And now for something light

[rhu]

OK, let's get a good discussion going here. :-)

The other night, introverte and I were discussing film adapations of science fiction stories that originally appeared in print. We were unable to come up with a single example of a story that meets all these criteria:

• Science fiction (not fantasy) (excluding, for example, The Lord of the Rings and The Wizard of Oz)
• First appeared in print (excluding, for example, 2001: A Space Odyssey)
• Movie adaptation remains essentially faithful to the print story (excluding, for example, We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, I, Robot, etc.)
• Both the original print story and the movie adaptation are generally accepted as great (excluding, for example, well, most others).

The closest I could come up with was Farenheit 451 but I'm not sure the movie really qualifies as great. But I figure that if there exists a true example, you, gentle readers, will let me know.

Comments

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I have a difficult time thinking of cases that meet the last two criteria. But then again, I don't see much point in making a movie that's just a you-don't-have-to-read-it version of a book. I'd rather see something added by the director, screen writer, actors, etc. I feel the same way about covers of songs: I don't want to hear a band recording something that sounds just like a recording that already exists; I want an interpretation.

As always, IMHO disclaimers apply. YMMV.

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

"Essentially faithful" doesn't mean "scene-for-scene identical." Even though Blade Runner was inspired by Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, for example, they are not telling the same story.