months ago.

TheInsane42,
@TheInsane42@lemmy.world avatar

Never knew they made a serie of it… Gotta watch it. Hitch Hickers Guide to the Galaxy was nice. (both the original as the remake)

rikudou,
@rikudou@lemmings.world avatar

Witcher without all the Netflix bullshit. Like, give it to someone who loves the IP, not someone who wants to push some agenda.

I’ve loved the book series for close to 20 years, it deserves a LOTR or GoT level movie/series.

redballooon,

Ok I’ll bite. What’s Netflix’s agenda with the Witcher? Hmm?

rikudou, (edited )
@rikudou@lemmings.world avatar

Not Netflix’s, the director’s.

Edit: No need to “bite”, if you want to argue with someone online, I’m afraid you’ll have to find your fix somewhere else.

Transcendant,

I reckon you’ve been downvoted for the agenda comment, but you’re absolutely right about it being bullshit. They fucking ruined it. Imo it’s less about ‘agenda’ and more about the arrogance of the directing team.

Literally all they had to do was replicate the stories for the screen, but they couldn’t resist putting ‘their stamp on it’. What a missed open goal.

rikudou,
@rikudou@lemmings.world avatar

Don’t really care, if people can’t see that the director is pushing her agenda into the thing and kinda forgets about actually adapting the source material, it’s their problem, not mine.

The Witcher books talk about a lot of issues that are relevant today (like racism, the price of being neutral, colonialism and many more), I personally also love the medieval politics bit (you can see that Sapkowski really loves history in those parts) and I think it deserves a proper adaptation, not this hacked together bullshit that just likes to push every modern agenda in there.

You (the general you) can dislike my opinion as much as you want, that’s really up to you, but IMO one of those things lines pretending it works with societal issues, while the other one truly presents them as such.

Transcendant,

I’ve never read the books, huge fan of the game series. I love reading, but what’s put me off is Sapkowski’s reputation for being an arsehole. I dunno, I’ve always been a bit resistant to consuming media if I don’t like the creator.

Like, I can enjoy Michael Jackson songs, but if I discovered him today with all the baggage attached I might never have formed an attachment to his music. Think I’ll see if I can find any Witcher books in the library and then if I don’t enjoy, I’ve not wasted any money.

rikudou,
@rikudou@lemmings.world avatar

Well, he is an arsehole a bit, but not on the level I’d consider turning away from his books. I probably wouldn’t want to be friends with him, but he’s not such a big arsehole that I would lose sleep over supporting him financially. I truly recommend the books, though I’ve heard that the English translations leave a lot to be desired.

lingh0e,

World War Z. It needs to be adapted as an HBO limited series.

Grayox,
@Grayox@lemmy.ml avatar

The movie made me so fucking mad when I saw it. Nothing like the book whatsoever grrrrr.

theywilleatthestars,

Will never forget seeing a promo for it starting “only one man can save the world”. Literally the exact opposite of the book

alekwithak,

Still blows my mind that it was written by Mel Brooks’ son.

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