Novel Adaptations That Fixed/Improved the Movie

[Reynard]

Often, novel adaptations of new movis are written with early drafts of the script and well before the film comes out. Sometimes this makes them incoherent, but sometimes it means that the novl adaptation actually improves on the film -- either through maintaining cut content, or pure invention to fix plot holes, or whatever.

So, in your opinion, what novel adaptations of films* do you think fixed or improved the original.

*There are a few rare novel adaptations of major comic book events (there is novel adaptation of both Civil War from Marvel and Kingdom Come from DC, I believe). Stuff like that is fair game too, I guess. Maybe there are examples from video games too?

NOTE: This thread is intended for specific adaptations, not just general tie in novels.

 

[MarkB]

The first example that comes to mind is one that's been discussed on other threads here extensively, Revenge of the Sith. I won't go over it again here, but I appreciate the YouTube video by OSP that introduced me to it.


Another that comes to mind is Orson Scott Card's novelisation of The Abyss, which adds a lot of depth to the aliens, as well as to many of the characters, particularly Lt. Coffey - he feels much more like a tragic antagonist in the novel.

 

[trappedslider]

Often, novel adaptations of new movis are written with early drafts of the script and well before the film comes out. Sometimes this makes them incoherent, but sometimes it means that the novl adaptation actually improves on the film -- either through maintaining cut content, or pure invention to fix plot holes, or whatever.

So, in your opinion, what novel adaptations of films* do you think fixed or improved the original.

*There are a few rare novel adaptations of major comic book events (there is novel adaptation of both Civil War from Marvel and Kingdom Come from DC, I believe). Stuff like that is fair game too, I guess. Maybe there are examples from video games too?

NOTE: This thread is intended for specific adaptations, not just general tie in novels.

There's a novelization of Escape From New York that explains why it's sealed off in more detail, why Hauk is there and how crappy the world really is among other details, there was also an RPG supplement.

The novelization of the No Man's Land storyline from the Batman comics streamlines the whole story line. The Halo novalizations explain what else was going on,where Master chief goes in between mission and how one character survived to show up in the second game.

Both Escape from NY and Kingdom Come are on my holy grail list of books.

 

[jian]

It feels like a lot of novelisations did this, back in the day? I remember reading the novelisation of DARYL by N H Kleinbaum back in the 80s and while it was by the numbers, it was just a better told story than the film. I think this was probably true of the novelisation of WarGames by David Bischoff too.

Part of it was that back in the day (40 years ago) you couldn't rewatch the film unless you happened to have bought the VHS (a rare expenditure in our family) so the novelisation let you enjoy the story in depth, which was a nice way to spend an afternoon or two.

EDIT: Just looked up the above authors. Nancy Kleinbaum also wrote the novelisation of Dead Poets' Society. And David Bischoff wrote a few TNG episodes.

 

[Desdichado]

Harry Potter 8 was better than the novel Harry Potter 7, which I found confusing and muddled.
Where Eagles Dare is better and more exciting than the novel. Which is interesting, because the author of the novel also wrote the screenplay, and the same year.
The Dino D'Laurentis Three and Four Musketeers from the 70s is more exciting than the novel, although, I don't know about better...

 

[Reynard]

Harry Potter 8 was better than the novel Harry Potter 7, which I found confusing and muddled.
Where Eagles Dare is better and more exciting than the novel. Which is interesting, because the author of the novel also wrote the screenplay, and the same year.
The Dino D'Laurentis Three and Four Musketeers from the 70s is more exciting than the novel, although, I don't know about better...

That's... not what the thread is about.

 

[jian]

That's... not what the thread is about.

Though there might be an exception of sorts for "screenplay and book that were written at the same time". But no, it's not really a novelisation.

 

[Desdichado]

That's... not what the thread is about.

Oh, whoops! I got it backwards!

 

[Reynard]

Though there might be an exception of sorts for "screenplay and book that were written at the same time". But no, it's not really a novelisation.

More to the point, @Desdichado was talking about movies that were better than the books. That's kind of the opposite of where we're headed.

 

[Umbran]

So, I have an example in which the movie is already (in my eyes) pretty darned good. And for reasons, I have a bias against the author these days.

The Abyss, novelization by Orson Scott Card. One of the reasons this novelization is so strong is that Card was present on set for shooting - so things not in the script still made it into his book, and he had access to consult with the filmmakers. Card got to fill in some elements from the aliens point of view which the movie could not.