Take Me To Your Reader

This time we discuss the 1981 Caldecott-winning children’s book Jumanji, by Chris Van Allsburg, adapted into the 1995 Robin Williams movie of the same name, and expanded into the new Jumanji franchise started by Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Rankings!: Colin: 1995 movie, 2017 movie, book James: 2017 movie, 1995 movie, book Seth: 2017 movie, 1995 movie, book

This month, we keep things close to home, which makes sense given that last month we were quite far from home. We go small like we’ve never gone before, diving into a local adaptation of R.U.R., or Rossum’s Universal Robots, by Karel Čapek. It’s not necessary to have gone to our local theater for the … Continue reading It’s not Jersey Boys! R.U.R, by Karel Čapek →

We had a fun time recording live at WorldCon with a few select friends in the audience, talking about games and video games adapted into movies. And with a bonus quiz from listener and fellow podcaster Andy Parry. We discuss (briefly) Battleship, Doom, and Clue, and also mention a number of other game to movie … Continue reading Live at Glasgow 2024 WorldCon! Games/Video Games Adapted to Film! →

This time we picked up a very hard to find story, “A Situation of Gravity,” by Samuel W. Taylor, which was adapted into the 1961 movie The Absent-Minded Professor and the 1996 remake Flubber. The story was originally published in the May 22, 1943 issue of Liberty magazine. We couldn’t find that. It was also anthologized in … Continue reading Flubber Colonoscopy! (The Absent-Minded Professor/Flubber, based on “A Situation of Gravity,” by Samuel W. Taylor →

Ben DeBono from The Sci-Fi Christian joins us once again to discuss a slow science fiction movie and the book that inspired it. It’s Roadside Picnic, by the Strugatsky Brothers, adapted by Andrei Tarkovsky into Stalker. SFC episode about Ben catching up with the Criteron Collection: http://thescifichristian.com/2023/08/episode-1107-criterion-completion/ SF 101 episode about the OMSI Science Fiction … Continue reading Stalker, based on Roadside Picnic by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky (with guest Ben DeBono) →

It’s unfortunately time to talk about the A Wrinkle In Time adaptations. We also discuss the book, of course, but I tried to pull back a bit since my fuller thoughts on the book are also covered in my Hugos There episode with Mandy Self: https://hugospodcast.com/podcast/a-wrinkle-in-time-by-madeline-lengle-feat-mandy-self/ Rankings! Colin/James/Seth: book very large chasm, perhaps a cloud … Continue reading A Wrinkle In Time, by Madeline L’Engle →

In this episode, we discuss the new Adam Sandler movie (okay, it came out March 1st, but it was new for us!) Spaceman, based on Spaceman of Bohemia, by Jaroslav Kalfar. It’s an interesting adaptation of an interesting book, but don’t go in looking for an action movie. It’s not necessary to read the book … Continue reading Arachnotherapy! (Spaceman of Bohemia) →

We saw Dune: Part Two, then grabbed dinner, then got together to discuss our thoughts on the second half of Villeneuve’s Dune adaptation. We all loved it and welcome any other SF adaptations he wants to do in the future.

The guys follow up their coverage of The Lightning Thief by discussing the first season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rankings: Colin/James/Seth: book/series/a very large gap/movie

This is the first of two episodes we’ll do on The Lightning Thief. In this one, we just discuss the book and 2010 movie. We’ll get to the series next month once it’s complete. Rankings!: James/Colin/Seth: book/movie (duh) A couple of links: My blog post that I resurrected and commented on: https://pavementpodcast.com/the-lightning-thief-movie-how-to-badly-adapt-a-book-a-case-study/ Rick Riordan’s reminisces … Continue reading Those Meddling Satyrs: The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan, Part One (2010 movie) →

A quick end of the year episode about the new Disney+ short film (40 minutes), Shepherd, based on the Frederick Forsyth novella of the same name. I believe the story is more well known by folks in Britain and former Crown Colonies than it is to American audiences; this was certainly our first experience of … Continue reading The Shepherd, by Frederick Forsyth (and 2023 short film) →

While James was away in South America, Colin’s younger son, Tim, joined us for a discussion of H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds, along with several adaptations, including the radio play, the classic movie, the 2005 remake with Tom Cruise, and the 2019 BBC limited series. Rankings! Colin: 2005/novel/Radio Play/1953/2019 Tim: novel/Radio Play/2005/1953/2019 Seth: … Continue reading The Woking Dead (The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells), with Tim Kuskie →

This time we just roundtable some other Dracula-adjacent material we’ve consumed. Consider it a DVD extra from our previous episode. Works referenced (not exhaustive): Van Helsing (movie) Renfield (movie) Love at First Bite (movie) Dracula Untold (movie) Dracula Daily (book/email subscription) The Dracula Tape (book) Blade (film series) Underworld (film series) The Strain (book and … Continue reading Dracula-Adjacent (movies, TV, books) →

This time, the guys discuss Bram Stoker’s classic horror novel, Dracula, and two of its direct adaptations, the classic 1931 Universal movie, and 1992’s lavish Bram Stoker’s Dracula, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. We also mention quite a few other direct or slightly indirect adaptations. Rankings! Colin: 1931 film, book, 1992 movie James: Audible version, 1931, 1992 … Continue reading So Many Transfusions! (Dracula, by Bram Stoker) →

On The Beach, by Nevil Shute (feat. Michael Simshauser) (Content warning: discussions of suicide and euthanasia) Michael Simshauser, our favorite Aussie and longtime friend of the pod, joins us for a long awaited discussion of Nevil Shute’s On the Beach and its two film adaptations from 1959 and 2000. We do try to keep the … Continue reading On The Beach, by Nevil Shute (feat. Michael Simshauser) →

This time, the guys welcome back Dr. Phil Nichols to talk about the recent adaptation of H.G. Wells’s “The Crystal Egg” by the Planet Zoom Players, as well as briefly touching on the Tales of Tomorrow adaptation from 1951. Rankings: Colin: PZP adaptation, story, Tales of Tomorrow James: PZP adaptation, story Seth: PZP adaptation, story, Tales of … Continue reading The Crystal Egg, by H.G. Wells (feat. Phil Nichols) →

Spoilers abound! The screenplay for The Last Voyage of the Demeter has been passed around Hollywood since the late 90s. It’s finally in theaters, and the screenwriter, Bragi Schut, joins us to talk about the new movie, based on a brief chapter of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. (Chapter 7 “Captain’s Log” if you want to read it.) We … Continue reading The Last Voyage of the Demeter (with screenwriter Bragi Schut) →

It’s summer, and Shark Week, so the guys take on Steve Alten’s 1997 novel Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror and its 2018 action movie spectacle starring Jason Statham. Rankings! Colin: Movie/Book James: Audiobook/Movie Seth: Movie/Book

This time, the guys consider Isaac Asimov’s excellent short story / novelette “Nightfall,” adapted to pretty dreadful movies in 1988 and 2000. Rankings! Colin: story/1988 movie James: story/2000 movie/1988 movie Seth: story/2000 movie/1988 movie

This time, the guys hop in the way back machine to 1909 and William Hope Hodgson’s short story “A Voice in the Night” and its small screen adaptation (Suspicion S1.E24) and big screen Japanese adaptation (Matango, or Attack of the Mushroom People!). We neglected to rank them, which is surprising. Maybe we were distracted by … Continue reading Fungal Furor! (A Voice in the Night/Matango) →