Survery Sunday: Video Made The Writing Star

So with "Wild Cards" getting optioned after George R.R. Martin's success with "Game of Thrones," I had some questions.  Looks like we didn't get a lot of response, probably as I first mucked up the link, but . . .

1. So it appears George R.R. Martin's "Wild Cards" may be headed to filmdom. What other books, comics, or similar series do you feel is just in need of becoming a movie or a television series/miniseries.

  • "Sector General" by James White could easily be updated – and a lot of the stories would still fit – plus, hey, medical drama in space? I'd like to see expansions on the Mythbusters concept to explore all sorts of ideas in a more controlled setting – and perhaps get a movie release of some great big myths. Also I think "Doom Patrol" of the Morrison era would be a good adaption, as would Giffen/DeMatis Justice League.
  • The "Space Cops" books by Diane Duane – a police procedural in space. The Diana Tregarde books by Mercedes Lackey – urban fantasy mysteries. The SERRAted Edge series by Mercedes Lackey and Mark Shepard – urban fantasy set around a racing team. "Cloak & Dagger", the comic books, probably best as a TV series with a somber overtone. (Is it cheating to add an unpublished work of mine, "Subject 13", here?)
  • - Naoki Urasawa's "20th Century Boys" – Osamu Tezuka's "Ode to Kirihito" – Lian Hearn's "Otori" books – Hiroki Endo's "Eden" – Kentaro Miura's "Berserk" (which is getting a re-adaptation, but a live-action version would work best as a miniseries) – Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" books – A non-fiction TV series: one based on Douglas Hofstader's "Gödel, Escher, Bach"

Some interesting stuff here.  I'm groving on the iea of Hofstader shows myself.

But this is about progeekery, so . . .

2. If your adaptions or adaptions were to happen, what would be your dream job involving said adaptions?

  • Project Manager of course – can you imagine the resources to coordinate on ANY adaption?
  • In all cases, scriptwriter, with an eye on bringing the feel of the books over to the screen; the "script translator". Possibly assistant director. (In the cheating case, head writer, assistant director, producer, and chief bottle washer.)
  • Screenwriter or director, of course.

Of course you can see which one is MY response . . .

So what do you folks think of adaptions?

- Steven Savage

Steven Savage Steven Savage (2028 Posts)

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.


  • http://profile.typepad.com/genjipress Serdar (Genji Press)

    One thing that came to mind from the comments above was how little talk there is about the adaptation of non-fiction works. I’d love to see a film based on the Henrietta Lacks story, for instance, which is as much about hardscrabble survival as it is the march of science.

  • http://sites.google.com/site/taylorspolynomials/ GregT

    Hm, and with the continuing interest in ‘reality’ TV (which I think can even include shows like ‘Mythbusters’ and ‘Worst Driver/Handyman/Etc’), plus things ‘based on a true story’, I wonder if it would be easier to get funding for non-fiction.

  • http://www.stevensavage.com/ Steven Savage

    Greg you have a good point – maybe if you slightly jazz things up (without violating integrety) you could do more real/reality/non-fiction stuff. Heck, Cosmos was incredibly compelling at the time – there’s a good example.
    This may be a time Geek Chic could be leveraged.
    I’ve also seen some good reality/history/informative shows from Korea on food and health. They make them interesting but also educational.

  • Scott D

    At this point, I’d like to request a reboot for “Prisoners of Gravity”, a TVO SF book review show from the 80s. Please.