It would certainly appear that sci-fi novels are the newest idea for streaming TV shows. This has to do a lot with the success of shows like Game of Thrones and The Handmaid’s Tale since those two epic tales came off of books that were finally turned into live shows that had a great deal to do with their source material. While there are bound to be differences between the actual production and the book there is still a great enough link to understand that those making TV shows are starting to look at the bookshelves rather than the comic racks.
There’s nothing wrong with comic book or video game movies except for the fact that there are so many already in production and so many that have come and gone without catching on with audiences that they’ve become a less than certain source for a good story (cough, cough, Inhumans, cough). Novels tend to tell a much richer story without so much back and forth nonsense that the comics are so fond of performing and without the constant renovations that comics are notorious for (can anyone ever really die in a comic?).
Novels are also a great idea for streaming TV shows because unlike comics they do in fact have a well-defined start and an end to them, but still hold plenty of room in the middle for interpretation and a wealth of differing story lines that could have something to do with the plot. Keeping in mind that it’s usually better to stick to the original story line than to go off on a wild tangent, it’s still possible to create a fairly long-running show with a single novel so long as you keep to the main points and keep them interesting for as long as possible.
And how is that possible you ask?
The writers. The writers are what make the story run. The director is the visionary that takes what the writers give them, unless they are the writer, and runs with it. So long as a director sticks to the material, within reason, then a novel can provide a sitcom with several episodes at least, whereas a series can go on and on for a good long time.
Good example? The Dark Tower series. Oh yes, people have been railing about this since it came out and decided to flop as hard as it could on opening weekend and every weekend since. But the truth is that the Dark Tower series is seven principle books with another one, The Wind Through The Keyhole, that would have made eight. This series could have created an epic TV show that would have gone on and on and could have provided so many different plot points and twists that fans of the books and those that never read the books would both be begging for more. But no, the movie had to stick to the gunslinger, Jake, and the man in black, and that was it. About the only thing the movie did right, well one thing among a few at least, was have a narrator utter the iconic line that started the series.
Scifi novels are the new answer for streaming TV, and even ninety-nine of them fail, one will prove to be an epic.
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