It's almost exactly like the Guardians giving a super ring to Green Lantern, in that the original Green Lantern character was almost certainly directly inspired by the Lensmen, was he not?

Wait, isn't this just the backstory to Scientology?

(As a side note, I'm in favor of intergalacticgettiniton as much as the next lonely star-wanderer, but dude in the picture has clearly been away from home way too long.)

[www.ethanfleischer.com] = BEST FONT EVER!

"...changing it beyond recognition" is the only way this can ever be made.

I love Ron Howard's work and I was fine with it until How The Grinch Stole Christmas, which was such an abomination that I suspect Dr. Seuss imploded in his grave. Much as I would like to see the "Lensmen" series make it to the big screen, the task is monumental (believe me, I've been spending idle time for years blue-skying possible script ideas for it), and even if you can work around some of its 30's idiosyncrasies, you stand the risk of obliterating the story.

I think this will come to no good, and unless I see a trailer that comes vaguely close to some of the ideas I have in my head, I won't touch these movies with a ten-parsec pole.

Funny, i always thought Star Wars owed a lot of its concept to the Lensmen/Jedi Knights deal.

I wouldn't worry about the back story, just bring on the bug eyed monsters, blow up a few galaxies, have the butt-chinned hero look stoic,what's the problem?

Hard to find somebody hot enough to play Clarissa, though. Not a modern type willowy super model.

But it could work, there is a lot of corny humor there, and retro-heroics. IF they could make a movie out a piece of Fascist agiprop like "Starship Troopers" this should be a piece of cake.

EE Smith was very good at engineer types, and could write about what he knew.. Re-read "Triplanetary" some time.

Holy Klono! There's probably someone in ILM or similar just itching to do a nutcracker sequence. That and the coruscating beams of lambent energy, of course.

@92BUICKLESABRE: whatever Doc Smith's failings, he had nothing to do with L Ron and the clam worshippers.

Praise Zenu!

Howard should not deviate from the 30's plot, storyline or dialog. It would be hilarious in a Pleasantville sort of way.

Seriously, any attempt to update the story will just wind up another Harry Potter and the Chronicles of the Lord of the Golden Compass of the Jedi. Yawn.

L. Ron was a much less skilled writer than Smith, even though neither would win any Nobles.

He had a great imagination. This could be great, think of the Four Second Stage Lensmen giving each other crap. And all the aliens, Wheelmen, Zabriskian Fontellas, Dragons, heavy planet humans, Chlorans (or was that Skylark?)

And Clarissa is about ten times the character that either of the Star Wars Princesses were..

And as for political back story, the Star Wars rebels, lead by a secretive cult, are fighting to re-establish a monarchy?

Here's an idea for a column; "Why do so many SF political systems default to Empires or Corporate Fascism?" Are the writers secret Nazis, or just too lazy to think about political systems while they are blowing up planets?

@wishnevsky: I dunno. Why is our political system defaulting to an empire and corporate fascism?

@wishnevsky: Why would someone that writes about an evil empire be a secret Nazi? If they were secret Nazis, wouldn't they write about good empires?

@braak: Or at least, wouldn't they always have the good guys lose?

@wishnevsky: SF political systems probably default to empire or corporate facism because art imitates life.

a billion years of breeding? that bitch is fuuuugly!

@wishnevsky: Also, while we're at it, aren't there a lot of stories and books and things set in post-apocalyptic wastelands? Isn't the government there anarchic, or sometimes feudalistic?

You could realistically skim over the whole eugenics subplot, as the players themselves - with the possible exception of the Palanians - are blissfully unaware of the meddling performed on them. Keep all the technological limitations and quirks - no transistor technology until after the discovery of Medeon, Bergenholm drives and all. Especially Kinnison's space-armor, and DeLameters. If we can suspend disbelief for "... a long time ago, in a Galaxy far, far away...", we should be able to handle "on an Earth that never was:". Besides, by Klono's curving carballoy claws, I want to see million-ship battlefleets tearing into each other, until LaVerne Thorndyke gets the sunbeam working and frys them all.

PS: wishnevsky: what exactly is a Noble Prize? Is it like a knighthood?

@moff: Decadence, and a total lack of creativity. Just like what's wrong with the movies.

I can only think of Heinlein's "Double Star" as a book with an alternative political system. He had a world government with representatives elected from occupational groups (unions, pilots, dressmakers, whoever) and electronic voting, as i remember.. Been a long while since i read it though

@braak: for a given value of "good"

@AmishJohn: it's an award for typos. And i couldn't spell Pulitzer, either.

@wishnevsky: +1 for sense of humor.

@wishnevsky: Well, in addition to his concern about Corporate Multinationalism, Heinlein's novel Friday does have some things to say about democratic communism.

If I had to guess, I'd say that American and English readers already look at forms of democracy and representative government as being ideal--so, if you want to create conflict between the individual and the government, you have to create a government that is, culturally speaking, "wrong."

So, anything like tyranny, corrupt monarchies, empires, different kinds of fascism, etc.

What about the political system in Gene Wolfe's...I don't remember which one it was. The series with Shadow of the Torturer and Claw of the Conciliator.

@braak: The Book of the New Sun, it is. I just read that, and it was incredible, but I will have to read it at least three more times before I feel fit to comment on its political system, or really, on anything about it. When Wolfe said he didn't like to write stuff that's easy for people to grasp without thinking hard about it, man, he meant it.

Back to Lensmen. I think Howard is looking at a franchise here. Anybody that thinks the movies should be just like the books should have a hundred million she wants to lose. The few hundred old poots that have these things memorized wouldn't support a tv show, much less a movie.

Ok. Six books. Triplanetary is all back story, made up of a bunch of novellas i guess. First Lensman is also a stand alone. Features Kinnison's father, who, it must be said, could have eaten Darth Vader "Without greasing his ears."

Book three, Galactic Patrol, starts with Kinnison's graduation.

Btw, what a great visual writer Smith was. The first sequence has nothing to do with the plot, but what a visual.

Then Gray Lensmen, Second Stage Lensmen, and Children of the Lens. The last book is where the eugenics gets sticky, and the whole thing is not well done, to the exten that Smith was faced with the Singularity problem, and all his super women turn into Nancy Drew.

But still there is enough there for a Lord of the Rings or even a Star Wars..

Smith's gig was constant escalation, so that would be good for a bunch of sequels.

Wanna bet?

@moff: Yeah, I know. That was some trippy stuff.

@wishnevsky:
(Puts on propeller beanie) Triplanetary would be too difficult to do as a movie - too many different eras; although the Atlantean and the World War sections would definitetly set the "Alternate Universe" theme... and I want to see the Atlantean covops insertion and the Missile Tech motorcycle run through Chicago. So a valid breakdown would be 1-2, 3-4-5, 6, with no real casting connection between the first and the second/third groups, except for Mentor's voice. Then you can spin off into the other Second Stage Lensmen, Masters of the Vortex, and so on. Personally, I'd rather see the Skylark series first, but that's just a personal quirk. BTW, thanks for making me dig out my OEB repops of the series.

Actually, I believe it could be done inexpensively if you could wean Hollywood from the curse of the Movie Star. Those overpaid premadonnas easily triple a modern films budget. In fact, Howard should just say to hell with it and film it like Beowulf and use only Vactors. Use a couple of low paid anime voice actors and you've got a filmable and affordable project. Affordable =profitable=worth doing. As far as Hollywood losing its creativity, that's because they promote the biggest idiots ON EARTH to upper positions and the good, original stuff never sees the light of day.

@AmishJohn: Yes, that makes sense.. I think that the mining stuff and the working in the munitions plant are autobiographical

"I could eat a handful of iron shavings and puke a better pump than that!" has stayed with me forever.

Children could be a good movie, but it would be a lot of work.. The bonding with the kids and the aliens is a good start, but there is so much back story it might not work.. So then books 2-3 and then four and five to make a trilogy.

@spudzill: Good points. Motion capute might be the way to do, or total CGI, because Kinnison is definitely a non-hollywood type.. Well maybe the Rock or Vin Diesel if they looked a little brighter.

@wishnevsky: They are: In Heinlein's Expanded Universe, in the section on Doc Smith, he comments on same. Samms, Costigan, Kinnison, Seaton (from the Skylark books), and Stevens (from Spacehounds of IPC) are all to an extent him. The sheer numbers of aliens in the series (almost every planet in the galaxy has like of some sort on it, most often of a comprable technology level), most of whom are not 'bumpy-forehead-of-the-week' types, would lend itself far better to a full CG treatment. So you 'lose' Triplanetary, or at least up to Chapter 6: 19--?, except as a quick voice-over of the opening credits. Then start in with the Attack on Chicago, to set the Alternate Reality vibe. Then do a quick introduction of the Arisians, and start in on the main story.

You're hired. Next time Howard calls me...

"Vortex Blasters" would be great fun... I stole the alien women corps for one of my (many) unpublishable books.

And you know, Lieber's "The Wanderer" would be a great movie, it's sort of modern, written like a movie, and pays massive homage to EE Smith.

I read the Lensmen books every ten years or so. I think they could be dramatized in a "respectful camp" way. Sort of like "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow."

"Vortex Blasters" is only marginally a "Lensmen" story. I wonder if Smith tacked on the setting so it would sell better. It could be a movie by itself, though.

I have read that the "meat" of "Triplanetary" was originally an unrelated novella; the backstory was added later on to turn it into a sort of prequel.

I think the movies should be released like the original books, with the big picture kept carefully hidden.

That's a good point. Kennison never does quite figure it out. Bit of a stump.

I don't know of an earlier version of the "Singularity Problem" How do you write about something much smarter than the author? One way is to have the viewpoint character not too bright, so he doesn't get things that the reader will.

Probably an insoluble problem.

SO, if LENSMEN gets made, does that mean we might
get to see a production of Fafrid and the Grey MOuser??