You're approached by a Hollywood exec...

[wicked cool]

Live action dark crystal but scary as hell
Ravenloft . Has to have action!
Necroscope-movie or tv series. It’s in development hell

 

[Mad_Jack]

I'd like a two or three season adaption of Timur Bekmambetov's Nightwatch book series - they did two low-budget Russian films, but it's a four-book series and probably could easily go four seasons if they chose to do the British-style ten-episode seasons... Supernatural cops caught up in a larger battle between good and evil.

Brian Daley's GammaLaw series is four books long, and could easily be made into a tv series. Highly-trained clan warriors from a lost rebellion recruited to fight against an alien invasion.

Also, D.B. Jackson's Theiftaker series - a sorcerer working as a freelance recovery agent in Boston during the literal last days before the American Revolution. Politics, magic, action, a historical setting... It has a lot to work with.

 

[Gus L]

More Aubrey and Martuin movies...

"1805 - Napoleon is master of Europe. Only the British fleet stands before him. Oceans are now battlefields."

 

[dbolack]

The Invisible Library would be fantastic.

 

[Ryujin]

I think that effects are finally at the point where they could make a pretty good stab at making a film based on the Niven and Pournelle novel "Footfall." Earth in invaded by aliens who look like baby elephants, with trunks that are separated into (I think) 8 digits, who drop asteroids on the planet.

 

[Bomberooski]

Haven't read the entire thread yet but honestly I'd really love a DnD animated show (that isn't Vox Machina). Something that is really high fantasy like LOTR but in the Forgotten Realms (or maybe better, whatever world 2024 DnD settles in so that the show would go hand in hand with any WoTC book releases)

 

[Kannik]

BattleTech has a lot that could be mined and brought to the screen. It's perhaps not the best-known property, but at the same time it both has proven longevity as well as a ream of lore + novels written for it. And it's got a good mix of 'mech action + politics + personal arcs and dramas. One of the classic trilogies could work as a three-movie thing, or perhaps even better done as a three-season series. Could also have a separate series of short stories (either single episode or a short arc). Start with 3025 level things, cover the Inner Sphere with series in from each of the great houses' perspective, set the tone. Have a prequel series with the Star League. Then move to 3050, the Kerensky trilogy, leading to the ongoing books (Clan infighting, FedCom civil war, BULLDOG, etc) as well as opening up new venues for both series and short stories in the other Clans (plus continued stuff in the IS).

I'd love to see a great live action Macross as well. Also something with some longevity, though not sure it has quite the same multi-series / breadth potential as BattleTech.

 

[payn]

BattleTech has a lot that could be mined and brought to the screen. It's perhaps not the best-known property, but at the same time it both has proven longevity as well as a ream of lore + novels written for it. And it's got a good mix of 'mech action + politics + personal arcs and dramas. One of the classic trilogies could work as a three-movie thing, or perhaps even better done as a three-season series. Could also have a separate series of short stories (either single episode or a short arc). Start with 3025 level things, cover the Inner Sphere with series in from each of the great houses' perspective, set the tone. Have a prequel series with the Star League. Then move to 3050, the Kerensky trilogy, leading to the ongoing books (Clan infighting, FedCom civil war, BULLDOG, etc) as well as opening up new venues for both series and short stories in the other Clans (plus continued stuff in the IS).

Yeap, I can see a couple of BattleTech approaches.

Movies dont have a lot of time for nuance, id probably go for a bit of Top Gun feel about hot shots kids having to become mechwarriors and fight big battles. The novels as is are probably good for storyboards for this format.

A series, on the other hand, really needs to drive the writing chops up. No offense to Mr. Stackpole, I enjoy his stories, but he has some pretty glaring weaknesses in characterization and dialogue. That is where some top notch TV writers could come in and bolster the material. His political intrigue and plots are pretty solid though.

I'd go with a retro-future feel for it. Something along the lines of the way Rogue One and/or Dune looked and felt, but obviously with its own style not to look too derivative. Of course, go all in on making the mechs look as incredible as possible. That is the milkshake to bring all the folks to the yard, good stories and writing will keep them there.

 

[Gradine]

Live action dark crystal but scary as hell

But you repeat yourself

 

[Cadence]

"The Horseclans" by Robert Adams. A simultaneously post apocalyptic and medieval world. Telepathic steppes nomads, in the American Prairies, and their telepathic sabretooth cat companions. Manufacturing centres of the eastern US turned into fiefdoms known for their excellence in the production of armour. The world is ready for Bili the Axe.

And depending on how close to the books they get, they may see a lot of Bili the Axe and some of those he travels with.