A great many movies have at least one tie-in: a novel based on the script. Most of these are wretched wastes of paper, but in a few cases the novelization is worth reading, either because it tells the story in a different way or because it includes background or fill-in scenes that didn't get into the movie for one reason or another.
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
Clarke, Arthur C.
c.1968, Signet
ISBN:
Arthur C. Clarke's novelization of Stanley Kubrick's movie 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, which was in turn based on Clarke's story "The Sentinel." A well-written SF yarn that makes sense and has a coherent storyline -- more than can be said for the film it's based on. It starts with an elaborate sequence set in Africa four million years ago, as a strange crystalline monolith manipulates early hominids into thinking and acting in more intelligent ways. This sequence holds up surprisingly well considering the enormous amount we've learned about the origins and evolution of humans since 1968. The scene then changes to 2001 and the Moon, as Dr. Heywood Floyd travels to the crater Tycho to join an investigation into a mysterious monolith found beneath the Moon's surface. The monolith activates when the Sun's rays touch it, sending a signal into the outer reaches of the Solar System. The spacecraft Discovery is sent to investigate the destination of this signal: Saturn's moon Iapetus. Aboard is a crew of six: three hibernating astronauts; two command-crew astronauts, David Bowman and Frank Poole; and the sentient computer HAL 9000. During the journey HAL 9000 goes insane, murdering Poole and the hibernating astronauts. Bowman disconnects HAL in self-defense and then faces the final mystery at Iapetus alone.
2010: ODYSSEY TWO
Clarke, Arthur C.
c.1982, Del Rey
ISBN: 0-345-30306-7
The sequel to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. Written as a sequel to the movie 2001, not the novel 2001, so if you haven't seen the movie you might get a bit confused. 2010 the novel was used as the basis for a movie by the same name. Since David Bowman's disappearance investigating the large monolith found orbiting Jupiter (not Saturn, as in the original novel 2001), the spacecraft Discovery has remained where Bowman left it. But Discovery is now in danger of crashing due to gravitational disturbances of its orbit, so Americans and Russians launch a combined mission to salvage the derelict spacecraft. China wants Discovery too, and sends a spacecraft of its own to get it. A sequence of incredible events defeats the Chinese mission, and Leonov successfully reaches and reactivates Discovery. At which point things get stranger still, as the creature that was David Bowman returns, bringing with it a gift and a warning: that Leonov must depart on its homeward journey sooner than planned, and sooner than the rigid mathematics of space travel will allow.
ALIENS
Foster, Alan Dean
c.1986, Warner
ISBN: 0-446-30139-6
Novelization of the script for the movie ALIENS. Not great, but good. Follows the shooting script closely, with only a little bit of added material. However, several major scenes are included in the novelization (and in the director's cut of the film) that were cut from the theatrical release.
OCEAN GIRL
Hepworth, Peter
c.1994, Hyperion Paperbacks
ISBN: 0-7868-1070-X
Novelization of the first season of the Australian SF TV series OCEAN GIRL. Jason and Brett Bates are kids living in the experimental underwater city called ORCA. On one of their missions, Jason encounters a mysterious girl named Neri. She looks human, but she can swim like a fish, breathe water as well as air, and talk to a humpback whale who also lives in the area. Who is she? What is she? And where did she come from? The TV series was pretty much aimed at kids, and so is the book. But it's still a good read, as such things go.
THE PRINCESS BRIDE
Goldman, William
c.1973, Del Rey
ISBN: 0-345-34803-6
A novelization of the movie by the same name, which is actually fantasy, but belongs here as well as anywhere. The Princess Bride is a fantastically funny fantasy spoof that really can't be described. You have to actually read it to understand it.
THE TERMINATOR
Frakes & Wisher
c.1984, Bantam
ISBN: 0-553-25317-4
Novelization of the script for THE TERMINATOR. Adds a few scenes cut from the movie, but nothing significant.
TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY
Frakes, Randall
c.1991, Bantam
ISBN: 0-553-29169-6
Novelization of the movie TERMINATOR 2. Based on an early script version, it contains several scenes that were cut from the film, including some that are fairly significant. One particularly interesting one involves the Terminator's intelligence and ability to learn; another makes it more clear that the T-1000 is not indestructible, and accumulating damage to it helps the Connors and the old-model Terminator destroy it.
