Of the 104 works of fiction that have won a Prometheus Award, 13 have been adapted into movies (sometimes more than once.)
Plus, two other Prometheus winners were conceived for and originated on screen – one as a feature film and the other as a TV series.
Thus, 15 Prometheus winners can be seen on the large or small screens.
That represents more than 14 percent of all the Prometheus-winning works recognized since the award was first presented in 1979. Not a bad quotient, perhaps, but it certainly would be nice to see more of our recognized novels and stories raise their visibility and thereby find larger audiences.
So which works have reached the screen?
Just for fun or out of curiosity, before reading further, why not visit the Prometheus Awards page listing all the past winners and see how many you can recall that have had film or TV adaptations?
Hint: There’s more than you realize!
First, the two Prometheus winners that originated on screen are The Prisoner, Patrick McGoohan’s 1960s TV series; and Serenity, written and directed by Joss Whedon as a follow-up and semi-sequel to his short-lived TV series Firefly. The Prisoner was inducted in 2002 into the Prometheus Hall of Fame, while Serenity received a Special Prometheus Award in 2006.
Most recently, yet another less-than-satisfying version of George Orwell’s classic fable Animal Farm has been released as a distorted, kiddie-oriented animated film. (See the recent post explaining why this poorly reviewed film was so disappointing – especially from the perspective of libertarians, or anyone else who understands Orwell’s anti-communist themes.)
Happily, many of the other film versions of Prometheus winners have been far more successful, from The Lord of the Rings and Nineteen Eighty-Four to A Clockwork Orange and V for Vendetta.
Here’s the full list – or at least the ones that I know about – in alphabetical order:
Alongside Night
Animal Farm
Atlas Shrugged
A Clockwork Orange
The Emperor’s New Clothes
Fahrenheit 451
“Harrison Bergeron”
The Lord of the Rings
“The Machine Stops”
Night Watch
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Ready Player One
Serenity
The Prisoner
V for Vendetta
SOME SURPRISES ON THE LIST
Just looking over the above list, you probably will notice a few titles that you didn’t know had been made into movies. I was surprised to discover several when researching this Prometheus Blog article.
Personally, until I’d researched their history, I hadn’t realized that Terry Pratchett’s comic novel Night Watch had been adapted into a British TV series.
The 2021 series The Watch (available on platforms like BBC iPlayer) adapts characters like Sam Vimes and Lady Sybil Ramkin, but shifts the setting to a more modern, “cyberpunk” style, differing from the books. Also, a five-part radio dramatization of Night Watch was produced by BBC Radio 4, starring Philip Jackson as Sam Vimes.
I also hadn’t realized that Kurt Vonnegut’s cautionary and satirical story “Harrison Bergeron” had been expanded for the screen – twice!
The most prominent is a 1995 Showtime TV movie starring Sean Astin.
Vonnegut’s story also was adapted in 2009 into the SF film featurette 2081. Written and directed by Chandler Tuttle and based on the 1961 story, the film premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival – but isn’t available on any streaming channels.
Even fewer people might be aware of a 1966 BBC TV episode based on E.M. Forster’s story “The Machine Stops,” inducted in 200 into the Prometheus Hall of Fame.
The 50-minute TV adaptation, directed by Philip Saville, aired as part of a British sci-fi anthology series and reportedly was highly regarded for its dystopian vision as a prescient sci-fi story often cited for anticipating the internet and digital isolation.
The story also was adapted in 2009 into a 10-minute TV short film, produced as a thesis project at New York’s School of Visual Arts. But who has seen either the short film or TV version? And are they even available for anyone to watch on any streaming platform?
Finally, aside from some libertarians with good memories within the libertarian movement, few may be familiar with the late libertarian sf novelist J. Neil Schulman’s novel Alongside Night, much less the low-budget independent film he made from it many years later starring Kevin Sorbo, Jake Busey and Garrett Wang.
Here’s a question for Prometheus Blog readers: Are there any film versions of Prometheus-winning works that you know about, but don’t appear on the above list?
Visiting the Prometheus Awards page of the LFS website can be helpful in checking out the more than 100 works of fiction that have been recognized since the award was first presented in 1979.
If any of those works have been translated to the big or small screens, let us know so we can mention it here on the blog.
Also, which Prometheus winners would you most like to see made into a movie, TV series or stage play? That question will be explored in a subsequent blog post.
ABOUT THE LFS AND THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS
* Join us! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, join the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer international association of freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans.
Libertarian futurists understand that culture matters. We believe that literature and the arts can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future. In some ways, culture can be even more influential and powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other’s rights, human dignity, individuality and peaceful choices.
* Prometheus winners: For a full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees – including in the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards – visit the enhanced Prometheus Awards page on the LFS website. This page includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of the 106 works that have won a Prometheus since 1979 fits the awards’ distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.
* Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog’s Video page.
* Read “The Libertarian History of Science Fiction,” an essay in the international magazine Quillette that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.
* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society’s Facebook page for comments, updates and links to the latest Prometheus Blog posts.
