After seeing Avatar, and some of the powered armor they used, it makes me long for a Starship Troopers movie that is more faithful to the source material. Wouldn't it be great to see the mobile infantry do a space drop? Heck wouldn't it be great just to see powered armor, in ST. I'm afraid that there is no way the title "Starship Trooper" can ever be used again, without it being associated with the Paul Veerhoven pile of feces. To be fair the movie wasn't the worst I've seen, just that it wasn't anything close to the novel. Oh well, I have given up on Hollywood's interpretations of science fiction novels. I understand that movies are made for the masses, not just for the literary fans. ( After I typed the above rant, I realized that last summers Star Trek movie wasn't half bad and the Trekkers generally approved along with all the new fans, so maybe there is hope after all.) Anthony

The best CGI is CGI you hardly even notice.
Stranger in a Strange Land would be one movie that you'd need hardly any CGI to tell: but there would be a challenge in doing a book so full of ideas.

More to the point is that the patterns of thought in society that Stranger appealed to have swung just about 180 degrees away from where they were in 1961. It is now a book either very ahead of or very behind its time. A movie that was in any way faithful would simply not connect with just about everyone. Sigh.

The Verhoven steaming pile of groat clusters finally gets the treatment it so richly deserves: RiffTrax (the Mystery Science Theater 3000 guys). One night only, August 15, in theaters. Click the links for , or . Be there or be square!

Playing in my town August 15. I do think I may go.

My fiancé, who accompanied me to Butler, and is now reading Stranger, asked me a while back to name some memorable Heinlein books to see if she recognized them. When I got to ST, she exclaimed, "Oh, I loved that movie!!" Groan.

Seeing the delight on her face, I didn't have the heart.

Dan, thank you very much. She's awesome. Stranger is the perfect first exposure to the RAH written word for her. She's digging it.

OTOH, OJ, there's a story about a famous 1940s author whose books were all made into movies. A visitor told him, "Oh, Mr. Soandso, they've just ruined your novels!" He pointed to the bookshelf behind him and said, "No, they're all just fine."

All things considered, I wouldn't "un-see" ST if I were given the option. It didn't change my understanding or appreciation of the book a bit, since they barely intersect anyway.

Yeah, it's awful. But it's worth seeing for very minor entertainment reasons, some pleasantly bare skin and general "context" about why some novels should be kept from screenwriters' hands, even those with the best of intentions.

Cain sounds about right in every respect.

I will not be able to make it. Is there any info on when it will be available for download/purchase?

Re: the James Cain quote.

is the final post in a long thread discussing it. I was able to put the words in Cain's mouth as far back as 1969 in the New York Times, but I suspect that it could be found earlier (just not by me).

Yeah, I was a huge fan of MST3K in its heyday ("Hands of Manos" etc) and when I caught one of the reboots online a year or two ago I was disappointed at how they'd... aged.