It’s not TV. It’s HBO. It’s not originality. It’s adaptation.
Game of Thrones,
Veep,
True Blood,
Westworld -- HBO is no stranger to adapting something to television and AMC has had great success with
The Walking Dead. Lord knows why because that show is absolutely terrible. YEAH I SAID IT! It’s terrible. I give AMC a pass because of
Mad Men but TWD is abysmal and when Preacher came out and op-ed pieces were written about why it hadn't become the new
Game of Thrones I was surprised no one thought to say because it was shit.
Speaking of Game of Thrones, the HBO hit based on George RR Martin's works will soon be coming to an end and despite that there will now be no less than 5
Game of Thrones spin-off shows, because we all know that stretching out a fantasy franchise based on notes, apendecies and historical events mentioned in the original story always works out well *cough*
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them *cough*
The Hobbit Trilogy *cough* (sorry I'm allergic to dead horses that are being flogged.) it leaves a window for a new show to come in and be adaptated by the premium cable network.
So what property should HBO turn to next to fill that adaptation void?
How about adapt
True Detective into a better show?
Sorry. Season 2 just hurt me a bit.
DUNE
Yes I know there's going to be a new film adaptation but I had this in a draft folder somewhere and only just re-discovered it again. I also may have had to rewrite the intro so it didn't describe Westworld as "upcoming" so let's just pretend that Denis isn't doing a remake.
Dune -- The impetus for this post, which is what my ex once called me. Impetus, because it’s like the word impotent – You’ll get it on the drive home.
I’ve been saying this for years. Firstly the notion of HBO doing a full on science fiction television show is one that isn’t readily shaken. Secondly lets get the taste of Sting in a metal jock strap out of our mouths. That’s not me making a weird homoerotic non sequitur (for a change) that’s literally something in the David Lynch’s 1982 feature film.
Based on a series of books by Frank Herbert and then continued in works by his son Brian, who actually did some good not like Tolkien’s kid because [frick] that guy, in fact just [frick] Tolkien in general yeah I know blah blah Grandfather of modern fantasy but 3 chapters on [frick]ing dinner, you’re not Dickens, at least he got paid per word to encourage dense and indigestible text, WHAT’S YOUR EXCUSE YOU NARCISSIST?!
In a sense DUNE is somewhat the science fiction version of A Song of Ice and Fire it features feuding interstellar noble houses trying to control the galaxy’s mind-enhancing drug trade while exploring themes like extreme religious cults, ecological ramifications of mining, and a Sci-Fi universe fearful of technology. It’s initially the story of Paul Atreides, a young nobleman whose family takes stewardship of the desert planet Arrakis and through a series of events rises to be a messianic figure (he who was promised?) all on a backdrop of warring empires, revolution, cloak-and-dagger espionage; political, economic and religious intrigue etc etc.
It’s also a savagely complex and detailed universe that requires a glossary and you know that world building gets real in a piece of science-fiction when you need a mother[frick]ing glossary and you know the only place that a DUNE adaptation will ever get any justice is at HBO.
LOGAN'S RUN
Logan's Run. Some of you may only know of this film from glancing into the living room and seeing your dad watching it on TV, deciding its boring old man science-fiction and then going out to the local malt shoppe or something. (I don't know what kids do -- disappoint according to my Mother). This is a film that was also going to get a remake starring Ryan Gosling, written by Alex Garland and directed by Nic Winding Refn which is all kinds of perfect and tailor made for me but the universe being how the universe is, we're not getting that.
Instead what we should get is an HBO television adaptation. Again, the allure of HBO doing more science-fiction is an ... alluring one. The story for those of you who don't know is set in that of seeimingly futuristic utopia of hedonistic lifestyles where you want for nothing -- except if you want to live over the age of 30 (21 in the book) because to maintain that lifestyle, resources and society all inhabitants have a life clock (so they can't lie about their age like my cheating ex wife -- I don't actually have an ex-wife) and upon reaching the age of 30 the inhabitants of the Dome undergo "carousel" in which they are vapourised. If you run, as some do, the Sandmen come after you. The story follows one Sandman Logan5 who in his duties of eliminating Runners uncovers a conspiracy and must run himself.
A great premise with the opportunity for some stirring action, HBO's usual display of sexual excess, political undertones, visually interesting world bulding and like Westworld or Ron Moore's Battlestar Galactica the opportunity to add some more intellectual layers and really expand and exploit the great science fiction groundwork from the original.
THE LA QUARTET
LA Confidential is one of the best films ever made. James Ellroy is the quintessential modern hard boiled detective writer, he captures a period and an attitude that makes David Mamet seem positive and uplifting. His stories are in his own words “for peepers, prowlers, pederasts, panty-sniffers, punks and pimps” and are fun for the whole family if the name of your family is the Manson Family.
LA Confidential is a great adaptation it is however a very different work from the novel in the same way that Blade Runner is the most divergent adaptation of a Philip K Dick text but is also arguably the best and (though this is a contradiction) most faithful, which is more than you can say for Divergent which – I don’t know anything about Divergent I just wanted the word play. Sorry. What I’m saying is long-form storytelling would allow for more direct adaptation of the layered and intricacies of Ellroy’s narrative.
The LA Quartet consists of four books (The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, LA Confidential and White Jazz) that span about a decade of crime and corruption in the City of Los Angeles with a large roster of interconnected and complex characters that are placed on a backdrop of real life and inspired events.
It’s pure noir, bad men in love with strong women, vigilante justice, seedy galmour, an indictment of “golden” America etc and with shows like The Wire, Sopranos and True Detective doing wonders on TV and having aspects very similar to Ellroy’s work and further feature films based on his novels never getting off the ground like Carnahan’s White Jazz or them failing terribly like Brian De Palma’s Black Dahlia, it makes infinite sense to put these expansive complex generation spanning narratives to television and no place is more suited than HBO.
THE AUBREY – MATURIN SERIES
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is one of my favourite films of all time and is, I think, a true masterpiece of cinema and a ridiculous underrated film. It is also one of the great tragedies of film that we won’t ever get a sequel to it. It makes sense to me then that we recapture that brilliance and turn to HBO to adapt the long series of Patrick O’Brian novels, something to scratch that Sharpe’s Rifles and Hornblower itch that I’m sure Dad’s everywhere have.
Set during the Napoleonic Wars and centering on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey and his ship’s surgeon Stephen Maturin as they sail under Her Majesty’s banner and get into scrapes and such under their duty to the service with wit and humour, historical intricacies, compelling characters, some finely tuned and graceful character growth and progression, thrilling nautical adventure, meditations on Patriotism, Service, War, Enemies, Science, Medicine, Friendship, Camaraderie and more
This is a series that could have the grace and historical period draw of Outlander, the character depth of a show like Mad Men and battles and action to rival any Blackwater scene from Game of Thrones. It’ll be an expensive show but a deeply rich show in both production and narrative and one that deserves another shot and should get it on HBO.
Also by the by, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World has my favourite quote of Russel Crowe’s career and that is “name a shrub after me, something prickly and hard to eradicate.”
SO THERE YOU HAVE IT. THE IP’S I’D LOVE FOR HBO TO ADAPT FOR TV. WHAT NOVELS, COMICS OR FILMS WOULD YOU LIKE SEE GET THE TV TREATMENT? FEEL FREE TO ADD, COMMENT AND CRITICISE BELOW.
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