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?
Turtledove Fans
- Thread starter FederationX
- Start date
FederationX said:
I agree, although the scope of the GREAT WAR series is such that I can see how it would not easily be adapted for the screen. I think HOW FEW REMAIN would make an excellent miniseries...and I would love to see the WORLD WAR series somehow adapted for the screen. But again, like the GREAT WAR series, probably too much material there to do a decent job of it.
I think How Few Reamin would be really interesting as a mini-series. It involves enough real world characters that someone who was new to Turtledove's work could still find it wasy to understand. It also works because AH is relaitvly untouched in TV besides the few Star Trek epiodes. The whole confenderacy victorious idea is so prevalent in AH that it would be a good way to indoctrinate the masses so to speak.
I forgot to say that I also want to see How Few Remain made into a mini- series. I was thinking to much of The Guns of the South
"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.
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.
zoomar 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:
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).
I think that the regulart viwer, one who is not that heavily into AH couldunderstand HFR. They could see how things would have changed in the 20 years. They would also see a cast of charactrs that almost anyone would know about if they payed attention in American History in High School. If you had enough emotion and explosions I think average Joe Shmoe could come to enjoy the movie. If it was a decent war/historical/adventure movie. the Idea that the plot is fiction wouldn't be to hard to understand and appreciate.
robertp6165 said:
I completely agree
zoomar said:
I agree with that also
I have always wanted to see How Few Remain turned into a movie. Even an independent film would be okay. Even if they had to do for it a limited audiance, so what? At least we can enjoy it
what i'd like to see is movie made on the World War series, not the entire war, since that's too big, but the battles in and arouns chicago, mainly from Mutt Daniels point of view and other key characters telling about the war in other nations etc. Daniels POV in the books were the ones i liked the best, mainly since it showed the desperation, the brutality, and the near hopelessness of the human situation against the Lizards.
They'd probably have to really shorten the war, instead of it being years of bloody fighting, maybe make it a year at the most of fighitng. The Lizards troop ships landing, the US Army falling back to Chicago, the bloody retreat, the hellish desperate fighing in and around Chicago, then the bringing forth of the atom bomb and the nuking of the Lizard army. Then toss in a few voice overs with animated maps showing what's happening in the world and who's got nukes.
Then end with dramatic cut of hundreds of Race ships in the dark of space.
They'd probably have to really shorten the war, instead of it being years of bloody fighting, maybe make it a year at the most of fighitng. The Lizards troop ships landing, the US Army falling back to Chicago, the bloody retreat, the hellish desperate fighing in and around Chicago, then the bringing forth of the atom bomb and the nuking of the Lizard army. Then toss in a few voice overs with animated maps showing what's happening in the world and who's got nukes.
Then end with dramatic cut of hundreds of Race ships in the dark of space.
I think that World War would make a good trilogy, in the first one the lizards would arrive and people would be introduced to the idea while meeting a couple of characters. The second movie would have lots of carnage and battles, along with the nukes starting to come into play. Finally, the last movie would be about the closing days of the war along with the bomb in Warsaw story from the end of series.
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.
Perhaps "The Two Georges", "Ruled Britannia" or "In the presence of mine enemies" could be made into a film.
"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?
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?
Yellmic Wigwawa said:
That's why I suggested HOW FEW REMAIN. It was a stand-alone book...although of course it served as the POD for the Great War series as well. I agree that RULED BRITANNIA could be good too. Although I think a lot of people would be put off by the "Shakespearean" dialect.
Matt Quinn said:
I think the Sci-Fi channel could do a wonderful job with it. Ted Turner could probably do a good job with it as a miniseries on TNT, for that matter. That might be a better venue, actually. Turner has a lot of experience doing Civil War flicks, and tends not to fall into the trap of re-writing the story to be "politically correct," either. Perhaps Robert Duval could reprise his role as Robert E. Lee from GODS AND GENERALS? Hmmm, might have potential.
Movie
Greetings
After I saw the movie version of Timeline, I'm very pessimistic about novels, books ect turned in to movies, maybe that is because Timeline was the first time when I actually read the book before seen the movie.
But as a Trutledove fan(Im new in that), I would like to see a Movie about one of his Novels, but even when my irracional instincts want me to say, Worldwar I have to agree with the people who say than as any other series, it would not be practical, is to much material to work with. But I do think than Guns of the South would be a good Novel to turned in to a Movie.
Res Publica
SPQR
Greetings
After I saw the movie version of Timeline, I'm very pessimistic about novels, books ect turned in to movies, maybe that is because Timeline was the first time when I actually read the book before seen the movie.
But as a Trutledove fan(Im new in that), I would like to see a Movie about one of his Novels, but even when my irracional instincts want me to say, Worldwar I have to agree with the people who say than as any other series, it would not be practical, is to much material to work with. But I do think than Guns of the South would be a good Novel to turned in to a Movie.
Res Publica
SPQR
There's a small problem with both GOTS and HFR, though.... the USA gets it's butt kicked in both of them, particularly HFR... not very appealing to US audiences...
I can't believe this. Not only do we have actual Harry Turtledove fans on this, our sacred board, but they were foolish enough to reveal themselves.
UNLEASH THE FLYING BRAINS!!! WITH PUBLIC SCHOOL BRITISH ACCENTS!!!
UNLEASH THE FLYING BRAINS!!! WITH PUBLIC SCHOOL BRITISH ACCENTS!!!