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Who looms large in scif and fantasy,in movies, televsion and literature.

Cell check out the Star Rover By Jack London written 1915 his only fantasy novel astral projection and reincarnation, its one hell of a read the sad part is that it has been relagated to an obscurity that it does not deserve, not like anything he ever wrote. C J Cutcliff Hynd wrote the first and still greatest novle about Alantis in 1899 called The Lost Continent. If you want nasty Try Thomas Ligotti The Shadow at the Bottom of the World, He takes Lovecratian themes to who new and darker level
 
Have you read any Lovecraft, how is he? I have heard good things about him, but then I am also put off by the whole Scientology spin. I have a copy of the Necromicon, but I have never gotten around to reading it.
 
Actually, Cell, I think "I wanted the book" is a perfectly valid opinion to have of a film, although you always have to make sacrifices. I personally believe that the book deserved to get mocked, but others may differ.

Le Guin is exceptional. Her book "The Left Hand of Darkness" is an astonishing piece of work.
 
Cell look , I liked the Starship Trooper the Book, i disliked the film . Johnny Rico in the book was a cool character he passed up a life of comfort to serve his world, yeah the path to citizenship and all that. But the society that Heinlein portrayed in the book was right wing No question, . In Heinlein book you have possibility of social mobility but it requires you to give something in return ,service. Heinlein was not giving us blueprint for the perfect world. The book was about Johnny not so much about the world he lived in. Verhoeven turned it into a political diatribe against the right. He changed it from a bout johnny to about how we should all be ware of the big bad evil right wing. Of course Cell it is easy to attack Heinlein because he's not here to defend himself .
 
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KoshFan said:
Actually, Cell, I think "I wanted the book" is a perfectly valid opinion to have of a film, although you always have to make sacrifices. I personally believe that the book deserved to get mocked, but others may differ.
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I believe that they are completely different mediums and that is why I don't buy that comparison. Judge the movie as a movie, don't judge it based on a book that was made in a different medium and in a completely different way.

Gav, I don't know how you can get Verhoeven somehow going against the right in ST. He made a flick that was against fascism and for democracy, whether you be right or left.

As much as I love Heinlien, it was very clear to me from the first few pages of ST that he was pro fascism and that the book would reflect that.
 
Im sorry cell I wanted one thing and I ended up with a movie i did not like. If he wanted to do a a political statement against fascism fine but don't destroy the book in the process. Im sorry I should not stated this mess. Im not looking for fight i have already got enough people angry me. lets just movie on.
 
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Cell fair enough with regard to Heinlein, next topic man who had an impact but didn't live to see it. Phillip K Dick. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep aka Blade Runner, No there was great scif movie based on a classic. one of Ridley Scott's Finest films the only way to describe this one as scifi noir. Even today this film still amazes. Philip K Dick a man who everyone will still be reading 100 years from now. Recently they Published him in book reserved for literary classics. Dick even dead continues to have a huge influence on scif in all medium. Other movies Total Recall based on the story We Can Remember it For You Wholesale, one of two Verhoeven films that I still admire . The Minority Report which to me is one Top Cruises and Steven Spieberg's best films. Paycheck was not bad and i think If Dick were alive he be BSG's number one fan.

One more note about Starship Troopers something good did come out of it The 40 episode CGI Series Roughnecks Starship Troopers Chronicles the complete campaigns, this is good series. the series kept the satire but was more in line with the book. It's what wished the Movie could have been.
 
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Ho, yes, we've forgotten both Dick and Ridley Scott, haven't we? Blade Runner, Alien/Aliens...

I'll confess I haven't read any Dick, a deep failing of mine I'm sure, but I love Blade Runner. It's just so moody, I can't help myself. That opening crawl across LA is up there with the Star Destroyer marching across the screen in Star Wars as the finest opening shots in science fiction.
 
From what i have been hearing and reading they are going to be doing Dick's Book UB1K, that should make a very interesting film. Koshfan you haven't read Dick? Well there are a more then a few I haven't read either. He is such a great writer. interesting bit of Trivia, John W Campbell hated Dick's stories and would not accept a single story from him. When Campbell died they named a an award after him. The John W. Campbell Award I think Dick was the first Recipient of the award , hows that for irony. I think his best book is The Three Stigmatas of Palmer Eldridge.
 
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The movie Alien influences? First and for most H P Lovecraft, but specific stories that Clark Ashton Smith's Story The Vaults Of Yor Vombus and A E Van Vogt's Black Destroyer segment of Voyage of the Space Beagle. In the Movie end 1958 movie It The Terror From The Unknown, written by Star Trek scribe Jerome Bixby, The Italian Made 1965 Scif Movie Planet of the Vampires. Of course H .R Geiger'sorganic biomechanical designs for the Alien and the Derelict were inspired by Lovecraft. Alien inspired a number of Knock off films the best of which was 1985's Creature which is a fun little movie to watch.
 
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Another man of signicants in science fiction was the late British writer Nigel Kneale he is famous for a number of things sadly he is not so well known in the states. Nigel kneale co wrote the screen play for the 1964 movie adaptation of First Men in the moon a terrrific adaptation pf H G well sciece fiction novel.

But Kneals most famous creation is the character Professor Bernard Quatermass in the Quatermass serials of the 1950s and movie versions in the 1960's. The first was the Quatermass Experiment done in 1955 as tv serial on the BBC in early 50s about an astronaut who is lone survivor of crash, he been taken over by an entity that absorbs other organisms,(this was recently redone on the bbc staring David Tenant) Quatermass 2 followed about a year or two later, about aliens trying to sabotage the space program, and then the best of them Quatermass and the Pit 1958 this one done on film rather then tape, six part serial. workmen excavating a pit start finding protohuman remains then what they think is pipe later a German V weapon which even that turns out to be false, in comes Quatermass to investigate and they find something quite nasty, This last serial is probably one of the finest tv science fiction dramas ever done.(its available on dvd check the region code on this one though) this one definitely has lovecraftian elements in it. In the 1960's

Kneale adapted all three of the serial to the big screen, Quatermass and the Pit is also know as Five Million Years to Earth in 1967, one of the greatest classic science fiction movies of all time. In 1979 the last Quatermass serial was produced. I think of Quatermass as a precursor to the X files:cool:
 
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Oh yeah I first saw Quatermass and the Pit when I kid as well and it scarred the hell out of me. The scratches on the wall in the house. the poor guy that went into the capsule to get his tools and the damned light went out and he got possessed . the devil image in the sky. One scene that I still have problems with Is Colonel Breen being burned slowly alive.
 
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Cell said:
Have you read any Lovecraft, how is he? I have heard good things about him, but then I am also put off by the whole Scientology spin. I have a copy of the Necromicon, but I have never gotten around to reading it.
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I've read a few of Lovecraft's books. I enjoyed every one but I must admit that sometimes I had to re-read passages to understand what he was talking about. Perhaps it was his style or the times, but he would write pages long paragraphs that were hard to follow. And I'm not sure what you mean by Scientology spin? I guess I never really picked up on that much in his works or just didn't notice it. Maybe I need to read them over since its been awhile.

I haven't read too much sci fi by any of the authors mentioned other than Clarke. Some of the books in sci fi category that I've enjoyed have been by authors who may be lesser known or have only written a book or two.

For me it's hard to classify what is sci fi. Many of my favorite books might be sci fi/horror I suppose or what I like to call "End of the World Books." For example The Stand by Stephen King, Swan Song by Robert MacCammon, the Dies the Fire trilogy by S.M Stirling.
 
Johnny Lovecraft is considered the most important figure in Horror Literature, he did for Horror what Tolken did for Fantasy, He created a pretty impressively pseudo history and god concept and He gave us the fictional Necronomicon Grimore and he has been an influence on writers including Steven King, Ramsey Campbell (The Hungry Moon), Brian Lumley and many others Lovecraft himself by such writers as William Hope Hodgson who wrote House on the Borderland in 1907 which is one of the greatest horror novels ever written. Abram Merritt who wrote The Moon Pool in 1919, Arthur Machen who wrote such books as The Three Imposters, The Great God Pan and The Hill of Dreams, Lord Dunsany(Gods of Pegana ,The king of Elfland's Daughter, The Charwoman's Shadow,ect) , Lovecrafts Book DreamQuest of Unknown Kadath hasa writing style very like Dunsany's, He also mentions Robert Chambers of The King in Yellow being and he liked a book by Leonard Cline called The Dark Chamber as well.I think Lovecraft was a fan of such writers as Algernon Blackwood and Ambrose Bierce as well. He was friends with Robert E Howard of Conan fame and Clark Ashton Smith, they corresponded back and forth over the years never met face to face as far I know.:cool: I doubt that either Lovecraft or L Ron Hubbard ever even met .
 
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On Verne A few years ago the found an Unpublished Jules Verne novel called PARIS IN THE 20TH CENTURY its an incredible book It takes place n 1963 I won't spoil it but he made some absolutely stunning predictions in this one. yes Verne does loom large as does Hg Well's
 
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Oh yes. Verne didn't write science fiction; he just somehow predicted what was going to be invented in the next hundred years and wrote that down.
 
Verne predicted nuclear submarines, and H. G. Wells predicted tanks. Great writers, both. But, I'm not sure whether to praise them for their genius and foresight, or curse them for giving us bad ideas... :eek: ;)
 
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