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Message

Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Wasp?
Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2008 15:49:51 -0800 (PST)
From: "jmsatb5@aol.com" 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated

On Jan 11, 6:39=A0pm, "Nicole Massey"  wrote:
> I'd like to get your industry insider perspective on this.
>
> Your professed appreciation of Eric Frank Russell's work also figures into
> this. (I remember mention that you'd like to make Men, Martians, and
> Machines if given the chance)
>
> Wasp is a wonderful work, one that as even more timely now than ever. It's a
> compact story, requiring minimal actors and only one major lead, and it's
> extremely well written. I know it was optioned fairly soon after its first
> publication, but for some reason has never hit the screen.
>
> Why is that? It seems like a perfect thing to see released now, with the
> focus on terrorism and infiltration, and also resonates with oppressive
> society issues. I've always wanted to see it, along with others by Russell,
> (Especially And then There Were None, Nuisance Value, and the afore
> mentioned Men, Martians and Machines) made into films, and it still
> surprises me that such wonderful work hasn't seen the light of day.
>
> So, in your opinion, why is that?

It's a matter of making it work for the screen.  It's probably gone in
and out of option many times.  Adapting SF for the screen is difficult
for a lot of folks, and anything published back then is suspect now,
it seems.  There have been over a dozen different writers, good ones,
who have tackled Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land and nobody's
managed to crack that one for the screen.