Theoretical: If HBO did Sc-Fi what books would you want them to do

[JD]

I vote for not going to happen. "Game of Thrones" works because

1. Fantasy is artistically pretentious aka you get out of work British actors running around in chain mail and it looks good.

2. There isn't much magic or fantasy in "Game of Thrones" so that means less cost and less geekiness. Seriously when I first heard about the mini-series I thought it was about the Habsburg dynasty during the Middle ages.

So basically you need a series that is "high brow" and not geeky (like Fringe, Lost, first season of Heroes) which begs the question why HBO (unless you really hate commercials).

The reason I started this thread was because I noticed that HBO has done pretty much every genre but Sci-Fi, not because there was something I specifically wanted to see on HBO.

I must be a prude because I don't find swearing or excessive soft porn helps any story (Ugh "Rome").

Sure as fuck helps True Blood.

Not really. I find it distracting sometimes like I said doesn't really add to the story. Of course it's better than adding faeries.

Well, that wasn't the show's fault, that comes from the books. And fairies actually tend to be a bit part of these kinds of stories, as cheesy as some people might think they are.

 

[Mysterion]

I'd like to see someone do Robert Silverberg's book Dying Inside. I think Paul Giamatti would be excellent in the starring role.

 

[Kegg]

I had some ideas of my own, but after reading this thread, I have to back the Gor-plants idea. I see David Chase as showrunner, adding the same kind of surrealist touch he did for that dream with the fishes.

Beyond that I'm mostly stumped. I can think of plenty of sci-fi novels I'd like to see as movies, or perhaps miniseries, but multi-season TV shows becomes a much shorter list - probably because I simply haven't read a lot of serialized sci-fi. Not that I haven't read a lot of sci-fi over the years, but it's almost always been self-contained narratives rather then a sprawling universe you could spend 80 odd episodes in.

Other people, obviously, have read such books, and I'd be quite interested in seeing TV series based on those books - if nothing else as the final prod for me to bother to get around to reading them (which was my belated excuse for checking out the torturously titled A Song of Ice and Fire series).

Screw it, let's get a miniseries, let's call it Valis, and if they still have Paul Giamatti's number from back with John Adams, then we have our Horeslover Fat.

Or I don't know... try fashioning the Hainish Cycle as a TV series. I just know Left Hand of Darkness is the best sci-fi book I've read in years.

I vote for not going to happen. "Game of Thrones" works because

1. Fantasy is artistically pretentious aka you get out of work British actors running around in chain mail and it looks good.

HBO has been willing to do very weird, mind. I'm thinking of Carnivale here. Certain kinds of weird have a degree of TV critic cred, and that includes mind-bending material one could easily grab from some sci-fi books... see Valis, above.

Element of truth here though, which is arguably shadowed by the most HBO-ish of science fiction TV shows, Ron Moore's Battlestar Galactica. That show largely eschewed outre costuming or alien makeup in favour of a quasi-military pseudo-realism that at first brush isn't that different from Game of Thrones playing up its pseudo-medieval period-ness.

I think any HBO sci-fi series is likely to take itself as seriously as that, and seriously doubt we'd get something as gleefully wonky as Farscape.

On the other hand, part of HBO's brand is taking genres and playing around with them a little - the Western, the cop show, and now fantasy.

 

[Distorted Humor]

I had some ideas of my own, but after reading this thread, I have to back the Gor-plants idea. I see David Chase as showrunner, adding the same kind of surrealist touch he did for that dream with the fishes.

"Live long and be well watered...."

 

[Canadave]

Or I don't know... try fashioning the Hainish Cycle as a TV series. I just know Left Hand of Darkness is the best sci-fi book I've read in years.

I've never been able to get through The Left Hand of Darkness. I loved The Dispossessed, though.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I wish HBO would take on a sailing epic. I thought Hornblower, but A&E seems to be done with that. Then I thought, Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series. Loved the movie and I'd really love to see more of it, and a TV series might make more sense considering the number of books there are. I think there are 12 in total?

 

[urolles]

If I let my imagination run free for a moment and cast aside all practical considerations relating to the economic, logistical, artistic (and simply habitual) realities of television production, I would certainly love to see the commissioning of projects based on the following books:

John Brunner:
Stand On Zanzibar (1968)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_on_Zanzibar

Octavia E. Butler:
A) Patternist series (1976-84), comprised of Wild Seed, Mind Of My Mind, Clay´s Ark, Survivor and Patternmaster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patternist_series
B) Kindred (1979),
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindred_(novel)

Iain M. Banks:
Feersum Endjinn (1994)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feersum_Endjinn

 

[HAL.9000]

If HBO did Sc-Fi what books would you want them to do

All things Robert Heinlein wrote.

 

[Mysterion]

If HBO did Sc-Fi what books would you want them to do

All things Robert Heinlein wrote.

Seeing HBO take on The Moon is a Harsh Mistress would be very spiffy. Cable would also be a good place to do Stranger in a Strange Land.

Also, recently re-read The Rolling Stones, and think it'd make a good movie. Get Tom Hanks to play the father if you can.

 

[Mistral]

If HBO did Sc-Fi what books would you want them to do

All things Robert Heinlein wrote.

Seeing HBO take on The Moon is a Harsh Mistress would be very spiffy. Cable would also be a good place to do Stranger in a Strange Land.

Also, recently re-read The Rolling Stones, and think it'd make a good movie. Get Tom Hanks to play the father if you can.

Yes, The Rolling Stones is a brilliant suggestion!

 

[RJDiogenes]

Iain M. Banks:
Feersum Endjinn (1994)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feersum_Endjinn

The "Culture" Universe would make a nice setting for a cable SF series.

 

[urolles]

RJ DIOGENES wrote: The "Culture" Universe would make a nice setting for a cable SF series.

Based on my admittedly still rather superficial knowledge of Banks´ CULTURE story world(s) [so far, I have only read "The Player Of Games" and "Use Of Weapons", with "Consider Phlebas" being next on the list], I fully agree.

 

[Lt. Trull]

what about tad william's Otherland... A lot can be done with worlds like that...

 

[timothy]

a live action version of e.e. "doc' smith's lensman saga would be fantastic.

 

[gblews]

I'd love to see John Varley's "Titan" trilogy. Years ago I envisioned a younger Sigourney Weaver playing Captain Cirroco Jones and Holly Hunter as her little lesbonic subordinate. Don't know who could take on the roles these days.

Also wouldn't mind seeing "The Mote in God's Eye".

Someone mentioned Heinlein's, "Have Spacesuit...". I have always wondered how this was never made into a movie. I'd love to have seen what Spielberg might have done with it whether it was on HBO or not.

 

[Mysterion]

Would love to see a live-action adaptation of the anime/mange series Planetes. It is suprisingly realistic for a cartoon series, and there is a lot of meat to the story. A network like HBO would really be able to do it justice.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

According to this report, American Gods just might be HBO's next genre show.

And now word that TV giant HBO, coaxed by Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, are to prep an adaptation of the black clad ones, Stoker Award-Winning novel American Gods. Adding to the excitement is the involvement of Robert Richardson, Oscar winning cinematographer for Scorsese (Shutter Island), Tarantino and Stone (JFK). If all goes to plan this will be his first co-scripting credit, working with Gaiman himself on a pilot to ensure their vision of the story stays true to the text. With Game of Thrones currently causing a stir, HBO will no doubt look at the ratings damage once the dust has cleared before pressing the big green-light button.

The dust has cleared, Game of Thrones ratings are better than solid - they're going up!

I'd prefer a more sci fi than fantasy show to be HBO's next pickup, but hey it's a step in the right direction! Maybe HBO will become the sf/f cable network that skiffy should be.

Maybe I should spring for HBO. I hear Dinklage rocks.

Once again, HBO’s Game of Thrones ratings hit a season high Sunday night, climbing to 2.6 million viewers for its premiere airing.

Combined with its encore, Thrones was up to 3.3 million viewers for the night, with the show averaging 8.1 million viewers per episode across all platforms. After a somewhat middling premiere performance followed by a steady second episode, this is now the third week in a row Thrones ratings have gone up. And given the show’s storyline is picking up the pace for a dramatic second half of the season, these numbers could continue rising and turn Thrones into a bona fide hit. Intensely serialized shows like Thrones rarely climb like this, and when they do they tend to become titles that have healthy lifespans.

Also, this news is good for the health of sf/f across cable. If Falling Skies is a hit for TNT, that should seal the deal.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

As for Sci-fi, let's be honest most "intellectuals" (aka snobs) consider science fiction the nerd ghetto only good for comic book guy.

Rubbish.

The success of The Walking Dead on AMC certainly backs up this viewpoint. I wouldn't have guessed the Mad Men crowd would go for zombies, just as Game of Thrones isn't a hit by only appealing to the fans of the novel series.

I think what we're seeing on cable is that a good show is a good show, whether it's about fantasy-land dwarf princes, zombies, gods, aliens, robots, or whatever. Audiences want something good to watch that doesn't insult their intelligence or bore them.

Now we only need to convince the networks to follow suit. It'll be tougher for them, but I'm even seeing glimmers of hope there.

 

[Kegg]

Fantasy is as much ghettoized as sci-fi, as some of the more disdainful reviews of Game of Thrones sort of made clear.

Given that it's still also possible to have critically lauded sci-fi - like Source Code from earlier this year, or Battlestar Galactica back in the day - I don't think a sci-fi series is an inherently poor fit for HBO.

Maybe I should spring for HBO. I hear Dinklage rocks.

Dinklage is fantastic*, but overall Game of Thrones has a very solid ensemble cast - and the show's basically only got better since the somewhat heavy-on-exposition pilot episode.

I'd call it the best genre show since Battlestar Galactica, but I'll admit I've struggled to find a genre show that's passingly interested me.

*Between Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones and Michael J. Anderson as Samson in Carnivale, HBO has cornered the market on series that mix the supernatural with really strong dramatic performances from dwarf actors.

Yeah. Take that, Twin Peaks.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Fantasy is as much ghettoized as sci-fi, as some of the more disdainful reviews of Game of Thrones sort of made clear.

It can't be ghettoized if it's the hot new trend on ever-mainstream broadcast - One Upon a Time on ABC, Grimm on NBC, and The Secret Circle on CW (which already has The Vampire Diaries). That looks like a genre on the upswing to me - however, it's specifically related to the "traditional" fantasy of witches and fairy tales, not so much the high fantasy genre.