"Movies I'd like to see..." Topic

A Star Wars movie in the Clone Wars Time… directed by John Woo (Hard Target, Broken Arrow, Face/Off, and Mission: Impossible 2) or by the Wachowski Brothers (Matrix movies). Bet we see some super Jedi stunts!!

Fantastic Voyage – miniaturized & journeying into the human body… redone with today's special effects. And they better pick a good replacement for Raquel Welch!!!!
picture

Doc Savage – taken more seriously than what George Pal did.

Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", and have it follow the book.

Poul Anderson's "The Broken Sword", with the Elves as cruel immoral bastards.
Anderson's "Hrolf Kraki's Saga".
All would require more than the usual 2 hour movie.

These are "What I would like to see", obviously. I am realistic enough to realize that they are pipe dreams.

H. Beam Piper's Space Viking

Or Little Fuzzy

Doomsday Book – exactly as written.

Doomsday Book?

I'd love to see a Starship Troopers that followed the book.

The opening scene would be awesome. Listen:

It starts with blackness with some buttons beeping red on the sides of the screen, an odd one beeping green or whatever.

The buttons start shaking back and forth.

Then there is a blinding crack of light down the center of the screen which widens and stops being so blinding and you can see a planet coming up at a rapid rate as the pieces of the pod peel away.

Then the falling slows and impact, there is always part of a slightly visible human face in the screen. The camera runs forward all saving private ryan like for a few minutes as more troopers land all over the place.

Then it pans back and you watch as the troopers jump and accomplish their various objectives as described in the first part of the book, including the little talking bomb.

As the camera pans back, that is when the narration starts but it is only a brief narration as it moves along into the rest of the story.

Little Fuzzy. I just reread all three books yesterday while I was sick in bed. Fuzzies after all would be the ultimate merchandizing dream.

A Tarzan movie that followed the book – Christopher Lambert's Tarzan was too wimpy… body count of only one. Johnny Weissmuller' Tarzan was too stupid.

"I'd love to see a Starship Troopers that followed the book."

LOL! "This is a 10 second bomb… 9 second bomb… 8 second bomb"*

*Translated from the "Skinny" language.

Just for S&Gs name one movie that "have it follow the book" or "exactly as written"?

I would like to see "Hunters of the Red Moon".

Robert McCammons "Stinger" or one of Ed Ruggero's books.

No mention of Ron Ely as "Doc Savage, the man of Bronze" from the 70's?

Lucifer's Hammer and I think Old Mans War could be cool also

The battle of Kursk with all authentic vehicles and kit. Oh, it has to have no love story, anti-war message, anti-Nazi or Commie message or anything in a Micheal Bay flick, just ass kicking, white knuckled action! Oh and subtitled so we can hear the actual German and Russian as used in tank combat.

Brian

I'd love to see a movie of Lord kalvin or the little fuzzy by H beam Piper.

I think there are movies that have been more or less faithful to the book. They haven't been dead on, of course, there are time restrictions and other things might not work as well with a movie as in a book.

But there have been a few. Watchmen was excellent for translating the book to the screen. So was V For Vendetta, actually.

I thought the Lord of the Rings movies were faithfully translated as well.

Certainly the first spider man movie caught the feel for Spider man in his early days and was as faithful as possible to a comic book that went on for years and years and split and the split went on for years.

Henry V was pretty faithful to the book, as was Hamlet.

I think massive deviations from the story are mostly what we are talking about here. That being said there are very few that remain faithful to the books that are their sources.

Warrenss2 – Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis, both a Hugo and a Nebula Award for best novel. Student historian sent back to medieval England inadvertently arrives in the period of the Black Death. Meanwhile, influenza pandemic breaks out in her base era complicating the discovery of the error and the retrieval. Very good historical and medical background.

Insofar as military style sf, 'A Small Colonial War,' 'Fire in a Faraway Place,' and 'Cain's Land,, by Robert Frezza. Believable military technology extrapolation and sound military tactics which are rare in near term military SF.

I would love to see "The Mote in God's Eye" done faithfully. The black eggs of the Langston Fields changing color as they heat up, the three-armed Moties, the Watchmakers taking over "MacArthur"…good stuff.

Whatever happened to that proposed film starring Scarlett Johansson as a female gladiator wreaking revenge on the Romans. I'd pay to see that!

The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun and The Robots of Dawn. My favorite books from Asimov And They would HAVE to be more faithful than I, Robot was :(

How 'bout a movie about a wargammer who solves crimes using the insights he gets while planning and playing his wargames. Maybe even he can decide what clues are valid or who's guilty based on a throw of the dice!

He sees a clue, picks up about 20 dice, and based on the number of sixes he rolls that's how much time he spends on examining the clue. Or, once the bad guy is captured, he rolls against the suspect, using appropriate modifiers, to see if the guy stays in custody or walks.

A sequal to Independance Day.(I know. But hey, I liked it! Alien butt-whupping!).

GOOD movies from the two awesome FASA games: Crimson Skies and Battletech.

Truthfully, although I know they'd mess it up, I am surprised there hasn't been a Battletech one already….

"Hunters of the Red Moon" – I love that book and it's sequel "The Survivors". I ran Hunters in a Star Trek RPG. Capt & friends camping on remote wilderness planet(R&R), kidnapped by Proto-Felines, tried to escape, taken to Hunters world.

"No mention of Ron Ely as "Doc Savage, the man of Bronze" from the 70's?" – That was in my first post.

"Henry V was pretty faithful to the book, as was Hamlet." – Mel Gibson's Hamlet blew me away.

"Whatever happened to that proposed film starring Scarlett Johansson as a female gladiator wreaking revenge on the Romans. I'd pay to see that!" – Scarlett Johansson – – I think she would make a good candidate for Raquel in Fantastic Voyage. I guess I'm a curvy figure kinda guy.

sigh… raylev3, you are diffidently something else.

Thanks for the Doomsday Book info, goragrad. I'm going to check that out.

"I am surprised there hasn't been a Battletech one already…." – I'd like it if they showed the loneliness and burden of command. Like that a lot in military movies.

What about a Honor Harrington flick?

Elric

dark is rising sequence (done properly)

LOTR (done properly, i.e. as in the book)

The Black Company and the Dread Empire – I mean the book series by the master of disaster, Glen Cook

Or, to be more recent, Joe Abercrombie's "The First Law" series – I would love to see who would play Logan Ninefingers (for those of you who have not read the books, a kick-ass barbarian – and I would strongly recommend that you read the books!)

For a good, pulp era story, I vote for Greenmantle, by John Buchan. Espionage, evil WWI-era Germans, and a big battle at the end between the Russians and the Ottomans.

FM Bailey's "Mission to Tashkent" would make a great mini-series. Except no one would believe that it is all true.

Elric and/or Corum for fantasy
Forever War for Sci-fi
Sidi-Rezeg Battles for historical

You want Pulp? You want Glen Cook?
How about the Garrett books?

As long as money is no object, I would love to see "The Chinese Bandit" by Stephen Becker. Steve McQueen is dead, but I am sure there are is someone out there who woulld work. Mark Wahlberg?

"Doc Savage" and crew as conceived in the first novel "Man of Bronze". That is with "Ham" sticking natives with his sword cane left and right, and without those silly "mercy" bullets.

"Tarzan"…oh *man!*…if only…

"Terry and the Pirates". In the WW II period.

The "premiere" cut of "The Wild Bunch" as it was shown the first couple of weeks before it was pulled and re-edited to remove some of the violence. And no, the "directors cut" that's currently in release is *not* the original version.

The pulp magazine version of "The Shadow", not a "tongue-in-cheek" radio/pulp amalgam like the 1994 version.

The two sequels to "Appaloosa", "Resolution and "Brimstone", with Harris and Mortensen playing Cole and Hitch again.

A biopic about the life of Kit Carson and/or Robert Rogers (Roger's Rangers). Yes, I have seen "Northwest Passage".

Complete and restored versions of the serials "Daredevils of the West", "The Lone Ranger", and "The Lone Ranger Rides Again". A complete unedited version of the serial "The Spider".

A euro-western (spaghetti western) directed by Sergio Leone and scored by Ennio Morricone, where Paladin (Have Gun, Will Travel), Josh Randall (Wanted, Dead or Alive), and Lucas McCain (The Rifleman) all meet for an adventure. Would that be delirious or what? (-: And yes, I know that Leone is dead. (-:

A *good* "Deathlands" flick, with a budget larger than fifteen bucks.

"The Forever War".

I agree with those that mentioned a film about the battle of Kursk, a more accurate version of "Starship Troopers" (what the hell were they thinking when they cast Denise Richards?), and "Lucifer's Hammer".

"The day the Earth stood still – Revenge of the Earthmen" sequel to the latest version not the orginal.

Hatasi

You must have been posting "The Forever War" at the same time as me. (-: I loved the premise of soldiers returning to earth periodically, but because of time dilation during space travel centuries pass on earth where only days or weeks pass for the soldiers. As a result the culture on earth is changing and they are not. Reminds me of when I got out of the service in '69. The culture in New York City had changed *radically* and I was still the same as I was in '65. This is a *very* insightful and impressive Hugo Award winning book.

A Deadlands movie
A Crimson Skies movie '
A sequel to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
A good Weird War 2 movie
A better version of The Keep by F. Paul Wilson

and a sequel to Brewfest.

One can dream…

Ah…Good ol' sky captain…As close as we ever came to Crimson Skies…..If only they hadn't of gone so outrageously pulp.

And I second Sergio Leone!

"A sequel to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" – I heartily second that nomination!

John Carter – but not a cutesy Disney version, of course.
Fu Manchu – maybe the Cay Van Ashe authorized novels brought to the silver screen.
Percy Fawcett's quest. Let's hope Brad Pitt's version is decent.
The MiMi and the Tou Tou – WWI in central Africa, with Spicer-Simpson. Nobody would believe it though.

"A Crimson Skies movie" & "A sequel to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" – Isn't pretty much near the same thing, richadDMB?

"The pulp magazine version of "The Shadow", not a "tongue-in-cheek" radio/pulp amalgam like the 1994 version." – with a body count that beats Arnold's Commando movie?

I had not heard of the Chinese Bandit before, but now that I have read a synopsis I have to buy the book! (and, or course, watch the movie)

Heh, I should get a cut of Becker's royalties, I plug that book so much.
Let me know how you like it.

"The pulp magazine version of "The Shadow", not a "tongue-in-cheek" radio/pulp amalgam like the 1994 version." – with a body count that beats Arnold's Commando movie? grin"

"Shadow" novels weren't *usually* very violent. One exception is "Gray Fist", which had a body count to rival "The Spider"…and there's an idea. A film starring "The Spider". The serial "Spider" was obviously heavily edited before it was released. I spotted cuts all over the place. I guess Columbia thought it would be too violent for the kiddies.

"A sequel to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" – I heartily second that nomination!"

I seriously can't understand why so many people in this group like that flick. It tanked at the box office and was a critical failure because there was no real tension in it and the characters had no realism to them, so it was hard to care what happened them at all. The only thing that kept me interested was Gwyneth Paltrow's legs.

"John Carter – but not a cutesy Disney version, of course."

It would be a fantastic trilogy, but they'd have to downplay that whole Dejah Thoris laying eggs thing. (-:

"The MiMi and the Tou Tou – WWI in central Africa" – At first glance I thought that said Mini-me (Dr. Evil's micro-pal) & Tatoo (A plane! A plane!)!! My second thought was, "What in the name of Sam Hill would they be doing is Africa?!?!? LOL

"Shadow" novels weren't *usually* very violent." – True. I believe the first one, The Living Shadow, had no fatalities at all. I think all his books are a crackling good read!

What about The Avenger? Maybe put Viggo Mortensen as Richard Benson? (Might be a tad too old for the part)

For a good, pulp era story, I vote for Greenmantle, by John Buchan. Espionage, evil WWI-era Germans, and a big battle at the end between the Russians and the Ottomans.

Oh, yeah. I'd watch that.

"The Dancing Floor" would be another of Buchan's books that I wouldn't mind seeing adapted.

I'd like to see serious biographies of Drake, Blackjack Pershing, Ernest Hemingway, and Mata Hari. I'd really like to see serious (i.e., noncampy) period-faithful versions of Tarzan, the pulp Shadow, Doc Savage, and John Carter of Mars. I'd like to see serious historical adventure films about the Siege of Malta, Cortes and the conquest of Mexico, Henry Morgan's raid on Panama (no zombie pirates, please), and the Pershing Expedition to capture Villa. For that matter, Funston's expedition to capture Aguinaldo during the Philippine Insurrection would make a hell of an adventure movie if done right. I'd also like to see a version of War of Worlds done during Victorian times.

Mulligan

(Goragrad: I had to laugh when I saw your post. I'm glad you like Robert Frezza's books. He's a friend of mine. In fact, my wife and I were out hiking with Robert and his wife Rosemary on Saturday.)

Mulligan

I think Frezza was one of the best military scifi writter out there. Why didnt he ever write another book.

I don't want to give anything specific away. Let's just say he's amassed piles of research over the last couple of years for something he's in the end stages of working on now.

Mulligan

In no particular order:

Ender's Game.
Childhood's End.
The Giants Trilogy.
Fantastic Voyage.
Hornblower and the Hotspur.

Conan

The Jannisaries (sp?)series (Jerry Pournelle) would make a great movie – or better yet a quality miniseries (think Band of Brothers, or the BSG miniseries).

It would also make a helluva wargame – mixing miniatures from many eras.

As to the question of "Why hasn't anyone made a Battletech movie?" – Battletech was essentially based on several anime series and OVAs. Take your pick.

A faithful "Starship Troopers" would be nice, but it always struck me as being made for radio, with the extensive narration.

Sky crawlers has the look of Crimson skies .
Love to see hammers slammers vehicle on the screen .
Saberhagen's Berserkers
Sten by Allen Cole and Chris Bunch

Ditto on Starship Troopers. Might be slow in places but Heinlein's philosophy (and fantasy) is well worth it. A "historically accurate" western concerning the Lincoln county war or some other event might be interesting.

ALV

Another ditto on 'Starship Troopers' done by the book. Massive disconnect when I saw scenes from the movie.

Mulligan – based on his bio and the way he writes, Mr. Frezza would be a good man to know, congrats. I look forward to seeing more of his work.

Some other books I would like to see made into movies are:

Keith Laumer – A Plague of Demons, Thunderhead (a little short, might need some fleshing out), Planet Run, Dinochrome (would be vignettes based on the short stories – Laumer only), Trace of Memory, Worlds of the Imperium (with the sequels), The Long Twilight.

Tim Powers – Drawing of the Dark, Anubis Gate, The Stress of Her Regard, Dinner at Deviant's Palace.

Rosemary Sutcliff – Sword at Sunset (my first read of a 'historical' Arthur), The Shining Company.

I wonder how a "Flashman" movie would go over?

I could see it being handled as a comedy where the character gets thrust into heroic and more dangerous situations… all caused by his cowardly actions to avoid those types of situations.

Star Adam Salder maybe?