What Sci-Fi Book Series would YOU want to see on the Big Screen? (1 Viewer)

[Capt D McMars]

I loved many sci-fi authors over the years, since seeing Foundation on Apple+ it brought to mind other book series that have bee over looked. Like Phillip Joe Farmers Ringworld series, or Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series. And one of my favorite lost series that todaye could be done quite well is the Songmaster series by Orson Scott Card. I'd like to know from you folks, what series would you love to see up there on the big screen, on your favorite format, and why that perticular series over another one?

 

[Alan Tully]

Ha, I bought a paperback of Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series in a charity shop only the other day (memories of the sixties), & then there's his Deathworld series. I'm surprised no one has had a go at Philip Jose Famer's Riverworld books (I know there was a god awful series on the SyFy channel), saying that, I thought the first two books were great, but then it lost its way. With all the fantasy stuff being made, a big surprise is the lack of Fritz Leiber's, Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser series of heroic fantasy books, beautifully written. There's a few others I could think of, but I doubt anyone here has read them.

 

[Ethan Riley]

They filmed Riverworld twice! And they messed it up both times.

 

[Capt D McMars]

They filmed Riverworld twice! And they messed it up both times.

Ringworld should be the first release, because it introduces the first set of characters to the storyline. Doing Riverworld is like doing the Return of the Jedi before New Hope....and yeah, I agree the Riverworlds looked like comic book versions, shallow and confused.

 

[Johnny Angell]

It was made into a decent movie but I’d still like to see Relic made into a limited streaming series, and include Pendergast this time.

 

[Johnny Angell]

And while the first novel was made into a good move “Colossus: The Forbin Project”, I’d like to see a limited streaming series of the Colossus Trilogy.

 

[BobO'Link]

Ringworld should be the first release, because it introduces the first set of characters to the storyline. Doing Riverworld is like doing the Return of the Jedi before New Hope....and yeah, I agree the Riverworlds looked like comic book versions, shallow and confused.

I think you're getting your series mixed up. "Ringworld" is from Larry Niven. "Riverworld" is from Philip José Farmer. They are completely different stories.

 

[Dick]

Athur C.'s Rendezvous With Rama.

 

[Capt D McMars]

I think you're getting your series mixed up. "Ringworld" is from Larry Niven. "Riverworld" is from Philip José Farmer. They are completely different stories.

yeah you're right it is Larry Niven, my bad!! That Ringworld is the one I'm talking about...it's been a while since I've read it but the story still sticks on my mind...

 

[DaveF]

I’d have thought The Rook would be a great series. But Starz did it recently, and the reviews were dismal.

The Rook (The Checquy Files, #1)

"The body you are wearing used to be mine." So begins …

www.goodreads.com

 

[DaveF]

I’d love for a big-budget adaptation of Red Rising trilogy. But it’s lost in production hell, so doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.

Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1)

"I live for the dream that my children will be born fre…

www.goodreads.com

 

[DaveF]

I think Dark Matter could make a great movie

Dark Matter

A mindbending, relentlessly surprising thriller from th…

www.goodreads.com

I think The Calculating Stars aka The Lady Astronaut series, being character-driven, alt-history, space race scifi, could be a great streaming series a la For All Mankind.

The Calculating Stars (Lady Astronaut Universe, #1)

On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell t…

www.goodreads.com

 

[Angelo Colombus]

And while the first novel was made into a good move “Colossus: The Forbin Project”, I’d like to see a limited streaming series of the Colossus Trilogy.

I like the film too and surprised nobody has continued the series.

 

[Malcolm R]

"Necroscope" by Brian Lumley. Mix of sci-fi/horror. There have been rumors of a film over the years, but nothing has come of it.

Necroscope (Necroscope #1)

DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES... Except to Harry Keogh, Necro…

www.goodreads.com

 

[Walter Kittel]

Many years ago I would have answered with William Gibson's Neuromancer. But the aesthetic of that novel, and its genre, has been utilized so heavily over the years by so much entertainment that it no longer holds that appeal for me, as an adaptation. (I still really love the novel.) As an aside, Netflix's adaptation of Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon was an adaptation of a work that sort of feels like a cousin to Gibson's Cyberspace Trilogy.

Neuromancer (Sprawl, #1)

Hotwired to the leading edges of art and technology, Ne…

www.goodreads.com

My second answer would be any of the Culture Novels by Iain M. Banks. I've read that Amazon will be turning one or more of these novels into a television series. I first read this news some time ago and I have no idea where that project stands as of now. So, moving on.

Culture Series by Iain M. Banks

These works of novels and short fiction center around the Culture, a post-scarcity semi-anarchist utopia consisting of humanoid races and managed by supe...

www.goodreads.com

I am honestly surprised that Alfred Bester's The Demolished Man has never been adapted. Supposedly Brian DePalma was trying to get this made. It would have been a good fit for a director like DePalma who toys with audience perception. I still think it would work really well as a feature film. Considering how many Phillip K. Dick adaptations there have been over the years, this would fit comfortably alongside those works in terms of its storyline and concepts.

The Demolished Man

In a world in which the police have telepathic powers, …

www.goodreads.com

Finally, I'll mention from 1967... Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light.

Lord of Light

Earth is long since dead. On a colony planet, a band of…

www.goodreads.com

I haven't read a lot of SF, or anything else for that matter, in recent years; something that thinking about responses to this topic has made even clearer. I really should remedy that, but there is only so much time in the day.

- Walter.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Another vote for Rendezvous with Rama and The Stainless Steel Rat. Who would play Angelina?

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

I loved many sci-fi authors over the years, since seeing Foundation on Apple+ it brought to mind other book series that have bee over looked. Like Phillip Joe Farmers Ringworld series, or Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series. And one of my favorite lost series that todaye could be done quite well is the Songmaster series by Orson Scott Card. I'd like to know from you folks, what series would you love to see up there on the big screen, on your favorite format, and why that perticular series over another one?

Wow, I had totally missed this, as I was about to suggest Foundation.
How many of the books are they filming? And is there any way of seeing it outside of Apple+, or is it exclusive?

Another series I'd like to suggest would be Ursula K LeGuin's Earthsea, although more fantasy than SF, but after checking IMDB, I see that has also been done before, but according to the rating, not very successfully. Anybody seen it? Is it worth tracking down?

So, while I agree Gibson's Sprawl trilogy most likely would be very difficult to pull off, maybe the Bridge trilogy (Virtual Light, Idoru, All Tomorrow's Parties) could work? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_trilogy
It's set in 2006, so in the future at the time it was written.

 

[Capt D McMars]

Another vote for Rendezvous with Rama and The Stainless Steel Rat. Who would play Angelina?

A younger Angelina Jolie.

 

[benbess]

I'd like to see Lord Valentine's Castle someday, but I think a miniseries or tv show might work better for it.

 

[Capt D McMars]

I'd like to see Lord Valentine's Castle someday, but I think a miniseries or tv show might work better for it.
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Yeah I think a movie series would be great, kind of like the Hobbit series. But this really is more fantasy themed then Syfy themed, but I appreciate the addition.