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Nominate a book to adapt into a Trek movie.

I was thinking of a fairly loose adaptation of the book for the new Trek crew (none of that fourth-name-flag crap!). I don’t think Ael being short or crusty made much of a difference to the character, and shouldn’t influence casting. Plus I really want to see Angelina Jolie on the Enterprise (she would have made a great Number One in STXI)!

But come on, Angelina Jolie? Do you have any reason for believing that she's a good choice as an actress for Ael t'Rllaillieu specifically, or do you just want to see her because she's hot? I don't think looks alone are sufficient reason to cast someone in a role, unless the character is specifically described as being a stunning beauty. Ael is a mature, battle-hardened veteran, a grizzled cynic. Jolie isn't even 34 yet.


It’s since occurred to me that Crossroad’s version of time travel is in conflict with Star Trek XI’s (or rather what Bob Orci says. The film itself leaves it ambiguous). I guess that rules out every Trek book about time travel, too.

Not really. As I've said before, most of the stories where the characters believed their timeline was being overwritten could've actually been cases where they were moving from one timeline to another, and they just didn't understand what was really going on. To paraphrase an analogy of Orci's, it could be as if the characters in earlier stories were sailors who believed the world was flat, but the characters in the new story have greater understanding and recognize that the world is round. Their predecessors existed in the same reality, but didn't fully understand how it worked.

In my own model of Trek time travel, there's room for both processes, coexisting histories and "overwritten" histories. Since different timelines are different quantum states of the universe, it's possible for them to undergo quantum collapse, for two parallel timelines to merge into one after a certain point. That would appear as if one timeline had "erased" the other, although it's really that they ran parallel for a time and then merged, with one dominating and essentially replacing the other from that point onward.



How about a Star Trek adaptation of Ringworld? It would be a very loose adaptation (and would thusly immediately infuriate millions), but the basics could fit into Trek (killing the bred-to-luck subplot and a few others). Replace the characters with Kirk, Spock and Uhura (similar to the character-swapouts in Soft/Slaver Weapon), sneak McCoy in there, keep Speaker-to-Animals. Remember the settlements of aliens on the planet-sized islands(which might be from the second book, it’s all a blur)? Replace them with Klingons, Andorians, keep the Kzin one…maybe find one that’s full of proto-Vulcan/Romulans (which would be important to Spock after STXI) the ‘strange new world’ to end them all…

I think that's a terrible idea. Ringworld and Known Space are a rich universe of their own, one that's been around as long as the Star Trek universe (the first stories were written in 1964-5 and the story that codified them as parts of a common universe was written in 1966). A film adaptation of Ringworld should let it stand as itself, not subsume it into some other media franchise. Particularly since there are now four Ringworld novels, potentially allowing for a whole series of Ringworld movies, a whole new SF film franchise. Any studio owning the rights would be out of its mind to waste that potential for a new franchise by doing the first book as part of the Trek franchise.

And Paramount doesn't own the rights to Ringworld anyway. They'd have to make a deal with the people who do, and that would mean adding a fourth production partner. Lots of red tape to go to, and I don't see anyone actually wanting to go through with it. The Ringworld rights holders would want to make their own independent franchise, and Abrams' "Supreme Court" would prefer to develop their own story.

Besides, with modern FX technology, it would be a criminal waste to replace aliens as exotic and fascinating as Pierson's Puppeteers with something as conventional as human actors wearing points on their ears.

Also, the Ringworld is hardly the only megastructure in science fiction. If Abrams et al. wanted to do a movie about a megastructure, they could develop one of their own.
 
But come on, Angelina Jolie? Do you have any reason for believing that she's a good choice as an actress for Ael t'Rllaillieu specifically, or do you just want to see her because she's hot? I don't think looks alone are sufficient reason to cast someone in a role, unless the character is specifically described as being a stunning beauty. Ael is a mature, battle-hardened veteran, a grizzled cynic. Jolie isn't even 34 yet.

The basis of the Ael/Kirk story was that Ael was Kirk’s Romulan equivalent – a legendary captain (or rather commander) that had led her crew to victory time and again against overwhelming odds. Also remember that My Enemy took place either just before or a little after The Motion Picture (depending on which version you read), and that Kirk would have been in his 40’s. The new Kirk is 25, and having an Ael old enough to be his mother simply wouldn’t work – she’d end up a Pike-like mentor to him, rather than someone he saw as his equal (to say nothing of how it would mess up their sexual tension thing). Thus if the story was adapted for the new Trek I think Ael’s age should be in a similar range to Kirk’s.

I won’t deny it: I just want Angelina Jolie to play Ael because she’s hot. But also she’s proven capable of playing varied roles effectively. I wouldn’t consider her for the role opposite a 40-year old Shatner in the 80’s.

Hopefully the success of the new Trek film will encourage more big-budget space adventures, and sci-fi will do something about that Ringworld miniseries they were talking about years ago…


Back to novels-to-films: how about First Frontier? A fairly straightforward light-hearted Jurassic Trek (albeit with modern dinosaurs) would for make for a fun movie.

I’d love to see Final Frontier, but that totally contradicts STXI.

Not really a book, but how about that DC Comics Mirror Universe saga from the late 80’s? I missed a few parts but what I did get was epic and exciting (or rather it was though a child’s eyes!), and we all know the new Spock is a bit good at playing the evil psycho (although iirc Evil Spock turns good really quickly in the comic)

Again not really a book (does the tpb count?), but I’d like to see Countdown in film form because I enjoyed Star Trek XI so much, and I’d love to see the TNG crew, Nimoy Spock, Nero and planet Vulcan one last time.
 
Also, the Ringworld is hardly the only megastructure in science fiction. If Abrams et al. wanted to do a movie about a megastructure, they could develop one of their own.
Exactly. Niven's "Bigger than Worlds" essay (it's reprinted in either N-Space or Playgrounds of the Mind, probably the latter) provides a number of megastructure ideas. I'm a fan of the cosmic spaghetti concept, and I'd love to play with an Alderson Disc.
 
I always wanted to see Final Frontier done as a mini-series (and now that James Cawley, et. al. have such great re-creations of TOS sets, maybe a fan film version).

For TNG, not a film idea exactly, but I always wanted to see Q-in-Law done as a two-part episode.
 
The first Vanguard novel. The first four New Frontier novels. If only because we haven't seen (most) of these characters onscreen before.

I'm with you. Although, previously seen characters can be recast, thanks to J.J.
 
Although, previously seen characters can be recast, thanks to J.J.

Ahem... Saavik, Zefram Cochrane, Tora Ziyal, DaiMon Bok, Spot... and if you want to count the animated series, Kyle, Amanda, Kor, Koloth, Korax, Bob Wesley, the Guardian of Forever...
 
I don't think I'd like ANY of the existing books that I've read to be made into movies. Nothing compares to the theatre of the mind, so that any attempt at translating to the screen, would be a disappointment.

"Clan of the Cave Bear", "The Thornbirds", the 3rd Harry Potter movie, are examples of what I mean. I read the books first, then saw the screen adaptations - big mistake.


Actually, for me, HP3 (Prisoner of Azkaban) is still the most succcessful HP movie because it's not too literal - Cuaron told the story cinematically finding poetry and meaning through visual storytelling.
 
TOS: Demons. That would be a nicely creepy story. Murder, possession, energy creatures... what more do you need for a good Star Trek story;)
Also the Price of the Phoenix could be interesting. Omne was a cool villain.
Here's a second for Prime Directive, I enjoyed that one a lot.
 
In the new timeline, a movie take on the Vanguard project might be pretty cool.


Old timeline - wise, miniseries adaptations of The Buried Age or Burning Dreams would be really great.

The Buried Age really highlights the life that almost was for Jean-Luc, and seeing Bruce Greenwood try his hand at representing the Prime-verse Pike as portrayed in BD would be well worth watching, too.
 
The Star Trek: Destiny series. That movie would kickass. Part of me wants to see the Borg
glass Deneva
on a TV screen somewhere.
 
Agreed, although there is no way in hell they could do it justice in just one movie. Personally, I think something this big should be a 6 part miniseries.
 
I'd like to see something like "Well of Souls" or "Day of the Vipers" adapted into a TV movie or mini-series: a book with lots of character exploration that could work as a drama/thriller without the Star Trek background necessarily being essential to enjoying it. This would guarantee a large audience, and as most of the characters are new, casting issues would be easier.
 
"Clan of the Cave Bear"

That's a movie? :cardie:

Serpents Among Ruins
would be great as a movie, as would maybe the Avatar books- 1 or 2 movies, then people would stop complaining there was no DS9 movie.

Summon the Thunder would work too...
 
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