Top five meme answers #2

[altariel]

No, I haven't forgotten, just taking my time.

katlinel asked for my top 5 SF&F hats

1. The Horned One is upon us! Herne the Hunter from Robin of Sherwood.
2. Tom Bom, Jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!
3. Jayne's bobble hat.
4. The art deco robot masks from the Doctor Who story 'Robots of Death'.
5. All of the hats in the Dune miniseries.


aervir asked for my top 5 reasons to love Doctor Who 2005

1. Robert Holmes was credited on the first episode, which made me sniffle.
2. The writing was effervescent, it bubbled up from a deep well of good humour, generosity, compassion.
3. Television for me is a participation sport. It felt like the whole country was watching Doctor Who with me.
4. All of that, all of that - and a bloody regeneration too!
5. Captain Jack!


sallymn asked for my top 5 Books Which Should be Made into Films

1. Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer: I think this would make a fabulous romcom.
2. Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold: And I welcome casting suggestions.
3. The Hobbit: I think it's time someone had a crack at it. Just so long as the colours are like Tolkien's illlustrations.
4. Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban: I'm sure it's one of those books that people would say was unfilmable, but it delivered several very strong images into my optic nerve.

I'm going to cheat with the last one, because this is something I'd like to see done on television, as one of those Sunday evening, six part family series:

5. The Islanders by John Rowe Townsend: A children's novel about a community on a very remote island (Pitcairn-like), whose stability is undermined by the arrival of a boy and a girl in a canoe. Like all really good children's novels it's a metaphor for, er, something or other. Anyway, I've wanted to try to do a script version of this for years; might even do it one day. Oh, let's throw The Guardians by John Christopher in for good measure, in the same format. (Do two telly series add up to one film? Humph, much more, in this journal.)


jhall1, I am going to have to admit defeat on your request for my top 5 books which should never have been filmed - I just can't think of any! Please feel free to ask for another top 5!

Oh, while I'm on the subject of books made into films, I thoroughly enjoyed the version of The Lives and Opinions of Tristram Shandy that's in the cinema right now, A Cock and Bull Story, starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon.

popehippo, mrs230, ms_manna, espresso_addict: your top fives are in progress.

Comments

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I'm generally credited with a fair imagination, but I can't quite imagine how Riddley Walker could be filmed and still retain even a hint of the linguistic mastery it contains.

As a post-apocalyptic tale, it's plenty strong and original, and maybe, just maybe they could convey some of the savour/saviour, wud/would/wood, heart/hart genius, but...

Well, I'd be more than willing to be astonished, surprised, thrilled. Wonder who could direct such a thing. (It's my unconfirmed opinion that Joss gave Wash the name "Hoban" as a tribute, by the way.)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I can't quite imagine how Riddley Walker could be filmed and still retain even a hint of the linguistic mastery it contains.

That would absolutely be the challenge of it. What lines could be picked out as dialogue, which bits would you have as narration, what would the accents be like... ooh, I can hear it in my head now! (I must get round to getting a RW icon.

It's my unconfirmed opinion that Joss gave Wash the name "Hoban" as a tribute, by the way.

I was wondering about that just today! (I've been reading kradical's novelization.)

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

was wondering about that just today! (I've been reading kradical's novelization.)

I did that too. It was a bit of a slog, but there were some fun background bits not found elsewhere. *Wonders why all novelizations and licensed novels can't be as good as yours.*

It's not hard to imagine Joss having run across, at an impressionable young age, The Lion of Boaz-Jachin (etc) and Riddley Walker and being entranced by them.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I loved finding out Fanty and Mingo's real names, and the reason for them.

Riddley Walker is the only Hoban I've read - which should I try next?

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

To be honest, The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz was the only other Hoban novel I've ever gotten through--it's quite beautiful, and written in more of a "plain English" style than Riddley. Some say Pilgerman is even better than Riddley but you couldn't prove it by me.

And yeah, Fanty and Mingo's real names--and Mr. U's connection with Wash--were wonderful bits to learn.