Gerrold finally gets a movie

[thatcrazycajun]

With all the big-budget movies being made of both greater and lesser science-fiction authors' works (Heinlein, Asimov, LeGuin, Dick and Farmer among others), one singular talent has until now been overlooked by the movie studios. Despite a four-decade career spent writing almost as many scripts for Hollywood as novels for print and winning multiple awards, David Gerrold has never, to my knowledge, had a film based on his work.

That ends in two weeks, on Nov. 2nd, when Martian Child, based on a Gerrold novelette, hits theaters. The original story won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, and is based on his own relationship with his adopted son. It is also the first major motion picture based on the work of an openly homosexual SF writer, and thus deserves that much more to be noted.

I have a sentimental attachment to Dave and his work; in addition to his famously having written far and away the most popular episode of the original Star Trek series, "The Trouble With Tribbles" (and a sequel for the animated series a few years later), and having been on the writing staff of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Dave was one of the main guests of honor at the very first convention where I worked on staff, AcadianaCon '79 in my home town of Lafayette, LA. I can still see him in my dim memory, sitting in on panels and twiddling a Rubik's cube (this was at the height of the original cube craze). He also wrote an excellent essay column for Starlog early on, and some Babylon 5 episodes (thanks for reminding me, Hal). So I'm glad to see him enjoy this latest success, for his own sake and for that of the movement toward equality and understanding for the LGBTQ community.

What's your favorite film based on a literary work? Mine is probably the Jackson Rings trilogy—though I did actually enjoy the films of Starship Troopers (maybe due to lack of familiarity with the original novel) and The Puppet Masters (even though I had read the original).

Comments

What, what?

[wordwitch.livejournal.com]

*boggle*

David Gerrold was gay????? B .. but he was with Diane Duane there for a while ....

Huh??

Re: What, what?

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia's page states that he is gay; I myself had not known until now. He's been single for so long, however, that I have long suspected it.

Re: What, what?

[wordwitch.livejournal.com]

Okay. Okay. I can accept this. It's actually (she said, all her hubris coming to the surface at once in the sheer cheek of saying it) a more acceptable answer to the puzzle of why a man who wrote such a ... a ... thorough recommendation to her first novel would then have ceased cohabiting with her than that he then got bored, or they terminally fought, or some such.

Re: What, what?

[(Anonymous)]

re: Gerrold and Duane. She worked as his assistant while she wrote her first book and he liked it so much he helped her get it published. But a romantic relationship? Uh-uh. Someone who knew them both said that Gerrold and his boyfriend were very pissed off that Diane Duane was letting people think that.

Gerrold was at Gaylaxicon this year and he said he'd been out to family and friends since the early eighties, it was never any secret and he never denied it if anyone asked. He said he was surprised that other people were surprised when he acknowledged it in The Martian Child. He though everybody already knew.

[junquegrrl.livejournal.com]

what Frederick Pohl work has been made into a movie? For Farmer, are you referring to the SciFi channel's "Riverworld"? I clearly have not been paying close attention...

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Sorry, momentary confusion on my part; Pohl should not have been on that list. I had mistakenly attributed to him another author's story.

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

If film can be stretched to include television, the BBC miniseries version of Pride and Prejudice. If not, probably the first Harry Potter movie, but I have an extremely limited range to go on, since I almost never watch movies.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

The Princess Bride. I find lots of faults with it, but on the whole, it's one of the best adaptations Hollywood's ever done. And it has the second-best swordfight scene in film history.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

>>And it has the second-best swordfight scene in film history.<<

Okay, I'll bite: What's the best swordfight scene?

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Danny Kaye vs. Basil Rathbone, The Court Jester. It has both serious swashbucklery and some of the great comic moments.

TPB could have been equally good, but one of my great sorrows is that they opted to put Cary Elwes (Westley) in a half-face mask, rather than a full-face one, as in the book. That crippled one of the best lines from the book: "You cannot tell because I am wearing a mask, but I, too, am smiling...I am not left-handed, either." (Of course, casting Elwes as a hero in the first place was a mistake, but it was early enough on in his career that he hadn't proved how brilliant he is as an oily villain, and how mediocre as a hero.)

[smoooom.livejournal.com]

Part of me just wants to shrug and say "so what" Why is it such a big deal when a book gets made into a movie? sometimes it seems like a book doesn't really exist until hollywood makes it over.

[trektone.livejournal.com]

There are others on my friends list who know Mr. Gerrold, so they'd probably get this more right, but I thought he wasn't very "out" as a writer even as I don't think he denied being gay. I believe I'd heard him speak about his personal life being personal in the past. Seems less of an issue these days. Anyway ...

I definitely enjoyed the Lord of the Rings movies by Jackson more than the books. Other genre films based on previously-published stories:

- Charly (based on the short story "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes -- I understand there was a TV version that preceded the movie, also starring Cliff Robertson, but I've never seen it.)

- The Andromeda Strain (based on the book by Michael Crichton)

- Hellraiser (based on the novella "The Hellbound Heart" by Clive Barker)

- The Wizard of Oz (can this count?)

- The Haunting (based on the book, "The Haunting of Hill House," by Shirley Jackson)

- The Omega Man (based on the book, "I Am Legend," by Richard Matheson. Not a fan of Charlton Heston's politics, but enjoyed him in this.)

The last one reminded me of other Matheson-inspired films I liked such as "The Legend of Hell House," "The Incredible Shrinking Man," and the tv movies, "Duel" and "Trilogy of Terror."

[osewalrus.livejournal.com]

You missed his B5 credits, including one of my favorite episodes, "Believers."

My best movie based on a book? A Man for All Seasons. Runner up, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

Princess Bride! Followed by the Jeeves and Wooster tv series.