Ok, I take back what I said last week about this having any potential for entertainment at all. At this point, at least for me, this has crashed to the ground like so much blue ice from an airline toilet. Splat. Nothing to look at, folks, time to go home. The whole point of something like this is to retain the influence of the author, and the show's director and writers have gone completely in the opposite direction, effectively creating a brand new story of their own. And it SUCKS. I don't know if I'm in the majority or the minority on this, but I wanted to see a STEPHEN KING story. If I wanted to watch a stupid show with a stupid story by some nobody writers I've never heard of, there are a lot of other options out there. I spent a year looking forward to STEPHEN KING. I don't get even the slightest hint of King in what I'm seeing. Tell you what, as soon as one of these weak ass, unknown shit-gurgitators who call themselves writers writes an 1,100 page bestseller, I MIGHT consider their right to stand in the presence of someone like Stephen King. I'll never acknowledge their right to REPLACE him. In conclusion, all I can say is that the network must have King over a very painful barrel for him to be a producer of the show and allow this to happen. If he's actually involved in the direction this farce is taking, it may be all over.
After I posted this, I found a little note from The Big Guy himself regarding the monstrous changes between the book and the tv adaptation. Here's the link...
Read Stephen King's letter about all the changes here... Basically it states that he fully supports the changes, citing some gibberish about the book still being there on the shelf, unchanged, if you ever want to read it so no harm, no foul. In a nutshell, he said that pretty much everything about the book has been changed for the tv series, including the cause of the whole mess and that it's going to be months long instead of a week. He did admit that his one concern was that they keep the concept of a DOME alive in this new version. Way to go, Steve, for drawing a line SOMEWHERE.
I understand some differences to the original story, but why is there a such a 'necessity' for it to change that much? Is that explained and I just didn't get it? It could have been so much better. For me when a book turns into a movie, I want to be able to see it turned into the picture I had in my mind whilst reading the original book.
ReplyDeleteI guess the thing you avoid by making it completely different is everyone nit-picking the subtle differences or being unhappy with the representation. I respect everyone's opinion and understand, even agree with the desire to see a real representation of a novel that does not need improvement to begin with.
ReplyDeleteI do however enjoy watching this series. There is a definite enjoyment for me in not knowing what is going to happen next. This series is like watching the same story in a parallel universe. All the static details are there for me and seem to hold true; there is a dome, people and animals were cut in half when it came down. People have died crashing into it. Everyone is desperate to find out what it is and where it came from. There will certainly be power struggles on all levels inside the dome. Something fucked up is going to happen with that propane. How we get there is where the fun and enjoyment is.
Brian, my "Hammer Of Intolerance For Unnecessary Stupidity" smashes your puny little glass-half-full. I have to agree with Kylie here. It's the mental image brought to life on the screen we want, and I think the artistry of the author and the subtle nuances he made part of the story that are so important. Brian, your "alternate universe" suggestion is valid, but seems a little uncomfortable when I think about it. I think that some day, someone will do a book accurate version. I just don't know why it couldn't be the first version. He made The Stand accurate the first time around. I remember we weren't disappointed by that one, were we? Nor were we disappointed by the remake of The Shining, which was the book accurate version. Gimme a break... this was a mistake, and they're stuck with having to defend it.
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