DISQUS

Dave · 2 years ago

Damn this is a good list.

You have a typo in the pirates of silicon valley blurb ("remption" should be "redemption")

Also, I believe Battlefield Earth (the movie) didn't actually cover the entire book and that Travolta had planned to do a sequel. Of course, the critical reception and disastrous box office take pretty much destroyed any hope of more Battlefield Earth.

webomatica · 2 years ago

Yeah I seem to recall there were a lot more Battlefield Earth books and a sequel was in the works but it died. I really think Tom Cruise would be a cool addition though especially after he did Minority Report and War of The Worlds. I think Travolta should pull some strings...

webomatica · 2 years ago

Oh thanks... I just found a lot of typos in that article that are now fixed... gotta remember to do that spell check!

Dave · 2 years ago

There was just one Battlefield Earth book. It was just really long. I remember reading it in my teen-years. I seem to remember the Psychlo planet getting nuked maybe 2/3 of the way into the book. And the last few hundred pages dealt with the humans trying to figure out the weird Psychlo math. Apparently the Psychlo mathematical system was totally whacked and the humans were stumped, until someone realized that the Psychlos had 11 fingers (one of the hands had an extra thumb or something). Once they realized that, they concluded that the Psychlos were using a base-11 mathematical system and they were able to tap into world of Psychlo technology (like platform shoes, spy cameras and teleportation devices that don't screen for explosive materials).

Poor Psychlos, so much history and civilization only to get punked by a bunch of humans living in caves using harrier jets. p0wnd!

webomatica · 2 years ago

Ah yeah, you're right (as usual). I was confused by this "Mission Earth" series, some ten part series of books that was also written by L. Ron. Hubbard. Sounds like more of the same sci-fi nonsense.

Wikipedia Quote: "It is frequently cited within science fiction circles as one of the worst science fiction novels of all time. More forgiving literary critics usually cite Battlefield Earth as Hubbard's best work..."

Yikes, worse than Battlefield Earth?

Steven Hodson · 2 years ago

It might not be a sequel of Tron but for a movie that would be phenomenal given today's technology is John Brunner's "Shockwave Rider"

webomatica · 2 years ago

Hi Steven, I haven't heard of that film - I'll add it to my Netflix queue.

Steven Hodson · 2 years ago

Jason ... hate to break it to ya :) but I did qualify it by saying "would be a great movie" -- regardless the book is worth adding to any reading list you might have.

webomatica · 2 years ago

Well I do need to read more, and I'm hitting the library today...

QuizzicalDemon · 2 years ago

A sequel to Tron would be fantastic. I saw that movie quite a few times when I was a lot younger and the effects at the time were amazing. I'd settle for a remake of this movie aswell.

Steven Hodson · 2 years ago

let me know what you think of the book. Considering it was writen well before the advent of the Internet it is pretty amazing book and one that has stuck in my head since first reading it some 20 years ago

Rob O. · 2 years ago

I'd love to see a Tron sequel too! And I'll second the vote for an Office Space 2.

My wife is itchin' for follow-ups to Birdcage & Beaches.

webomatica · 2 years ago

Steven, well I just borrowed it from the library. I'm going into it knowing nothing about it (well, except that Engtech Twittered it was really good) - which is the way I like to start reading books sometimes.

Dr Kick · 2 years ago

I wholeheartedly agree with that "Shockwave Rider" would be great to see in film. I remember reading the book the first time some thirty years ago and have re-read it every decade since. Extremely Prescient.
BTW, "Earth Abides" by George Stewart--a 1947 classic--could make a much much more believable post-trauma series (or mini-series) than that junk called "Jericho".

Slammerworm · 2 years ago

How about "Rambo 3:2" where he goes back to Afghanistan and clobbers the 'freedom fighters' this time?

Phil Taylor · 1 year ago

I agree with the Tron and Spinal Tap sequels. Spinal Tap is sheer hilarity and as for Tron - I saw it at a drive-in back in '82 and hacked into the speaker wire to connect it to my car stereo. It was an early attempt at "home-away-from-home theater" and actually sounded a heck of a lot better than it should have if I recall correctly. This was way before they "simulcast" the audio on FM at the local drive-in theater.

Bill · 6 months ago

I would put Earth Abides at the top of this list if it were mine. This book is written so well and Stewart leans heavily on character building so even 60 years later it doesn't read bad. Some older books that relied to much on the tech of the time, think Tom Clancy, need to be totally reworked to make a movie. Not Earth Abides. Sure, the Bay Area is vastly bigger and there are certain "tech" issues, small ones, that would have to be reworked but, than again, the film could be done as a period piece set in post WWII cold war......

Its ripe and I have been trying find who owns the rights to it.