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Books tap directly into the imagination in a way that films (very) rarely do. The most amazing special effects in the world can't match my imagination for fide

Books tap directly into the imagination in a way that films (very) rarely do. The most amazing special effects in the world can't match my imagination for fidelity and if they did, they'd still not be mine. I've noticed that the book to TV/movies I like aren't because they are good adaptations so much as they are close to what I imagined. It's rare that happens but when it does it makes the TV show a deeply enjoyable, Season 1 of Altered Carbon and all the seasons of The Expanse did/do it but not much else in the last 5 years has.

MattRix 5y ago
If you see Dune in a theatre with good enough sound and screen (ex. IMAX), it’s an incredible experience in a way a book could not be. Not saying it’s “better”, it’s just different in a fundamentally incomparable way.
- abakker 5y ago
  The movie is missing so much of the detail that made the book great, though. I agree, incomparable, really. IMO, the best movies are NOT adaptations.
  - alternatetwo 5y ago
    The best adaptations are short stories, like Predestination, from All you zombies. They also didn't meddle with the logic there, since the writers already found it perfect.
    - ProjectArcturis 5y ago
      Yeah, it's a lot easier to do a faithful 100-minute adaptation of a 50-page story than a 300-page book.
    - imbnwa 5y ago
      The Mist comes to mind, a novella originally IIRC
kordlessagain 5y ago
Some of us don't manufacture alternate visual realities in our heads.
- jay_kyburz 5y ago
  But I think that's the point. In a book you don't "see" the visual effects, you just know that they happened. When you watch a movie, your eyes and ears has to collect the information, and some part of your brain has to turn that into a log of events. You have to do a lot of work to do to keep up with whats going on. When you are reading, you don't need to do all that work, the author has already decided what is important. I think the two mediums aren't really comparable, they both just happen to be good ways to tell stories.
poetaster 5y ago
I had read and loved The Expanse. I also loved it on tv. Lord of the Ring. Hmmm.

MattRix 5y ago

If you see Dune in a theatre with good enough sound and screen (ex. IMAX), it’s an incredible experience in a way a book could not be. Not saying it’s “better”, it’s just different in a fundamentally incomparable way.

abakker 5y ago
The movie is missing so much of the detail that made the book great, though. I agree, incomparable, really. IMO, the best movies are NOT adaptations.
- alternatetwo 5y ago
  The best adaptations are short stories, like Predestination, from All you zombies. They also didn't meddle with the logic there, since the writers already found it perfect.
  - ProjectArcturis 5y ago
    Yeah, it's a lot easier to do a faithful 100-minute adaptation of a 50-page story than a 300-page book.
  - imbnwa 5y ago
    The Mist comes to mind, a novella originally IIRC

kordlessagain 5y ago

Some of us don't manufacture alternate visual realities in our heads.

jay_kyburz 5y ago
But I think that's the point. In a book you don't "see" the visual effects, you just know that they happened. When you watch a movie, your eyes and ears has to collect the information, and some part of your brain has to turn that into a log of events. You have to do a lot of work to do to keep up with whats going on. When you are reading, you don't need to do all that work, the author has already decided what is important. I think the two mediums aren't really comparable, they both just happen to be good ways to tell stories.

poetaster 5y ago

I had read and loved The Expanse. I also loved it on tv. Lord of the Ring. Hmmm.