Lois’s answer to “As a sci-fi fan of books and films/tv, it seems a shame that more of your work hasn’t made its way …” > Likes and Comments
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Have to sadly agree - by the time it was dumbed down and the special effects were added it likely wouldn’t be what any of us imagined or wanted to see
I agree too. I thought they did a good job with Lord of the Rings but it was years if not decades between my reading it and the movies. I know the V, Penric, and Sharing Knife books so well that every change would make me crazy. I always think about what they did to We Bought a Zoo. I was lucky enough to visit the zoo before and after Mr. Mee bought it and read the book in between. It's an autobiography so the significant changes made no sense to me. They moved the zoo from the UK to the US, fine. But the book is also a love story because Mr. Mee's wife was alive during bringing the zoo to life before ultimately losing her battle with cancer. They totally missed the point when they had her gone before the zoo happened.
It has to be understood that a different medium requires a different approach to the story telling. I recall John Scalzi had some relevant comments about this on his blog a while ago. It is possible to remain fairly true to the original story, but this requires someone with a real understanding of how to do so (like LOTR). It also requires production values and big budgets which don’t usually align with intelligent story telling. All said, it Would be nice to see Miles or Penric on a big screen some day.
I was so excited to see one of my favorite books - Ender’s Game - come to the big screen. Until I saw it. Ugh. So while I think seeing Miles as a movie would be awesome, the reality is probably that it would probably disappoint. I mean, how do you capture such a character so that he’s as fun and smart and entertaining as he is in the books? My favorite thing about any of LMB’s books is the dialogue. Usually dialogue takes a back seat to action in a sci-fi movie so right there I think you have the first big hurdle to a great adaptation.
Ender's Game was indeed a big disappointment on screen compared to the book, even given all of its cast. Seeing some of Lois' work on screen would be nice.
I've only read a couple of books of Lois' but I really love her style of writing and don't know why, I feel like women Sci-Fi writers like her or N. K. Jemisin have something that even big classic men writers like Asimov or Clarke seem to be missing: maybe it's the humor or some sort of insight into the human "soul" that men don't have and which makes their books so nice to read.
Translating a novel to the screen is good financially for everyone involved (unless it flops), but the film is usually worse than the book, sometimes much worse. The Lord of the Rings films make a sort of visual supplement to the book that's quite nice in places; but there are a lot of plot changes, generally for the worse. I'm reminded of Heinlein's comment that an editor likes a story better after he's pissed in it. However, translating Good Omens to the screen worked pretty well, because one of the authors was in charge of the project!
I again agree that Ender’s Game, like the majority of the translations, was simply terrible. But as JP above noted, it is possible, especially if the author is involved and can guide the changes required to bring it to the new medium.
I recently rewatched “All of Me”, the old Steve Martin / Lily Tomlin movie where they both inhabit his body. I remember thinking that Penric / Des could be done in a similar way. Never saw that Heinlein quote before - funny!
Personally, I think the 5 Gods books, in particular the Penric books would make for great television. I can already imagine someone like Angela Basset as Desdamona's voice-over in the head of whatever current popular 20-something male actor plays the title character.
Heinlein's comment that I vaguely remembered is from "Stranger in a Strange Land"; I've just looked it up, and the actual quotation is, "You have to give an editor something to change, or he gets frustrated. After he pees in it himself, he likes the flavor much better, so he buys it."
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Have to sadly agree - by the time it was dumbed down and the special effects were added it likely wouldn’t be what any of us imagined or wanted to see
I agree too. I thought they did a good job with Lord of the Rings but it was years if not decades between my reading it and the movies. I know the V, Penric, and Sharing Knife books so well that every change would make me crazy. I always think about what they did to We Bought a Zoo. I was lucky enough to visit the zoo before and after Mr. Mee bought it and read the book in between. It's an autobiography so the significant changes made no sense to me. They moved the zoo from the UK to the US, fine. But the book is also a love story because Mr. Mee's wife was alive during bringing the zoo to life before ultimately losing her battle with cancer. They totally missed the point when they had her gone before the zoo happened.
It has to be understood that a different medium requires a different approach to the story telling. I recall John Scalzi had some relevant comments about this on his blog a while ago. It is possible to remain fairly true to the original story, but this requires someone with a real understanding of how to do so (like LOTR). It also requires production values and big budgets which don’t usually align with intelligent story telling. All said, it Would be nice to see Miles or Penric on a big screen some day.
I was so excited to see one of my favorite books - Ender’s Game - come to the big screen. Until I saw it. Ugh. So while I think seeing Miles as a movie would be awesome, the reality is probably that it would probably disappoint. I mean, how do you capture such a character so that he’s as fun and smart and entertaining as he is in the books? My favorite thing about any of LMB’s books is the dialogue. Usually dialogue takes a back seat to action in a sci-fi movie so right there I think you have the first big hurdle to a great adaptation.
Ender's Game was indeed a big disappointment on screen compared to the book, even given all of its cast. Seeing some of Lois' work on screen would be nice.I've only read a couple of books of Lois' but I really love her style of writing and don't know why, I feel like women Sci-Fi writers like her or N. K. Jemisin have something that even big classic men writers like Asimov or Clarke seem to be missing: maybe it's the humor or some sort of insight into the human "soul" that men don't have and which makes their books so nice to read.
Translating a novel to the screen is good financially for everyone involved (unless it flops), but the film is usually worse than the book, sometimes much worse. The Lord of the Rings films make a sort of visual supplement to the book that's quite nice in places; but there are a lot of plot changes, generally for the worse. I'm reminded of Heinlein's comment that an editor likes a story better after he's pissed in it. However, translating Good Omens to the screen worked pretty well, because one of the authors was in charge of the project!
I again agree that Ender’s Game, like the majority of the translations, was simply terrible. But as JP above noted, it is possible, especially if the author is involved and can guide the changes required to bring it to the new medium.I recently rewatched “All of Me”, the old Steve Martin / Lily Tomlin movie where they both inhabit his body. I remember thinking that Penric / Des could be done in a similar way. Never saw that Heinlein quote before - funny!
Personally, I think the 5 Gods books, in particular the Penric books would make for great television. I can already imagine someone like Angela Basset as Desdamona's voice-over in the head of whatever current popular 20-something male actor plays the title character.
Heinlein's comment that I vaguely remembered is from "Stranger in a Strange Land"; I've just looked it up, and the actual quotation is, "You have to give an editor something to change, or he gets frustrated. After he pees in it himself, he likes the flavor much better, so he buys it."
Some movies are supposed to play inside your head. :)