Will need to add to my books watchlist. Cheers!

Check out the special edition, it's obviously the same movie, but much better. I thought the Theatrical edition was decent (liked it more than Resurrection and I thought to was fine).

You can on BlueRay or just type "Alien 3 Special Edition" in rutracker[dot]org if you are OK with sailing the high seas.

I will also recommend the Prometheus Chaos Edition fanedit and Alien: Covenant Ninth Circle Edition fanedits.

I have these versions in my collection and not any official cuts. Especially for Prometheus, it makes the movie far more coherent and less stupid. It's interesting that mostly extras and deleted scenes were used (some promo content was also integrated in a well done way) which suggests that the problems with Prometheus are mostly due to the editing, seems like Ridley Scott has lost interest in the Alien franchise.

PM me if anything.

Have you seen the "Special Edition" of Alien3?

It works out a lot better overall.

I would rather fanfic-tier adaptions (e.g. Man in the High Castle, Foundation) were not made. I don't have issue with creative adaptations or re-interpretations, or even attempts that don't go well. I do have issue with taking the setting and making up some random concept. Make up your own settings.

Season 02 of True Detective was all in all a better production than Season 01. The first season was objectively better made, the second was in many ways flawed, but it had a realistic ending and more gritty motifs.

Mini series or tight single season series are generally much better quality than multi-season narrative driven productions. This of course doesn't apply to sitcoms, anthologies, [show concept] of the week series where there is minimal emphasis on a broader narrative arc.

I would be happy with any prequel/sequel to Event Horizon.

Perhaps something completely novel but set in the same universe.

I would go with works by Jose Farmer and Roger Zelazny. The shortlist just reflects my personal favourites.

I actually haven't read anything by Poul Anderson, although I am aware of his contributions. :)

I think the key fun part is the creepiness of the children naruto-running into the void, and the rest is the movie just serves as an excuse to platform that.

Agreed. This is perhaps the biggest problem with the movie. There are a lot of engaging elements to the movie (the split perspectives, the interesting characters), but it feels like they were shoehorned into the main "creepy children running into the void" hook. Arguably, we saw something similar in Barbarian which had a great intro with the two characters being forced to share the same temp rental unit (and then things go downhill from a quality perspective).

I would support this.

An adaption of Philip K. Dick's The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, but with no "streaming production" bullshit.

Synopsis:

The novel takes place in a future 2016 where humankind has colonized every habitable planet and moon in the Solar System. To cope with the difficult life away from Earth, colonists rely on the illegal hallucinogen Can-D, secretly distributed by corporate head Leo Bulero. New tensions arise with the rumor that merchant explorer Palmer Eldritch has returned from an expedition in possession of a new alien hallucinogen to compete with Can-D.

Either make it follow the novel closely or make it a truly creative take where it's set in a completely different setting but follows the spirit and the themes of the novel.

I would argue the The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch in particular has a lot of potential for a full re-interpretation structured as commentary on our current reality. The synopsis does read like a pulp scifi novel, but there is a lot to it and the Can-D psychedelic (very cool description of how it works in the novel) and "difficult life away from Earth" motifs can be adapted for modern challenges. I don't think the novel was meant to be interpreted literally, the outline is more of a foundation for other questions/points.

A well made adaption of John Brunner's The Sheep Look Up. The Shockwave Rider would probably be a better fit for modern issues, but I think The Sheep Look Up would be more unique. Stand on Zanzibar would also be a good target but I feel the over-population concept (as described in 70s western media) hasn't aged that well. You stand the risk of making a campy movie like Soylent Green (I like it, but it's more a 70s scifi experience for me). That being said, I would probably be fine with any good adaptation of Brunner's famous works.

A proper adaption of Isaac Asimov's The Gods Themselves. Asimov was often criticized for not including aliens in his novels/series. Well he did include aliens in this one and they are nothing like your typical scifi movie. It's not as well written as Solaris (perhaps the most intense depiction of alien life that I've experienced in any media), but it's pretty damn good. The Gods Themselves is probably the easiest one to adapt into a movie since the high level plot is pretty straightforward. The lunar parts would look great and then there is the alien world and society...

All of these would probably not pass the mass market adaption requirement. And I am not cool with "fanfic for the mass market" type adaptions. Make your own creative take, but make it crazy, make it live up to the main magic of the novels.

So I am very picky with series and I rarely start stuff that I feel I am on the fence on and I drop stuff pretty fast it I am not feeling it.

That being said, there were a few huge disappointments that I regret wasting time on.

Man in the High Castle - I didn't know this was a fanfic-level script that just used the setting. Up until the end of the second episode, I was still hoping that it would at least loosely adapt the story of the book. I was really disappointed when I realized it would be purely a fanfic story when I watched episode 3. An adaption of the book could have made for such an intense ending.

Alien: Earth - Forced myself through the first three episodes. Did not like it all, Peter Pan stuff, uninspired characters, trying too hard to be edgy (while still being fundamentally PG in its themes). Then I heard that Episode 05 was a cool self-contained episode that offered a nice throwback. Watched 15 minutes of it and turned it off. Absolute trash.

Ring of Power - I am a big fan of The Silmarillion even though IMO it's rather dense and difficult to follow. Watched a single episode of Ring of Power and I immediately dropped it (not getting fooled again).

I will just say that it's relatively easy to enjoy the first seasons by itself, although a second season would have been nice.

I discovered this earlier this year. I thought it was great, it couldn't have been purely nostalgia as I never saw this series until 2025.

The acting can be so-so, the CGI definitely hasn't aged well (although I don't mind at all and even like this aesthetic), but if you like cyberpunk you'll enjoy this. The setting oozes with style.

It's a mix of main story arc and self-contained cyberpunk detective stories. Unfortunately, there is only one season.