Please, Don't Screw Up Neuromancer

(freddiedeboer.substack.com)

5 points | by paulpauper 5 hours ago ago

3 comments

  • illithid0 5 hours ago ago

    The track record for book-to-TV adaptations across Hollywood is pretty poor on average.

    An adaptation can't always be 100% true to the source material, but the LOTR trilogy is a near-perfect example of how source material can be adapted well into a different medium without abandoning its spirit.

    I will be waiting to see what the reviews say after a season before I give it my time. I've been burned by too many shallow adaptations by people who seem to lack appreciation for the stories they're strip mining.

    • JohnFen 5 hours ago ago

      Yeah, what people tend to forget is that a movie only has room to tell a short story. If you're adapting a novel to a movie, then most of the novel has to get cut, so the odds of the movie being true to the source material are very, very low (although not zero). It's why I tend to avoid movies that are based on books that I value.

      A series, however, has enough time and space that it could, at least in theory, be more true to the novel. I think the odds of that happening are low for other reasons, but higher than with a movie.

      I don't have a dog in this particular fight, though. While I value the novel, I'm not an Apple TV subscriber, so I'll probably never see the series anyway.

      • dlcarrier 21 minutes ago ago

        The Lord of the Rings also taught us that it's possible to take a very short prequel novel and stretch it out so long that you have to add material, and that doing so can make it worse.