OffTopic: Starship troopers

[redleg609]

I watched, on the tube, Starship Troopers. It was not the same as in the theater and even less the same as the book. However, on this the anniversary - almost - of 9/11, I have the some observations from the book/move.

First: men [people] are not potatoes!
If you want to know more about that - read the book.

Second: Roger Young
Oh they've got no time for glory in the infantry--
They've got no use for praises loudly sung;
But in every soldier's heart in all the infantry,
Shines the name, shines the name of Roger Young.

Shines the name, Roger Young,
Fought & died for the men he marched among.
In the everlasting annals of the infantry,
Shines the last deed of Private Roger Young.

(see: http://dwrighsr.tripod.com/heinlein/ryoung.html about Roger Young
http://www.youth.net/memories/1999/0279.html for the complete lyrics)

Third: RAH proposed that universal sufferage may not be such a great idea. Rather, those who govern, I.E. are permitted to vote and hold office, should have proven themselves by service in the military amd upon honorable completion of that service be entitled to vote and hold office.

If you think that #3 is bizarre, how about an alternative idea that all legislation must pass by a 2/3rds vote. And that any legislation may be repealed by a 1/3 vote. RAH, in the Moon is a Harsh Mistress, proposed a bicameral goverment where one house passed legislation and the other repealed it.

"C'mon you apes, do you want to live forever?"

RedLeg - Feeling martial, sentimental and patriotic.

Tanstaafl

 

[Wwanderer]

A truly great book and a really awful movie. I loved them both.

-Ww

 

[redleg609]

Agreed -

It is really hard to turn a book, however good, bad or indifferent, into a move. Especially, SF - how many good SF movies are there. Maybe a dozen at most.

God forbid, any one ever saw the Puppet Masters. Yikes!

 

[Hotpuppy]

Originally posted by redleg609
Agreed -

It is really hard to turn a book, however good, bad or indifferent, into a move. Especially, SF -

One painful sitting through Lynch's "Dune" confirms this. Now comes word that after decades in development hell, Kimberly Peirce( "Boys Dont Cry") has been tapped to direct Clarke's "Childhood's End".
hp

 

[dhutchins]

Book to Movie

I agree that it is a tough transistion, but I would like to point to a couple of movies that I thought were excellent representation of the book:

"A Time to Kill" - John Grisham

"The Great Santini" - Pat Conroy

"We Were Soldiers" - Col. Hal Moore

I thought that these three were good adaptations from the book.

Abear

 

[Hotpuppy]

Upcoming SF adaptations to watch:
Ursula LeGuin's "Lathe of Heaven"( A&E 9/8), IMHO "The Left Hand of Darkness" is a better novel and deserves to considered for a movie or mini-series.

Stanislaw Lem's "Solaris", remake (of a real bad 1972 effort)by Stephen Soderburg w/George Clooney

hp

 

[LukeWarm]

The shower scene

Agreed! The movie version of "Starship Troopers" was awful -- except for the all-too-brief co-ed shower scene. Almost enough to make me wanna run out and enlist. (Almost.)

 

[kromrider]

Originally posted by redleg609
Agreed -

It is really hard to turn a book, however good, bad or indifferent, into a move. Especially, SF - how many good SF movies are there. Maybe a dozen at most.

God forbid, any one ever saw the Puppet Masters. Yikes!

But one of my favorite books of all time

 

[Daddycool]

Jurassic park

Those movies were not even close to the books. And the third movie wasn't even based on a book.

How about The silence of the lambs movie vs book. The second Hanabal was terrible movie. Book okay.

The Anne Rice book. Interview with a Vampire was a good movie and book.

 

[jseah]

While it is not a sci fi book, I still think absolutely the best book to movie adaptation has got to be Lord of The Rings. While there has been some "liberties" taken for the sake of the big screen, it has followed the books fairly religiously. Can't wait for the next two in the series.

 

[sod]

Originally posted by jseah
While it is not a sci fi book, I still think absolutely the best book to movie adaptation has got to be Lord of The Rings. While there has been some "liberties" taken for the sake of the big screen, it has followed the books fairly religiously. Can't wait for the next two in the series.

I'm partial to "Trainspotting" and "A Clockwork Orange" when it comes to great movie adaptations. I don't think it's important to follow the book religiously, though. "Breakfast of Champions" was fairly faithful to the book and turned out to be one of the worst films ever made.