How to Become a Fanboy
By John DeNardo |
Friday, June 9th, 2006 at
12:09 am
The NY Daily News offers Fanboy 101 for would-be fanboys. They cover the essential comics, sci-fi movies, Hong Kong movies and horror movies one would need to consume to be considered a fanboy. (Anime, television series and sci-fi and fantasy books to come in a later article.)
Here’s the list of sci-fi movies:
- The original Star Wars trilogy
- Blade Runner
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Alien/Aliens
- The Matrix
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
- The Day the Earth Stood Still
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- The Terminator
- A Clockwork Orange
- Jurassic Park
- Things to Come
Pop Quiz! How many were based on science fiction stories?
[link via Emerald City]
Related posts:
- Some other SW Fanboy type news
- The 25 Most Important Science Fiction Films
- For the Star Wars Fanboy
- Star Wars DVD: A Non-Fanboy Perspective
- Set Phasers To Empty Wallet
Filed under: Movies
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Well your question of how many are based on SF stories is kind of open to (legal) interpretation. There are several authors who have claimed that some of those “original” works in the list were based on their works. I recall out-of-court settlements that included money and/or credit.
“Would-be” wimpy fanboys. Real fanboys would include “Star Trek: The Motionless Picture” in their list of requirements!!!!
:-@
This is off the top of my head (no googling to check my answers)
BLADE RUNNER is based on DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP by P.K.Dick
2001 SPACE ODYSSEY is based on THE SENTINAL by Arthur C. Clarke
ALIEN, despite the claim that is it based on DISCORD IN SCARLET by A.E. Van Vogt, is actually original, and shares only superficial similarities. (In the Van Vogt story, the alien Itxl is overcome by a historian, who discovers its psychological weakness.)
DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL is based on a short story whose title I forget. In the original story, the robot Gort was discovered to be the master of Klaatu, a more shocking ending.
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE is based on a novel of the same name. I forget the author’s name. Burgess? Trollop? He is someone not known for his SF.
JURASSIC PARK was based on a novel of the same name by Michael Chriton, or Criton, whose name I cannot spell.
THINGS TO COME is based on a story of the same name by H.G. Wells.
Answer: six of the films were based on SF stories.
Interesting list of movies, but let’s not forget Forbidden Planet. I suppose with so many choices, the fanboy list would be a little daunting. So I can see how it would be left out.
You can bet when they get to Anime that Akira will be on the list. That’s one I’ve never understood. Visually, it was a good film, but I never thought that much of the story.
“The Day the Earth Stood Still” = “Farewell to the Master” by Bates.
Significantly different in many respects, especially the ending!
“Clockwork Orange” was Anthony Burgess. Quick! What was it rated in the UK? And is it yet available in the UK?
And here’s a bit of trivia…thanks to his work in inventing languages and like, Burgess was a consultant (along with Desmond Morris) on “Quest for Fire” in which he helped develope the languages used by the various tribes of the movie.
There is an Anthony Trollop, but he’s a different author!
Michael Crichton is the name you’re looking for with “Jurassic”. I always liked “The Andromeda Strain” better.
And the connection between “Andromeda”, “Day” and Star Trek is?
Of course, the works of Jack Williamson, Edmond Hamilton, John W. Campbell, Jr., E.E. “Doc” Smith and others could be the “grandfather” to Star Wars, Star Trek II and others.
I’ll agree that there is only superficial resemblance between the tale that van Vogt wrote (in either the original form or the “The Space Beagle” form), but it was enough to get van Vogt a settlement.
Ditto with “The Terminator”. I only see vague parallels with “Soldier” and “Demon with a Glass Hand”, two screenplays that Harlan Ellison wrote for the original “Outer Limits”. But again, it was enough for the court.
Anybody recall “droids” and “drones” and that lawsuit? What a hoot.
I would answer six, if you count terminator (Harlan Ellison won a judgement and got listed in the credit at some point).
But its not much of a fanboy list because I think you’ll find a lot of non-science fiction fans who’ve seen at least 8 of those movies.
Huh, I’ve seen every one of those except for Things to Come, a movie I’ve not only never seen but never heard of! Ack, I guess we have to revoke my fanboy status!
I’m familiar with the H.G. Wells story (which I thought was named The Shape of Things to Come, but maybe I’m misremembering?) but didn’t know it had been made into a movie. I assume they are referring to the 1936 version? Huh, I guess I’ll have to get it.
I too am surprised Forbidden Planet isn’t on the list.
Take my word for it (I used to work in the legal field) merely because a plaintiff settles, does not mean he admits the claim. I’ve read DISCORD IN SCARLET and seen ALIEN: my judgment is that the similarities are superficial. The short story also appears as an episode in van Vogt’s fixup novel VOYAGE OF THE SPACE BEAGLE.
Frankly, the only similarity I can see between the two monsters is that they both lay eggs in a hosts, like a digger wasp. One has acid blood, and is unintelligent, and the human host gets infected by a face-hugger who pops out of an egg on an abandonned alien spaceship. It is overcome by abandonning ship. The other is highly intelligent, able to walk through walls and control matter, carries its eggs itself, was drifting in intergalactic space, and was overcome because of a psychological weakness.
So what? If the defendant thought that the cost in legal fees, time, and bad publicity was greater than the chance of convincing a jury (a jury of non-SF readers, most likely) and the satisfaction of prevailing, the defendant would settle.
And all this talk of van Vogt, plus my current reading of Baen Books The World Turned Upside Down, plus this:
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/001568.html#001568
…has lead me to re-read the whole silly thing again!
http://theeternalgoldenbraid.blogspot.com/2006/06/space-beagle-so-there-i-was-reading.html
Never mind that sequel to Null-A, how about a sequel to Space Beagle!
[i]Take my word for it (I used to work in the legal field) merely because a plaintiff settles, does not mean he admits the claim. I’ve read DISCORD IN SCARLET and seen ALIEN: my judgment is that the similarities are superficial. The short story also appears as an episode in van Vogt’s fixup novel VOYAGE OF THE SPACE BEAGLE.
Frankly, the only similarity I can see between the two monsters is that they both lay eggs in a hosts, like a digger wasp. [/i]
It’s not just Discord in Scarlet though. It’s a cross between Discord in Scarlet and AE Van Vogt’s first published work, Black Destroyer, which features an alien predator stalking the crew of the Beagle.