zombie thread gave me an idea...

egnorant wrote: But with the tech and effects needed we would burn through 150 million to do it right and the extra money would come with strings that would ruin the original story.

Not necessarily... take a look at Game of Thrones on HBO. True to the book, amazing sets, effects and budget. I guess it "can" be done. It just usually isn't.

stroker wrote: Anyone here a fan of John Varley? What about "Titan" or "Steel Beach"? Yah, my $ limit was a bit low. Should probably be $100 mil.

Red Thunder maybe?

4eyes wrote: Three hour movie, "The Dragonriders of Pern" by Anne McCaffrey.

My dad reads all that stuff.

I'd choose a 3-hour movie: Snow Crash.

Edit: D'oh, beaten.

This is a great question, lots of good answers already.

I'd love to see Jim Butcher's Dresden series done properly, but pacing a TV show or movie the way the books are paced would be difficult.

S. M. Stirling's "The Island In The Sea Of Time" might also be good.

Edit: Stephenson also has some good candidates, the Quicksilver series might make a good T.V. show.

JoeyM wrote: Snowcrash as a movie

I actually just finished rereading Snow Crash. It......didn't age as well as I remembered.

Halo, as has already been mentioned, but there's no way you could do it in $50 Mil. I'd want no-name actors, and probably do something like the games did with Reach or ODST, and introduce a new character. Yes I love Master Chief as much as the next guy, but his life/story is cannon, there would be NO creative freedoms/liberties. However I'd love to see a trilogy or quadrilogy of Master Chief as well, it just wouldn't happen in one movie.

I'd love to do X-Men and DO IT RIGHT, following the Uncanny X-Men Comic series. It sickens me that Stan Lee, let Fox make those abortions. Again no way it'd happen for $50 Mil.

As for stuff that hasn't been done, I'd do a Clans Vs. Inner Sphere Mech Warrior live action Series, or maybe one biggish movie that would hopefully lead to more. It'd have to be Michale Bay blow everything up CGI style, so $50 Mil will be pretty limiting as well. According to Wiki, a project is "in the works," but is "in development Hell."

Dark Horse had some AMAZING graphic novels of the Alien series. There are a couple that were produced between Aliens and Alien 3, which would have made a MUCH better movie than Alien 3. I've thought about a re-imagining, pretend Alien 3 never happed and watch this movie with that mind set. There was also a series, where the "company" has raised and trained some of the Xenomorphs, they were cognizant, spoke English, and helped the Marines. That would make a decent premise for Aliens 5. Along those same lines there were several Aliens Vs. XXX Graphic Novels (where Aliens VS. Predator came from). Aliens Vs. Terminator was a pretty good read.

Sorry I just completely NERDED out on everyone.

• Lee

I'd do a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie that didn't suck.

JoeyM wrote: Snowcrash as a movie

I was going to suggest that, but I'm not sure how it would translate to screen without seeming...kinda lame.

I think Zodiac might work better. As a mini-series.

bigdaddylee82 wrote: As for stuff that hasn't been done, I'd do a Clans Vs. Inner Sphere Mech Warrior live action Series, or maybe one biggish movie that would hopefully lead to more. It'd have to be Michale Bay blow everything up CGI style, so $50 Mil will be pretty limiting as well. According to Wiki, a project is "in the works," but is "in development Hell."

The Blood of Kerensky Trilogy in three movies would be awesome. If they are hits then do the Twilight of the Clans trilogy. I'd just be happy to see Mechwarrior 5 actually get made and not suck though.

PubBurgers wrote: I'd do a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie that didn't suck.

I actually kinda liked the one that was made, the characters seemed to be true to the books even if they did scramble the plot some. At least it didn't get completely screwed up though.

I, Jedi by Michael A. Stackpole.

Got me back into Star Wars. Great story about a Corellian (Corran Horn) who learns as a adult he's actually force sensitive and must learn the ways of the force.

TV series. Not on broadcast tv--they'd screw it up.

Luke wrote:

JoeyM wrote: Snowcrash as a movie

I was going to suggest that, but I'm not sure how it would translate to screen without seeming...kinda lame. I think Zodiac might work better. As a mini-series.

That would rock. I would totally watch it...probably buy the DVD, too.

Something by Gibson. Not sure what, though. The Sprawl trilogy is the big one, but it would be tough to capture without it feeling dated. Possibly one of the most accurate future forecasts out there to me. Pattern Recognition would work too.

Since Stephenson has been invoked - I'd vote Cryptonomicon. I think it would be a hell of a ride in the right hands. Snow Crash would make a good action sf flick with very little modification, if you made it about the neurolinguistic hacking and The Raft instead of the Metaverse. I have to admit that the term "loglo" will not leave me.

it must have enough metaverse to have the sword fight in the black sun. i love that scene

Doesnt Red vs Blue already have Halo covered? Sort of?

lol

redvsblue.com

In reply to Keith:

You beat me to Gibson. Although I was going to take the easy choice and say Neuromancer. For whatever reason I don't remember being blown away by the ending in Pattern Recognition. Kinda the same for Idoru. Neuromancer probably has more possibilities to showcase effects. Plus, it would be fun to create the rastafarian space station.

Hey, what about "Startide Rising" by David Brin? Dunno if you could do a TV show with all the CG required for the dolphin characters. It might be my favorite SF novel.

+1 for Cryptonomicon, too!