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Speaking of whom - a friend and I were the other day wondering Just Why On Earth none of his SciFi appears to have been optioned for conversion to other media.

Speaking of whom - a friend and I were the other day wondering Just Why On Earth none of his SciFi appears to have been optioned for conversion to other media. I can imagine scope, complexity and presumably huge budget leaving prospective optioners with slightly soiled breeks, but all the same — not even a hope of one of the tales in The State of the Art?

devrandomguy 9y ago
Perhaps our civilization is not yet ready for direct contact with the Culture. Hopefully, someone and her drone are working on the problem.
ufmace 9y ago
I don't remember all of the stories in State of the Art, but I'm finding it hard to see the ones I do working as a movie for people not already immersed in the Culture universe. I could see Consider Phlebas or Player of Games as a miniseries though.
- detritus 9y ago
  It's a long (long) time since I read state of the art, but I think you could mangle the tale of the benevolent super culture visiting Earth and eating meat made from the DNA of world leaders :) I think SotA was the third Banks book I read, after The Crow Road and The Wasp Factory, and I don't recall there being any gulf of appreciation from not having being previously immersed in The Culture.
wj 9y ago
Probably lacking the ratio of explosions to character development that modern scifi movies and tv audiences demand.
- JadeNB 9y ago
  > Probably lacking the ratio of explosions to character development that modern scifi movies and tv audiences demand. To be fair, in the collection of stories I would have expected never to be adapted, "Story of your life" is high up there, and yet "Arrival" was a deeply thoughtful film that, despite a few strange adjustments, was faithful in many important ways to its source. (OK, it did have one explosion.)
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
tzs 9y ago
Same question for a ton of science fiction and fantasy. Some things that could be excellent on the silver screen, or as a television series: • Fritz Leiber's "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser". I've not seen anything indicating anyone has ever even started development on a movie for this. • Richard and Wendy Pini's "Elfquest". Warner Brothers announced this in 2008, but canned it because they thought it might compete with another project of theirs, "The Hobbit". • Larry Niven's Known Space series. One Known Space short story made it to TV: "The Soft Weapon" was adapted to the Star Trek universe and became the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "The Slaver Weapon", with Mr. Spock taking the place of Nessus the Puppeteer. Ringworld has been in planning as a movie or miniseries at least three separate times, but never got past development. • Anne McCaffrey's Pern series. This actually got so far as casting and set building, and was within a few days of starting shooting for a pilot for a TV series for Warner Brothers Network, but when the showrunner presented the final pilot script to Warner Brothers for approval, they sent it back with so many changes it no longer resembled Pern (the changes have been described as turning it into something like a cross between Buffy and Xena). The showrunner, Ronald D. Moore, was a fan of the books and quit rather than accept the changes, and the project died. There have been a couple of announcements since then, but as far as I know none ever went past announcing hiring a screenwriter and maybe an executive producer and then never being heard from again.
- detritus 9y ago
  I've had problems with Niven — his scope is grand and majestic, but I've often found his narrative a little bit clunky and paint by numbers, if that makes any sense? I've jotted down your other suggestions for further reading, thanks!
  - carapace 9y ago
    Niven was once my favorite Sci-Fi author, but I think I know what you mean. Have you read "The Book of the New Sun" by Gene Wolfe? It is really really good.
    - jessaustin 9y ago

devrandomguy 9y ago

Perhaps our civilization is not yet ready for direct contact with the Culture. Hopefully, someone and her drone are working on the problem.

ufmace 9y ago

I don't remember all of the stories in State of the Art, but I'm finding it hard to see the ones I do working as a movie for people not already immersed in the Culture universe. I could see Consider Phlebas or Player of Games as a miniseries though.

detritus 9y ago
It's a long (long) time since I read state of the art, but I think you could mangle the tale of the benevolent super culture visiting Earth and eating meat made from the DNA of world leaders :) I think SotA was the third Banks book I read, after The Crow Road and The Wasp Factory, and I don't recall there being any gulf of appreciation from not having being previously immersed in The Culture.

wj 9y ago

Probably lacking the ratio of explosions to character development that modern scifi movies and tv audiences demand.

JadeNB 9y ago
> Probably lacking the ratio of explosions to character development that modern scifi movies and tv audiences demand. To be fair, in the collection of stories I would have expected never to be adapted, "Story of your life" is high up there, and yet "Arrival" was a deeply thoughtful film that, despite a few strange adjustments, was faithful in many important ways to its source. (OK, it did have one explosion.)

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

tzs 9y ago

Same question for a ton of science fiction and fantasy. Some things that could be excellent on the silver screen, or as a television series: • Fritz Leiber's "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser". I've not seen anything indicating anyone has ever even started development on a movie for this. • Richard and Wendy Pini's "Elfquest". Warner Brothers announced this in 2008, but canned it because they thought it might compete with another project of theirs, "The Hobbit". • Larry Niven's Known Space series. One Known Space short story made it to TV: "The Soft Weapon" was adapted to the Star Trek universe and became the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "The Slaver Weapon", with Mr. Spock taking the place of Nessus the Puppeteer. Ringworld has been in planning as a movie or miniseries at least three separate times, but never got past development. • Anne McCaffrey's Pern series. This actually got so far as casting and set building, and was within a few days of starting shooting for a pilot for a TV series for Warner Brothers Network, but when the showrunner presented the final pilot script to Warner Brothers for approval, they sent it back with so many changes it no longer resembled Pern (the changes have been described as turning it into something like a cross between Buffy and Xena). The showrunner, Ronald D. Moore, was a fan of the books and quit rather than accept the changes, and the project died. There have been a couple of announcements since then, but as far as I know none ever went past announcing hiring a screenwriter and maybe an executive producer and then never being heard from again.

detritus 9y ago
I've had problems with Niven — his scope is grand and majestic, but I've often found his narrative a little bit clunky and paint by numbers, if that makes any sense? I've jotted down your other suggestions for further reading, thanks!
- carapace 9y ago
  Niven was once my favorite Sci-Fi author, but I think I know what you mean. Have you read "The Book of the New Sun" by Gene Wolfe? It is really really good.
  - jessaustin 9y ago