What book would make the best miniseries?

[forcon]

I've seen Band of Brothers, Generation Kill and Chernobyl; great series by HBO. If you could choose a book for a miniseries, what would you choose?

At first I though Red Storm Rising, but this would be top complex with just so many characters and dimensions. Maybe with the three naval officers rolled into one along with an almagation of the two American fighter pilots and/or some others it could work.

Craig Dilouei's Tooth & Nail would be a great choice: a fairly large amount of characters but all in the same general place, like Band of Brothers. That or Harold Coyle's book Team Yankee. We don't get to see modern tank battles on the big screen so I'd love to see that.

The only modern tank battle I can recall seeing is the short opening scene in Courage Under Fire to be honest.

[lordroel]

Jun 11, 2019 13:57:18 GMT forcon said:

I've seen Band of Brothers, Generation Kill and Chernobyl; great series by HBO. If you could choose a book for a miniseries, what would you choose?

At first I though Red Storm Rising, but this would be top complex with just so many characters and dimensions. Maybe with the three naval officers rolled into one along with an almagation of the two American fighter pilots and/or some others it could work.

Craig Dilouei's Tooth & Nail would be a great choice: a fairly large amount of characters but all in the same general place, like Band of Brothers. That or Harold Coyle's book Team Yankee. We don't get to see modern tank battles on the big screen so I'd love to see that.

The only modern tank battle I can recall seeing is the short opening scene in Courage Under Fire to be honest.

What about Guns of the South, it would be a good miniseries.

[James G]

Arc Light by Eric L. Harry has possibilities.
A studio would dump certain characters and bring in new ones though the book already has a good range that executives would generally approve of. Those type of people make the decisions, not script writers.
While complex, Arc Light is doable I think as a mini-series for a war.

[Zyobot]

The Axis of Time trilogy, maybe. Reading ISOTs is fun and all (more so when they have accompanying visuals spaced throughout), but I'd like to see the action unfold on actual screens.

Surely, there are other books that deserve their own miniseries. But this is the one I'll cite off of the top of my head here and now.

[lordroel]

Jun 11, 2019 19:48:32 GMT Zyobot said:

The Axis of Time trilogy, maybe.

Good series but the build to much modern stuff and to much OTL stuff to quickly.

[mobiyuz]

How Few Remain would absolutely make a great miniseries. It could easily fill out an entire season. Actually, scratch that, you could have like 10 seasons with each season following each of the POV characters: Samuel Clemens, Thomas Jackson, Alfred von Schlieffen, Frederick Douglass...really, there's an entire TV series that could conceivably be wrought out of that one book. And imagine if they pulled it off like they just did with Chernobyl, it could be the next Man in the High Castle.

[James G]

The Company by Robert Littell was made into a mini-series. The book is an excellent spy story: long and looking at many different things yet all interlinked in the end.
The TV broadcast was okay. It could have been a lot better though. I hope someone remakes it one day on a bigger budget and more episodes.

[Zyobot]

Since it actually qualifies as a book (and is available on Amazon under the title Festung Europa), I wonder how CalBear's Anglo-American/Nazi War TL would look as a TV miniseries?

[James G]

Oct 16, 2019 20:38:06 GMT Zyobot said:

Since it actually qualifies as a book (and is available on Amazon under the title Festung Europa), I wonder how CalBear's Anglo-American/Nazi War TL would look as a TV miniseries?

Honestly, it bored me to tears. It was hyped a lot, but, c'mon, it's just no good.
I can't imagine anyone would put it on the screen.

[1bigrich]

I think Clancy's The Cardinal of the Kremlin would be a good miniseries.

Any or all of the late, great Brian Daley's Han Solo Trilogy (now sold as The Han Solo Adventures would be miniseries worthy.

With the time of a miniseries, the rich detail Clancy and Daley put into their works could be captured.

Edmond Hamilton's The Star Kings would be another.

My thoughts,

[James G]

Feb 5, 2020 16:21:31 GMT 1bigrich said:

I think Clancy's The Cardinal of the Kremlin would be a good miniseries.

Any or all of the late, great Brian Daley's Han Solo Trilogy (now sold as The Han Solo Adventures would be miniseries worthy.

With the time of a miniseries, the rich detail Clancy and Daley put into their works could be captured.

Edmond Hamilton's The Star Kings would be another.

My thoughts,

Cardinal of the Kremlin is a cracking book! A real good spy story. With the Afghan rebels attacking like they did, that could fill out a mini series well.

[lordroel]

Feb 5, 2020 16:21:31 GMT 1bigrich said:

I think Clancy's The Cardinal of the Kremlin would be a good miniseries.

Any or all of the late, great Brian Daley's Han Solo Trilogy (now sold as The Han Solo Adventures would be miniseries worthy.

With the time of a miniseries, the rich detail Clancy and Daley put into their works could be captured.

Edmond Hamilton's The Star Kings would be another.

My thoughts,

There is now a Jack Ryan (TV series), but doubt it follows many of the books Clancy has written about Ryan.

[James G]

Feb 5, 2020 16:28:47 GMT lordroel said:

Feb 5, 2020 16:21:31 GMT 1bigrich said:

I think Clancy's The Cardinal of the Kremlin would be a good miniseries.

Any or all of the late, great Brian Daley's Han Solo Trilogy (now sold as The Han Solo Adventures would be miniseries worthy.

With the time of a miniseries, the rich detail Clancy and Daley put into their works could be captured.

Edmond Hamilton's The Star Kings would be another.

My thoughts,

There is now a Jack Ryan (TV series), but doubt it follows many of the books Clancy has written about Ryan.

Haven't seen it but I doubt it.
The Cardinal of the Kremlin could be used for a modern setting too. FSB or SVR head instead of KGB chairman. Power-plays in the Kremlin and Afghan terrorists would still work. The kidnap of the US scientist and failure to get him out of the country would work out too.
I think I need to re-read the book again soon!  

[1bigrich]

Feb 5, 2020 17:04:16 GMT James G said:

Feb 5, 2020 16:28:47 GMT lordroel said:

Haven't seen it but I doubt it.
The Cardinal of the Kremlin could be used for a modern setting too. FSB or SVR head instead of KGB chairman. Power-plays in the Kremlin and Afghan terrorists would still work. The kidnap of the US scientist and failure to get him out of the country would work out too.
I think I need to re-read the book again soon!  

James, 

I was thinking more along the lines of a mid-80s period fiction piece, but good point, it could be a current setting as well.

Regards,

[James G]

Feb 5, 2020 17:30:38 GMT 1bigrich said:

Feb 5, 2020 17:04:16 GMT James G said:

Haven't seen it but I doubt it.
The Cardinal of the Kremlin could be used for a modern setting too. FSB or SVR head instead of KGB chairman. Power-plays in the Kremlin and Afghan terrorists would still work. The kidnap of the US scientist and failure to get him out of the country would work out too.
I think I need to re-read the book again soon!  

James, 

I was thinking more along the lines of a mid-80s period fiction piece, but good point, it could be a current setting as well.

Regards,

It would be enjoyable to set it in the time period, yes. The Americans is something I can think of where that was done and a mini-series adaptation was made of the Cold War novel The Company too. However, it would be a big gamble for a production company / network to do and I think they would go with a modern setting: bigger audiences come.