Slashdot Mirror
"The Chronicles of Amber" and "The Forever War" For TV
DarkRabbit writes "i just noticed at the Futon Critic that the Sci-Fi channel announced April 2nd that amongst other popular pieces of fiction, Zelazney's "The Chronicles of Amber" and Haldeman's "The Forever War"
will be getting the mini-series treatment by them sometime in the next year. I'm sure their adaptions will be just as contentious here as was their version of "Dune." Oh, and "Tripping the Rift" arrives as an 'Edgy-South-Park-esque' half-hour cartoon series..."
They'll cut it out.
Forced sex & conscription? That will be good, might as well get the pleasure platoons out. (Moon has a harsh mistress - heinlein)
Star Ship Troopers was a decent book, but the movie just skipped all that "stuff" that didn't make a flashy movie.
Heck they didn't even have battle suits in it.
"Tripping the Rift" will be Sci Fi's first animated series. Produced by Cine Groupe and Film Roman, the show is about a misfit group of cabinmates aboard a spaceship. Created by Chuck Austen and Chris Moeller, the series "will have the kind of edgy feel that makes 'South Park' a hit on Comedy Central," said Hammer.
Will it have an animated piece of fecal matter called "captain's log"?
My God, how the heck will they get that on TV? The original animation had enough sexual innuendo to give any Conservative American a heart attack. Mind you, it had some excellent quotes:
Why don't you fight without using your faggot clown powers, son? -- Chode
Come on you lipstick wearing felch monkey! -- Chode
Never underestimate the power of a dark clown!! -- Darph Bobo
I'm looking forward to it!
Dr Fish
Wow, great! Forever war was a really good book. I also liked the sort of seqel, Forever Peace.
;P
I'm a fan of the spinoff show, Forever Knight
I first read the Chronicles of Amber in the 3rd grade. I did a book report on it. And one of those shoebox things (diorama?) My diorama was from the cover of the first (second?) book: Corwin, sword in one hand, bloody severed head of talking shadow cat in the other hand.
I can remember being puzzled why my third grade teacher kept asking me if anyone had tried to touch me in an uncomfortable way....
"The Chronicles of Amber" is my favorite book series, hands-down. I've honestly feared the day that Hollywood or some TV producer finally got their hands on this series, because I have no doubt that they will completely ruin it like they have so many other of my favorites. I just can't stand having everyone's opinion of a book based off of some hack-job movie, like "Starship Troopers."
It's not like it would be hard to do the series right with modern moviemaking technology -- it is just completely unlikely. No good book gets made into a screenplay without something getting screwed. Parts will be cut out and minor scenes and characters will be made much more important, like Irulan in the new "Dune" mini-series. You can expect every sex scene Zelazny puts off to the side to get about 5 good minutes in each episode, while Corwin and Merlin's various solioquys will probably be cut.
I mean, why bother expecting continuity to the letter with the little details when they'll be too busy raping the spirit of the books like they do with everything else.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
I hope that the Sci-Fi network keeps this up. Whatever one's opinions about particular TV adaptations, I think that it would be a very good idea for Sci-Fi network to make bringing classic SF literature to television as part of their mandate.
That's a lot better reason for the channel to exist than to show continuous repeats of the same old serieses.
Imagine Amber as a 2-hour mini-series. It is enough to cover the first *book*, maybe. If anyone had the feeling that Lord of the Rings was rushed, this will be ten times worse.
Then 'Forever War'. One word: Battlesuits. Certainly the special effects technology is up to showing them... but *you can't see the actor's face* in a battlesuit. My bet is they'll throw away any part the book which doesn't relate to combat action, and botch that by throwing away the suits. Result: a 'Starship Troopers' clone. Enough Said.
WHY can't the movie industry *build* on the great SF out there? Imagine "Snow Crash" done with the technology used for "Final Fantasy". Imagine Lord of the Rings as a *series* - say, 5 hours for each book. Imagine a production of "Bridge of Birds" on the same lines as "Princes Bride". I could go on for *hours*.
Maybe "we" ("the guild of paying movie-goers and ad-watchers") don't deserve any better. Even when a good production gets made (by accident or thanks to the courage of some producer), it tends to be a commercial flop.
Take for example the animation move done based on "The Last Unicorn" by Peter S. Beagle. Can you believe it? serious fantasy, in animation, not targeted at kids! In a word: a flop. You probably never even heard of it, but trust me, you won't regret seeing it, even if you've read the book.
BOOK. That's the answer, *read a good book*. Come to think of it... it doesn't have ads, it costs very favorably compared to a movie ticket, and you don't need Tivo to time-shift it!
The Amber Chronicles have been reprinted, as
_The Great Book of Amber : The Complete Amber
Chronicles_ [Eos (Trade); ISBN: 0380809060], which
has all 10 books in it.
Of course, I wish they'd done it as two separate
books for the Corwin and Merlin series, since I
think the former is *far* superior.