Well, an attempt was once made to adapt The Dresden Files for television, and it failed miserably. Hire the right people, and actually use the source material properly, and it would translate pretty well, I think.
Well, it failed, but I wouldn't say it failed
miserably. It didn't get officially cancelled until months after its sole season ended, which suggests that the ratings were sufficient for SciFi (as it was still called at the time) to give serious consideration to renewal before ultimately deciding that the ratings didn't quite make up for the expense of producing the series. And not to drop names, but the one time I met and spoke with Jim Butcher in person, he sounded quite happy with the show. Sure, he'd have a vested interest in putting on a positive face for the public, but this was a conversation among fellow writers (Butcher, myself, and fellow TrekBBSer
KRAD), and in my experience those tend to be more candid than the sort of things a writer would say to fans or reporters.
I'd hardly say the show was from the wrong people, considering that the staff was headed by DS9 alumni Robert Hewitt Wolfe and Hans Beimler, along with David Simkins (
Angel, Warehouse 13) and others. As far as the cast goes, I thought Paul Blackthorne and Terence Mann were excellent in the lead roles, and while the other cast members may not have looked much like their book equivalents, the producers chose them because they were the best actors for the roles.
As for fidelity to the source material, that's a tricky thing to do on a cable-TV budget. Dialing back the magic, making it more subtle as the 2007 series did, is something any TV adaptation would probably do to some extent. A weekly series certainly couldn't come anywhere near the epic quality and wide range of fantasy creatures and realms that the books provide.
^Relatively low number of sets? manageable cast? Did I read the same HH books?
HH and her crew/staff would be full cast, everyone else from villains, to Manticore royalty and brass, to Graysons would be reoccurring guests. As for sets, create something modular in design that can rapidly be revamped to stand in for different ship's bridges.
Sure. It should be a given that no TV adaptation is going to be just like the books; that's why they call it an adaptation. The idea is to do something that captures the essence of the characters and concept while adjusting it to work for its new medium. I haven't read the Harrington books (not a fan of military fiction), but I can see how a series built around ship combat could be structured rather economically in terms of sets, locations, regular cast, etc., although the FX budget would be pretty high.
Wasn't there a movie based on that recently?
Ron Moore had a series pilot in development a decade ago for the WB, but the network wanted to WB-ify it and change it too radically, so Moore walked away. More recently, it was announced that a Pern feature film had entered development, with David Hayter writing the screenplay and production slated to begin this year for a 2013 release.
