My last couple articles, on the opera Doctor Atomic, and on Wired’s recent article about Max Butler’s hacking scheme got me thinking about adaptations, and stories that I’d like to see adapted from fiction or non-fiction to another medium, be it film, television, or even the stage. This is a topic I’ve thought about in the past on other forums, from “Movie’s you’d most like to see re-made” threads to “Novels you’d most like to see turned into movies” to “Anime adaptations you’d most like to see.” However, with all of these threads, they’ve been generally been tied to some sort of video media – anime, film, TV series. I’m expanding this list to address materials that aren’t video – the stage. My list of projects is below the cut.

First, is The Cuckoo’s Egg. While it was adapted to a 1 hour episode of Nova back in the 80’s, I wouldn’t mind something longer, sticking with the book, either as a docu-drama or as a full documentary. I’d like something about 2 hours long. One of the things I liked about the book is the tone of the book. Obviously, Stoll wrote about his own experiences, but unlike most biography’s and memoirs, Stoll’s tone is very informal – even doing an aside during the book to share a Chocolate-Chip Cookie recipie. Whatever adapatation was done of the book would need to preserve that tone – meaning a docu-drama would probably need voice-over narration by whoever was playing Stoll, or something.’

Second on my list is Dune. Dune has been adapted for the screen twice, as movie by David Lynch, and as a mini-series for the Sci-Fi channel. I liked the decor of the Sci-Fi channel miniseries, and I liked that more of the story was included, particularly very important stuff like Paul’s fight with Jamis – which helps sets up a lot about the Fremen, as well as providing some important character development for Paul. However, the movie includes a bit more of the background of the setting, particularly the inclusion of CHOAM. What I would like to see in a new adaptation in terms of the format would be either a Anime adaptation,  or an opera. Yes, an opera. I don’t know how you’d pull that last one off, but I’d love to see it happen.

Next up is Spam Kings – this is a book I’d like to see adapted into a documentary, possibly with an expantion into botnets, how they work, and some of the drama related to that. I found the book to be a facinating read, one that could fairly easily translate into a documentary format.

That’s all I’ve got for the moment. I’ll probably think of some more stuff later, and when I do think of that, I’ll do another list.