Just finished the novelization for “Spider-Man 3.” I have to admit, there’s a certain sort of smug satisfaction seeing clips and trailers and knowing where all the scenes fit in to the overall story.
Will it be a great film? No idea. Anyone who knows anything about films will tell you that you can never judge what the final movie is going to be like based upon the script. I do know I like it better than the script for SM 2, and tons of people loved that film. So fingers crossed.
And don’t even bother asking for details: I signed a non disclosure agreement, so that’s that.
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“Screenwriters tend to have a weak grasp of grammar, spelling, and punctuation (maybe that’s why they’re screenwriters… they don’t have to worry about that stuff). I swear, every single one of them is under the mass delusion that ‘lightning’ is spelled ‘lightening.’ “
Well… that’s just sad. Or, frightening. My mistake, assuming that professional writers would know how to write properly….
Luke said
My mistake, assuming that professional writers would know how to write properly….
That is why you have us editors. *grin*
i remember reading the novelization of “Star Trek IV” and 2 scenes that i was really impressed with that didn’t end up in the film – 1 involved Sulu meeting one of his ancestors as a small child – which apparently they couldn’t shoot because the child actor freaked out on the day – and a 2nd where Sulu apparently told kirk off for trying to take all the blame for the mutiny incident – I don’t know why this sceene was lost but I think it could have been a great one.
Peter, do you have any favorite scenes in any of the novelazations you’ve done that you feel should not have been lost in the final film?
Haven’t had a chance to read the novelization of SM2 yet – my local library hasn’t stocked it, and the bookstore has this silly habit of asking me to pay for things before I take them home…
Anyways, I was wondering – in the novel, was it explained why, when Dr. Octavius’ first fusion reactor failed, the unshielded reaction didn’t kill half of Manhattan with radiation poisoning?
Not to mention the unpleasant cloud that should have resulted when the second reactor was dumped into the harbor…
“when Dr. Octavius’ first fusion reactor failed, the unshielded reaction didn’t kill half of Manhattan with radiation poisoning?”
Because it was supposed to be a fusion reaction, not a fission reaction. Fission reactions use radioactive material. Fusion reactions don’t.
Anyways, I was wondering – in the novel, was it explained why, when Dr. Octavius’ first fusion reactor failed, the unshielded reaction didn’t kill half of Manhattan with radiation poisoning?
Answer 1: Because with Spider-Man, Doc Ock, and Harry Osborn all at ground zero, it would have made for a very short movie.
Answer 2: For the same reason half the characters in the Marvel Universe have super powers instead of being glowing or smoldering corpses. 😉
-Rex Hondo-
There’s a movie about Spider-man? Cool.
10) For a brief time, IMDB.Com had the following credit: “Rosemary Harris….Aunt May/Carnage.” This was someone’s idea of a joke and was changed. Aunt May does not turn into Carnage. I’m not saying Carnage DOESN’T show up. I’m just saying it’s not in the form of Aunt May.
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You ruined everything!!!!!!!!!!! Now I don’t have to see the movie.
Will you stop ignoring me if I don’t say Aunt May should turn into Carnage because Hitler did?
With few exceptions, I stopped purchasing (or even reading) novelizations in 1983, the year my family first got a VCR. Up to that point, the novelizations had served as a means of “revisiting” the movies on which they were based. But with the advent of home video, I could rent (and later buy, as prices came down) movies on videotape. And, of course, DVD, in more recent years.
I wonder if there was a decline in novelization sales when home video first got started, or if that was just me.
Another reason I stopped buying novelizations is that I have a long list of books I _already_ own that I need to read. One of the novelizations I _did_ buy in recent years was _Hulk_, and I _still_ haven’t gotten around to reading that.
It’s very probable that I’ll assume reading novelizations again, especially since they are, in many ways, another version of the film. Since I enjoy listening to DVD commentaries, watching deleted scenes, and, occasionally comparing a director’s cut to an original release (when time permits), reading a novelization would just add another dimension to my overall enjoyment of the story.
One thing I’ve noticed about novelizations is that they usually consist of one or more elements: A) they’re based on an early draft of the script, and include scene that were either never filmed, or subsequently cut (the Saavik/David Marcus relationship in _Star Trek II_, and the horseback riding scene in _Batman_ both come to mind); B) they contain scenes either added whole cloth by the author, or expanded from the script. For example, in James Kahn’s _Return of the Jedi_ novelization, we learn that Han Solo’s six Tatoonine months in Carbonite consisted of a “big, wide awake nothing”, and that when Leia released him, he was overcome with a rush of images, fragments of memory from childhood to his last view of him. Were those details in the script, or did Kahn invent them? I don’t know, but the imagery has remained with me all these years. C), novelizations reflect early product placement arrangements that somehow changed by the time the film aired. For example, in the novelization of _E.T._ , the candies E.T. favors are M & M’s. Now I don’t remember if that was an assumption on the part of the author, because Reese’s Pieces hadn’t been around very long, and he may have assumed the small candies _were_ M & M’s, or if the studio had originally contracted with M & M’s; but either way, it’s different than the filmed version. D) (which intersects with A, B and C), novelizations let the reader get into a character’s head. In film, unless a character is narrating, we aren’t privy to his or her thoughts. And then, that’s presuming he or she isn’t an unreliable narrator. And finally, E), sometimes the novelization turns out to be the actual _novel_ on which the film was based. Years ago, I bought the novelizations of the five _Planet of the Apes_ films, and was surprised to discover that the first “novelization”, despite having a photograph from the film on the cover, was actually Pierre Boule’s original story- which is _very_ different. Likewise, _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep_ was re-released as _Blade Runner_ (the title of the film). I suspect more than a few people picked it up thinking it was a novelization of the film, rather than the original novel.
Like I said, I stopped buying novelizations as a matter of course years ago. But the more I think about the subject, the more tempted I am to go back and read novelizations of recent films. Would I get more enjoyment out of the _Star Wars_ prequel trilogy, for example, if I read those novelizations?
Maybe one day I will.
Rick
Some novelizations are very cool. The Star Wars prequel ones are a must read for fans, especially 1 and 3 (also highly recommend Labyrinth of Evil as a prequel to Sith).
Others if they simply regurgitate exactly what is in the movie with no extra depth, less cool.
Remembered enjoyed reading your novelization of Return of the Swamp Thing. Got me pumped up to see the movie. Turned out to be a giant piece or turd.
True Marvelite
Ah…since no one asked for it – my basic feelings about novelizations.
If I really like the movie, I’ll buy the novelization and read it later.
If I really like the author, I’ll buy the novelization. May or may not wait to read it after the movie.
I’ve read the two Spider-Man novelizations before seeing the films because Peter David writing Spider-Man is pretty much my idea of comic geek heaven. Yes, there’s a few bits that I’m really disappointed weren’t in the films, but by and large as I was reading I was saying to myself “that’s a PAD bit” so I wasn’t really expecting them.
If I’m doing some sort of project (like my Buffy timeline website) I’ll get the novelizations.
And…in the case of Star Wars…one of these days I’ll get the “Revenge of the Sith” novel to have a complete novelization set even tho I’ve no desire to read it…or watch it again…or admit to myself that it or the other prequels even exist. So Lucas can look forward to getting one last $7 or so from me unless there’s some “Radioland Murders” stuff out there I’ve missed.
But Jason, while deuterium (or tritium) is not itself radioactive, a nuclear fusion reaction most certainly produces some seriously radioactive byproducts. After all, that “healthy glow” from sitting at the beach for a few hours is nothing more or less than a low-intensity radiation burn, and too much exposure to solar radiation (produced by the solar fusion reaction) can lead to skin cancer…
So now, in the movie universe, half of Manhattan is applying for membership in the Avengers? 🙂
Kath wrote: “That is why you have us editors. *grin*”
Ah. Good point 🙂
My general rule of thumb is if the book is the original medium for the material (ie.Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter) then I don’t worry if I have read the book before the movie. If the original medium is the film (ie. Star Trek, Star Wars) then I wont’ read the book until after I see the movie. When I have broken this rule I have always been sorry.