Oh, well, Merry Christmas to me!
IO9 has put up one of the most comprehensive lists of Shakespeare in science fiction and fantasy that I’ve yet seen.
35 different entries, depending on how you count : 11 books, 12 movies, 9 tv shows/series, and 3 comics.
I’ve only heard about 21 of them (which gives me lots of new books to read after Christmas!), and personally experienced about 10 of them.
Some of the choices are cheating – like putting Gnomeo and Juliet and Henry 5, two movies that aren’t even out yet, onto a list of “coolest Shakespeare riffs”. Or more than a handful of one-off appearances in 1970’s tv shows (including Fantasy Island and I Dream Of Jeannie. What, no Love Boat?) Like most of these lists it really ends up being “as many as we could think of”, and then they just tack on some adjective to make it interesting in the title.
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Excellent reference to The Richard III Horror Show scene in the Eyre Affair ! For those of us whose brains are warped enough to accept the visions of both Shakespeare and O'Brien.