What should we do next?

[sistermagpie]

> Magpie: 
> > > Many adaptations do do that, though. 
> 
> Geoff (now):
> Excuse me? Would you care to quote me a film based supposedly 
> on a book where the story line and the character names have 
> been changed?
 
> I can think of films - the various incarnations of "War of the 
Worlds" 
> for example where the story line has been completely messed around 
> and could have been given a totally different name.... But to 
revamp 
> the whole lot is just pointless in terms of saying that it is based 
on 
> or adapted from. Why bother? Just invent your own name.

Magpie:
So you just named one yourself. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, 
while keeping the name, I believe does it too. Lady from Shanghai, 
The Seeker, Great Expectations....

The answer to "why bother" is that you might have a title or original 
property you think might bring people in or is worth something or you 
just started out by buying it. Movies revamp things whenever somebody 
at the studio thinks something would work better in a movie. They 
don't always feel it's necessarily to be true to the original. 
Sometimes you can't.
 
> Geoff:
> My main grouse continues to be where the adaptations either leave 
> unanswered  questions which are resolved in the books or alter the 
> story line which can cause trouble in further adaptations. One 
instance 
> coming to mind was a TV version of  Catherine Cookson's "The 
Mallens" 
> where the two leading characters were killed off at the end of the 
screen 
> version. This therefore ruled out the possibility of the remaining 
two 
> books being filmed because the author **didn't** kill them and the 
> story as she continued it needed their existence.

Magpie:
The opposite happened in Jurassic Park--the book killed off a 
character left alive in the movie. I believe the author decided he 
hadn't died after all when he wrote a sequel.

But somebody could decide to adapt the second book without attaching 
it to the first movie. There have been three Ripley movies that I 
recall. Two are based on the same book though both change the ending 
to make filming the sequels seemingly impossible. The other is an 
adaptation of one of the later books that doesn't acknowledge either 
of the earlier adaptated books.
 
-m