Does anybody want to see a Harry Turtledove book turned into a movie? I'd like to see Guns of the South or the Great War Series become a movie/mini-series. What about you?
FederationX said:Does anybody want to see a Harry Turtledove book turned into a movie? I'd like to see Guns of the South or the Great War Series become a movie/mini-series. What about you?
zoomar said:"Guns of the South" would seem to be the best bet. Not true AH but time travel (a movie SF staple), Southerners are basically decent - bad guys are Afrikanners (good for US audiences). Hopefully, Hollywood wouldn't go all PC and ruin the thing by having the North win the ACW.
My guilty pleasure would be the Worldwar series. Hands down. Perhaps played somewhat campy and for laughs - at least when the incompetent Race is on screen. No way a Hollywood movie could have the Jews side with the Lizards, however.
Personally, I believe the "How Few Remain - Great War - Return Engagements" timeline is just to "alternate" to make sense to Hollywood and most of the movie-going public.
However, structurally, both the "Worldwar" and "Great War - Return Engagements" series could really use the kind of paring down turning them into a 3 hour movie would require. Drop half the characters and 3/4 of the scenes and both could be fine movies - possibly better pieces of narrative fiction than the originals.
robertp6165 said:I think that HOW FEW REMAIN could be adapted for the screen better than any of the other books by Turtledove, with the exception of GOTS. I don't think people would have that much trouble grasping the concept...especially if a few scenes at the beginning explain how the Confederacy won (basically taken right from the book. The multiplicity of historical characters (Mark Twain, Teddy Roosevelt, George Custer, JEB Stuart, Stonewall Jackson, Frederick Douglass, etc), if well done, would be fascinating to watch, even for people who are not alternate history "fans."
robertp6165 said:I think that HOW FEW REMAIN could be adapted for the screen better than any of the other books by Turtledove, with the exception of GOTS. I don't think people would have that much trouble grasping the concept...especially if a few scenes at the beginning explain how the Confederacy won (basically taken right from the book. The multiplicity of historical characters (Mark Twain, Teddy Roosevelt, George Custer, JEB Stuart, Stonewall Jackson, Frederick Douglass, etc), if well done, would be fascinating to watch, even for people who are not alternate history "fans."
zoomar said:My concern is that the vast majority of movie goers would react with a big "so what?" to HFR. It's one thing like with GOTS to begin with known history and introduce a new variation leading to changed history - it's quite another to begin in a completely different ATL 20 years afterward. I also think you have sadly oversetimated the knowledge of the American movie audience (and a movie based on HFR would only appeal to Americans).
Yellmic Wigwawa said:IMHO, only Turtledove's "stand alone" books could be made into movies, the others are simply too vast in scale for a movie to do them justice.
Perhaps "The Two Georges", "Ruled Britannia" or "In the presence of mine enemies" could be made into a film.
Matt Quinn said:"Guns of the South" would make a good Sci-Fi Channel Original Miniseries. "Dune," "Children of Dune," and the new "Battlestar Galactica" show that they can make quality films, though their "original movies" still need a lot of work.
Part One could be the arrival of the Rivington Men and the defeat of the Union. Part Two could be the revelation of who the Rivington Men actually are and Lee's showdown with them.
In case y'all find the Sci-Fi Channel too objectionable, who else could do it well as a miniseries or a lengthy (Lord of the Rings) style movie?