Lucas Blogs About Books

At least they got the human-to-dragon scale right. Hey! Remember a couple weeks ago when I talked about how much the old Hallmark/Sci-Fi Channel miniseries based on Earthsea ? Well, now I'm gonna talk about how Studio Ghibli donked up their Earthsea adaptation! SPOILERS , of course. The Farthest Shore (1972) & Tehanu  (1990) by Ursula K. Le Guin (with a little bit of Tales of Earthsea  (2001) & The Other Wind  (2001) thrown in for good measure) into Tales of Earthsea ( ゲド戦記 or  Gedo Senki ) dir. Gorō Miyazaki, written by Gorō Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa What gives? Studio Ghibli and Ursula K. Le Guin seem like two great tastes that should taste great together. Heck, if Teto (Nausicaa's pet fox-squirrel) isn't inspired by Ged's pet otak , I'll eat my hat (Please note: I will not eat my hat). The Original: All right, let's get this show on the road. The film borrows a good deal more from The Farthest Shore than Tehanu , so I'll focus a little ...

I knew there was I reason I kept that tablet around. Okay! So, we all remember that weird adaptations series I wrote several entries of last year, right? Well, we're sort of resurrecting it. This is Badaptations, where I look at adaptations that suck, and talk about why. Expect SPOILERS  aplenty. A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) & The Tombs of Atuan  (1970) by Ursula K. Le Guin into Earthsea (AKA Legend of Earthsea ) (2004) dir. Robert Lieberman, written by Gavin Scott So, what got lost in translation when a tv producer decided to take a beloved fantasy series and adapt it as a cheap Lord of the Rings knock-off? The Original: Okay, so I've recently reviewed both Wizard and Tombs , so I'll try and be brief here. All right. Let's get cracking: Duny is the son of a village bronze smith on the isle of Gont. Like most Gontish men, Duny has reddish brown skin. Unlike most Gontish men, he displays an early talent for the Art Magic, learning a few simple spells fr...

I don't want FOP, GODDAMNIT! I'm a Dapper Dan man! Some people like to complain about the inevitable changes that occur when a story is adapted from one medium to another. But let's be honest, sometimes, the less faithful an adaptation is, the more memorable it is. So, in this series I'll be taking a look at adaptations where creators took one look at the source material and said, "FUCK THAT NOISE!" to see how that turned out. Today's Oddaptation: The Odyssey of Homer  (8th Century-ish BCE) by Homer, trans. Richmond Lattimore into O Brother, Where Art Thou? dir. Joel Cohen, written by Ethan and Joel Cohen Sing to me, muse, of those quirky writer-directors who transposed an ancient Greek epic they claim never to have read into one of the most quote-able movies ever made. The Original:  Something is rotten in the state of Ithaca. The king, Odysseus, never returned after the Trojan War (which itself took ten years) ended ten years ago. And now 100+...

Don't let Leslie Nielson fool you, this isn't a parody. Some people like to complain about the inevitable changes that occur when a story is adapted from one medium to another. But let's be honest, sometimes, the less faithful an adaptation is, the more memorable it is. So, in this series I'll be taking a look at adaptations where creators took one look at the source material and said, "FUCK THAT NOISE!" to see how that turned out. Today's Oddaptation: The Tempest (1610-ish) by William Shakespeare into Forbidden Planet  (1956) dir. Fred M. Wilcox, screenplay by Cyril Hume, story by Irving Block, and Allen Adler Shakespeare . . . IN SPAAAAAAAAACE!!!!!!!!!! The Original: Okay, let's do this! Alonso is the King of Naples, and 12 years ago he helped his best bud, Antonio, usurp Antonio's brother Prospero as the Duke of Milan. But we don't know that yet. All we know is that they're sailing back to Italy from Alonso's daugher...

This book cover is doubly dishonest: 1) it implies that these works are Tolkien originals rather than translations, and B) it implies a totally awesome scene in which Sir Gawain and the Green Knight must join forces to fight a more powerful foe (no such scene exists). Some people like to complain about the inevitable changes that occur when a story is adapted from one medium to another. But let's be honest, sometimes, the less faithful an adaptation is, the more memorable it is. So, in this series I'll be taking a look at adaptations where creators took one look at the source material and said, "FUCK THAT NOISE!" to see how that turned out. Today's Oddaptation: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight  (13XX) by ‾\_(ツ)_/‾, trans. J.R.R. Tolkien into Adventure Time, "Seventeen" (season 10, episode 5) (2017) dir. Cole Sanchez, written and storyboarded by Seo Kim and Somvilay Xayaphone Oddapta-tions, c'mon grab yer friends! We'll blog 'bout ...

Okay, so like I get why they put the dapper pig on the Beauty and the Beast cover, but why is the Porco Rosso  cover so brooding? And why don't they show the fucking plane? It's like Disney didn't even want people to buy this movie. Some people like to complain about the inevitable changes that occur when a story is adapted from one medium to another. But let's be honest, sometimes, the less faithful an adaptation is, the more memorable it is. So, in this series I'll be taking a look at adaptations where creators took one look at the source material and said, "FUCK THAT NOISE!" to see how that turned out. Today's Oddaptation: The Story of the Beauty and the Beast (1740) by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, translated by James Robinson Planché, adapted (?) by Rachel Louise Lawrence into Porco Rosso (1992) ( 紅の豚 Kurenai no Buta ( Crimson Pig )) dir. Hayao Miyazaki Or, why everything is better with airplanes. The Original: So, there's...