Book 'Em
There are plenty of fine sf movies, but few of them are adaptations of good sf. Here's a list from the SciFi Squad of their top ten adaptations, with my comments.
1. Slaughterhouse-Five
A pretty good adaptation (is this list about how good the movie is, or how faithful the adaptation?), but the movie still doesn't do much for me, even though I love the novel. I recall a TV adaptation of various Vonnegut stuff, called Between Time And Timbuktu, which I thought was better at capturing his spirit, though I haven't seen it in a long time and don't know how it would hold up.
2. The Thing (1982)
I prefer the 1950s movie, though I guess this version is more faithful.
3. Blade Runner
Don't like the book or the movie.
4. A Scanner Darkly
Don't like the book or the movie.
5. A Boy And His Dog
Never read it. Like the movie, though haven't seen it in a long time.
6. Starship Troopers
This is interesting. I'm a fan of the book.
The film adaptation practically turns it on its head, but I like it, too.7. The Andromeda Strain
Decent film which captures the book quite well.
8. Fahrenheit 451
Recently reread the book and wasn't that impressed. The movie, though, is a disaster. Truffaut was completely unsuited for the project.
9. Soylent Green
Haven't read the book. I consider the movie to be camp.
10. Dune
One of those sf classics I've never liked. There's also a lot not to like about David Lynch's version, but there's still quite a bit that's fascinating, especially the design.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:24 AM
3 Comments:
#10 "Dune"???
There was no reason to read #9-#1 after that.
I like Frank Herbert's Dune series, and even his son's prequels and sequels (though his son has developed his own style which is noticeably different from his father's).
I love the Dune film by Lynch, which does not slavishly follow the novel, but is fascinating in its own right. I would liek to see an edit that removes the internal dialogue. That doesn't work and honestly, I feel like it was added to try and explain some of Herbert's complex concepts.
I have tried to watch the SciFi channel mini-series, but can't get throuh it. I think it is too loyal to the original text (it just doesn't translate to film in its entirety). I also think William Hurt is miscast as Leto. Lynch's version, with huge, out-sized characterizations of the players works much better.
I think they feared without the internal dialogue, people who hadn't read Dune wouldn't be able to make head or tail of it.
The movie is far from perfect, but then watching the miniseries showed how much worse it can be in a literal rendering. The same thing could be said about the movie and TV version of The Shining.
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