RugbyRebels

What are your favourite interpretations / adaptations?
This might be a cover version, or adaptation into a different media.

I would suggest that "cheats" can have an honourable mention only - IMO, anything originally written by Bob Dylan, or Stephen King usually have adaptations that are better than the original. A partial cheat would be something like Game of Thrones, where the 1st season is a brilliant adaptation of the 1st book; but it goes downhill from there, rapidly. I would also regards an edit as opposed to a cover version to be a cheat (eg one of my favourite songs is Tricky's version of Milk, by garbage - but it's absolutely an edit, not a cover)



My first nominations would be:
Hurt (Nine Inch Nails) covered by Johnny Cash


Where Did You Sleep Last Night (Lead Belly) by Nirvana


Les Miserables (Victor Hugo) adapted into the stage show by Boublil, Schönberg and Kretzmer (NOT the film)


To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) adapted to the big screen by Robert Mulligan


Haunting of Bly Manor (Henry James) adapted to the small screen by Mike Flanagan




Let the disagreements begin
And also, just post whatever adaptations have tickled your fancy recently

Controversial one:

The Lord of the Rings films are better than the books.

Puja

Puja wrote: ↑Sun Jan 18, 2026 2:53 pm Controversial one:

The Lord of the Rings films are better than the books.

Puja

Not sure it’s that controversial. The books are amazing, but he’s something of a clunky writer, imo. The films are among the best cinema ever.

Heart of Darkness is one of my favorite books, but Apocalypse Now is an incredible film.

Just finished reading Charlie and the chocolate factory, but the Gene wilder film is better.

Stom wrote: ↑Sun Jan 18, 2026 4:36 pm

Puja wrote: ↑Sun Jan 18, 2026 2:53 pm Controversial one:

The Lord of the Rings films are better than the books.

Puja

Not sure it’s that controversial. The books are amazing, but he’s something of a clunky writer, imo. The films are among the best cinema ever.

Heart of Darkness is one of my favorite books, but Apocalypse Now is an incredible film.

Just finished reading Charlie and the chocolate factory, but the Gene wilder film is better.

No, no, a thousand times no!

And Dahl thought it was crap too.

Neither of the Chocolate Factory films really gets it right for me, each in their own different ways. And when are we going to get a Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator adaptation?? Come on Hollywood.

Agreed about LOTR. Not sure about Heart of Darkness (I find Conrad almost unreadable) but I suspect that's true too.

A slightly random one of my own - because I've only just watched it: The Congress (2013), a very loose adaptation of The Futurological Congress by Stanislaw Lem. The book is very short and not one of his better works but the film is magical:

Puja wrote: ↑Sun Jan 18, 2026 2:53 pm Controversial one:

The Lord of the Rings films are better than the books.

Puja

Not particularly controversial - I'd have said it's a generally accepted truism - especially the extended editions(same does NOT apply to the Hobbit)

How about the Muppets Christmas Carol?

Some of my fave cover versions

Adaptations that are better than the books (not that the books are bad):

Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?). Quite different from the book, and undeniably superior:


Coraline. A nice, dark children's book but a classic film - the animation, the music, the spookiness:


American Psycho. A nice, nasty literary novel, a far more balanced and funny film:


Stalker (Roadside Picnic). Very very different from the Strugatsky novel, which is spends most of it's length on the unpleasantness of semi-criminal life and very little on the science fiction. The film is slow but very atmospheric. Annihilation wouldn't exist without Stalker.


Salem's Lot (1979). My favourite Steven King novel, but the 1979 adaptation is an all-time horror classic:

Catch-22 (1970). The novel is great but in my perhaps controversial opinion, the 1970 movie, with its incredible cast and excellent use of the novel's dialogue is better.



Remakes which are better than the originals:
The Thing (1982). The original was good for its day but the 1982 version is deservedly now seen as a classic: peak John Carpenter, contant tension, insane practical effects.


Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978). Great update on the cold war paranoia classic. With its great cast and grim progression, the 70s version is better: