Nightflyers | |
---|---|
Directed by | Robert Collector (as T.C. Blake) |
Written by | George R. R. Martin Robert Jaffe |
Based on | Nightflyers by George R. R. Martin |
Produced by | Robert Jaffe |
Starring | Catherine Mary Stewart Michael Praed John Standing Lisa Blount Glenn Withrow James Avery |
Cinematography | Shelly Johnson |
Edited by | Tom Siiter |
Music by | Doug Timm |
Distributed by | The Vista Organization |
Release date |
|
Running time | 89 min |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $3 million [1] |
Box office | $1,149,470 |
Nightflyers is a 1987 American science fiction horror film based on Nightflyers , a 1980 novella by George R. R. Martin. [2] [3] Martin himself co-wrote the film with Robert Jaffe.
The film is about a group of scientists who begin a space voyage to find a mysterious alien being, and in the process are victimized by the ship's malevolent computer.
The film is based on a novella that appears in George R. R. Martin's 1985 short story collection. Originally written in 1980, the 23,000-word novella was published by Analog Science Fiction and Fact . In 1981, at the request of his editor at the time, James Frenkel, Martin expanded the story into a 30,000-word piece, which was published by Dell Publishing, together with Vernor Vinge's True Names , as part of their Binary Star series. In the extended version, Martin supplied additional backstory on several characters, and named secondary characters which were not named in the original version. [2]
Nightflyers is set in the same fictional "Thousand Worlds" universe as several of Martin's other works, including Dying of the Light , Sandkings , A Song for Lya , "The Way of Cross and Dragon", "With Morning Comes Mistfall", and the stories collected in Tuf Voyaging . [4]
Screen and television rights were purchased by Vista in 1984, which produced a 1987 film adaptation with a screenplay co-written by Martin, [5] with writer/producer Robert Jaffe. [3] It was directed by Robert Collector, using the pseudonym "T. C. Blake" as he left before post-production was completed. [3] According to Martin, writer/producer Robert Jaffe probably adapted his script from the shorter novella version, since all the secondary characters had different names than the ones he chose in the expanded version. [2] The film grossed $1,149,470. [6] Martin was unhappy about having to cut plot elements in order to accommodate the film's small budget. [7] While not a hit at theatres, Martin believes that the film saved his career, and that everything he has written since exists in large part because of it. [8]
The film was released on VHS, Betamax, and LaserDisc in 1988 by International Video Entertainment.
George Raymond Richard Martin, also known as GRRM, is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels A Song of Ice and Fire, which were adapted into the Emmy Award-winning HBO series Game of Thrones (2011–2019) and its prequel series House of the Dragon (2022–present). He also helped create the Wild Cards anthology series, and contributed worldbuilding for the 2022 video game Elden Ring.
A Song of Ice and Fire is a series of epic fantasy novels by the American novelist and screenwriter George R. R. Martin. He began writing the first volume, A Game of Thrones, in 1991, publishing it in 1996. Martin originally envisioned the series as a trilogy but has released five out of a planned seven volumes. The fifth and most recent entry in the series, A Dance with Dragons, was published in 2011. Martin continues to write the sixth novel, titled The Winds of Winter. A seventh novel, A Dream of Spring, is planned to follow.
Sandkings is a collection of science fiction short stories by George R. R. Martin, published by Timescape Books in December 1981. The collection won the Locus Award for best single author collection. The multiple-award-winning title story concerns a race of insectoid, militaristic alien "pets" who worship their master until he badly mistreats them.
Diana J. Gabaldon is an American author, known for the Outlander series of novels. Her books merge multiple genres, featuring elements of historical fiction, romance, mystery, adventure and science fiction/fantasy. A television adaptation of the Outlander novels premiered on Starz in 2014.
A Game of Thrones is a role-playing game produced by Guardians of Order based on the A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series by George R. R. Martin.
Dying of the Light is a science fiction novel by American writer George R. R. Martin, published in 1977 by Simon & Schuster. Martin's original title was After the Festival; its title was changed before its first hardcover publication. The novel was nominated for both the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1978, and the British Fantasy Award in 1979.
Daniel James Abraham, pen names M. L. N. Hanover and James S. A. Corey, is an American novelist, comic book writer, screenwriter, and television producer. He is best known as the author of The Long Price Quartet and The Dagger and the Coin fantasy series, and with Ty Franck, as the co-author of The Expanse science fiction series, written under the joint pseudonym James S. A. Corey. The series has been adapted into the television series The Expanse (2015–2022), with both Abraham and Franck serving as writers and producers on the show. He also contributed to Wildcards anthology series shared universe.
Nightflyers is a science fiction horror novella by American writer George R. R. Martin, released as a short novella in 1980 and as an expanded novella in 1981. A short story collection of the same name was released in 1985 that includes the expanded novella. In 1987, the short novella was adapted into a film by the same name. A 2018 television adaptation of the extended novella was developed; television presentation began on December 2, 2018, on the SyFy Channel.
Outlander is a series of historical fantasy novels by American author Diana Gabaldon. Gabaldon began the first volume of the series, Outlander, in the late 1980s, and it was published in 1991. She has published nine out of a planned ten volumes. The ninth novel in the series, Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, was released on November 23, 2021.
Warriors is a cross-genre, all-original fiction anthology featuring stories on the subjects of war and warriors; it was edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. The book's Introduction, "Stories from the Spinner Rack", was written by Martin. This anthology was first published in hardcover by Tor Books on March 16, 2010. It won a Locus Award for Best Anthology in 2011.
The Winds of Winter is the forthcoming sixth novel in the epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire by American writer George R. R. Martin. Martin believes the novel will total over 1,500 manuscript pages. Martin has refrained from making hard estimates for the novel's final release date after several delays. In October 2022, Martin stated he had completed approximately three quarters of the novel, estimating that he had written approximately 1,100 to 1,200 pages, and had roughly 400 to 500 pages left, and gave a similar estimate in November 2023, saying that he was "struggling" with it.
The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones is a companion book for George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series. Written by Martin, Elio M. García Jr. and Linda Antonsson, it was published by Bantam on October 28, 2014. The 326-page volume is a fully illustrated "history compendium" of Martin's fictional world, written from the perspective of an in-world "Maester" and featuring newly written material, family trees, and extensive maps and artwork.
Quartet: Four Tales from the Crossroads is the seventh collection by author George R.R. Martin, first published in February 2001 by NESFA Press. It contains three novellas and a teleplay.
Dangerous Women is a cross-genre anthology featuring 21 original short stories and novellas "from some of the biggest authors in the science fiction/fantasy field", edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois and released on December 3, 2013. The works "showcase the supposedly weaker sex's capacity for magic, violence, and mayhem" and "explores the heights that brave women can reach and the depths that depraved ones can plumb." In his own introduction, Dozois writes: "Here you'll find no hapless victims who stand by whimpering in dread while the male hero fights the monster or clashes swords with the villain ... And if you want to tie these women to the railroad tracks, you'll find you have a real fight on your hands."
The Princess and the Queen, or, the Blacks and the Greens is an epic fantasy novella by American novelist George R. R. Martin, published in the 2013 Tor Books anthology Dangerous Women. The novella is presented in the form of writings by the fictional historian Archmaester Gyldayn, who is also the "author" of Martin's 2014 novella The Rogue Prince, a direct prequel to The Princess and the Queen. The plot of both The Princess and the Queen and The Rogue Prince is later expanded further in the 2018 novel Fire & Blood, which also spawned a television series in 2022.
A Song For Lya is a science fiction novella by American writer George R.R. Martin. It was published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine in 1974 and won the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1975. It was also nominated for the 1975 Nebula Award for Best Novella and Jupiter Award for Best Novella, and took second place in the Locus Poll.
Old Mars is a "retro Mars science fiction"-themed anthology edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, published on October 8, 2013. According to the publisher Tor Books, the collection celebrates the "Golden Age of Science Fiction", an era before advanced astronomy and space exploration told us what we currently know about the Solar System, when "of all the planets orbiting that G-class star we call the Sun, none was so steeped in an aura of romantic decadence, thrilling mystery, and gung-ho adventure as Mars." Old Mars won a 2014 Locus Award.
Nightflyers is an American horror science fiction television series on Syfy that premiered in the United States on December 2, 2018, and on Netflix, internationally on February 1, 2019. The series is based on the novella and series of short stories of the same name by George R. R. Martin. The first season consisted of ten episodes, which concluded on December 13, 2018. Syfy canceled the series in February 2019.
Fire & Blood is a fantasy book by American writer George R. R. Martin and illustrated by Doug Wheatley. It tells the history of House Targaryen, the dynasty that ruled the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros in the backstory of his series A Song of Ice and Fire. Although originally planned for publication after the completion of the series, Martin has revealed his intent to publish the history in two volumes as the material had grown too large. The first volume was released on November 20, 2018.
Robert Jaffe is an American film producer, actor, and screenwriter. He is known for his work on Motel Hell (1980), Nightflyers (1987), Nightflyers (2018), and more. He also appeared in the films Fuzz (1972), The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972), and Creature (1985).