From Titan to Titanic

Actually that should be "Europa" - one of the moons of Jupiter rather than Saturn, but I don't think any big ship called "Europic" ever sank under media scrutiny.


Europa - not the biggest latte ever seen from above.

In an earlier post on BOOJUM! I mentioned one of John Wyndham's science-fiction novels, "The Kraken Wakes", which I like a lot better than "The Day of The Triffids", and I also said I would expand on it further.  Well, here we are:  Expanded! baby, expanded. 

This is so NOT an alien car-boot

     TKW features an alien invasion quite unlike any you've ever read of before; invaders postulated as being from one of the moons of the gas giants (either Jupiter or Saturn).  I would like to work out a screenplay for TKW, and have annotated the book to that intent, but with 101 other things to do, this has been on the back-burner for five or six years.  I had a friend (thanks Moyra!) at work bring back postcards of Falmouth, and in fact worked out the opening scene.
     Which, was, from memory, a couple sitting together talking about creating a record of their recent history.  As the camera pulled back, their casual little chat is seen as taking place on a rooftop.  The camera pulls back further, revealing that the house roof they sit upon is flooded to the upper windows, and that a small rowing boat is tethered to the chimney.  A road sign not far from the house has the word "Falmouth" visible above the floodwaters.  The camera then spins around to look at what the couple can see, and we witness the English Channel, full of icebergs ...

Imagine this, next to the pier selling "Kiss me quick" hats.  Terrifying!

     Not bad, I felt.  But I doubt Hollywood would want to spend $250 million based on that alone.  "$250 million!" chorus a thousand - okay a hundred - okay one or two - readers of BOOJUM!  Well yes.  A lot of the novel takes place at sea, which always makes filming expensive.  Then, too, it is spread across the globe - England, Ireland, Spain, the Caribbean, Indonesia.  Travelling to film abroad costs money, Veronica.    Then you have specific London landmarks mentioned as part of the plot, and after flooding takes place you have specific London landmarks as water-sports venues.
     That's before you get to spend $1 on the cast.  The leads would have to be British (Of Course!) and I wouldn't want to trespass on the casting director's toes, but - Dougray Scott gets my vote as our male lead, and Kristin Scott Thomas as the female, because she's i) an accomplished actress and ii) pretty damn pretty.

Hot. Cool. Damnit, she confuses me!