The Greatest Sci-Fi Movie Never Made

The Register has been gathering suggestions, and posting also-rans, but is finally soliciting a vote for the greatest sci-fi work never (yet) made into a movie.  My own commentary on the list of 50 below, with the understanding that, gasp, I’ve never read most of these and never even heard of a lot of them.  To that end, I’ll only comment on the ones bolded.

1. The Algebraist – Iain M Banks
2. Altered Carbon – Richard K Morgan
3. The Atrocity Archives – Charles Stross – Magic as advanced math and science sounds like a non-starter as a movie, but combined with an Office-like government agency that monitors same it has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, Stross’ wit is just a bit too cerebral and/or geeky, and I don’t see this happening without some significant dumbing down.
4. The Baroque Cycle – Neal Stephenson
5. A Canticle for Leibowitz – Walter M Miller, Jr.
6. Childhood’s End – Arthur C Clarke – High concept but, ultimately, not a tale (except for, perhaps, elements of the first half) that could ever be reasonably sold.
7. The Chronicles of Amber – Roger Zelazny – Nothing could make me happier, though it would need to be an HBO mini-series, along the lines of The Tudors or Rome.
8. Cities in Flight – James Blish – Been years since I read these, and, honestly, I don’t recall much about them.
9. The City and the Stars – Arthur C Clarke – An interesting idea, but I doubt it would make a decent movie without some serious punching up.
10. Consider Phlebas – Iain M Banks
11. Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson
12. Deathworld – Harry Harrison – Certainly far more doable in today’s CG environment than ever before.  Turn it into an action hero adventure (of the type Ahnold used to play), get James Cameron to give it some eco-sensitivity, and you could have a winner.
13. The Demolished Man – Alfred Bester
14. Dorsai – Gordon R Dickson
15. Downbelow Station – CJ Cherryh
16. Dragonriders of Pern – Anne McCaffrey – This is currently in the works but not yet made.  And it certainly seems the most likely candidate I can think of to make a great SF/Fantasy movie … but also one that could be horribly mis-handled.  Here’s hoping.
17. Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card
18. Eon – Greg Bear
19. Excession – Iain M Banks
20. A Fire Upon the Deep – Vernor Vinge
21. Footfall – Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle – Some good possibilities here, though it’s been a couple of decades since I read the book.  Probably more filmable than Mote, but not as intriguing of a novel.
22. The Forever War – Joe Haldeman – This one would take some careful handling to retain the narrative structure in a way that folks would understand it, but I’d like to see it.
23. The Forge of God – Greg Bear
24. Foundation – Isaac Asimov – Classic SF, sure, but movie material?  I think not, not without a lot of creating some new, involving personal elements against the novel’s backdrop.  This novel (and trilogy) are more a fascinating speculation about future history than a story about actual individuals that we’d care about.
25. The Gap Cycle – Stephen R Donaldson
26. Gateway – Frederick Pohl
27. Hyperion – Dan Simmons
28. The Legacy of Heorot – Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes
29. Lensmen – E.E. “Doc” Smith
30. Lord of Light – Roger Zelazny – I don’t see any way you could do this movie without really torquing someone (or many someones) off.  And I’m not sure a movie setting would do it justice, though I could, again, see an HBO mini-series out of it.
31. Lucifer’s Hammer – Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle – There’s a lot of Niven-Pournelle on the list, and I attribute that to their use of visible elements and action sequences amidst the tech-speculative fiction.  While yet another asteroid-hurtling-toward-earth movie would seem a non-starter, one where it actually hits might go along with the disaster porn movement of the recent past.
32. The Man in the High Castle – Philip K Dick
33. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress – Robert A Heinlein – I think this could be done up very nicely as a movie. You’d have to pare down some of the more pedantic moments, but the overall narrative is straight-foward and workable. Even the somewhat downer ending would work.
34. The Mote In God’s Eye – Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle – I don’t see how this could be filmed and still do justice to this marvelous novel. Eleven zillion characters, many of whom have lots of internal monologue … people would get ticked off no matter how you cut it down to size.
35. Neuromancer – William Gibson
36. Night’s Dawn – Peter F Hamilton
37. Old Man’s War – John Scalzi – A bit simpler sell than the thematically neighborly Forever War, as it’s a bit more straightforward of a novel.  I think this would work (I think that’s true for most of Scalzi’s novels, and I’m surprised we haven’t seen more on the screen).
38. On Basilisk Station – David Weber – This would make great space opera, complete with space battles, twirling moustachios and plenty of bad guys to boo and good guys to cheer.  Plus, some strong female characters.  It wouldn’t be Citizen Kane, but it would be a fine movie.
39. The Player of Games – Iain M Banks
40. Protector – Larry Niven – Maybe.  Been a while since I read it.
41. Rendezvous With Rama – Arthur C Clarke – Some possibilities here, but I’d worry it would come across as a cross between 2001 and the cinematically beautiful-but-boring bits of the original Star Trek movie. Clarke tends (like Niven) to have a high concept and spend the novel with people exploring it.
42. Ringworld – Larry Niven – See Rendezvous With Rama. Though it would  be fun to see a Pierson’s Puppeteer in CG.
43. Skylark – EE “Doc” Smith
44. Snow Crash – Neal Stephenson
45. The Stainless Steel Rat – Harry Harrison – I would pay money to see this.  Hmmm.  Been a long time since I read it, either.
46. The Stars My Destination (aka Tiger! Tiger!) – Alfred Bester
47. Stranger in a Strange Land – Robert A Heinlein – I don’t see how this could possibly be filmed.  It’s a series of set pieces filled with amusing dialog and discussion about the nature of morality, humanity, and reality. I enjoy the book (in most places), but it’s not movie material.
48. The Technicolor Time Machine – Harry Harrison
49. Titan – John Varley
50. Use of Weapons – Iain M Banks

Going through the list, it helps emphasize that what makes a good book is not necessarily what makes a good movie.