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Adaptations

Rexenm

Inkling
Would a book make a good game, or a movie? I was thinking about games that would make good books, but I think it is easier that way. If you can get into the head of a character, then you could bridge the gap between genres, and make whatever you like. If you like one, it is not guaranteed that you would like the other, if you get what I’m saying. It is as easy as visualising, then going on from there.
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
For me the first thing to realise is that a Book/Game/Movie is not the same medium.
They need to be approached differently.
When done well [To Kill a Mockingbird - is the best I know of] you get the feeling/meaning of the original in the new media.
Or you can go completely the other way and take just an idea or two and make it anew.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Blade Runner are ones I know. The stories are very different but there are a few common ideas and aesthetics,
The main trouble with adaptations is that you are almost certain to annoy some of the fan base.
I love Tom Bombadil in LotR, but that character is missed out of every[?] adaptation [Radio, Film, Stage] I've seen.
 
Tom Bombadil kind of deserves his own story I think and I am just sitting here ⌚️ waiting for the adaptation.

I would say that The Great Gatsby is one solid example of a book that can’t be translated to screen and convey the same feel and message.

Examples of it being the other way around are The Witcher - that became a really successful game, and is now a TV series. It probably helped sell more books, and the same for Game of Thrones the TV series helping GRRM’s career to no end!

Lord of the Rings is one example of both the books and the film adaptations being very successful, and that’s because the right people did them imo.
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
Oddly, I'm not feeling like I need more of Tom Bombadil.

Not sure where to go with this question. Obviously, many stories have made the jump between media, some with great effect, and some not so much.

I would think going from book to video game would be easiest, as I can somewhat capture the same POV, but a lot would probably have to be adapted. I am not sure the same happens in reverse...if I take a video game to a book, I think I would find the video game players would not be the types that would run out in droves to buy them.

I suspect anything can be adapted to another medium. It would probably fall on the producer to do it well. Many of them may not have the true love or resources to do it justice, and so....so much ends up with the original being better. But clearly it has been done.
 

Rexenm

Inkling
Tom Bombadil was a topic for us at school. We missed him in the movie, and we missed him in the game. I think the big fella is all sorts of unreliable. Maybe that is what makes him so special, and so is equanimity wrong.
 
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