One night, several years ago, I sat in a mildly inebriated stupor and wrote a long and very detailed email to the address on the Tad Williams site suggesting that Otherland should be filmed. I never heard back; they obviously didn't consider my opinions to be of much import. Tch.
But the Otherland saga would be AWESOME made into a high quality series. It has such rich and vivid imagery it's crying out to be put on screen. A film, even a series of films, wouldn't do the epic story justice, but (as has been pointed out) a series or three would give you nearly three DAYS of viewing time to tell the story. It would need to be handled so carefully though. For every top quality series on American TV; True Blood, 24, Battlestar Galactica... - there are some that are a bit naff...most of the stuff on the Sci Fi channel. But if a production company who actually gave a damn got hold of it, MAN it could be good. I totally agree about Neill Blomkamp. District 9, and indeed his short films, are simply stunning visually, blending real life with fantastical elements seamlessly.
So...all that needs to happen is to achieve the magic combination of a high quality TV series, a budget big enough so that it won't be resigned to the televisual purgatory of midday broadcast on Sci Fi, the best writers available in TV to edit and hone the book sensitively to ensure it retains it's integrity and feel, WETA workshops or ILM handling the effects...and Neill Blomkamp directing every single episode.
Get on it will you...?
Ta.
