Best Sci-Fi Novels that should be made into movies

Oct 30, 2004
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List the best sci-fi novels that should become movies. By "sci-fi", I mean a novel that would take place 100 years or more in the future in a futuristic society, as opposed to something like K-Pax or The Thing.

My nomination is:

The Mote In God's Eye

I thought that was an awesome book, but it's Malthusian premise and the very notion that overpopulation could ever be a serious problem is very politically incorrect.

The story is set in the distant future of Pournelle's CoDominium universe, and charts the first contact between humanity and an alien species. ...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mote_in_god's_eye#cite_note-WWE-1975-1 Robert A. Heinlein, who gave the authors extensive advice on the novel, described the story as "possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read".
 

Megatomic

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
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Being a huge fan of Arthur C. Clarke, I'd like to see Childhood's End and Songs of Distant Earth made into movies.
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
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No! They all go for lens flare and shockwave in space when they make it into a movie. Look at how they fucked up Ender's Game.
The era of 2001 and Dune are long gone.
 

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
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Just finished Old Man's War not too long ago and given all the battles involved it would make a pretty sweet movie.

The premise is that when people on Earth get old (75 yrs), they have the option to join the colonial defense force in exchange for "being made young again". If you join the program you aren't allowed to return to Earth again. At first they don't know how the hell the CDF is able to make them young, but you find out pretty quickly (I won't spoil it here though). Then they go off and have a bunch of awesome battles with different alien species for various reasons. Good book... would make a perfect movie with guns and 'SPLOSIONS!
 

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
Super Moderator
Aug 22, 2001
29,559
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Brin's Uplift saga. Heavy dose of Startide Rising and the Uplift War; they were the best of the series.
 

Williz

Member
Jan 3, 2014
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Oh god... Lot's of stuff! I kinda hope they make all of the Ender series into movies rather than just the first one. Jennifer government would be quite good as would Children of Shade (Shades' children?). Dune remake and series of FRANKS books (Not his sons) would be nice.

EDIT: Oh god Otherworld by Tad Williams would be perfect to be made into a trilogy
 

Sho'Nuff

Diamond Member
Jul 12, 2007
6,211
121
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I really wish they made Ender's Game into a movie.

NSIS, but . . . they did!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1731141/

As for me I vote for:

1. Ben Bova's Mars (ok, its not set 100 years in the future, but I figured that space travel counts as sci fi)

2. The Journeys of McGill Feighan Series by Kevin O'Donnell (haven't read it in ages, but absolutely loved the series when I was a kid).

3. A lot of the star wars books (particularly those by Timothy Zahn) would make good movies ... but only if Georgie pooh is not allowed to f' them up.
 
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Ancalagon44

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2010
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I dont think they should do Dune again - if they still cant get it right, it should be left alone.
 

Druidx

Platinum Member
Jul 16, 2002
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Starship Troopers made by someone who actually read the book. The last move was made by Paul Verhoeven who admitted he never read it during an interview.

Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.
 

SlitheryDee

Lifer
Feb 2, 2005
17,252
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Stranger in a Strange Land. They'd probably have to figure out what to put in place of the martians though.
 

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,712
427
126
tbqhwy.com
I would love to see Rendezvous with Rama to made into a movies.

BOOM came to post this

im gonna add the following (not seeing what others have posted)

Ringworld
the Light of Other Days
Childhoods End
Stranger in a Strange Land


however honestly i dont see how they could so some of them without totally fing them up (see Enders Game)

many would be best served with a mini series and not tring to cram everything into ~2 hours
and personally id rather seem some of them done as animation, think pixar level of quality as a series, total freedom to make the visuals actually match the book.

sure they coudl CGI all the stuff in Rama or Ringworld but they would just F it up with lens flare and EXPLOSIONS
 
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nageov3t

Lifer
Feb 18, 2004
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I think WOOL would make a great movie or three, although they'd have to streamline a lot and probably cut back on some of the ancillary stories.

the Molly Fyde series is another one. same author, but not as well known... they'd definitely be geared towards kids/pre-teens, but it's rare to see sci-fi with a non-stereotypical female lead character.
 

glenn1

Lifer
Sep 6, 2000
25,383
1,013
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I would love to see Altered Carbon. Neil Gaiman's Sandman series would be awesome as well but I'm afraid they'd completely FUBAR it or Disney-fy it beyond recognition. Also surprised Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns hasn't been turned into a movie yet (although the new Christian Bale series is a reasonable substitute IMHO).