Movie Novelizations

[mysterydriver]

I collect movie novelizations and rather enjoy them. You basically get the 'deleted scenes' which keeps the flow of the film while helping to make the eventual movie viewing more understandable.

Goodness knows, if it wasn't for the novelization of "Hulk" that ending scene would've been completely baffling to me, most likely. The one for "See No Evil" is fantastic if for the 'thought process' of Jacob Goodnight (and yes, there is a reference to that scene you're heard about...but no length).

So, does anyone else enjoy these?

Also, this exists:

[Vice honcho room temperature]

I can't imagine they sell many copies

[BorneAgain]

Cool thing about more obscure novelizations is that they feature interesting character bits and background. Stuff like the ET, Escape from New York, and Gremlins to name a few.

[mysterydriver]

Jun 18, 2012 23:22:00 GMT -5 BorneAgain said:

Cool thing about more obscure novelizations is that they feature interesting character bits and background. Stuff like the ET, Escape from New York, and Gremlins to name a few.

Haven't tracked down an ET or Gremlins yet, but do have Escape.



I enjoy how it takes the book 100 pages to get to the start of the movie. Back story on everything including Snake's eye patch. Nice all around.

[Dean-o]

I used to read movie novels all the time as a kid. It was fun to spot the differences, and to find what I would later learn to be deleted scenes.

[wildojinx]

The novelization of bill and ted's bogus journey includes a part where the evil easter bunny and great grandma preston show up in the "real world". They end up confronting their fears and defeating them (ted calls up deacon to apologize for stealing his easter basket, while bill sucks it up and kisses granny preston).

[Jeremy]

Jun 18, 2012 23:46:11 GMT -5 Dean-o said:

I used to read movie novels all the time as a kid. It was fun to spot the differences, and to find what I would later learn to be deleted scenes.

I did too.

See No Evil.
Me, Myself, Irene.
Gone in 60 Seconds.
The Condemned.

[darthalexander]

Second hand bookstores can be a goldmine for finding these books. I've usually seen all kinds of them every time I go.

The original SW ones were pretty good and they had a few moments in them that brought up the past but were never used in the prequels at all. The top one being how Anakin turned to the dark side and when.

Back To The Future had them as well and the first one had a segment where Marty was worried about becoming gay in the future after having to "get fresh" with his mom in 55.

Star Trek 3 goes on for about 80 pages before the movie even begins.

[Deleted]

The Star Wars prequel novelizations really flush out the characters of Palpatine and Count Dooku.

[aka Cthulhu]

Not really a movie novelization, but I bought a novelization of Metal Gear Solid 2. It wasn't quite good... pretty lazy stuff considering that most of the stuff there is from the cutscenes and codec dialog.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

I had Mortal Kombat and The Fifth Element.

[agent817]

I had a few. Men In Black, The Sandlot, Rookie of the Year are a few to name, if not only. I might have to check out some novelizations if I want to see some things added to the story. I haven't read the aforementioned ones in years. I might have to track them down somehow.

Also, I am interested in reading some comic novelizations of comic book movies. Most aren't good, but I want to see how it would look if it was drawn out, as well as to see if any lines were changed.

[dav]

Had Batman Forever once which was a lot better than the movie and provided a much more satisfying death for Two Face.

[agent817]

Jun 19, 2012 10:20:49 GMT -5 dav said:

Had Batman Forever once which was a lot better than the movie and provided a much more satisfying death for Two Face.

Was Two Face still portrayed as a Joker wannabe?

[The Line]

If the film's director and/or screenwriter are least somewhat involved, on nothing more than an idea level at least, then they can be great. Like 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was written concurrently with the film(I remember my public library had a copy of the book from the 60s, and it actually was "written by Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick". Now, that book was amazing, and I think should be required reading by anyone who loves/wants to love the film. I liked the film before, but now that I actually can understand even the tiniest of details(A scene that took 2 seconds in the film? That gets a whole chapter ), it is easily the best sci-fi movie ever.

However, if the creative minds behind the film have nothing to do with the writing of the novelization, it is nothing more than studio-commissioned fanfic, IMO.

[nocomments87]

Jun 19, 2012 10:20:49 GMT -5 dav said:

Had Batman Forever once which was a lot better than the movie and provided a much more satisfying death for Two Face.

I have this one as well. The book is much darker than the movie ended up being, although some of the silly dialogue from Riddler and Two-Face are still in the book, so you can tell that the intention to have it more family-friendly was always there.

I only have novelizations for that, Batman (1989), and Total Recall (I have both the hardcover from 1989, and the paperback from 1990 with the theatrical poster as the cover). Batman is fairly similar to the movie, for the most part, just with some things explained better. Total Recall has one main difference between the hardcover and paperback: in the 1989 hardcover, his name is Douglas Quail, like how it was in Philip K. Dick's original story. The 1990 paperback changes it to Quaid, like the movie, but the story itself is exactly the same as the 1989 hardcover. There's an entire subplot that's not in the movie at all, and one slight difference for the 3 boob prostitute:

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}she has 4 boobs in the book!

[FinalGwen]

V For Vendetta was written by Steve Moore (no relation), the guy who got Alan Moore into comics, and included some aspects of the original graphic novel, like more discourse on V being an anarchist, references to Sutler "preferring the company of machines"... All worked quite nicely.

[Push R Truth]

Jun 19, 2012 8:30:24 GMT -5 @ratedrnightwing said:

The Star Wars prequel novelizations really flush out the characters of Palpatine and Count Dooku.

Agreed.

For as bad as the some of those movies were, the novelizations are excellent.

[The OP]

After seeing this thread I'm totally planning on getting a bunch of these.

Thanks a lot guys, I really needed another stupid thing to be into.

[BoilerRoomBrawler]

Jun 19, 2012 12:31:50 GMT -5 The Line said:

If the film's director and/or screenwriter are least somewhat involved, on nothing more than an idea level at least, then they can be great. Like 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was written concurrently with the film(I remember my public library had a copy of the book from the 60s, and it actually was "written by Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick". Now, that book was amazing, and I think should be required reading by anyone who loves/wants to love the film. I liked the film before, but now that I actually can understand even the tiniest of details(A scene that took 2 seconds in the film? That gets a whole chapter ), it is easily the best sci-fi movie ever.

Fully agreed. In fact, I'm rather sure that the movie and novel were intended to be companions - I could swear I heard or read it somewhere. If true, I think more films could benefit from that.

However, if the creative minds behind the film have nothing to do with the writing of the novelization, it is nothing more than studio-commissioned fanfic, IMO.

This is the main reason I tend to avoid movie novelizations - I never can be sure that they are honest tie-ins or just merchandise.