Messengers From The Stars – No. 7 (2025)

GUEST EDITOR: Ana Daniela Coelho

CO-EDITOR: Diana Marques

In its simplest definition, adaptation is the transposition of a story to a medium or format other than the one it was initially created for. For a long time, adaptation materialised, both in artistic and critical conceptions, in novel-to-screen transpositions, which, in turn, gave way to a discourse that virtually ignored other media and formats and almost invariably classified adaptations as inferior to the original works from which they had stemmed. Such a discourse often left out two of the most significant aspects of adaptation: that it is a process of reappropriation of the past and a marker of contemporaneity.

As adaptation studies redefined themselves in recent years, key publications in the field (Hutcheon 2013 [2006]; Sanders 2016 [2006]; Cartmell and Whelehan 2010), although still relevant, have been joined by more recent debates, broadening the scope and reach of adaptation, both inside and outside the academic environment (Newell 2017; Leitch 2017, Elleström 2010, Elliott 2020). Such movement has acknowledged the broader scope of adaptation, which includes a variety of cultural products as well as the possibility of diverse intermedia exchanges.

On the other hand, adaptation, whether recognised as such or not, has long been a staple in Fantasy and Sci-Fi productions of different media. Moreover, in face of the undeniable importance of streaming and the increasing number of new productions, this tendency has only grown stronger in recent years, as the plethora of available material is joined by multiple-platform strategies, where both narrative and audience engagement are enhanced. Thus, given the area’s well-known experimental and innovative drive, the contribution of Fantasy and Sci-Fi adaptations to the overall rethinking of the field of adaptation studies cannot be overlooked. This issue of Messengers from the Stars aims at delving deeper into the topics of streaming and adaptation of Fantasy and Sci-Fi works, in particular objects that exploit the new capacities brought about by new platforms, namely transmedia strategies and enriched audience participation.

This is the case in the first article, Inês Vaz’s “Bringing Fantasy Animation into a New Era: Monstrous Representations in Netflix’s Nimona”, which looks into a streaming animation adaptation of the science fantasy graphic novel Nimona (2015) by ND Stevenson. Initially a webcomic, Nimona is a perfect example of how storytelling has evolved in recent years, thriving online while still able to adapt to the new screen reality of streaming platforms. Vaz’s analysis focuses on how the adaptive process works with and transforms its source object, taking into consideration today’s ruthless market interests as well as unavoidable issues of sexual diversity and representativity while delving into traditional fantasy tropes.

Ricardo Sobreira, in “The Adaptation of Ridley Scott’s Sci-Fi Series Raised by Wolves from Video Streaming to Comic Book”, takes the inverse look by choosing an adaptation from a streaming-based series to a comic book. While focusing on the object at hand, Sobreira also delves into the importance of fan communities and expanded forms of interaction. He defends the concept of novelization while integrating others, such as transmediation and extension, to better define and present Raised by Wolves # 1: Hark, the Herald Angel Sings (2020) by Aaron Guzikowski as an object of its own merit rather than a mere mirror of the series.

In “Hell Hath No Fury: The Madonna-Whore Dichotomy in HBO’s House of the Dragon”, Duncan Hubber examines one of the unavoidable examples of fantasy adaptation to streaming platforms: House of the Dragon (2022-), the prequel to the paradigm-shifter in screen and streaming adaptation, Game of Thrones (2011-2019). Focusing on the theme of female power, Hubber closely analyses the onscreen portrayal of Alicent and Rhaenyra’s characters, as they were meaningfully expanded from G. R. R. Martin’s novellas.

In “Myth & Folklore in Popular Media: Folk Horror in the Age of Streaming”, Carlos Carneiro investigates how myth and folklore have systematically been used on screen, particularly via Fantasy and Sci-fi productions. From Carneiro’s viewpoint – and just like the case argued in the beginning of this introduction for adaptation itself – folk horror and its myths prove themselves particularly adaptable to both contemporaneity and streaming media, recasting centuries-old stories and themes to successfully engage modern-day audiences.

As usual, the journal closes with two reviews, which keep within the theme selected for this issue. In the first one, Alexis F. Viegas reviews Andrei Nae’s Immersion, Narrative, and Gender Crisis in Survival Horror Videogames (Routledge, 2022), bringing much-needed attention to the critical discourse of videogames. In the second, Mareike Huber reviews The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Amazon Prime, 2022-) from the perspective of the on-screen use of Tolkien’s invented languages.

Thanks to all its contributors, this volume from Messengers from the Stars offers insightful and valuable contributions to the study of Fantasy and Sci-Fi in adaptations in the age of streaming platforms and evolving audiences. May they set the example and inspire the need to not only continue to enjoy the ever-growing number of new productions but also to question the meaning and significance of these products in our society.

Works Cited

Cartmell, Deborah, and Imelda Whelehan. Screen Adaptation: Impure Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

Elleström, Lars, editor. Media Borders, Multimodality and Intermediality. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

Elliott, Kamilla. Theorizing Adaptation. Oxford University Press, 2020.

Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory of Adaptation. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2013.

Leitch, Thomas, editor. The Oxford Handbook of Adaptation Studies. Oxford University Press, 2017.

Newell, Kate. Expanding Adaptation Networks. Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. Sanders, Julie. Appropriation and Adaptation. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2016.