Beyond Reality discussion

We've talked about screen adaptations of books, but what about the other way around? Have you read any books that are novelizations or spinoffs of movie or television? What's been well-done, what's been awful?

I have only read the Star Wars books based on the original trilogy. They weren't awful but they also weren't good. Put me off ever trying it again.

All I can think of are Star Wars and Star Trek tie in books and those can be hit or miss. I know some of the old Star Trek books were written by real SF authors, but the ones I personally read were all based on TNG and were eh at best.

Oh wait, there were Babylon 5 tie in books as well. They were also kind of eh. :)

I generally have no interest in books based on visual media - The one that I liked was 2001 by Arthur C. Clarke. It actually made me understand the film better!

I’ve never read any of the Doctor Who books, but I hear they’re pretty good.

Oh, I should have read that better, "or tie-in books".

I read a lot of the Star Wars and Star Trek books actually, quit the Star Wars books when they killed off a good character from the movies. Liked them up until then though. Especially the Timothy Zahn books.

Star Trek (only original series) was always hit or miss, and I quit reading them about 20 years ago, so I'll be hopelessly out of date.

If spin-offs of games are also included, I'd say I liked Warhammer 40k. I don't read many but I try and hunt out the ones with Gaunt.

I agree re off-putting Star Trek books, which is why I mostly never read them. Although I do have a lingering impression that Alan Dean Foster can pull them off pretty well. Which I have read of his I do not remember, and he has SO many books I don't feel like looking right now, sorry.

One book that I remember fondly and wish I could find a copy of was the novelization of the 1970's (non-SFF) movie "FM." https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077532/... Which was much better than the (probably politically incorrect now) movie. I can't even find the movie, much less the book, but I liked the movie enough to buy the book. I think it may have followed the original script -- better than the movie we got. Nice stuff in the book.

BTW, Goodreads search for FM turns up too many to search through, and Google's AI denies the existence of the book. So don't bother if you are thinking of helping me find it. :-)

Most of the tie-in genre is meh
I have read a bunch, Star Trek, Star Wars and Dr Who
I enjoy them but understand they will never be great but for the most they pass the time

I thought of some more good novelizations. There are three (I think) books written after Dark Angel was abruptly cancelled--good old Fox. Sign up good people making good SF/F TV and then cancel cancel cancel!

Call me a masochist, but I inherited a cartons of Star Trek from my brother and am reading them all. They're getting better as I go along, on average.

The very first Star Wars book was an adaptation of the first movie and it was written by Alan Dean Foster. I sure did like it, back then.

I know exactly which one you're talking about. I ised to own it. Back before the books were this prolific, i tried reading everything i could get my hands on. Including a really bad Lando book.....

Has anyone read any of the Buffy graphic novels? I love the show but am afraid the books will be crap.

(but am I excited for the upcoming reboot? YESSSSSS)

Shel wrote: "Has anyone read any of the Buffy graphic novels? I love the show but am afraid the books will be crap.

(but am I excited for the upcoming reboot? YESSSSSS)"

I tried to read Buffy Season 8 and could not get into it. But when I was discussing my inability to read graphic novels, having not read any since my teens when they were called comics, someone told me that was not a good graphic novel to start with. I guess they thought it was confusing or somthing--I cannot remember now. So take my opinion with a grain of salt. I did read one Angel comic and did not have so much trouble with it. (Oh EXCUSE me graphic novel)

Does anyone think that they might be called graphic novels because the authors can just ramble on as they sometimes do in regular novels?

I'm excited for the reboot also, but I gotta wonder--what are they going to do with the "all the potentials are now mini-slayers" thing from season 7? I mean, shouldn't she be training a bunch of slayers, because there is no longer "One girl in all the world. etc etc"

Kateblue wrote: "Does anyone think that they might be called graphic novels because the authors can just ramble on as they sometimes do in regular novels?"

I don't know if this is right, but I guess I've always thought of the difference between graphic novels and comics to be one of length. Like, some graphic novels are volumes that collect a bunch of comics that tell a serial story. Other graphic novels are novel-length stories that are told with a visual medium. Is that incorrect?

I always assumed graphic novels were very much like novels, long and often more literary. Like Clyde Fans or Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History.

Where comic books are like Marvel, Asterix, or Tintin. Short and entertaining.

Due to the nature of graphic formats, it is rare for a graphic novel to be published that was not originally published as individual issues that were later collected into a graphic novel collection.

This has nothing to do with the contents.

We tend to think of comics as strictly limited to the whole super hero thing from traditional comic publishers, but that does not have to be the case at all. In fact, Manga is also a graphic novel, just one whose origin is Japan.

Graphic Novel was a term that became popular in the late 90s/early 2000s as a way for people to pretend they didn't read comics.

In the Children's Books group we call 'em Graphic Novels even if they're Dog Man or non-fiction. My libraries agree. It's a very useful & inclusive term.

Comic books aren't talked about much (at all?) there, but if they were it would be a term reserved for Heart and Brain: Body Language or Zits, collections of comic strips.

Cheryl wrote: "In the Children's Books group we call 'em Graphic Novels even if they're Dog Man or non-fiction. My libraries agree. It's a very useful & inclusive term.

Comic books aren't talked about much (at all?) there, but if they were it would be a term reserved for Heart and Brain: Body Language or Zits, collections of comic strips."

Glad to know this. I might have to act like I know something about this sometime . . . grandchildren, you know

I remember liking Alien by Alan Dean Foster. It was based on the screenplay so there are some interesting scenes that weren’t in the movie.
Star Wars: Splinter of the Mind's Eye by Alan Dean Foster was a Star Wars book set between Star Wars and The Empire Stikes Back. It’s a different take on the Force and not part of the canon.
Star Wars: Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn was better, and the sequels. More Star Wars. I wish they had done that instead of the movies we got.
I liked the Babylon Five novels which gave some background information, not in the TV series. The Shadow Within by Jeanne Cavelos was about first contact with the shadows and To Dream in the City of Sorrows by Kathryn M. Drennan was about what happened to Jeffrey Sinclair.
The Star Trek novelizations of the TV show were good. There were multiple episodes covered in each book. The first one was Star Trek 1 by James Blish. He wrote Twelve in the series plus an original novel Spock Must Die! by James Blish.

Gary wrote: "Star Wars: Splinter of the Mind's Eye by Alan Dean Foster was a Star Wars book set between Star Wars and The Empire Stikes Back. It’s a different take on the Force and not part of the canon.."
There is an interesting background with this. The idea was a discount movie if ANH did not work out. When it did he commisioned Alan Dean Foster to write it