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I feel... conflicted.

Announcement (http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2333693)

Came here to post this. As a massive, massive Iain M. Banks fan I am super stoked for this. I don't know how well his dry and witty writing will translate to TV action however.

Hmm, the guy behind Utopia being part of it gives me some hope. Not 100% convinced it's the right fit but willing to give it a go.

I think a TV series for the book is much more liikelly to work than a film. I used to think that Excession would be a great adaption but having re-read it (again) recently I'm less sure.

I dunno. The recent successes of things like Altered Carbon and The Expanse are encouraging.

On a service like Amazon, it will probably work.

Ummmmmmmm.

Oh.

Um.

Sure.  Let's hope for the best.

Pretty much the same conflicted and anxious feelings I have for their Tolkien project.

Yeah. I mean it's essentially an unfilmable mess as one overarching story unless you plan to change the cast/timeframe every season. But given the freedom that creators seem to have on Amazon, I'm willing to give it a hopeful chance.

wait, what?  WHAT???

(goes and Googles)

Shit, I've been saying since the PJ movies came out that this needs to get done as a miniseries.  They'll probably find a way to fuck it up but I'm excited by the possibilities.


Okay, back to the Culture.  So now that it's being made a series can I skip the books?   :why_so_serious:

No.  You may not.


Edit :  Except for Excession, which was shit.

I'm with Zod. No way the really interesting themes of those works translate to TV even if they magically are able to make a story arc out of it.

Amazon has been making some great TV and we're in an era where hard sci-fi is being done well (Altered Carbon, The Expanse). I've only read one Culture novel, but I think this attempt stands a chance.

Altered Carbon was one fairly straight forward book. Expanse is a series with a pretty obvious eye to adaptation from the jump (not to its detriment, but its clearly there). 

I like what Amazon has done with High Castle, so who knows, but I just don't see it working as anything other than a pale imitation that boils down to "oooooo, sentient ships."

I...

I want to believe.

Let's put it this way: if Star Trek took all of its tech and ideas seriously (what's a post-scarcity civilization like? hey, your computer talks and thinks, isn't that important? so, this Prime Directive thing, really, you know there are problems with it) etc. it would be the Culture. And that doesn't seem entirely impossible.

I think if they have the right to do Player of Games or Excession, they have two really good story templates right off the bat.

If they do Player of Games and screw it up, I will end them. The show runners, Bezos, their fucking pets, the kid they sat next to in 9th grade. I will erase every sign of their existence.

--Dave

I liked Excession. It took the piss when the culture needed it.

The Culture needs it. I think, especially in later books, Banks kinda felt the need to show more of the Culture's downsides, hidden under the shiny, happy, utopia.

I got the impression they're doing Consider Phlebas, which is almost an episodic adventure. Although I suspect they'll play it straight, rather than being a bit of an ironic take on a space opera. (The main character is, by and large, on the wrong side and in the end nothing he does really changes much in the big picture. Which is absolutely the opposite of space opera tropes).

I worry more about the guts of the Culture being....whitewashed, so to speak. Drones turned into androids or robot models (cheaper on the FX), the cast pretty much stock from Sci-Fi (mostly white, straight, probably a love triangle), and then the special effects budgets to cover something a GSV, or an orbital.

Corporation owned by world's richest man to adapt vehemently socialist books.

I'm sure this will end well.

Consider Phlebas is a good one to start with.  It lends itself well to an episodic piece.  The only better one would be either Player of Games or Use of Weapons.  Ironically I did all three for my dissertation, so I'm fairly sure they could be done fairly readily for the screen.

The trouble is, television doesn't seem to lend itself much to subtlety these days, something I really think you'd need.  It's also sometimes quite tricky to bring the more....morally challenging stuff to the screen.  (I'm interested if they're actually going to film the Eater and what that would look like !)

I don't know.  Hopeful.  But not really.

I would love to see it done right, but expect it to be shit.

Consider Phlebas would be an interesting season long arc but I'm not sure how well it would set up a second season. Player of Games would make more sense seeing as how the main character is on the Culture's side as opposed to Phlebas. It's also a fairly straightforward plot. Either one could be really good or could be done for shit. Since this is Amazon and not SyFy, I'm going to lean towards at least being not shit.

Electric Dreams called and would like you to reconsider.

I haven't watched it yet but it's Dick. Adapting his stuff into a good story is very difficult.

I watched it and it was indeed dick.

Why are people so down on Electric Dreams. I'm 5 episodes in and I love it. I mean, it IS Philip K Dick, and THAT is not for everyone, but as far as I'm concerned, they are doing a better job of it than anyone has thus far.

I hear this in my head. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE1lzqJCeJ0)

I can't find it, but I recall an interview with Banks where he said that if anyone could pull off the Clear Air Turbulence escaping from the GSV he didn't care much what happened to the rest of the book.  We shall have to see!