Lucas Blogs About Books

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...

Oh my! How ribald! Eww. You're one of those people who  reads  plays? I should have seen this one coming. Yes, I agree that, ideally, I would go to the theater and see actors performing plays, rather than read them. And I may have seen a production of Lysistrata  before (it's been a while, it may have been some other Greek comedy). And I'm sure some drama society or another has uploaded their performance to YouTube . But, I saw this at the used bookstore and said, "Sure, why not." A ringing endorsement. So, what's this book's deal? The deal with Lysistrata (trans. Douglas Parker) is that it's a comedy by Aristophanes that was first performed in Athens in 411 BCE. You're probably familiar with the plot, Hypothetical Reader, but I'll humor you. Lysistrata convenes a meeting of the women of Athens with representatives from Thebes, Corinth, Sparta, etc. with the goal of ending the  Peloponnesian War . Her plan: the women of Greece will al...