Tuesday, March 9, 2010

"One of the few books I have been able to read in recent years." - W. S. Burroughs

Too bad "motorcycle boy" didn't appear in the film:

15 comments:

Rupert Pupkin said...

NICE! scanning in more of your novelizations?

Ned Merrill said...

Yes, indeed, Rupe...the ones that are left, anyway.

Unknown said...

One of my fave novelizations is for ESCAPE FROM NY which actually fleshes out the world in the film a little more and provides some tantalizing bits from Snake's background! It's one I treasure.

Ned Merrill said...

J.D.,

I haven't read the novelization for ESCAPE FROM NY or Carpenter's THE THING, but I've heard similar things about both books. Alan Dean Foster who's a master at these things wrote the novelization for THE THING...who wrote the one for EFNY?

Unknown said...

Ned Merrill: That would be Mike McQuay who also penned the novelization of that obscure '80s SF film MY SCIENCE PROJECT. I haven't read THE THING novelization but I do have the excellent comic book sequel that Dark Horse Comics published years ago. Carpenter even said that he if ever got a chance to make a sequel, he's use it as the basis. High praise indeed!

Ned Merrill said...

J.D.,

Thanks for the additional info. MY SCIENCE PROJECT was a childhood favorite, which I have not revisited in many, many years. I'll have to check out that THING Dark Horse comic series. Love THE THING.

Unknown said...

Oh yeah, HUGE fan of THE THING as well. The video game that came out a few years ago is awesome. I almost bought my xBox just for that game alone... well, that and THE WARRIORS.

Ned Merrill said...

THE THING. THE WARRIORS. Hmm. Could an Xbox be in my future?...

Unknown said...

Besides those two games, the third one that clinched the deal was THE GODFATHER game. Again, they got some of the actors back to reprise their characters and the attention to period detail, right down to the music is pretty cool.

Of course, I ended up upgrading just recently to the xBox 360 for the new GHOSTBUSTERS game. *sigh*

Ned Merrill said...

I heard that GHOSTBUSTERS game has the approval and participation of Dan Aykroyd. IIRC, there was even a NY Times feature in the last several months. How's the GHOSTBUSTERS game?

Unknown said...

If you're a fan of the film, it is absolute heaven! They got all the major leads back to do voices: Aykroyd, Ramis, Murray (yes, that's right!), Hudson and even Annie Potts and William Atherton. I believe it takes place shortly after the second film and you play a new recruit. So, you basically go around busting ghosts with the Ghostbusters showing you the ropes. And yes, you to go after the likes of Slimer and the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man. The graphics are excellent and the gameplay is quite good but just to be able to run around with the characters from the film is worth the price of purchase alone.

Ned Merrill said...

Bill Murray...wow! William Atherton deserves an award for playing some of the most memorable dickhead characters in films of the '80s--GHOSTBUSTERS, REAL GENIUS, DIE HARD.

Unknown said...

Kevin Smith tells a funny story about Atherton on the MALLRATS DVD commentary. Apparently, Smith wanted to cast him as the dickhead baddie in his film but was turned by the actor who told him that he didn't want to play that kind of character any more. Then, Atherton goes off a plays that EXACT kind of character in BIO DOME! Go figure.

Ned Merrill said...

Heheh. Great stuff on Atherton...thanks! I was no fan of MALLRATS when I saw it when it first came out. Not having seen BIODOME, I can only guess, but I think MALLRATS would have been the better choice.

Unknown said...

Y'know, I wasn't really crazy about MALLRATS either but watching the hilarious commentary track for it (Smith basically makes good natured fun of Ben Affleck thru the entire thing) actually made me appreciate the film more. Weird but I guess now when I'm watching the film, in the back of my mind, I'm thinking about the commentary.