The Richness Of The Earth Book Of Stormgate is the kind of post that I can draft mentally while walking around town doing other things, in this case listening to music, without having to do any reading or rereading, and the same will probably happen tomorrow. I did not make every possible observation about the
Earth Book. For example, Hloch, writing part of the history of the Polesotechnic League while living contemporaneously with, although not within, the Terran Empire is a transitional figure between Nicholas van Rijn and Dominic Flandry. However, many such points about the
Earth Book have been made previously. It strikes me as simply the best future historical volume ever.
To complete the contrast, I ought to have summarized The Foundation Trilogy in comparable detail but didn't want to do that and, in any case, it would have required some rereading. But anyone is welcome to respond on the subject of Foundation.
Foundation, like Dune, has been adapted to screen (cinema or TV?). Will anyone adapt Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization, of which the Earth Book is just a single volume?
14 comments:
Testing
Kaor, Paul!
It beats me why some in the movie industry are willing to do adaptations of DUNE or THE FOUNDATION TRILOGY, but won't even look at Anderson's Technic stories. It may need a very wealthy patron, using his own money to have them made, before we ever see any filmed versions of stories about Nicholas van Rijn or Dominic Flandry.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
We need new actors that have never been seen before that exactly correspond to the physical descriptions of the characters. Two for Flandry, before and after biosculpt. We need the actors to sign on for the entire series, as long as it takes. If, for some unavoidable reason, the second Flandry actor were unable to stay around for the entire series, then a second biosculpt could be invented even though it was not in the books. Computer Generated Imaging (CGI) would provide perfect aliens. We should hear Planha, Eriau etc spoken with subtitles. Anglic? I suppose it would be too much for someone to invent an entire Anglic language and for the Flandry period films to be subtitled throughout? I think that novels and even longer short stories should be serialized, to leave nothing out, so the actors would need to stay around for quite a while. Alien landscapes, even on terrestroid planets, should look alien. Aenean use of Anglic differs from Terran use and this should be reflected in the dialogue. Street signs etc should have an altered alphabet. Anything else?
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I mostly agree with what you wrote here, such as how there would need to be two actors playing Flandry, before and after his biosculpt job. And any actor playing Nicholas van Rijn would need to be both very tall (I think his height of a full two meters is about 6 feet, four inches) and massively obese.
Some actors would only need to play a single role once only, as when Crown Prince Josip greeted Lord Hauksberg and his wife at the Coral Palace in ENSIGN FLANDRY. Others I would regret NOT seeing, such as Emperor Georgios.
Anderson meant us to think the ENGLISH texts we read in the stories were actually Anglic, a very different and transformed language from the one we know. But I don't think that necessarily has to mean the alphabet used by Flandry was no longer the Roman letters we have been using since, well, ROMAN times. Our alphabet has lasted so long because it WORKS, and I see no reason to think that has to change.
I think the kind of long lasting series of films we would like would need patronage by a wealthy enthusiast to work. Movie houses would be too driven by market forces to be able to take on such a project unless the first one or two films was a smash box office hit.
I suggested elsewhere that movie directors/producers might start with some of the short Technic stories, to gain experience on how to do such films. For Old Nick that would be "Margin of Profit," and for Dominic Flandry I suggested "The Game of Glory." If they succeeded directors could go on to THE MAN WHO COUNTS and ENSIGN FLANDRY.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I would prefer to start with "The Saturn Game" and move forwards chronologically. My ideas of what is right do not conform to what would currently be regarded as commercially viable. When Georgios is referred to, scenes could be added, showing him performing Imperial functions, conversing with Advisors etc.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Again, I agree. Start with "The Saturn Game." My caveat being such a long series of films made in chronological order would probably need backing by a wealthy private enthusiast. Now I'm wondering if Elon Musk has read Anderson's Technic stories? I recall Stirling saying he was, I think, a fan of Heinlein's better stories.
ENSIGN FLANDY begins with mentioning Emperor Georgios and his birthday, with the court following daylight around the globe for one exhausting ceremony after another. We could be shown Georgios presiding at ceremonies honoring his birthday or conversing with Policy Board members.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I think that such add-on scenes would be legitimate. They would expand on what we are told in the text.
At the beginning of Stieg Larsson's THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, Mikael Blomkvist has been found guilty of libel against the industrialist, Hans Wennerstrom. At the beginning of the Swedish film, Wennerstrom is shown addressing the press, accusing Blomkvist of political bias. This scene is not in the book but is fully consistent with it. Its purpose in the film is probably to give us an early visual of Wennerstrom. In the book, Blomkvist faces the press.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree add on scenes can be useful, if done well, of course. And Georgios should be shown as an old man; and probably expressing anxiety about the Starkad affair to those Advisors.
Never read Larsson's books. Impossible to read everything!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Jane Austen's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE famously begins: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." What should a film-maker do with this? Leave it out because it is not part of the dialogue? Have it read aloud by a voice-over at the beginning? A BBC dramatization incorporated it into the dialogue. When Mrs Bennett urged her husband to visit the new young man in the neighborhood and added, "Think of your daughters...," the oldest daughter, Elizabeth, commented, "A single man in possession of a good fortune..." etc as if she was quoting the novel - which she was. Very clever, I thought.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I think the BBC dramatization of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE handled the question of that famous line very well.
Other works are also remembered by famous opening lines. E.g., "Call me Ishmael," from Melville's MOBY DICK; or "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit," from Tolkien's THE HOBBIT. And the opening line of Anderson's THE BROKEN SWORD.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Two from Dickens:
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."
"Marley was dead..."
Paul.
"He'd been dead for years, and he was still angry about it."
Who wouldn't be?
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Haaaa!!! Marley had good REASON to be angry! Esp. at himself!
Another opening line from Anderson which has stuck with me: "It pleased Ruethen of the Long Hand to give a feast and ball for his enemies" (from WE CLAIM THESE STARS).
Ad astra! Sean
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