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- Sornos, on 04/01/2009, -0/+17As fun as it is, I curse the 1997 movie because it means we won't be seeing a more direct adaption of Heinlein's Starship Troopers for a little while. Maybe one day it'll be directed by someone who finished the book.
For that matter, more Hard SF of any kind would be nice. It is definitely an under-appreciated genre in modern culture. BSG was a great step in the right direction. Now that it is over, we need something new to take up the torch. - Libertaire, on 04/01/2009, -0/+13Babylon 5, an excellent sci-fi series and undeservedly under-rated.
- ApokalypseNow, on 04/01/2009, -0/+11I found it strange that the children's show based on Starship Troopers was more accurate to the source material than the movie.
- slvrbullet87, on 04/01/2009, -1/+11Bugs are used to represent the soviets/communists. Durring the cold war communists were thought of as unthinking drones who strove to do exactly what their masters told them to.
- orientis, on 03/31/2009, -0/+9Missed out on some more recent 'hard' sci-fi that do go into the technology a little more than just the cultural and social effects.
Notably Peter F Hamilton: Both his The Night's Dawn trilogy and The Commonwealth Saga books depict in great detail the physical augmentations possible in the relatively near future. Things like neural nanonics linked to physical augments, allowing for nerves to be blocked and analgesics to be applied through a neural interface; or biotechnology used for espionage etc. - inactive, on 03/31/2009, -0/+9Thanks for the submission, I quite liked that. Especially how it dipped into multiple mediums.
- Dumbledorito, on 04/01/2009, -1/+10Also, at a guess, the "hive mind" is an appealing enemy for a writer: It's uncomplicated, has a goal, and you don't have to come up with a complicated philosophy or too many moral qualms about killing them off.
And there's the creepy factor, yeah. - jmcneilly, on 04/01/2009, -0/+8Dugg for Starship Troopers. The book, by the Master, not that abomination of a movie.
- kingmanic, on 04/01/2009, -0/+8A frontal lobotomy would be better than battlefield earth.
- ghidorahnotweak, on 03/31/2009, -0/+8Why are so many of these books about fighting bugs? Homage to Heinlein, or just the basic human dread of crawly things with carapaces?
- Alheithinn, on 03/31/2009, -0/+7I guess that's where Weber misses out: no bugs.
- Nishnabotna, on 04/01/2009, -0/+7There was a 3?
- Greengoo, on 04/01/2009, -2/+9Star Ship Troopers is a movie everyone should own. Star Ship Troopers II is a movie that should never have been made.
- CedEx, on 04/01/2009, -0/+6The movie was terrible, and had nothing to do with the book except for the shared title.
- zyklon, on 04/01/2009, -1/+6And III should've been made better.
- Kajman, on 04/01/2009, -1/+6The credibility of the article hit the floor as soon it mentioned halo.
- Zervaman, on 04/01/2009, -0/+4Dugg for Ender's Game! Everyone should read it!
- Jedidadof2, on 04/01/2009, -1/+4I bet II was better than Battlefield earth!
Watching paint dry is more entertaining than that attempt at a movie. - orientis, on 04/01/2009, -0/+3BSG is definitely not hard sci-fi.
- hippykiller, on 04/01/2009, -0/+3Ill second Gaunt's Ghosts and would also like to add the Ciaphas Cain novels and at least the first Horus Heresy book... Don't get me wrong many of the 40k books are crap, but there are some good ones.
- zyklon, on 04/01/2009, -0/+3Yes. Had Van Buren in it and everything. It just had the quality of a Sci Fi channel original film. By that, I mean the budget was probably the same as my tax return.
- elnerdo, on 04/01/2009, -1/+4I'm going to admit something here: I read the book of Battlefield: Earth (Yes, by L. Ron Hubbard (Yes, the Scientology guy), and yes, it's over a thousand pages). I don't remember anything about the movie, but I can tell you that the book was actually really entertaining. It wasn't good in the traditional sense, that is, is had really shallow characters, and a fairly generic plot, and it was riddled with Scientologist propaganda (Which is funny more than anything else). However, it was so much fun to read (That is, the plot was compelling and interesting) that I really couldn't put it down until I finished.
- randalla, on 04/01/2009, -1/+3I started with the Nights Dawn trilogy (The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist and The Naked God make up all three) and loved them. I have read "space opera" before, but nothing like his work. I didn't pick up Pandora's Star (Commonwealth Saga) until awhile after it was released, but after reading it and it's conclusion Judas Unchained, I felt he one upped himself over the Nights Dawn trilogy. It seemed to be more mature, and better balanced as a whole.
Now, both my wife and I are waiting the third installment of the Void Trilogy, which is the sequel to the Commonwealth Saga (Which is a first for him). While I like the first two books, they are not as revolutionary, for lack of a better term, than the two in the Commonwealth Saga. I think its because I already know the universe he is portraying, and most of the characters, even though the setting is so far into the future. I do, however, really like how he's meshed fantasy and SciFi into a somewhat tight package. - Grazzit, on 04/01/2009, -0/+2It suggested a few books to me is what I got out of it
- csanberg, on 04/01/2009, -0/+2I'm actually reading Traviss' Wess'har War series right now (I just started book 4). I very much enjoy them, although the density and nature of the subject matter makes them sort of a slow read.
- carbonetc, on 04/01/2009, -0/+2I loved the military space battles in the Niven-Pournelle "The Mote in God's Eye" books, but they weren't quite military-centric, at least not enough to be on a list like this.
- gellfex, on 04/01/2009, -0/+2The list is pretty lame after the 1st 4. How could he have missed Jerry Pournelle's Co-dominium series entirely but included star wars books?
- Rumple4Skin72, on 04/01/2009, -0/+2Hammer's Slammers?!? No love for David Drake?
- BohicaTwentyTwo, on 04/01/2009, -2/+4It was nice to see Starship Troopers at the top of the list. As far as the movie goes, they basically removed everything that made the book good and replaced it with AWESOME. That being said, I enjoy the movie as much as I enjoy watching CSI: Miami, although I am usually laughing when I am not supposed to.
And if they are any Dawn of War / WH40k fans out there, try the Gaunt's Ghosts series.
40k > Starcraft - UselessTrivia, on 04/01/2009, -0/+2Yay for Ender's Game! I hope to someday see a good movie adaptation of that book. It's been stuck in development hell for years.
I think one of the reasons they can't write a good script is that it won't condense well. They should just make it into two movies. The first one would be all about getting selected and going to battle school, the second one would be about command school and the war.
It would make much more sense, broken up that way. Both parts have good conclusions and would make good 90 minute films.
In my opinion they need to age the cast a bit. I never bought Ender as a 6 year old. He should probably be more like 12-14 and age everyone else up as appropriate. - Clerg, on 04/02/2009, -0/+2David Drake rocks Military Sci-fi!
- Alheithinn, on 03/31/2009, -5/+7How could David Weber's Honor Harrington series not be on this list? It's pretty difficult to take it seriously as is but dugg anyway for a friend.
- warriorscot, on 04/02/2009, -0/+1I prefer Banks Culture series, just enough of the hard stuff to satisfy but not so much it will look stupid in the future. And very solid stories driven by the characters which is more important than genre.
- angusm, on 04/01/2009, -0/+1As someone else pointed out, it should have included "Dorsai". Robert Asprin's "The Cold Cash War", and Lucius Shepard's "Life During Wartime" (another heavily Vietnam-influenced novel) also rate a mention.
There's also a bunch of spectacularly-bad military SF on the market. It seems that there's a whole slew of SF "writers" whose only other reading is "Guns and Ammo" and Tom Clancy, and they can churn out stomach-turningly bad mil-SF faster than twin plutonium-powered Gatling turbo-lasers can shred a light battalion of Thlongvari assault troops coming over the icy horizon of Procyon Beta VII on their assault drones. - HAL90000, on 04/01/2009, -0/+1I always imagined the movie as a future world in which the Nazi's had won, with bugs.
- kingmanic, on 04/01/2009, -0/+1It gets the endorsement because it's generally portrays the air force in a favourable light. Many other movie productions have had the air forces endorsement pulled when they introduce some unfavourable critics or themes.
- vfr800serenity, on 04/02/2009, -0/+1BSG is NOT science fiction, nor was it even close to being realistic with regards to the military.
Those two facts alone should have kept if off this list -no need to mention that it sucked ass.
Starship Troopers was one of the best military science fiction books ever written. It's the book I took to Cav school and read over and over again when I had to pull CQ duty. The movie sucked so bad it was almost as terrible as BSG. - Clerg, on 04/02/2009, -0/+1Where's the love for Warhammer 40k books? The Spacewolf Compendium is the best thing I have read in a while, no classic, but a good book and a real potboiler. William King is the best of the series authors by far.
Ragnar Blackmane! - UselessTrivia, on 04/02/2009, -0/+1I absolutely love that he strips away the societal expectations of children in the book. I think the thesis is dead on that kids can do way more than we think, especially genius kids like these. I still find it difficult to accept Ender as a 6 year old, though. Whether that's my own bias or a legitimate complaint, I don't know...I just always mentally age him up a few years.
Plus you'll never find a group of 6, 7 and 8 year olds that can act well enough to pull off that story. - Pilot85, on 04/01/2009, -0/+1Did you owe the government money?
- UselessTrivia, on 04/02/2009, -0/+1They were at one point going to weave in parts of the Ender's Shadow story, as well, which would add quite a bit of length to the story. I think it makes sense to do 2 movies, but I'm hardly a screenplay writer.
And if you only age them up to 12-14, in that battle school environment I think you don't have to worry too much about sexual tension, especially since there's really only one major female character in Ender's group. - fumbduck, on 04/01/2009, -0/+1too bad orson scott card turned out to be a nut
- TempusEdax, on 04/01/2009, -1/+2Dugg for the Commonwealth Saga. Best space opera since Star Wars. Probably better.
- mandarin, on 07/29/2009, -0/+1really? I hate that series.
- theafroguy, on 04/01/2009, -0/+1And where is Earth Defence Force 2017 on this list? Truly a harrowing presentation of future warfare.
- Grazzit, on 04/01/2009, -0/+1The books listed that I have knowledge of all deal with ground troops specifically where the Herrington series deal mainly with ships.
- directedition, on 04/01/2009, -1/+2Could have said more about SG-1. Mainly about how just about every other episode centers around ethical conundrums during war. It also helps that it's the only TV show to ever get official endorsement from an armed service and the Air Force provided crap loads of resources to them (guest starring generals, fighter planes, consulting, weapons training, etc etc)
- logic11, on 04/01/2009, -0/+1Nice, time to feed the troll...
I have read most of the list, love SF (books and TV) and am in excellent shape. I do Taekwondo three days a week (one of those days is a sparring class) and Parkour every week, in addition to practising both disciplines on the other days when I don't have formal instruction. I am far less atypical than you would imagine, as most of my Parkour group is into SF. - Balanced, on 04/01/2009, -0/+1It's a pretty short book, really. I think it's almost written in montages ina few points, too, like when the Battle School fights are ramped up.
I think the biggest problem with doing a movie is dealing with the not-really-children that are both brutal and child-like. Aging them might work, but it's a series that doesn't need sexual tension. - logic11, on 04/01/2009, -0/+1You don't spend a lot of time with kids do you? Ender and his friend really represent what kids are capable of if you remove the expectations our society has for them and let them live up to their potential.
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