1) It's kinda hard to know where to begin with this one....!

I'm struggling to decide between I Am Legend and Man On Fire. I think in the end I'll go with....

Man On Fire

Filmed twice, and each time they chickened out. I don't want to say too much in case I ruin the book for someone who hasnt read it yet, but it isnt budget reasons or whether the book is 'filmable' or not that's ruined each attempt to film this book. It's about having the balls to tell a tough story properly without having a soppy ending tacked on by cowardly studio execs.


2) The Prestige springs instantly to mind.

The film is largely faithful to the plot of the main story arc, but truncates the story a little by dropping the modern-day framing story. The film is a well paced and quixotic mixture of period Victorian murder mystery and Tesla-themed sci fi.

The book gives you a slower ride, but much mor detailed insights into the fascinating characters. I dont think it matters which one you read/watch first, but I think doing both is essential.


3) This is obviously the most agonizing of all the questions, becasue these types of adaptations are so thin on the ground.

I was thinking about going for Serenity, because the special effects are better and the black assassin guy os so good, but then that made me think of the black bounty hunter from the last episode of Firefly and I think the entire season of Firefly is probably still better than Serenity.

So, that means I gonna go with my second choice...

John Carpnter's The Thing. Whether you consider it to be an original adaptation of Campbell's short story 'Who Goes There?' or a remake of 'The Thing From Another World' (and personally the jury is still out) I don't think anyone would dispute it's better than either one. Great acting, great pacing, terrrifc tension, and spectacular and memorable special effects that by and large are still impressive to this day (apart from the stop motion stuff at the end quigglemouth

Good call. Bradbury himself has not fared well in adaptations.

With one major exception. There is a stage musical adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 that La Esposa and I saw over in the Village a dozen years back that was immensely better than the movie made by that frog. (Yeah, a stage "Musical" about burning books. Bradbury had been there the previous evening and approved (we were there for the Saturday matinee, since I had a day job).

Unfortunately, my extensive review of the play is not currently on-line (since back issues of the newsletter it was published in haven't been put up yet, and that hard disk isn't attached to one of my active machines)

Also agreed. You could maybe claim the same for "This Island Earth", although less of a classic than the original "Day the Earth Stood Still".

I actually own a hardcover copy of the This Island Earth (library discard), which I never got around to reading. Somewhere in this attic. Haven't viewed the movie this millennium either. Or even fired up my interocitor. (The neighbors complain when the street lights dim -- the reason I never plug in my TRS-80 Model 2 and my Tandy 6000HD at the same time).

With one major exception. There is a stage musical adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 that La Esposa and I saw over in the Village a dozen years back that was immensely better than the movie made by that frog. (Yeah, a stage "Musical" about burning books. Bradbury had been there the previous evening and approved (we were there for the Saturday matinee, since I had a day job).

Unfortunately, my extensive review of the play is not currently on-line (since back issues of the newsletter it was published in haven't been put up yet, and that hard disk isn't attached to one of my active machines)

Several years ago, Sorrel and I went to a spectacular screening of the last working 3-D print of 'It Came From Outer Space' with a live score performed by Pere Ubu. That was brillaint

1) Name 1 film adaptation which is worse than the source material (novel, play, graphic novel, video game, tv series - remakes of other movies don't count).

Watchers
*Awful and pointless movie....

2) Name 1 film adaptation that is as good as the source material - i.e., both the source and film are great in their own right.

The Kite Runner
*The novel was masterpiece. The Movie had a lot of memorable moments. Both were good.

3) Name 1 film adaptation that is actually superior to the source material.

Blade Runner
*I disliked P.K. Dick's original novel. But the movie is great. My favorite SF movie all time.

Blade Runner
*I disliked P.K. Dick's original novel. But the movie is great. My favorite SF movie all time.

Good choice, Kenji. I feel the same way. Blade Runner is a great example.

I'm struggling to decide between I Am Legend...

Both adaptations are b.a.d.

-Wapitikev

Category 1 has too many choices but Tarzan has never been given the proper big screen treatment and despite it's legion of fans, I disliked Conan The Barbarian as well.

Category 2 I'll go with The Bourne movies and The Bourne Identity. I can not really comment on any of the other books because that is the only one I read and it is a great international thriller. I've enjoyed all three movies even though they bore little resemblance to their source material. First Blood deserves a mention as well although I do like the book better the movie was entertaining.

Category 3 belongs to The Lord of The Rings trilogy as someone has previously mentioned. I'll borrow FPW's opinion and use Jaws. I admit that I thought the book was really good, I read it right after I'd seen the movie and my 11 year old brain was impressed by all the cursing and blood, but when I tried to reread after he'd said how poorly written it was in some long lost thread, I had to agree with him.

Several years ago, Sorrel and I went to a spectacular screening of the last working 3-D print of 'It Came From Outer Space' with a live score performed by Pere Ubu. That was brillaint

Unfortunately, I can't appreciate 3D movies, with my extremely mismatched eyes. Never had depth perception in my life.

Unfortunately, I can't appreciate 3D movies, with my extremely mismatched eyes. Never had depth perception in my life.

Category 1 has too many choices but Tarzan has never been given the proper big screen treatment and despite it's legion of fans, I disliked Conan The Barbarian as well.

Category 1: Don't even get me started on Conan the Barbarian, Scott! Let's take Robert E. Howard's origin-story, completely throw it out the window, make our own movie about some slave with muscles and call it Conan...yeah! That's it! It'll be great! NOT!

Oh, and we'll move Valeria completely out of context and have her meet conan 20 years early...no one will notice.

Oh, and Conan will have brown hair, too...no one will notice that it's not black.

Etc, etc, etc.

Category 2: Name of the Rose...while it had to be trimmed to make it fit into its 2 hour & 11 minute run-time, both the book and the movie are satisfying.

Category 3: First Blood...sure the story was changed a little (Rambo doesn't kill any of the police, directly, in the movie, making him a more sympathetic character) and he lives at the end (instead of Trautman killing him) but the overall theme of "the alienated veitnam vetran" came through loud and clear. The movie was simply a more interesting experience than the novel.

-Wapitikev