Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Sabre on April 22, 2003, 02:24:31 PM
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I'll start: Robert Heinlen's "Starship Troopers" Probably the biggest cinematic disappointment of my life. I loved that book, man! I even have the Starship Troopers tabletop war game.
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The chick had nice boobies. What a waste when she died.
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We Were Soldiers Once... And Young
War of the Rats
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Dune
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Catch-22
Without a shadow of a doubt. Unsubtle, over-acted where it didn't need to be.
I really regret buying that DVD.
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The Hobbit..cartoon version.
Had to turn it off...terrible.
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Starship troopers... hmmmmm Denise Richards... it might not have been anything like the book but man.. it had Denise Richards in it!
I felt "Two Towers" was a vulgar departure from the book. i.e. elves in Helm's Deep.
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Originally posted by TPIguy
Dune
Did you happen to catch the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries re-do of Dune, staring Jud Hirsch (spelling?) as Duke Leto? It was a pretty faithful reproduction of the book (including even the spice orgy:eek: ). Much better than the film released during the 80's. One cool thing about the original movie though. If you went to see it in the theater, they handed you a pamphlet as you went in: "Terminology of Dune", a short dictionary to explain terms like Melange and siech and thropter. Wish I had kept that.
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Robert Heinlen's "Starship Troopers" influenced Japanese Anime or should I say started the whole robot cartoon thing. Such as Robotech (Macross) and Gundam. The latest Gundam series is junk though, what W gundam, yuck.
BTW: ZZ Gundam was the best. Space colonies revolting against the Governments of mother Earth. What will they think of next.
:)
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Earnest goes to Jail! (and the entire Earnest series)
The novel was an all time classic. Had it not been for the movie industry I'm sure the Earnest series would have been studied in college classes a hundred years from now, perhaps even more so than Shakespere. Ever since Hollywood got ahold of it, however, it will only be remembered as a film series. Sigh, very few people will ever know the true genius of the written work about Earnest.
eskimo
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the sci-fi channels dune series wasn't too bad. But the original dune movie horribly butcherd a great book.
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I've seen both the movie and the mini-series for Dune. There are aspects of both that I like. Neither is perfect, IMHO.
Worst butchery?
Let's see...
The Sum of All Fears - Clancy
The Running Man - King
The only movie that I can think of that improved on the book was Misery.
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it'd be much easier, and shorter, to create a list of the books that DIDN'T get butchered by Hollywood..
in fact...
here's the list:
:rolleyes:
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A couple come to mind;
War Of The Rats=Enemy at the Gate
The Cider House Rules
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Running man, Great book crap film.
Battlefield Earth, Really great book by Ron Hubbard. The film? Crap
Finally....
Jurassic Park. I read books one & Two before seeing the films. The films were just an excuse to try out the latest special effects. :( The Story line was butchered beyond belief.
TTFN
snafu
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Actually, DUNE is one DAMN hard novel set to turn into a movie. Read the novels and you'll see why. Its just too overwhelming and everything..EVERYTHING has to be told in order for the whole thing to make sense.
They shouldve started with the easier book sets written by Frank Herbert's much-less talented son. His writing style is bland and very mainstream.. its like reading a book based on a movie. :(
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Saber, you are so right. I read that book when I was seventeen and loved it.
The last movie the director did was 'Showgirls'!!! He was clueless about the book and it showed. Where were the Power Suits..????
I have the Avalon Hill game as well. I wish they'd make a PC version.
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Originally posted by TPIguy
Dune
Amen brother...
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I thought "Jaws" was a very good adaptation. Some changes, but overall at least as entertaining as the book.
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Gotta go with battlefield earth. Not only was it a gross departure from the book, it was a horrible movie to boot.
MiniD
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Starship Troopers was beyond horrible. I absolutely loved that book growing up. Movie was only good for one thing...made me read the book again to get the awful image of that movie out of my head.
I watched about 10 minutes of Battlefield Earth and that was enough to make me realize that I shouldn't watch anymore of it.
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Johnny Mnemonic
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well:
"The Sphere" was a good book movie so-so
"congo" was ok book... movie was suckier than suck
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Originally posted by midnight Target
I thought "Jaws" was a very good adaptation. Some changes, but overall at least as entertaining as the book.
Agreed, but they should have left in the adulterous affair that went on between the cop's wife and the shark dude. I always liked the part in the book where she removes her panties in the restaurant and worries that if she got into an accident on the drive to the rendevous that people would notice. It's that kind of stuff that makes books more real to me....or maybe it is because I'm a perv.
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Originally posted by Curval
It's that kind of stuff that makes books more real to me....or maybe it is because I'm a perv.
hehe
I think your avatar answers that one actually...
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Originally posted by Sabre
I'll start: Robert Heinlen's "Starship Troopers" Probably the biggest cinematic disappointment of my life. I loved that book, man! I even have the Starship Troopers tabletop war game.
Actually, the book was way too militaristic for my taste. I agree the movie doesn't really make sense in certain aspects (attacking the bugs on foot with rifles instead of in flying suits with a large array of weapons), or the bugs not having spaceships like in the book-how the hell did they send that asteroid all the way to Earth with plasma jets?!?!?!? Still, the movie is a great cinematic experience and it's easier to swallow than the book.IThe book was actually quite controversial when it appeared.
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for the worst movie adaptation I nominate "The Postman" what a waste of a good license. Kostner sucks ass.
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Actually, there's a 1980's ANIME version of STARSHIP TROOPERS.
Doesnt follow the book much, but they get the tech the "gorillas" used right on.
And its much more of a movie with much better "acting" than in the hollywood version.
Anime uber alles!!! :D
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Battlefield Earth- read the book three times, been told not to see the movie it was so bad.
A comment on Starhip Troopers. The director was quoted as saying the suits were not used because ov the overwelming cost to make. Also CGI was tried and dumped because it diddnt look real.
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There was a CGI series done on Fox a while back during the weekday mornings called "Starship Troopers"... based solely on the movie near as I can tell, but they had battlesuits for planetary fights, and even robots for fighting the bugs. Also had a couple different aliens than the normal boring bellybutton bugs.
-SW
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Originally posted by udet
for the worst movie adaptation I nominate "The Postman" what a waste of a good license. Kostner sucks ass.
Yup. Great book, horid, horid movie.
David Brin is my favorite author.
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That's why I never read books. I have no problems at the theater.
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Battlefield Earth (although admittedly, I have no idea what Travolta was thinking when he thought he could condence a book of this length into 90 minutes)
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Debbie Does Dallas...
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Definitely agree on Starship Troopers, Battlefield Earth, Jurrasic Park, and I admit to being pretty peeved at Peter Jackson for Two Towers. It was one thing to omit stuff for time reasons in Fellowship of the Ring, but he was making **** up in TT. Running Man (the movie) is basically a completely different story from Running Man (the book), so I enjoy the movie just for the cheesy one-liners that Arnold throws out there. I think they could have done a much better job with The General's Daughter, too. Maybe it's just that Travolta really is a ****ty actor though.
There have been a couple of movies that they actually did a decent job with when converting from books. The ones that I can think of off the top of my head are The Last of the Mohicans, The Shawshank Redemption, and The Green Mile. There were minor deviations in all of them, of course, but I still think they followed the book pretty closely.
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yeah *great* book, awful movie
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All my choices are already mentioned.
I just wanted to say that I read a rumor that William Gibson's "Neuromancer" is being adapted to film, and if its gonna be anything like Johnny Mnemonic, I'm already weeping.
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Fletch.
The book series is much better but much darker than Chevy Chase running about, which is probably why hollywood gutted it. I think if they kept to the book it would go over most's heads and they'd come out crying from "that sad movie." Hilarious read, there's a half dozen or so total.
Bourne Identity was about the worst departure I've ever seen. I don't know if they even read the book before writing the movie script, you couldn't tell it was the same story.
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Gotta go with Battlefield Earth. Absolutely fantastic book. Didn't even get 1/2 thru the move before I turn it off. Absolutely terrible....
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Butchered Battlefield Earth......just terrible
Two Towers.....chit it had nothing to do with the book.....
Starship Troopers......only good part was DENISE....oh baby she makes ya forget:D
DUNE.....book series is too much for movie
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All of the Stephen King based movies except Dreamcatcher which ive never read and The Shining, which i never saw (miracle in itself!). I however saw the Matt Groenings version and it was good..;)
Also Dune comes in to my mind, but there were two quite sexy actresses present (cant remember their names) so i forgive it. The black tight desertsuits looked good on them!
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I don't know what to think of Riverworld. Obviously the movie was intended as a series, so it could capture at least some of the complexity of the book (that is, of 5 books). Still, I was a bit dissapointed by the pilot. I think, as a fact of life, that no great book can be made into a good movie. Not even "Sophie's Choice". Meryl Strip was a pooor 'choice' :)
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I was a few chapters in the Bourne Identity when I watched the movie. Fatty is right. The only resemblence is that he lost his memory off the French coast and that he had a account number of a swiss bank on him. Good thing was that I could keep reading the book after the film and still not know what would happen but neither the book or film was anything spectacular.
I Got frustrated with the book after Bourne for the 5th time managed to avoid getting killed with the bad guys pointing/firing their guns at him from point blank range.
Also laughed out loud when he kept giving the french taxidrivers 100 francs extra after which they agreed to the most strange things. yes I know it was in 1980, but come on.
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heh, they've all been mentioned.
The original Dune movie was a complete mockery (weirding modules and sound? WTF?)
Spielberg had to tinker with JP and Lost World, tinker being an understatement. He completely re-wrote just about every character save for Dennis Nedry.
The Two Towers... I don't get it. The book was laid out so nicely, why did they even need to mess with it? I can understand changing around Arwen so she is in the minds of the viewers, but like said before, Elves in Helm's Deep? Faramir kidnapping Frodo (it was perfect right up until they captured Gollum in the pool.) Frodo freaking out on Sam at whatever town they were at when the Nazgul were flying over? I just really didn't understand those deviations from the book.
As for the cartoon The Hobbit, it's been so long since I've seen it that I don't remember what happened.
Oh, a movie that was a pretty good adaptation of the book is Orwell's 1984. I think it followed the book very well.
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Starship Troopers is a great book, and the movie is not an illustration for it.
The movie is a nice parody, many many things look just as they want to laugh at spectators, curious if they will understand it. In fact they show an absolutely ill society, that lives under laws given by RAH. At least it looks like that to me.
That's just my HO ;) I enjoyed the book much more then the movie.
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Originally posted by eskimo2
Earnest goes to Jail! (and the entire Earnest series)
The novel was an all time classic. Had it not been for the movie industry I'm sure the Earnest series would have been studied in college classes a hundred years from now, perhaps even more so than Shakespere. Ever since Hollywood got ahold of it, however, it will only be remembered as a film series. Sigh, very few people will ever know the true genius of the written work about Earnest.
eskimo
Frankly, I don't think you're Earnest.
Verne
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The Beach....If you disliked the movie, go get this excellent book. The end (among other things) is completely different.
Starship Troopers (the movie) was a joke. But I liked David Lynch's Dune....I admit I'm a big time Lynch's fan, so my opinion may be biased ;) .
Battlefields Earth? Never saw the movie, but I've read this awfully dumb book. You can already detect L. Ron Hubbard's unpleasant ideas upon which is founded Scientology...
With the exception of 'The Hunt for Red October', all the movies from Clancy's books were very disappointing.
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It is hard to fathom why some of the story changes in the Two Towers are there.
Fans of Starship troopers. Have you ever read the book "Armor"?
As to the CG in the movie startship troopers. If you cant CG something that looks like one of those articulated deep diving suites what can you CG?
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Originally posted by Tuomio
All of the Stephen King based movies except Dreamcatcher which ive never read and The Shining, which i never saw (miracle in itself!). I however saw the Matt Groenings version and it was good..;)
Also Dune comes in to my mind, but there were two quite sexy actresses present (cant remember their names) so i forgive it. The black tight desertsuits looked good on them!
Francesca Annis:
(http://dune.ghanima.org/imgs/jessica.jpg)
Sean Young:
(http://dune.ghanima.org/imgs/chani.jpg)
Virginia Madsen:
(http://dune.ghanima.org/imgs/irulan.jpg)