Syfy is teaming with Paramount Television to adapt A Stranger in a Strange Land as a television series. The show will joins a roster that includes the Superman prequel series Krypton, Grant Morrison’s Happy, and an adaptation of another classic, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. These shows will all be part of the network’s push toward high-profile sci-fi and fantasy projects like The Magicians, The Expanse, and 12 Monkeys.
A Stranger in a Strange Land was originally published in 1961, and soon became a touchstone for a variety of countercultural movements. It tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human who was raised by Martians, and who has to find way to adapt to human society after coming to live on Earth. Robert Heinlein used the book to explore concepts of free love and non-violence, and also introduced us to the phrase “grok” – which is a sort of empathy-based understanding.
Two of the heads of the co-producers expressed enthusiasm for the project, with NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment chairman Bonnie Hammer saying, “…Stranger in a Strange Land isn’t just a science-fiction masterpiece … it also happens to be one of my favorite books ever” and Paramount TV president Amy Powell saying “This novel has resonated with me since college and there’s a reason it has continued to find new fans for over 40 years. Syfy’s understanding of imaginative and futuristic programming is unmatched, making them an ideal partner for this series.”
You can read more about the project over at The Hollywood Reporter. In the meantime, who do you see as Valentine Michael Smith?
“Two of the heads of the co-producers”
The co-producers have two heads? Like Zaphod Beeblebrox? How SFnal.
I dread what SyFy wi
I grok this.
Too little, too late. If the former SciFi channel wanted to adapt classic pieces of science fiction, it should have done so a decade ago. I’ve long since lost patience with SyFy.
About time someone got around to this. And a TV miniseries is probably a good media that will allow a full retelling of the tale. Now the question is, do they get the heart of the story right? This was a very deep commentary on social mores and religion, and could easily go awry.
I would argue that society’s mores have already gone past the novel – the unexpurgated version, including the bits Heinlein thought were too dangerous to publish at the time, is remarkably tame by today’s standards – so much of the point of the story would be lost, too.
Great to hear it might be turned into a tv show, I hope it will live up somewhat to the novel. As for society’s mores having gone far past the concepts Heinlein wrote about, I’m not sure that is entirely true. One only needs to look at the reviews of people at goodreads.com and realize that a lot of people today are still outraged by some of the ideas and concepts Heinlein wrote about in this novel. I think that’s one of the things that makes this novel such a classic! That even after society has modernised a lot it can still shock people.
Just the idea that God is inside all of us is enough to have fundamentalist Christians at odds with the project. The sexual and social mores are the least of the ideas that Heinlein was tinkering with.
I do so hope they de-stupid it.
I doubt they actually do this. Even if they do it is liable to be no good. This novel is not one you could turn into a TV show easily