Gallery: Best and Worst Movies Based on Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books (Sez You)
01dune-david-lynch
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 enjoyed a blockbuster opening last weekend, but none of the sparkly vampire flicks in the series made the cut when we asked Wired readers to name their favorite movies based on books. Maybe there just [aren't enough Twi-hards](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/underwire/2011/11/breaking-dawn-geeks/) among our snarky readers, who had plenty to say about other memorable book-to-screen crossovers. Most divisive: David Lynch's phantasmagoric 1984 adaptation of Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel [Dune](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_%28novel%29). Wired's readers didn't stop at that books-based experiment gone wrong (or right, depending on your position). Click through our gallery for other speculative-fiction movies that commenters couldn't help but dissect. (For the record? The only reason we passed on Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange in our original list, "[Novel Approaches: 10 Books That Became Great Sci-Fi and Fantasy Films](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/underwire/2012/10/book-based-sci-fi-fantasy-films/)," was so the director didn't hog the spotlight with 2001: A Space Odyssey.) __Above:__ Dune ---- I love the Dune saga, and would kill for a good film adaptation. David Lynch has made some very interesting-looking movies, and I like a lot of them, but as a Dune fanboy, his film adaptation of the book is atrocious. *—LHL2500* Which version have you seen? If you're talking about the original theatrical release, that was actually hated by Lynch himself, as the film company forced him to excise a lot of it to get within a specific running time. It's why he had his name withheld as director on it, and stuck the name "Alan Smithee" on instead, a tradition amongst directors who don't like the finished product. *—Beeblebrox888* How can you miss David Lynch's Dune from Frank Herbert's classic? Although maligned by critics, IMO it ranks as one of the best sci-fi movies ever. *—rpensotti* Lynch effectively invented the visuals associated with universe, even while deviating from the text's description significantly at times. I think that two consequent attempts of bringing Dune to the screen only highlight how much work was put into visuals. *—LoudRambler* Worst ever? Dune. Great book, terrible movie. *—Damian Brennan*
02clockwork-orange
A Clockwork Orange ------------------ Any list of best film adaptations of novels that includes 2001: A Space Odyssey (where the novel came after the movie) and has Starship Troopers but not A Clockwork Orange can't be taken seriously. *—John Gaspar* To be honest, I'm kind of shocked that a Harry Potter film got on this list before A Clockwork Orange. *—Jim Snider* Hell yeah! And all the more profound, in my opinion, because Burgess invented [Nadsat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadsat) as a language for the book, which was used in the film! *—JP Marchant*
03war-of-the-worlds
War of the Worlds ----------------- One of my least-favorite book-based movies is [War of the Worlds](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_worlds) (all of them). Sadly, none of them have really captured what is a truly great novel in and of its own right. Both the '60s one and the newest one are pretty far off base. The only halfway faithful adaptation was done by The Asylum and was a low-budget, direct-to-video thing. It's not a bad movie except that the special effects are so laughable. It's a shame that the writer of the Asylum version couldn't get as big a budget as the Spielberg version. Then it would have been the best sci-fi movie of all time. *—John Enfield* It's hard to get upbeat about a movie like that, especially after listening to Jeff Wayne's version narrated by Richard Burton. If you haven't listened to it, then get thee to a music store pronto, and shell out for it. It is worth it. *—Beeblebrox888*
04irobot
I, Robot -------- The worst desecration of source material was Will Smith's I, Robot, supposedly based on the collection of short stories by Isaac Asimov. The entire reason Asimov wrote the *Robot* stories (collected as *I, Robot* and *The Rest of the Robots*) was to rebut what he called the Frankenstein Complex, the idea found in all fiction to that point that man would create robots and then the robots would turn on their creator. He believed robots were a tool like any other tool and we shouldn't fear robots turning on us.... In Asimov's world, robots were tools of positive, if misunderstood, good. So, what happened in the movie? Man creates robots who then turn on their creator. The movie was everything the author of the story thought was dreadful, stupid and silly. *—MacAdvisor* Gotta agree. I'd add that, in *I, Robot* and the Elijah Bailey series of books, Asimov points out that, left to their own devices, with the Three Laws, robots are always looking at things with a benevolence never held by their human makers. The problems always come in when their human makers butt their oafish heads into the mix. The movie flips that on its head, and lambastes any points Asimov was trying to make. *—Robert Hagaman*
05onthebeach-1959
On the Beach ------------ The author of this article should have a look at the book and the 2000 movie On the Beach. *—pmarcantonio* Don't forget the [original with Gregory Peck](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Beach_%281959_film%29) and Ava Gardner. They made it during the Cold War. *—RobM111*
06contact-1997
Contact ------- Carl Sagan's Contact is one of my favorite books, and one of the books that I feel was best translated to the screen while staying true to the theme of the original. *—DukeTG*
07illustratedman-1969
The Illustrated Man ------------------- So *The Illustrated Man* isn't here? I can't understand how *Starship Troopers,* which is far and above one of the worst films I've ever seen, can be here, but *The Illustrated Man* somehow gets ignored. *—Richard Veroszlinde*
08jurassicpark
Jurassic Park ------------- Jurassic Park was one of the few movies that I liked better than the book. Michael Crichton's characters were all strict stereotypes, but decent acting and excellent direction by Spielberg was able to move past the limitations of the book. *—Anthony\_F*
09andromeda-strain
The Andromeda Strain -------------------- I'd add The Andromeda Strain to the good list. *—John Harden* The original movie. The remake was crapola! *—krreagan*
10fearloathing-lasvegas
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ------------------------------ Its not sci-fi, but Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a killer book and an even better film, thanks to the acid-trip visuals, Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro's hysterical acting and a pretty faithful adaptation of the book by director Terry Gilliam. *—Blair Toland*
