Logan’s Run, Planet of the Apes and other SciFi Classics

[Christopher]

I wrote an "Internet becomes sentient" story myself once, but never managed to make it interesting enough to sell.

 

[Phantom]

Just upthread someone said that kid's movies were just the same as they ever were for the most part.

Movies, yes. TV (which the person they were replying to said), no.

Writing for kid's shows (esp animation, which is where superheroes and sci-fi mostly live) is centered on the 8-tween demo currently, with an emphasis on "zany boy humor/hijinx" to the detrement of story and character quality.

An easy example of this would be to compare the Timm-verse DC output to the first Teen Titans show (some serious but much less weighty overall) to the current Teen Titans show (pretty much all hijinx all the time). Or the downgrading of Avengers from it's EMH incarnation to it's current one. Or Spider-Man vs Ultimate Spider-Man.

 

[Silvercrest]

That sounds awesome! Sort of a precursor to the WWW trilogy, where the Internet becomes sentient.

I wrote an "Internet becomes sentient" story myself once, but never managed to make it interesting enough to sell.

Will F. Jenkins' attorneys will be calling.

 

[Kilana2]

I wrote an "Internet becomes sentient" story myself once, but never managed to make it interesting enough to sell.

I have read a novel about a computer that developed a life of its own and threatened a young woman. Exciting, but on the other hand nothing special. It is hidden behind tons of Star Trek novels........

 

[JD]

Have you read Harlan Ellison's unproduced I, Robot script? A much better story than the movie we actually got. Much more respectful to the source material.

Having acted like how he usually does, and having the reputation that he does, I'm not surprised that Ellison's script never got produced.

To be fair, the world is full of unproduced screenplays and ambitious movie projects that died in Development Hell for one reason or another. There's nothing at all shocking or incriminating about the fact that a proposed big-budget SF movie never made it into production, and absolutely no reason to assume that Ellison's personality had anything to do with it.

Movie projects fall through all the time. Just off the top of my head, I'm sure we all remember:

Brian DePalma's epic movie version of THE DEMOLISHED MAN.
Oliver Stone's PLANET OF THE APES.
James Cameron's SPIDER-MAN
Bryan Singer's LOGAN'S RUN
Ridley Scott's I AM LEGEND
George Miller's JUSTICE LEAGUE movie.
Wolfgang Petersen's BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN

These were all announced with great fanfare at various points. Some of them even made it into pre-production before the studio pulled the plug because of budget concerns, "creative differences," rights issues, or whatever.

Honestly, it seems unfair to imply that it must be Ellison's fault that his version of I, ROBOT never got filmed.

There are plenty of people out there worse than Ellison who continue to work in Hollywood, just look at Roman Pulanski.

 

[Kilana2]

It was weekend and I rewatched Logan's Run. Holly wanted Logan to get dark hair. Somewhat illogical, he simply would have to dye it. Changing the hair color has nothing to do with a face lift or rather a new face......

 

[MANT!]

I wrote an "Internet becomes sentient" story myself once, but never managed to make it interesting enough to sell.

I have read a novel about a computer that developed a life of its own and threatened a young woman. Exciting, but on the other hand nothing special. It is hidden behind tons of Star Trek novels........

Demon Seed perhaps?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_Seed_(novel)

That was made into a film..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_Seed

 

[Nerys Myk]

Come on, who could forget the 1959 movie with James Mason, Pat Boone, Arlene Dahl, some big Icelandic dude and a pet duck? Of course, the duck had all the best lines.

Channeling my inner nitpicker, wasn't it a goose?

I'm just trying to remember the book. There was neither a duck, nor a goose nor a female accompanying Prof. Lidenbrock and Axel. As to the film: I looked it up, they always refer to Gertrud as duck, whyever.

Journey To the Center of the Earth was the first SF novel I recall reading. When I saw the film on TV a few years later my brain began nitpicking for the first time. My next foray was reading some Norse myths and then discovering Marvel's Thor comic.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I enjoy both the James Mason and Brendan Fraser versions of Journey to the Center of the Earth.

There, I said it.

 

[scotpens]

There are plenty of people out there worse than Ellison who continue to work in Hollywood, just look at Roman Pulanski.

Roman Polanski continues to make films, but not in Hollywood. Because of the outstanding bench warrant for his arrest, he hasn't set foot on U.S. soil since 1977.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

^And Roman Polanski doesn't act like a dick who believes that his scripts are holy writ that can't be rewritten.

 

[Kilana2]

I wrote an "Internet becomes sentient" story myself once, but never managed to make it interesting enough to sell.

I have read a novel about a computer that developed a life of its own and threatened a young woman. Exciting, but on the other hand nothing special. It is hidden behind tons of Star Trek novels........

Demon Seed perhaps?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_Seed_(novel)

That was made into a film..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_Seed

That's it!. The German title was `Security´.

 

[Christopher]

Demon Seed perhaps?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_Seed

That's it!. The German title was `Security´.

Demon Seed to Security? That's quite a change. I don't think I've ever seen the movie (though I vaguely remember seeing trailers and hearing about the plot), so I don't know why that title would be chosen or whether it would fit.

 

[Kilana2]

Demon Seed perhaps?

That's it!. The German title was `Security´.

Demon Seed to Security? That's quite a change. I don't think I've ever seen the movie (though I vaguely remember seeing trailers and hearing about the plot), so I don't know why that title would be chosen or whether it would fit.

According to Wiki the German movie title was Des Teufels Saat. Security was the title of the revised edition of the book. I haven't seen the movie, though.

 

[Mysterion]

^And Roman Polanski doesn't act like a dick who believes that his scripts are holy writ that can't be rewritten.

Nope. He only rapes children.

 

[TremblingBluStar]

I wrote an "Internet becomes sentient" story myself once, but never managed to make it interesting enough to sell.

Sawyer managed to sell the WWW trilogy without it being interesting either. As a writer, I'm sure you realize that often times it is more luck than anything.

For example, I heard rumors a few years back that Spielberg was producing a movie based on the novel Robopocalypse. The book was a huge seller, so I figured I'd give it a try. It sucked, in my opinion. A cliched mix of Terminator, I, Robot, and every other "machines take over the world" plot, wrapped around a "survivors tell their story" theme ripped from World War Z.

In other words, there are about a billion far more interesting novels out there that would make far better movies.

^And Roman Polanski doesn't act like a dick who believes that his scripts are holy writ that can't be rewritten.

I don't work in Hollywood, or even write scripts, but I can imagine anybody would be rather protective of something they created themselves, and take offense if it were rewritten. Especially with Hollywood's track record of turning good scripts into convoluted messes by getting a dozen different writers involved.

 

[Christopher]

I don't work in Hollywood, or even write scripts, but I can imagine anybody would be rather protective of something they created themselves, and take offense if it were rewritten. Especially with Hollywood's track record of turning good scripts into convoluted messes by getting a dozen different writers involved.

But if you're the kind of writer who doesn't like being rewritten, then you shouldn't participate in a collaborative process like filmmaking to begin with. That's what I've never understood about Ellison's attitude. There's nothing wrong with sticking to your guns and wanting your work to remain pure, but in that case, you should just stick to prose writing, which is pretty much the only field where you can be the sole creator (albeit with editorial input and guidance). If you choose to work in a collaborative field, then it's a given that others will have input as well. Granted, the feature film industry has far too little regard for the work of writers and changes it too cavalierly, but even in television, which is more of a writer's medium, there's still collaboration and compromise.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

^And Roman Polanski doesn't act like a dick who believes that his scripts are holy writ that can't be rewritten.

Nope. He only rapes children.

Yes, that is bad, but in terms of doing his job with no bullshit, at least he's better than Ellison.

 

[Greg Cox]

It should probably be noted that there's much more to Ellison's career than being the guy who squabbled with Roddenberry over a STAR TREK script nearly five decades ago. He's had a long and distinguished career as a writer,critic, and anthologist, producing many award-winning books and short stories and scripts. He's more than just the "City on the Edge of Forever" guy. STAR TREK was just a brief chapter in his career--and maybe not even the important one.

And, yeah, that I,ROBOT script was pretty good as I recall. Shame it never got produced.

(As I cleverly segue us back to the topic at hand.)

 

[JD]

There are plenty of people out there worse than Ellison who continue to work in Hollywood, just look at Roman Pulanski.

Roman Polanski continues to make films, but not in Hollywood. Because of the outstanding bench warrant for his arrest, he hasn't set foot on U.S. soil since 1977.

You're right. I just meant that he still finds people who are willing to work with him, and want to make his movies.