Forbidden Planet
In 1952 (ok...the year of my birth) Irving Block wrote Fatal Planet. In 1956 MGM created Forbidden Planet based on his book. Two of the writers for this movie were J. Michael Straczynski and Cyril Hume.
War of the Worlds was written by HG Wells
I've read all Wells book and this was a favorite - it became a 1938 radio production so realistic that people panicked. In 1953 George Pal produced a movie with Gene Berry and Ann Robinson based on the book. I feel the story was totally botched in the Spielberg 2005 remake. The alien crafts in Spielberg's production were closer to the story line but I loved the ships in the 1953 movie more.
...then came The War of the Worlds TV series which was rather poor in acting (except for Adrian Paul and Philip Akin) but brought back many factors of the 1953 movie.
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
Flying Saucers from Outer Space was written in 1953 by Maj. Donald Keyhoe an American Marine Corps naval aviator. In 1956 Columbia Pictures produced Earth vs. the Flying Saucers based on his book. As a ranking naval aviator Maj. Keyhoe was highly experienced with current technology and aircraft. He became widely respected as an Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) investigator from the 1950s through 1960s.
The words "flying saucer" were
coined
by
Kenneth Arnold
in 1947 when he was flying near Mount Rainer Washington state. Arnold reported seeing nine flying objects that looked like half saucers.
Although never explained it is possible that the United States had captured a few
Horten HO IX/Horten HO 229's
near the close of World War II and they were being tested.
Perry Rhodan - Peacelord of the Universe
(Ace Books paperbacks)
A pulp-fiction story began in Germany in 1961 by HK Scheer & Clark Dalton. It was first published 1961 in the United States by Ace Books. Forrest J Ackerman received permission from the German writers to translate their work into English for English publication. Forrest's wife Wendayne translated the German work into English. It is a long running series of stories in a linear path and today the German edition of the latest story numbers literally in the two-thousandth. Ace Books terminated publishing PR after #118. The Ackermans independently published stores 119 through 137 which terminated with Wendayne's passing. ...try making a movie on this story line Steven Spielberg.
Highlander
Not science fiction but very much a favorite. The first movie was produced by Peter Davis, EC Monell and William Panzer starring Christopher Lambert & Sean Connery in 1986. My wife does not like "gory" movies so I enticed her to going by pointing out that one of her most favorite actors (Sean) was in it. Oddly enough my wifes #1 actor is Jack Nicholson...go figure. The music was perfect and so were the actors - as for loosing heads well I didn't mind it figuring MacLeod was going to kick some "six" eventually.
Highlander: The Series
In 1992 Davis and Panzer produced Highlander: The Series with Adrian Paul (Adrian was also in season two of The War of the Worlds TV series). Davis-Panzer Productions made the series very successful with a high-moraled Scot Duncan MacLeod (Adrian) as a relative to Connor MacLeod (Christopher). Philip Akin is in a number of episodes as Charlie DeSalvo - Adrian's maritial-arts friend. Connor forces Duncan to take his life giving Duncan added skills and power to overcome a very powerful and ruthless immortal. Adrian has a Peace Fund.
Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
(hardback books)
Written by Stephen Donaldson over a period of years beetween 1971 and 2010. A reluctant hero finds himself in a strange land enabled with powers by his white gold wedding ring fighting overwhelming forces with superior fighting power - my kinda guy! If anyone made a movie keeping the the story line it would outsell the Lord of the Rings collective! The individual books are
Lord Foul's Bane
,
The Illearth War
,
The Power that Preserves
,
The Wounded Land
,
The One Tree
,
White Gold Wielder
,
The Runes of the Earth
,
Fatal Revenant
,
Against all Things Ending
, and
The Last Dark
.
