“The biggest reason Pern faded from the zeitgeist is simple: never got a successful screen adaptation.“
Additional information - That is incorrect. Most of the top classic science fiction works still sell despite being ignored by publishers (all those male authors!) and never scored with Hollywood. Even the Gor novels, banned by publishers, condemned by the Great and Wise, still sell in ebooks.
Alternative perspective - The dragonrider books were popular as the breakthrough novels in the Girls Are Great subgenre of SF. Now SF is a subgenre of Girls Are Great. Every other new book features omnicompetent beloved Mary Sue’s. SF in TV and films, ditto.
It’s like reading Tarzan or John Carter on Mars, breakthrough novels - but now their tropes have been run to exhaustion.
Starfleet Academy tries to resuscitate the G Are G genre through exceptional weirdness. Time will tell if that works.
I read several of the novels back in the day (the first two or three Draongriders, the three Harperhall, and a couple others, all before McCaffrey died), I remember them as pretty good. Also realized early on that Pern couldn't be done then, certainly not in live-action (the Dragonslayer film around that time was amazing, but that only had one dragon, and not for very much screen time).
Given the currents in SF/F since then, I wouldn't trust any established name to adapt the stories without forcing "modern" sentiments into the fore. And even without that bias, a lot of the "meat" fo the stories was internal - thought and emotion. That kind of story needs a very skilled writer and director. And just making a film about Thread-fighting would probably end up as just another SFX-fest - maybe a very cool one, but still, with the fatigue around Marvel/DC and Star Wars/Trek, I doubt there's enough draw to justify.
Growing AI film capability might change some of that equation, though...
Maybe it's a good thing that Dragon riders wasn't made into a movie or TV series. Hollywood would have definitely screwed it up. While I liked the Dragon Riders Series, I really liked The Ship who sang. It was Anne's best Science Fiction Series.
Having Hollywood butcher a novel isn't always for the best. Sometimes it's best to brag that Hollywood didn't do it.
This is a wonderful love letter to a classic series and a known inspiration to many writers, but as you put it, potentially an unknown inspiration to even more…
It's weird to me how Pern faded away. My dad was a huge McCaffery fan and introduced me to her books. Unfortunately they didn't vibe with me--like the Crystal Singer books, I thought they had amazing concepts that were badly squandered. In the first Pern book, the male lead basically r@pes the heroine and this is seen as romantic. Later on he slaps her across the face, and this has aged about as well as spoiled milk. Even in our era of girlbosses and abusive boyfriends, Pern is ... old and ugly.
Like most of McCaffrey's books they start very strong... then peter out. Some faster than others. She's still a favorite for stories like Decision at Doona, Restoree (romance, OMG, but fun), The Ship Who Sang, and To Ride Pegasus. Crystal Singer and Acorna never worked for me past the first book.
Hey this is my new article please check it out like and comment if you find it interesting also let’s connect! i write about books, movies/series and random journal thoughts🫶🏻
I reread the initial 3 and the Harper Hall trilogy every few years. I agree with the quality downturn in books from Ms. McCaffrey’s children, but I’d add that just about everything after Moreta/Nerilka got pretty leaden as well. The characters became thin. She made it impossible to not recognize the villains as soon as we read their names. The plots were predictable and the “tension” between antagonists was as slack as could be. I would love to see Pern on the screen, large or small. But stick to the earlier books. And stick to the characterizations found within.
I really enjoyed these and so did my daughter when she came around, now there is a grandson to turn into a SF & F reader. He will will inherit my library which has about a dozen of McCaffery's books.
I have read most of the Pern books and i quite liked them back in the day. Then I discovered that the very concept of the series is wrong. There is no way in this universe the Thread to reach the surface of the planet without burn itself in the atmosphere. The Thread is Spores tiny obljects. If Pern's atmosphere cannot hold such tiny objects from reaching the surface of the planet, what about meteors, comets? With such weak atmosphere the planet would cease to exist.
Am not going to lie. If I had the money and the contacts in the anime industry needed to do so, I'd pitch Pern for an anime.
It would probably turn into cute girls riding dragons and dealing with survival against apocalyptic thread, but that sounds exactly like a premise the current weeb run industry would dig.
“The biggest reason Pern faded from the zeitgeist is simple: never got a successful screen adaptation.“
Additional information - That is incorrect. Most of the top classic science fiction works still sell despite being ignored by publishers (all those male authors!) and never scored with Hollywood. Even the Gor novels, banned by publishers, condemned by the Great and Wise, still sell in ebooks.
Alternative perspective - The dragonrider books were popular as the breakthrough novels in the Girls Are Great subgenre of SF. Now SF is a subgenre of Girls Are Great. Every other new book features omnicompetent beloved Mary Sue’s. SF in TV and films, ditto.
It’s like reading Tarzan or John Carter on Mars, breakthrough novels - but now their tropes have been run to exhaustion.
Starfleet Academy tries to resuscitate the G Are G genre through exceptional weirdness. Time will tell if that works.
I read several of the novels back in the day (the first two or three Draongriders, the three Harperhall, and a couple others, all before McCaffrey died), I remember them as pretty good. Also realized early on that Pern couldn't be done then, certainly not in live-action (the Dragonslayer film around that time was amazing, but that only had one dragon, and not for very much screen time).
Given the currents in SF/F since then, I wouldn't trust any established name to adapt the stories without forcing "modern" sentiments into the fore. And even without that bias, a lot of the "meat" fo the stories was internal - thought and emotion. That kind of story needs a very skilled writer and director. And just making a film about Thread-fighting would probably end up as just another SFX-fest - maybe a very cool one, but still, with the fatigue around Marvel/DC and Star Wars/Trek, I doubt there's enough draw to justify.
Growing AI film capability might change some of that equation, though...
Maybe it's a good thing that Dragon riders wasn't made into a movie or TV series. Hollywood would have definitely screwed it up. While I liked the Dragon Riders Series, I really liked The Ship who sang. It was Anne's best Science Fiction Series.
Having Hollywood butcher a novel isn't always for the best. Sometimes it's best to brag that Hollywood didn't do it.
This is a wonderful love letter to a classic series and a known inspiration to many writers, but as you put it, potentially an unknown inspiration to even more…
It's weird to me how Pern faded away. My dad was a huge McCaffery fan and introduced me to her books. Unfortunately they didn't vibe with me--like the Crystal Singer books, I thought they had amazing concepts that were badly squandered. In the first Pern book, the male lead basically r@pes the heroine and this is seen as romantic. Later on he slaps her across the face, and this has aged about as well as spoiled milk. Even in our era of girlbosses and abusive boyfriends, Pern is ... old and ugly.
I need to read these books. My mom had some but I never read them.
Like most of McCaffrey's books they start very strong... then peter out. Some faster than others. She's still a favorite for stories like Decision at Doona, Restoree (romance, OMG, but fun), The Ship Who Sang, and To Ride Pegasus. Crystal Singer and Acorna never worked for me past the first book.
Hey this is my new article please check it out like and comment if you find it interesting also let’s connect! i write about books, movies/series and random journal thoughts🫶🏻
https://open.substack.com/pub/digitaljournaled/p/alysanne-targaryen-the-queen-who?r=3v1t9p&utm_medium=ios
You have a depth friend, very good.
I reread the initial 3 and the Harper Hall trilogy every few years. I agree with the quality downturn in books from Ms. McCaffrey’s children, but I’d add that just about everything after Moreta/Nerilka got pretty leaden as well. The characters became thin. She made it impossible to not recognize the villains as soon as we read their names. The plots were predictable and the “tension” between antagonists was as slack as could be. I would love to see Pern on the screen, large or small. But stick to the earlier books. And stick to the characterizations found within.
I really enjoyed these and so did my daughter when she came around, now there is a grandson to turn into a SF & F reader. He will will inherit my library which has about a dozen of McCaffery's books.
I'd never heard of it (that I can recall). Thanks for the head's up!
I have read most of the Pern books and i quite liked them back in the day. Then I discovered that the very concept of the series is wrong. There is no way in this universe the Thread to reach the surface of the planet without burn itself in the atmosphere. The Thread is Spores tiny obljects. If Pern's atmosphere cannot hold such tiny objects from reaching the surface of the planet, what about meteors, comets? With such weak atmosphere the planet would cease to exist.
Am not going to lie. If I had the money and the contacts in the anime industry needed to do so, I'd pitch Pern for an anime.
It would probably turn into cute girls riding dragons and dealing with survival against apocalyptic thread, but that sounds exactly like a premise the current weeb run industry would dig.