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Non-Stop from Brian Aldiss is a sci-fi novel I've just read and would like to see if anyone has used it as a base story for a film, or even maybe a TV episode (Star Trek for example). As far as I'm aware there's nothing obvious, however films often take basic premises (some may say sci-fi staples) from books and then go off on their own journey with it. 'Pitch Black' (2000) with Arthur C Clarke's 'A Walk in the Dark' (1950) would be a good example of this (goes beyond staple similarities but isn't plagiarism).

Below is the Wiki plot summary for Non-Stop (1st third of book - no spoilers)

The novel's protagonist, Roy Complain, lives in a culturally-primordial tribe where curiosity is discouraged and life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short. With a small group, he leaves his home and ventures into uncharted territory. The consequent discoveries will change his perception of the entire universe.

Complain's small tribe roam nomadically through corridors overrun by vegetation. After his wife is kidnapped, a tribal priest named Marapper encourages Complain to join a furtive expedition into the unexplored corridors. It is Marapper's belief that they are all living on board a moving space-craft, and that if they can reach the control room they will gain command of the entire, gargantuan vessel.

On their journey, the group encounters other tribes, of varying levels of sophistication.

The revelations are extraordinary, easily understood but like 'Momento' (2000) "when you discover what it was all about, you start again at the beginning" - Observer

I'm keen to see how the plot and themes transfer to the screen and perhaps how the story might be changed to suit the era that it was filmed in.

So is there any information if this novel has ever been turned into a movie or at least served as a major inspiration for one? Any ideas?

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    @all This could maybe be tagged identify-this-movie, but I'm not sure if putting it into that category would do this rather interesting question much justice. What does the community think?
    – Napoleon Wilson
    Jul 4, 2014 at 12:50
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    @NapoleonWilson I feel it's not appropriate here. He's not sure if a book has been adapted into a movie, where as I've always seen the ID tag for, "I know I've seen this movie, I remember these bits of info about it, please help me identify it."
    – MattD
    Jul 4, 2014 at 13:03
  • Just read the plot of this book and landed here. I don't want to read too much about it to avoid spoilers, but it sounds like the film Pandorum is based on a similar concept as this book.
    – user21998
    Jun 10, 2015 at 0:30

1 Answer 1

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No, unfortunately.

It's a sensationally wonderful book, but it's never been transferred to film. I think a transfer to film could work, but unfortunately going into that is fairly discursive and probably better suited for the chatroom.

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  • Thanks, I thought that may be the case. I won't accept the answer just yet - clinging to the possibility there may be a tentative link somewhere. I'll accept it after the weekend if there's no developments
    – queeg
    Jul 4, 2014 at 11:35

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