POLL: End Game Opinion of the Series

[finnmacha]

And don't let me drive you off. I was in a bad mood when I replied to you.  The humidity here was getting to me.

No worries. I've been around enough boards to know what it's like when people bring up the same thing over and over...and over. 
I also shoulda known better than to post like that without reading more first. 
I was a little shocked at the response my question got. Kinda figured it was a mis-read.

[Tanstar]

The Dresden Files was my favorite show on TV and I still have no idea why it was dropped.  Yes, it had some early show jitters. It was too formulaic and lacked a much needed story arc.  Many, many shows start out with these problems though. I loved the humor and the essence that was Harry.  Several years after the show died I finally bought the first three omnibus editions of the series (books 1-7) and fell in love all over again!  I'm glad I saw the show first and then read the books.  I've read the first eleven books over the past 2-3 months and have Changes waiting as my next read. 

There are some things I miss from the show, but the humor and Harry's personality are there, and even more so.  I morn the show and can't wait to read the next book!

[Darkling]

From what I heard the story arc problem was in the middle of getting things going some executive told them that they wanted the episodes to be able to stand alone, sort of like the first season of Buffy.   But they slipped in the story arc of Justin Morningway anyway.

I miss this show.  No other show made by the Scifi Channel has ever been able to hold my interest.

[nthnclls]

I know this is an old thread, but I'll throw in my 2 cents anyway...I liked it.  It wasn't great, but it was good enough that I've enjoyed every episode I've seen so far.  That's not true for many shows...

[Jaeh]

yes old thread, thread necromancy, yeah yeah yeah...

I just want to say that I miss this show a lot. *sigh*

[jacksworld82]

I see that this is an old thread, but thought i would put in my thoughts anyway. I enjoyed the show very much. In fact, i had no idea about the books until after the first season ended. I was wondering if it was going to come back for another season and started to look around for answers online. There i found out about the books and i fell in love with them. As i read the books in the following order, they just seemed to get better and better. Anyhow, after reading the books i was a bit disappointed with the changes in the show. I can understand why some of them were made but in overall i pretty much enjoyed the show. I would have bought the 1st season on DVD, but didn't see the point in bothering since they canceled it. It would be great if they went and restarted the series. Now that more people are well aware of the books the show may get more ratings? Don't know, i haven't found the reason why they canceled it yet. But would love to see that happen.

[adgramaine]

... we lost Dresden and got handed Sanctuary. No offense to any fans that are out there, but that seems an entirely unfair exchange IMO 

I'll post my obligatory follow up elsewhere....

[Darkling]

... we lost Dresden and got handed Sanctuary. No offense to any fans that are out there, but that seems an entirely unfair exchange IMO 

I agree.

[Stitch]

... we lost Dresden and got handed Sanctuary. No offense to any fans that are out there, but that seems an entirely unfair exchange IMO 

It's worse than that. We lost Dresden and got handed, what was it, Painkiller Jane?

[dragonhavn]

chiming in with an uncooperative keyboard and 0.02cents: If not for the show, I'd never have picked up the books and I'd have missed two wonderful views of the same world. personally, i could handle dresden followed by sanctuary much the way i enjoyed brisco followed by xfiles a few millennia ago. A series of movies more closely based on the books, wonderful idea. Being a fan fic writer (no, not in the dresden verse, too much established stuffs) the concept of the tv show as an alternate universe is both captivating and charming. And as many people have pointed out: Bob. Yeah. All in all, I miss the show and purchased the dvd collection just a few days after it hit the shelves. I just want dresden to continue in all t he forms it has, including vid, until Jim is very, very, very old .... LOL. End transmission

[Liliona]

I liked the series.  I had never heard of the books or Jim Butcher, until the series came out and now Jim is definitely my favorite author, I've read all his books, Dresden and Alera. I read Shannon's books too now.  I do think the series could have been done better.  There was so much that could have been done with it that they just ignored.  And frankly, I like Sanctuary more!  But Sanctuary didn't replace Dresden right off anyway. 

Actually, at this moment, I'm watching the DVD's. My husband had them on when I came home.  And on Jim's site.  And getting ready to read more of Side Jobs when I'm done here! 

[jap1284]

I would have loved the show if ....

a) The casting was better  (with the exception of the character actor who played bob)
b) The shows themselves were more well thought out and better written (they were a little nonsensical which is a shame since there was so much good material from the book).

[stswjb007]

The Sci Fi TV series was alright but it lacked the feeling of the books. In order for this series to reach its full potential it needs to be produced by a company such as HBO who has proven over the years to be masters of making TV series that easily match the high standards of a Hollywood movie production. I also believe that the best hope for the series would be not to make a single series but instead a series of miniseries with each book consisting of two or three hour long episodes. If done in this kind of format the stories of each novel can remain intact with minimal alterations and would potentially allow all 13, soon to be 14, books to be brought to life in a reasonable time span of 7 or fewer seasons. And to kick off this new and improved Dresden series I think it would be a great idea to see Storm Front hit the big screen which I feel would draw in the audience a series of this magnitude would require to survive, and because I think it would be awesome to see Dresden kicking butt in a theater near me.

[Darkling]

The Sci Fi TV series was alright but it lacked the feeling of the books. In order for this series to reach its full potential it needs to be produced by a company such as HBO who has proven over the years to be masters of making TV series that easily match the high standards of a Hollywood movie production. I also believe that the best hope for the series would be not to make a single series but instead a series of miniseries with each book consisting of two or three hour long episodes. If done in this kind of format the stories of each novel can remain intact with minimal alterations and would potentially allow all 13, soon to be 14, books to be brought to life in a reasonable time span of 7 or fewer seasons. And to kick off this new and improved Dresden series I think it would be a great idea to see Storm Front hit the big screen which I feel would draw in the audience a series of this magnitude would require to survive, and because I think it would be awesome to see Dresden kicking butt in a theater near me.

I'm not sure a movie will happen after what happened with Sorcerer's Apprentice.  Also Lionsgate still has the rights for a year or two.   Technically Storm Front does have a movie but it's never been released to DVD.  It's an extended version of the episode and it makes a lot more sense than the episode cut.  It's a polished up and refurbished version of the original pilot.  It aired once on Scifi at three AM and wasn't even listed on the schedule when it did air and it's never been released to DVD though it was originally to be a bonus feature on the season 1 DVD release.  I don't know why they pulled it at the last second.  Originally the set was advertised as including the extended pilot.

[Shaoli]

I first heard about The Dresden Files by watching the T.V. series.  I enjoyed the series, but then my friend had gotten the 1st book on audio.  I listened to that and really enjoyed it.  I went out and picked up all 12 of the current books on audio and am now in the process of listening to them a second time and find it even more enjoyable than the 1st.  You pick up on things you miss the 1st time (foreshadowing etc) and think "ahh yeah...now I get it".

While the books were significantly different than the series, what would be great is to see a feature film made for a few of the books.  The only drawback is that the movie studio would end up butcheri.....err "taking artistic liberties" with it.  My pipe dream would be a feature film with the cast from the series and a script that wasn't significantly altered from the book.  Rarely has a book ever made it to the silver screen without being a huge disappointment though there have been a few rare exceptions to the rule.

Until then I can only impatiently await the 13th book and hope that it comes out on audio close to the hardcover release.  While I have always loved to read, this has been my first real experience with audio books and I found it to be a refreshing change of pace.  I have always enjoyed James Marsters as an actor and thought he has done a superlative job in his Dresden readings.