CycleChat Investigates - SciFi

[gbb]

Going off at a tangent, there's a category of SF books yet to be made into films that could be great. I only bring it up because I would dearly love to to see film versions of any of Iain M Banks' books. All we've got so far is a great joke in Hot Fuzz.

'Could be' being the operative word, I leaned something having thoroughly enjoyed reading 'Expanse' and maybe it's companion books. When the film came on, I eagerly turned it on...and was disappointed in 10 minutes. Why ?, because when you read a book, YOU interpret the character and bring it to life through your eyes. Watching the film...I found the same character had been portrayed agressively, too gung ho, the exact opposite of what I want to see.
Total disappointment.

 

[lazybloke]

I really enjoyed "Moon" a few years ago.

 

[Profpointy]

Sitrep. 2001 in the lead, Star Wars hanging on like a stubborn dangleberry.

"like" for the sheer poetry and (sound) value judgement of that post

 

[wiggydiggy]

I really enjoyed "Moon" a few years ago.

I watched that as a double feature with the directors first film, a short about an Assassin using a high tech laser weapon.

The score is also awesome, it's up there with Interstellar for me.

View: https://youtu.be/WUraLNrTVeg


And in looking up that info I've learnt there's a sequel called 'Mute' by the same director Duncan Jones though Sam Rockwell doesn't appear sadly.

 

[Profpointy]

bad acting , bad screenplay , i wait with baited breath for a take on neuromancer

I didn't remember the acting being especially shonky and the story was fine and engaging

 

[stephec]

Has anyone mentioned Iron Sky?

 

[AndyRM]

Has anyone mentioned Iron Sky?

I'm in the credits for that somewhere as I contributed to the crowdfunding campaign.

 

[matticus]

The one which is leading the poll was an adaptation of a short story (The Sentinel by Arthur C Clarke - I read that long before seeing the film) - and then spawned a full novel and sequel, also written by Clarke.

Dune, of course, was based on the novel by Frank Herbert (Again, I read it long before the first film was made). Not on the poll, but mentioned several times in the thread. I haven't actually seen the film, so not sure just how accurate an adaptation it is.

Starship Troopers was based on the Heinlen novel, and is actually a fairly accurate adaptation.

Another good one (IMO) not in the poll is I Robot, based on a story from the Asimov I Robot collection.

And The Bicentennial Man, also based on a novel by Asimov and Silverberg, which was itself based on a short story by Asimov.

There have been a few, some of which have been pretty good.

Yeah, I've read all those books/stories! (except possibly Sentinel ... a long time ago if I did read it, I didn't really get on with Clarke, whilst acknowledging his amazing visions)
I still stand by my statement; I don't rate 2001 a classic (although I know I'm swimming against the tide on that one), and I CERTAINLY don't rate Starship Troopers very highly! (although you could argue that it achieved it's aims admirably well; I loved Heinlein as a geeky teenager).

All subjective of course ... but in general I am unmoved when I hear about SF book adaptations, whereas with other genres I tend to be at least initially optimistic!

 

[Drago]

Starship Troopers the book was very compelling and raised some interesting questions about society, entitlement, honour and teamwork. The fillum, decent as it is, suffers badly for losing the essense of the messages Heinlein was describing on paper.

 

[Profpointy]

'Could be' being the operative word, I leaned something having thoroughly enjoyed reading 'Expanse' and maybe it's companion books. When the film came on, I eagerly turned it on...and was disappointed in 10 minutes. Why ?, because when you read a book, YOU interpret the character and bring it to life through your eyes. Watching the film...I found the same character had been portrayed agressively, too gung ho, the exact opposite of what I want to see.
Total disappointment.

I quite like the Expanse series, but found I didn't get engaged with any of the characters who aren't particularly likeable. The mumblecore dialogue didn't help either. I will likely start watching again but the Mrs got bored of it so it'll be on my own. It did have a lot of merit and is by far the most realistic sci fi epic series, and the look of it is fantastic

 

[Rezillo]

I really enjoyed the first two series of the Expanse (and the early books) but for me there were two problems.

1. The supporting cast and even its more peripheral members had much better actors and scripting for them than the lead character(s).

2. I found the plot lines of the later books utterly unconvincing, even by SF standards. The TV series producers tried their best to create good material from bad but it didn't work for me.

It did all look gorgeous in 4K.

 

[gbb]

I watched that as a double feature with the directors first film, a short about an Assassin using a high tech laser weapon.

The score is also awesome, it's up there with Interstellar for me.

View: https://youtu.be/WUraLNrTVeg


And in looking up that info I've learnt there's a sequel called 'Mute' by the same director Duncan Jones though Sam Rockwell doesn't appear sadly.

I really enjoyed Mute...I tend to forget details quite quickly and hadn't remembered it as a sci fi film. The benefit is I can re watch films and still enjoy, there's plenty of bits I don't remember

 

[wiggydiggy]

I really enjoyed Mute...I tend to forget details quite quickly and hadn't remembered it as a sci fi film. The benefit is I can re watch films and still enjoy, there's plenty of bits I don't remember

If all goes well its my midnight movie later, the cast seems interesting and if I read it right the story of exploring the ethics of clones sounds good.

Dr Who did an episode with a similar theme, though its remembered badly because the CGI was so bad in it.

 

[lazybloke]

Just "power watched" the whole Sci-fi series "If I hadn't met you" on Netflix.
Eduard, the male lead, revisits key moments of his life by travelling to parallel universes. Can't say much more without giving spoilers.
I wanted to shout at Eduard for frequently being so stupid, but apart from that I loved it. Have been hooked for the last 3 evenings!

 

[cyberknight]

as far as tv series go i must admit i really have enjoyed the star wars stuff on disney , particularly andor .I know its not high end end thought provoking stuff although i just like it .