[Yobmod]

It seems that any halfway successful fantasy series is having it's film or TV rights snapped up (whether or not the film / series ever appears).

I don't watch many films as i'm quite hard to please with them. (Living in a foreign country taught me how incredibly dull and predictable most (mainstream?) films are, when i could predict what will happen even without understanding a single word of dialogue :rolleyes:). Also i don't have a TV.

So i generally pay little attention to the steady steam of anouncments of adaptions. But there are so many of them, and so many threads here about "who should direct, Who should star in, where should it be filmed, should it be a movie or mini-series" for just about every fat epic series.



So i was wondering which books people really WOULDN'T like seen remade as another media format. Whether cos they are too complex for a film to capture the essence, or they are too introspective, or the pleasure of the book is in the language which would be lost...



My initial choice:

Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe.
Is simply too complex to my mind. An adaption might be good, but never great. It could only represent the surface (Severian looking cool with his cloak and sword), or be too obvious (Citadel is space-ship subtleties), or revealing (the Brothel madam is the Autarch? Clearly the same actor!) And i don't think the strange philosophical conversations or monologues would translate well. Oh, and the great prose would be lost :)

[Jeroen]

I completely agree with you. The Book of the New Sun is meant to have revelations to the reader every time you read it. Its so complex that its the job of a lifetime to grasp every bit of it. A movie would only scrap the surface of it.

But on the whole I am very positive about books made into movies. I have an enormous confidence in the power of cinema.

[Takoren]

Damn, my reply was in the initial post. I love to "cast" books that I read, but I had not gotten very far into BOTNS before I realized that this brilliant book would make a horrible movie/miniseries/what have you. The mystery of Wolfe's prose and the feeling that you're missing something that's under the surface would be lost, because the surface is all there is in a movie. It would be like trying to film The Fountainhead, or something. What? They already made a movie of that? Damn!

[DailyAlice]

Damn, my reply was in the initial post. I love to "cast" books that I read, but I had not gotten very far into BOTNS before I realized that this brilliant book would make a horrible movie/miniseries/what have you. The mystery of Wolfe's prose and the feeling that you're missing something that's under the surface would be lost, because the surface is all there is in a movie. It would be like trying to film The Fountainhead, or something. What? They already made a movie of that? Damn!

Yes, and quite the camp classic *that* turned out to be.

I absolutely agree with the hands-off-Wolfe stance. His work is the ultimate proof that one medium cannot be totally transformed into another.

In a bit of a non sequitor (?) does it not seem obvious that the tv series is the best way to transfer a novel to the screen? I'm talking about the cable or Masterpiece Theatre type of series; all thought-out ahead of time to conform with the original work. Not that they can't be dreadful as well. I just think the *shape* is more suitable to the length and complexity of the novel.

[Jeroen]

In a bit of a non sequitor (?) does it not seem obvious that the tv series is the best way to transfer a novel to the screen? I'm talking about the cable or Masterpiece Theatre type of series; all thought-out ahead of time to conform with the original work. Not that they can't be dreadful as well. I just think the *shape* is more suitable to the length and complexity of the novel.

A mini-series would be fitting for most big fantasy epics. Something like they did with The Tenth Kingdom. (I still secretly hope they make a mini-series out of The Silmarillion with the same skill as they did the LOTR movies.)

[Deornoth]

The thought of any of the songs from the 'Hobbit' making it into a film version makes me shudder so I would much prefer to see it remain as a book. And what's with the talk of them making it a film in two parts...? :confused:

[Takoren]

The thought of any of the songs from the 'Hobbit' making it into a film version makes me shudder so I would much prefer to see it remain as a book. And what's with the talk of them making it a film in two parts...? :confused:

Don't worry about the songs. I'm fairly certain they will go the way of the songs from LOTR. As for "making it in two parts", that's not quite accurate. They are filming The Hobbit as one film and then making a film that takes place in the fifty-or-so years between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I have mixed emotions about this, but there is source material that can be referenced and with Jackson involved I think it's more likely to turn out well.

Guillermo Del Toro is apparently signed on as the director. Jackson producing (and writing, I think), Del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth) directing...I think I'm gonna have an orgasm!

[phil_geo]

American Gods by Gaiman.

When you come down to it, there's not a lot of action, and not a lot of supernatural stuff going on. A large part of the book is Gaiman's successful portrayal of middle America - its charm and its lifestyle. I think the movie would be sold as a 'gods-do-battle' book and the movie would be a disaster.

[goldhawk]

Don't worry about the songs. I'm fairly certain they will go the way of the songs from LOTR.

Well...one song did make it into the LoTR: The Road Goes Ever On. Gandalf is singing it when he meets Frodo. And I do believe that Bilbo is singing it when he finally leaves Bags End.

[Takoren]

Well...one song did make it into the LoTR: The Road Goes Ever On. Gandalf is singing it when he meets Frodo. And I do believe that Bilbo is singing it when he finally leaves Bags End.

I knew someone was gonna say that. There's a difference between someone mumbling a few bars as they ride in a cart or walking off into the night and Sam stopping before they leave the trolls to sing "The Stone Troll" in full.

I'm fairly certain that in Del Toro's Hobbit the dwarves will not sing "Chip the glasses, crack the plates" but will instead just shout those things, or perhaps there will be no mention of dishes at all. I also doubt very strongly that the elves will be singing "Oh where are you going" as the dwarves enter Rivendell.