Sci-Fi - Read it or Watch it?

[Bin Qasim]

depends on my mood.........

peace

 

[Saruman]

I can't stand reading sci-fi. Even though I don't like watching it either that much, I voted to watch it.

 

[confuzzled_one]

I watch rather than read.

 

[HisKnight]

I actually prefer reading Science Fiction to watching it in a movie.
Too often the movies that are made from the books are just no where near as good as the books.
Take the movie Beast Master. It was nothing at all like the book by Andre Norton. Not set in the same time or place. The only thing that was the same was the animals and the main character being able to communicate with them. Other than that nada.
I wish that when they make movies that are based on books they would keep them like the books and not go off in a totally different direction.
The one main thing I have problem with Science Fiction books today is that too many of them have a tendency to the erotic recently like the author is afraid that people will not read the book unless it is racy.
One of the Best Science Fiction series ever written was the Foundation Stories Issac Azimov along with his Robot stories.

 

[JPPT1974]

Read rather than watch!!

 

[Ithilwyn]

Recently, I've been doing more watching than reading, but that is simply because I have not had time for reading. I enjoy both, and as soon as I'm finished with my MA, I'll be back to the books.

I agree that often movies cannot cover the full complexities of a novel, especially a novel like Dune, but I find that I still enjoy the movie, often for very different reasons than I enjoyed the book. It's like picking up another version of the same story--it has its own faults and its own merits. (Unless, of course, it is just a poorly made film. Then it has the potential to completely ruin your reading experience.)

 

[God.is.my.force]

Don't really care as long its like Star Wars instead of Star Treck type of thing.

 

[TheDandyMan]

I read it.

 

[Palatka44]

Has anyone read the series that William Shatner did that took up where the movie Generations left off? It is stories like these that are good reads. They tend to expound on the movie.

 

[greenjacketguy]

i don't really mind either way. the books are generally better, but if the movie is word for word from the book then it makes no difference

 

[MoonlessNight]

I think Dune is an excellent example of this; Herbert's novel (not even getting into the rest of the series) was light-years ahead of the David Lynch flick. Even the Sci-Fi Channel's miniseries fell short.

I don't think a movie version of Dune will ever quite work. There is the fact that the plot is mammoth and there is so much intrigue in the background that it is difficult to tell the whole story without confusing the audience, no matter the length of the movie. But even more to the point, the introspections are absolutely vital to the story; the story is first and foremost about character development and since most of the characters spend the majority of the book in preparation for one event or another it is difficult to show this development through mere actions. The verbalised thoughts in Lynch's version may have been clumsy, but I think the miniseries showed us that they were vital to making the story compelling. But Lynch's version of course fell short because even if you could sucessfully translate Dune, you of course couldn't do it in 2 hours.

 

[MoonlessNight]

i don't really mind either way. the books are generally better, but if the movie is word for word from the book then it makes no difference

Movies shouldn't be word-for-word from the book because movies are a different medium than books. Books can describe a location poetically but movies can only show us that location, for example. To maintain the same effect a location might have to be altered slightly. Similarly in books we have sometimes internal thoughts, while we usually don't in movies. So movies might have to add events to demonstrate charater development. There is also the matter of pacing. A book can generally take a while to mull about a point, and can take ages to get to its climax, but a movie does not have this luxury. So while it is important to maintain the basic and events and characters, certain events or character traits might have to be changed because they might simply not work on screen.

I do think, however, that there are some books that can simply not be adapted in a good way. Dune is an example of this.

 

[SquareC]

I like RAH's books, don't know if any of them were made into movies.

As far as I know, three were made into movies...Destination Moon back in the 50s (or was it 60s?..anyway, before my time at least) was one of the first Science Fiction movies ever made. And then there's The Puppet Masters, I can't remember when but I believe in the 80s or 90s. And Starship Troopers is also from a Heinlein novel.

Who has time to read books with the net anyway? LOL

I'm a reading addict....I make time! While I love to watch SciFi movies (I'm a huge Star Wars and Star Trek fan), I would rather read than eat! I can only get on the net a part of the day anyway, my access is limited, so that makes the choice easier, lol!

 

[Glenn316]

I wanted to vote Yes since I both read sci-fi and watch sci-fi

 

[ravenscape]

If I could do only one there is no question that I would choose to read, not watch. But I'm very glad I get to do both!

 

[LegacyOfLove]

I prefer watching it, especially "classics" like Star Wars!

 

[Telrunya]

I don't think a movie version of Dune will ever quite work. There is the fact that the plot is mammoth and there is so much intrigue in the background that it is difficult to tell the whole story without confusing the audience, no matter the length of the movie. But even more to the point, the introspections are absolutely vital to the story; the story is first and foremost about character development and since most of the characters spend the majority of the book in preparation for one event or another it is difficult to show this development through mere actions. The verbalised thoughts in Lynch's version may have been clumsy, but I think the miniseries showed us that they were vital to making the story compelling. But Lynch's version of course fell short because even if you could sucessfully translate Dune, you of course couldn't do it in 2 hours.

The extended version on DVD is WAY better than Lynch's theater version. Even still at somwhere around 4 hours it falls way short of the books.

 

[~Lady Trekki~]

I love to do both...but reading is great because there's so many more books than episodes.

 

[nvrbnunloved]

Just a watcher!

 

[DancingwiththeAngels]

you've got to read it.....that way it leaves your imagination to create all the details....when you watch it, you don't even have to be creative-everythings just sitting there in front of you....