Amazon Studios to Adapt Consider Phlebas, First Novel of the Culture Series
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Edit: I read CP in one go during the single day off I had studying for my final exams in my CS degree in '88.
Miz survives and rides off into the sunset with Sharow on the Vrossul tank hunter sigh
In the end, Im a fan, Im glad that this happens, just a damn shame that Mr. Banks never got to see it.
If they do UOW
Unlike Games and Weapons, the theme isn’t as explicit, but Identity permeates everything in the story. I genuinely think it’s an unsung masterpiece. Excession, as much as people love it, is pretty much pure entertainment. Phlebas, Games and Weapons all leave you with stuff to think about afterwards.
Look to Windward is a great follow-up, emphasizing that you can have the smartest, best-intentioned, most powerful military ever and still fuck up when you try to use it to fix another civilization. The rage of the survivors of the Culture's intervention is quite justifiable, though the means of attempted retaliation isn't. From my brief description you might think that it was an allegory dashed off in response to the occupation of Afghanistan or Iraq, but the book was published in 2000. Banks was ahead of the curve.
Good odds the Minds all sound remarkably like Alexa. :)
I'm happy that the series is getting more exposure, but at the risk of seeming curmudgeonly, the series will remain on my "watch only after reading the books" list.
One problem is that The Culture has tech that is so futuristic that it rarely shows up in science fiction. Banks' spaceships don't have hulls; they are often described as multiple-kilometer-long, oblong, semi-translucent bubbles whose outer perimeter is maintained by "matter fields", the exteriors and interiors of which the ships can rearrange as they desire; there's no bridge, no screens, and human accommodation is also created on demand. Drones are not humanoid robots, but are more like sleek, floating geometric shapes that can manipulate the world around them with "maniple fields". Then there are the Minds, who only occasionally manifest themselves as avatars in the real world. And so on.
One aspect that will be hard to get right is to accurately reflect Banks' philosophical attitude (and his books have a lot of attitude), which is cynical to the point of nihilism, even when set in a world that is broadly utopian. The inherent conflict is everywhere: On the one hand, the Culture has genetically modified themselves to be peaceful; on the other hand, it's a civilization that is constantly involved in war. The cynicism is often wryly funny; there's a lot of Douglas Adams to found in Banks' writing, and the description of the Outside Context Problem [1] is like something right out of Hitchhiker's Guide. It's not something that would be easy to portray on film, where it'd be necessary to explain backstory and explain how an AI-dominated post-scarcity society can exist that has no money and no labour force.
Consider Phlebas is probably the best book to start with simply because it looks at the Culture from the outside. The show might use this to its advantage by having characters explain aspects of the Culture, such as its post-scarcity society, without being too heavy-handed.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excession#Outside_Context_Prob...
That being said, I imagine it still makes for a watchable show for someone that knows nothing about the books.
In any case, I love both series and I pray dearly they don't fuck up the Culture adaptation.
With that being said, and especially if you liked the show, I heartily recommend the books.
I've never directed or produced a movie, and I'm impressed at the number of my fellow HN'ers who have great insight into why this isn't the best book to turn into a film.
For my own part I'm just thrilled that it may finally happen. If it's not up to scratch, it won't diminish the novel(s) for me. But if it's great, I'm going to be way pleased.
Fair to say that anyone who's read and enjoyed a book (or series of books), and subsequently seen a TV or film interpretation of the work, will almost always commend others to read, then watch. (There may be exceptions - never heard of one myself.)
Last year there was news of Amazon looking to develop series around Ringworld (maybe re-use some of the sets :) and Snowcrash. I really liked what they did with Man in the High Castle, so I'm feeling optimistic.
Apply the correct latin phrase, but I've found The Man in the High Castle to be one of the best shows on TV right now.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spacecraft_in_the_Cult...
I have it here on my desk right now- re-reading while working on a hobby project.