Five Times the Screen Version of a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Character Was Clearly Superior (and five times it wasn’t)

 

Photo Credit: Matt Handle

I finished the first book in author Andrzej Sapowski’s Witcher Saga, The Last Wish over the weekend. As I read it one thing that jumped out at me is that while the Netflix series tends to stick pretty close to the storylines and characters in the book, I like Henry Cavill’s stoic version of the sword-wielding hero better than the original. The version in the book is more talkative, even friendly at times and some of the literary version’s dialogue is so old fashioned it’s downright corny. Try this line on for size: “Thank you for the spread. A hundred thanks, dear host. And now, if you permit, we’ll get down to business.” Ugh. The quieter, meaner screen version is more my speed. It got me thinking. Which other screen versions of sci-fi/fantasy characters are superior to their originals and more common, which screen versions are disappointments?

 

Five Times the Screen Version of a Character Was Clearly Superior

Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher) – Why speak when a simple grunt will do? The Netflix version of the white-haired Witcher lets his sword do most of the talking and I think the character is better for it. It’s not that I don’t appreciate dialogue. It’s just that Cavill’s gritty portrayal of the main character is less traditional and therefore more compelling than the version that shows up in the first book of the series.

Rick Deckard (Blade Runner) – Harrison Ford’s portrayal of nihilistic bounty hunter Rick Deckard remains one of my favorite film characters ever, but if you read the source material, Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? You’ll find a much weaker man who’s more focused on obtaining the perfect pet rather than falling in love with his beautiful replicant target.

Missandei (Game of Thrones) – Say what you will about the storylines of the later seasons of this huge hit show, but one thing they definitely got right was the expanded role of Daenerys’s counselor, Missandei. The book series depicts this slave-turned-interpreter as younger and of minor importance, but the HBO show really fleshed out the character and made her a fan favorite.

William Cage (Edge of Tomorrow) – Translating Japanese manga to an American film doesn’t work all that often. As evidence, see Ghost in the Shell below. However Tom Cruise’s version of the hero known as Keiji Kiriya in the source material All You Need is Kill outshines the original as more heroic and with a more satisfying character arc.

Camina Drummer (The Expanse) – My favorite character from the recent sci-fi series The Expanse was “Belter”, rebel, and eventual ship captain, Camina Drummer. Played by actress Cara Gee, the show expanded (pun intended!) the role to combine several different characters from the novels in order to streamline the story. This allowed Gee more screen-time and made the series that much more fun.

 

Five Times It Wasn’t

Major (Ghost in the Shell) – Casting Caucasian American actress Scarlett Johansson as the Japanese cyborg protagonist set off plenty of alarm bells before the 2017 film version of the manga series arrived and rightfully so. Johansson has a solid action hero track record, but she was badly miscast here and the movie suffered as a result.

Abraham Van Helsing (Van Helsing) – You can’t blame Hugh Jackman for the lousy script, but you can blame him for accepting a lousy role when he clearly wasn’t hurting for money. You know those X-Men paychecks were nice. Jackman plays an action hero version of Bram Stoker’s famous vampire hunter in this poorly conceived and largely forgettable 2004 film.

Walter (The Dark Tower) – Plenty went wrong with the 2017 adaptation of the first book in Stephen King’s classic dark fantasy series, but one of the film’s worst sins was casting Matthew McConaughey as the villain. McConaughey has done plenty of great work over the course of his career, but if you enjoyed the novels, I bet he isn’t the evil wizard you imagined.

Duncan Idaho (Dune) – No, I’m not knocking Jason Mamoa’s portrayal of the loyal Atreides warrior in the 2021 version of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi tale. I’m still laughing about the 1984 version where Richard Jordan played the part. Jordan may have been handsome and slick, but a fearless badass? I don’t think so.

Moreau and Montgomery (The Island of Dr. Moreau) – And finally I couldn’t choose which portrayal was worse, so I’m awarding a tie to Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer for their awful performances in the 1996 version of the H.G. Wells classic tale of medical malpractice, genetic mayhem, and murder. Both are remarkable actors, but if you believe the stories of the troubled production of this film neither actor wanted to be there and it shows.