We were discussing movies on a Friday night a couple of weeks ago at the Frog, since my friend Chris had finally seen Avatar. Apparently Chris was initially willing to avoid it all together due to the mixed reviews he'd heard, but he was talked into going by his brother, who felt it heralded the dawning of a new era in filmmaking.
And perhaps it does. Personally, I think that Avatar is one of a number of movies that demonstrate a variety of techniques and approaches that pave the path for the perfect adaptation of some classic of science fiction. We have Avatar's flawless 3-D representation of an alien world, the impressionistic visions of 300, Sin City and The Watchmen, and the hard-edged realism demonstrated in District 9. The only question is which novel to adapt for this breakthrough film?
Chris' instant response was "Ringworld." After a moment's consideration, I told him that he could take any stuffed toy he wanted from the top shelf.
Larry Niven's 1970 award-winning novel would be a perfect candidate for a big-screen blockbuster. Futuristic settings, exotic locations, non-humanoid aliens who are major characters, a plotline which is part adventure, part romance, part mystery, and part travelogue, and of course the Ringworld itself, a massive construct on a mega-planetary scale.
I mentioned this idea to Dave, one of my co-workers who is a serious science fiction fan as well, and he agreed.
"Yeah, yeah, I just re-read Ringworld a couple of months ago, that would be great." Then his eyes went distant for a moment.
"Or you know what would be good? Frederik Pohl's Heechee series, I'd like to see those books done as movies. Or the Benford series, the Galactic Center books, I read those not too long ago."
I agree completely - either of those two series would certainly offer a more involved plot line than Ringworld, but they would both present an equally unique vision on film.
But then, there's a long list of books that would offer material of equal excellence for adaptation: C.J. Cherryh's Downbelow Station, Niven and Pournelle's The Mote in God's Eye, Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card, Neuromancer by William Gibson, the David Brin Uplift series, The Forever War, Snow Crash, Hyperion, Childhood's End, Stranger in a Strange Land, The Fountains of Paradise, the Amber series, The Stars My Destination, The Snow Queen, the Pern books, The Peace War...
* * *
One of the books that I listed above is The Mote in God's Eye, which deals with humanity's first encounter with an alien race. Said aliens - the Moties - have three arms, two small ones for everyday use, and one massive one that they use for heavy lifting and so on - the gripping hand, as they call it.
This three-way approach to things has affected their speech, as well. Whereas we would discuss an issue on the basis of "on one hand, or on the other hand", the Moties conclude with "but on the gripping hand" to indicate the real point of a debate.
In this case, on one hand, there is obviously a plethora of brilliant science fiction novels that would be ideal subjects for movie adaptations. On the other hand, Hollywood's caution in this area may be justified: adaptations from SF novels are more noted for their failure than their success.
On the gripping hand? State of the art 20 years ago would have allowed for adaptations from most if not all of the books I've listed. Aren't we long overdue for someone to do the same thing for science fiction that Peter Jackson did for fantasy with the Lord of the Rings movies?
In other words, what are we waiting for?
- Sid
No comments:
Post a Comment